Library for the Performing Arts Programs

Germaine Tailleferre Germaine Tailleferre was a French composer and the only female member of the group of composers known as Les Six. She lived a long life and was prolific as a composer, but today, much of her later music remains less well known and infrequently performed in the U.S. The French music publisher Editions de la Musique Fabrique has started issuing many previously unpublished Tailleferre scores revealing previously hidden facets of her musical language. Pianist Raj Bhimani was…

Heiva Pasifika is a two-day festival celebrating Pacific Islander culture with music, dancing, singing, drumming, arts & crafts, and more. Over 37,000 Pacific Islanders live in New York—now, Te Ao Mana brings their culture and ancient genius of their tupuna, or ancestors, to the city through a free festival called Heiva Pasifika NYC, hosted by the Library for the Performing Arts. In Tahitian, the word Heiva refers to cultural activities, pastimes, physical exercise, and festivals. Music, d…

Heiva Pasifika is a two-day festival celebrating Pacific Islander culture with music, dancing, singing, drumming, arts & crafts, and more. Over 37,000 Pacific Islanders live in New York—now, Te Ao Mana brings their culture and ancient genius of their tupuna, or ancestors, to the city through a free festival called Heiva Pasifika NYC, hosted by the Library for the Performing Arts. In Tahitian, the word Heiva refers to cultural activities, pastimes, physical exercise, and festivals. Music, d…

In the second of our two-part series celebrating the choreographer Agnes de Mille, Norton Owen moderates a panel discussion exploring what makes de Mille’s work quintessentially American. Curated by Diana Byer and Diana Gonzalez, the conversation will include archival footage and live performance. Photo credit: Agnes de Mille as “The Cowgirl'' in Rodeo (The Courting at Burnt Ranch) from the section “The Howdown.” Photo by Maurice Seymour © Ronald Seymour. Register SEATING POLICY | Progr…

This event is online only. 53rd Street Library is continuing our successful remote music series in collaboration with the Library for the Performing Arts. This disc discussion will focus on The Band: The Band **How to Register: Please click HERE** We are offering a monthly music club (1PM & 5PM options) via Google Hangouts/Meetup selecting and focusing on a classic album with a distinct cultural impact. To give the club an intimate feel--Like a book club for music. An LP Club!--and for us…

This event is online only. 53rd Street Library is continuing our successful remote music series in collaboration with the Library for the Performing Arts. This disc discussion will focus on The Band: The Band **How to Register: Please click HERE** We are offering a monthly music club (1PM & 5PM options) via Google Hangouts/Meetup selecting and focusing on a classic album with a distinct cultural impact. To give the club an intimate feel--Like a book club for music. An LP Club!--and for us…

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) is at the center of the negotiations currently underway in both the SAG-AFTRA and Screenwriters Guild strikes. But how will this new technology affect theatre, and how is it already affecting it? The Library for the Performing Arts and Masie Productions invite you to an afternoon discussion of these issues at the Library at Lincoln Center. Moderators Doug Reside (curator of the Billy Rose Theatre Division) and Elliott Masie (Broadway Producer and Technolo…

Register here! Accordionist Dr. William Schimmel and his team are back once again with a provocative array of new accordion works as well as new takes on old ones. From The Mexican Hat Dance, to Wozzeck, to Zen Blues, Schimmel and company will cross all borders. Dr. Schimmel will be joined on stage by performers Brian Dewan, Corn Mo, Benjamin ickies, Melissa Elledge, Dr. Denise Koncelik, William Komaiko, Dr. Robert Young Mc Mahan, Dr. Hugo Goldenzweig, Dan Cooper, Lynn Bechtold. Photo Credit;…

Pianist Emiko Edwards performs a recital of Aaron Copland music featuring a NYPL archived sketch. Register Described as “dazzling” and “scintillating,” (Classical Source) and lauded for her “beautiful singing lines” and performances filled with “drama and energy” (Joan Tower), pianist Emiko Edwards continues to captivate audiences with her sincere musical interpretations and wide variety of tonal color. She has won numerous awards at both the national and international level, taking prizes…

Omari Wiles has created a fabulously radical reimagining of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s iconic dance musical based on T. S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats. The work, inspired by the queer, Black, and Latinx Ballroom culture that roared out of New York City over 50 years ago and still rages on runways around the world, places Cats into the energetic ballroom, voguing scene. With all new ballroom and club beats, runway ready choreography, and an edgy eleganza makeover, this Jellicle Ball tr…

Register here! Silent Clowns, New York’s longest-running regularly scheduled silent film showcase hosts an afternoon of hoots and hijinks! Presenting the silent comedies of Chaplin, Keaton, Laurel & Hardy, Lloyd, and many others, all with live musical accompaniment by renowned silent-film accompanist Ben Model. Every program features a spoken introduction and Q&A by film historians Steve Massa and Model. For classic-film fans young and old alike! While The General (1926) and The Naviga…

Register here! The creators of the Broadway hit Wicked will gather on its 20th anniversary to remember the process of launching the original production and reflect on what has happened in the two decades since. SEATING POLICY | Programs are free and open to all, but registration is requested. Check-in line forms 45 minutes before the advertised start time. Registered guests are given priority check-in 15 to 30 minutes before start time. Five minutes before the advertised start time, all sea…

*This tour is first come, first served and requires no registration. Take a tour of the exhibition with Libary staff to discover how the crossing of borders contributed to the creation of a new American art form - modern dance. Immigrant artists and artists of color, marginalized and excluded in their own lands, have largely been erased from dance history despite their pivotal contributions to contemporary performance. Border Crossings: Exile and American Modern Dance, 1900–1955 illuminat…

As part of the Library’s efforts to recognize the artists featured in the exhibition Border Crossings, the Jerome Robbins Dance Division welcomes scholar Wendy Perron and choreographer Muna Tseng to discuss the legacy of Japanese-American dance artist, Michio Ito, a key figure in early American modern dance. An influence on Martha Graham and Lester Horton, Michio Ito developed a unique technique based on Dalcroze Eurythmics. He choreographed many solos and duets in New York and later produced m…

Register here! Credited with popularizing the label “ex-wife”; in 1929, Ursula Parrott wrote provocatively about divorcées, career women, single mothers, work-life balance, and a host of new challenges facing modern women. Her best-selling books (many of them set in New York City), Hollywood film deals, marriages and divorces, and run-ins with the law made her a household name. Marsha Gordon, author of Becoming the Ex-Wife: The Unconventional Life & Forgotten Writings of Ursula Parrott, wi…

The Hālāwai Film Festival endeavors to celebrate, showcase and cultivate talent and cultural resources of the Pacific Islands in the New York metropolitan area. Experience performances and films centered around the cultural dances of the Pacific Islands. Join the journey to becoming the best of the best in hula, and take an unvarnished look at the impacts of the commercialization of hula and Hawaiian culture. Register Featured films include Ka Huaka'i, directed by Gerard Elmore which follo…

Register here! In the grassy gardens of princely Italian villas, a boisterous George Frideric Handel found himself surrounded by the greatest thinkers and artists of his day. During weekend meetings playfully called Conversations, ideas would be passed around and passionately examined about love, death, loss, virtue—timeless notions that continue to challenge us. In this makeshift Eden, the young Handel experimented and pushed his art to its farthest reaches. Reimagining these 18th-century mee…

Register here! Silent Clowns, New York’s longest-running regularly scheduled silent film showcase hosts an afternoon of hoots and hijinks! Presenting the silent comedies of Chaplin, Keaton, Laurel & Hardy, Lloyd, and many others, all with live musical accompaniment by renowned silent-film accompanist Ben Model. Every program features a spoken introduction and Q&A by film historians Steve Massa and Model. For classic-film fans young and old alike! Marion Davies is best-remembered today…

Register here! The author of more than 40 shows, Otto Harbach revolutionized Broadway with his integrated musical theatre. This hybrid lecture and concert focuses on Harbach’s work in such shows as The Desert Song and No, No, Nanette—and reveals the lyrical genius behind “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes” and “Yesterdays.” We trace how Harbach remains a force in contemporary musical theatre, not only through the works of his protégé Oscar Hammerstein, but also through the aesthetic ideas he popularized.…

Register here! The Choral Composer/Conductor Collective, an award-winning collective ensemble focused on choral music written in the last 25 years, presents an evening of new choral works composed by members of the Collective and inspired by items from the Library for the Performing Arts' collections. SEATING POLICY | Programs are free and open to all, but registration is requested. Check-in line forms 45 minutes before the advertised start time. Registered guests are given priority check-i…

The Jerome Robbins Dance Division is delighted to host a celebration of 93-year-old choreographer, dance icon, activist, and pioneer, Nat Horne. In addition to being the first enlisted African-American to dance for the U.S. military Special Services, Horne was an original member of Alvin Ailey Dance Theater and performed in the original production of Revelations. Having appeared in 12 Broadway shows, he was one of the founders of New York’s “Theatre Row” on 42nd Street. Live dance and musical p…

Register here! In 2022, the Billy Rose Theatre Division offered its past Across a Crowded Room participants the chance to apply for a fellowship to continue development of their work created in that workshop. The musical theatre collaboration of A.J. Freeman, Gil Varod, and Jonathon Lynch received that fellowship for their piece The Carousel of Inevitability and Certain Foreboding. In this first performance, they will showcase what they have been up to since receiving the fellowship. The music…

Register here! For nearly ten years, the Library for the Performing Arts’ summer musical theatre writing program has brought together lyricists, composers, bookwriters, and performers to form new collaborations and write 20-minute musicals with advice from experts in the industry. At the end of each program, the artists present their new musical theatre works to the public. Join us for this special first performance of these works! SEATING POLICY | Programs are free and open to all, but reg…

The Mourning Dove is an unfinished playlet by Jerome Robbins in which he aligns the tragic death of John F. Kennedy—an event he felt could be perceived in time as of quasi-mythical nature—with the unique form of Noh, the Japanese theatrical tradition that Robbins regarded as a possible model for his own dramatic vision. The script and the spare poetry of his text mirror, in fact, the structure and patterns of a Noh play—an alignment that is to be intended as a way to express with extreme economy…

*This tour is first come, first served and requires no registration. Take a tour of the exhibition with Libary staff to discover how the crossing of borders contributed to the creation of a new American art form - modern dance. Immigrant artists and artists of color, marginalized and excluded in their own lands, have largely been erased from dance history despite their pivotal contributions to contemporary performance. Border Crossings: Exile and American Modern Dance, 1900–1955 illuminat…

The Library for the Performing Arts celebrates the life and multifaceted career of Regina Resnik, international opera star, Tony-nominated actress, stage director, and filmmaker. Alongside our exhibition opening September 21, we will screen the documentary Regina Resnik: New York Original, which traces the remarkable 70-year career of the Bronx-born Jewish cultural figure. The film features interviews with opera stars Martina Arroyo and Teresa Stratas; Broadway legends Harold Prince and Joel Gre…

Register here! Continuing the Library’s ongoing efforts to recognize the artists featured in the exhibition Border Crossings, the Jerome Robbins Dance Division welcomes dance artists Carmen de Lavallade and Zita Allen to discuss the impact of Geoffrey Holder on the field of dance. De Lavallade is an actress, choreographer and former dancer, and Allen is a dance writer, the first African American dance critic for Dance Magazine, and has written for many other publications. Photo Credit: Peter B…

Register here! The Ivalas Quartet, the Graduate Resident String Quartet at The Juilliard School, perform rarely heard music by women composers, some of which has not been played in 100 years. This program will highlight some of the Music and Recorded Sound Division scores recently cataloged through the generous donation of the Achelis & Bodman Foundation. The quartet will play music by composers Helen Crane, Mary Howe, Marion Bauer, Madeleine Dedieu-Peters, and Mabel Wood-Hill. The Ivalas…

Register here! Dance scholar and former Chief Dance Critic for The New York Times, Alastair Macaulay, takes us on a deep dive into one of the most beloved ballets of all time, Giselle. Following a timeline from the original choreography by Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot in 1841 through to more contemporary productions, Macaulay will trace the evolution of the work into the form audiences recognize today. Photo Credit: George Platt Lynes SEATING POLICY | Programs are free and open to all, bu…

Register here! The musical Legs Diamond told the story of a true-life gangster who always wanted to be in the theater business. The show, written by Charles Suppon and Harvey Fierstein, only lasted for 64 performances in the late 80s. But it has developed a cult following and it even received some Tony Award nominations, and Willa Kim was nominated for Drama Desk Award for her fantastic costume design. The original cast of the Tony-nominated Broadway musical Legs Diamond reunites to celebrate…

Register here! Dancer Jack Ferver stars in a dance film, Nowhere Apparent, by filmmaker Jeremy Jacob that creates a kaleidoscopic world of queer isolation, theatricality, and abandonment in response to disappeared parental figures and the failed response to the AIDS crisis. Both Ferver and Jacob were Dance Research Fellows with the Jerome Robbins Dance Division in 2019, working with the Division’s AIDS Legacy Project. A screening of the film will be followed by a conversation between the two a…

Register here! Silent Clowns, New York’s longest-running regularly scheduled silent film showcase hosts an afternoon of hoots and hijinks! Presenting the silent comedies of Chaplin, Keaton, Laurel & Hardy, Lloyd, and many others, all with live musical accompaniment by renowned silent-film accompanist Ben Model. Every program features a spoken introduction and Q&A by film historians Steve Massa and Model. For classic-film fans young and old alike! Animals were very popular in silent fil…

Register here! The Billy Rose Theatre Division celebrates five decades of one Broadway’s most brilliant actors, André De Shields. In this discussion with De Shields, we screen video clips of his many performances and explore his illustrious career from the 1969 Chicago production of Hair to his critically praised turn as Ben Loman in the 2022 revival of Death of a Salesman. SEATING POLICY | Programs are free and open to all, but registration is requested. Check-in line forms 45 minutes befo…

*This tour is first come, first served and requires no registration. Take a tour of the exhibition with Libary staff to discover how the crossing of borders contributed to the creation of a new American art form - modern dance. Immigrant artists and artists of color, marginalized and excluded in their own lands, have largely been erased from dance history despite their pivotal contributions to contemporary performance. Border Crossings: Exile and American Modern Dance, 1900–1955 illuminat…

Register here! Filmmaker and choreographer Omonike Akinyemi takes us through the career of the incredible Puerto Rican-American dance artist Manuel Alum. A star dancer and director of the Paul Sanasardo Dance Company, Alum went on to run his own company and had a prolific career as a choreographer. Photo Credit: Philip Hipwell This event will take place online via Zoom as well as in person at The Library for the Performing Arts. *A streaming link will be emailed to everyone on the morning of…

*This tour is first come, first served and requires no registration. Take a tour of the exhibition with Libary staff to discover how the crossing of borders contributed to the creation of a new American art form - modern dance. Immigrant artists and artists of color, marginalized and excluded in their own lands, have largely been erased from dance history despite their pivotal contributions to contemporary performance. Border Crossings: Exile and American Modern Dance, 1900–1955 illuminat…