New York’s culture is as accessible and abundant as it’s ever been. Though New York’s performing arts venues are closed for the time being, its talents and performances are readily available to enjoy.

Below are highlights of what the Big Apple (and beyond) has to offer culture-craving New Yorkers who love the performing arts in the coming days and weeks.

LINCOLN CENTER AT HOME: BROADWAY FRIDAYS

Just announced: June 5 through June 19, #LincolnCenterAtHome offers Broadway Fridays – free online streams of Live From Lincoln Center’s broadcasts from past productions at Lincoln Center Theater and the New York Philharmonic. Archival performances are made available every Friday from June 5 through June 19 on Lincoln Center’s website, Facebook, and YouTube channels. Upcoming productions are:

Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel with the New York Philharmonic (June 5)

Featuring: Kelli O’Hara, Nathan, Gunn, Stephanie Blythe, Shuler Hensley, Jason Danieley, Jessie Mueller, Kate Burton, John Cullum, and New York City Ballet dancers Robert Fairchild and Tiler Peck.

The Nance – Lincoln Center Theater Production (June 12)

Tony Award-winner Nathan Lane stars in Douglas Carter Beane’s dark comedy.

Act One – Lincoln Center Theater Production (June 19)

Tony Award-winning writer and director James Lapine adapts Moss Hart’s memoir for the stage, which earned Lapine a Tony Award nomination for Best Play. The cast includes Tony Award winners Tony Shalhoub, Andrea Martin, and Santino Fontana.

JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER

An incredible archive of performances from Jazz at Lincoln Center is available here. Current highlights are:

World Wide Concert for Our Culture: Jazz at Lincoln Center’s 2020 Virtual Gala (4/15/20): Share in the evening hosted by Wynton Marsalis here

Concert Celebration, Ella Fitzgerald, First Lady of Jazz: Enjoy this tribute to Ella from Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (2017) here

THE METROPOLITAN OPERA

Each day while the house is dark, a different encore presentation from The Metropolitan Opera’s Live In HD series is being made available for free. This series may not last much longer so catch an opera now.

Thomas Adés’s The Exterminating Angel (Friday, June 5)

The brand new opera by British wunderkind based on the legendary movie by Luis Buñuel.

Starring Audrey Luna, Amanda Echalaz, Sally Matthews, Sophie Bevan, Alice Coote, Christine Rice, Iestyn Davies, Joseph Kaiser, Frédéric Antoun, David Portillo, David Adam Moore, Rod Gilfry, Kevin Burdette, Christian Van Horn, and John Tomlinson, conducted by Thomas Adès (performance date 11/18/17).

Link here

Verdi’s Otello (Saturday, June 6)

Verdi’s masterpiece after Shakespeare’s tale of love, jealousy and (lots of) death.

Starring Sonya Yoncheva, Aleksandrs Antonenko, and Željko Lučić, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin (performance date 10/17/15).

Link here

Massinet’s Thais (Sunday, June 7)

The fantastic tale of a harlot saved and a holy man damned — all during the course of one opera, featuring one of the most beautiful interludes ever written and legendary performances.

Starring Renée Fleming, Michael Schade, and Thomas Hampson, conducted by Jesús López-Cobos (performance date 12/20/08).

Link here

If you’re looking for more opera from The Met, you can sign up and pay for Met Opera On Demand. From old-school legends to current stars you can experience more than 700-full-length Met performances with its online streaming service (free apps are available for Amazon Fire TV and Tablet, iPad, iPhone, Apple TV, Android, Roku, and Samsung Smart TV).

LINCOLN CENTER DANCE

Lincoln Center celebrates Dance Week with streaming performances of extraordinary dance productions – among them, New York City Ballet and Ballet Hispánico:

Coppelia, New York City Ballet production (available through July 17)

George Balanchine and Alexandra Danilova’s reconstruction and expansion of the 19th-centruy comic ballet is a tale of mechanical dolls inspired by stories by E.T.A. Hoffmann and set to music by Leo Delibes. The performance stars Patricia McBride, Helgi Tomasson, and Shaun O’Brien (performance 1974).

Link here

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, George Balanchine New York City Ballet production (available through July 14)

Balanchine’s enchanting ode to Shakespeare’s comedy features Maria Calegari, Ib Andersen, and Jean Pierre Frohlich. Set to Mendelssohn’s music, this telling of A Midsummer Night’s Dream delivers love and magic through dance (performance 1986).

Link here

CARMEN.maquia and Club Havana, Ballet Hispánico (available for a limited time)

Experience Ballet Hispánico’s imaginative, theatrical showcase of Latin-inspired contemporary dance at its best. Rhythms of the conga, rumba, mambo, and cha cha are brought to life by choreographer Pedro Ruiz. Gustavo Ramírez Sansano offers a Picasso-inspired, contemporary take on Bizet’s classic opera (2015)

Link here

OPERA, DANCE, AND THEATER FROM AROUND THE WORLD

Marquee TV is offering 14 days free of its on-demand service with premiers every Saturday. A few of the extraordinary productions available are:

L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato: Choreographer Mark Morris garnered international fame for this landmark full-length ballet set to Handel’s Baroque masterpiece, in which a colorful array of dancers embody the ecstasy of art that transforms in a life of joy, contemplation and the moderation of both.

Vanessa: A spell-binding Glyndebourne production of Samuel Barber’s Pulitzer prize winning opera starring Emma Bell, Virginie Verrez, Edgaras Montvidas, Rosalind Plowright, Donnie Ray Albert, Romanas Kudriašovas, and William Thomas Nicholas.

Love’s Labour’s Lost: A staggering telling from the Royal Shakespeare Company starring Sam Alexander, Peter Basham, William Belchambers, Edward Bennett, Nick Haverson, Emma Manton, John Hodgkinson, and Tunji Kasim.

Woman of No Importance: Rarely done, but not to be missed – starring a riveting Eve Best, the wonderful Anne Reid, Eleanor Bron, Crystal Clarke, Emma Fielding, Dominic Rowan, William Gaunt, and Sam Cox.

A Winter’s Tale: The incredible, modern ballet interpretation by renowned choreographer Christopher Wheeldon is danced by The Royal Ballet.  It features Lauren Cuthbertson, Ryoichi Hirano, Sarah Lamb, Vadim Muntagirov, Laura Morera, Matthew Ball, and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House.

Lady Windermere’s Fan: A memorable star turn from Absolutely Fabulous’s Jennifer Saunders is just one more reason to watch Samantha Spiro, Kevin Bishop, Joseph Marcell. Joshua James, and Grace Molony in one of Oscar Wilde’s most famous plays.

Swan Lake from Paris Opera Ballet: Swan Lake is undisputedly the greatest classical ballet.  This flawless production of the Tchaikovsky masterwork features Agnès Letestu, José Martinez, Karl Paquette, and the Paris Opera Orchestra.­

Whether you want to get dressed up and enjoy a virtuoso performance from The Metropolitan Opera or New York City Ballet, or kick back with a cocktail and Jazz at Lincoln Center, you can continue to enjoy the pleasures of New York’s finest performing arts right from your home.

We Are One is a free 10-day long international film festival with films curated by some of the most renown festivals in the world, including Cannes, Sundance, Tribeca, Toronto, Venice, and New York Film Festivals – just to name a few. The We Are One Global Film Festival runs May 29 – June 7.

Like most film festivals, each film or program will have a scheduled first screening. Then, many of the films will be available on demand via YouTube throughout the festival to watch whenever is most convenient.

The festival aims to be an event where the film community can come together in this time of crises – to celebrate films and to help provide support of COVID-19 efforts.

All programming is free. If viewers are inspired to donate, there is a donation button or link on every film’s page to help with COVID-19 relief efforts. Beneficiaries are the World Health Organization, UNICEF, UNHCR, Save the Children, Doctors Without Borders, and GO Foundation, among others.

Programming includes features, short films, animation, documentaries, panels, and more. You can easily filter the events by type of file or genre to find what interests you most. Check out the complete offering of programming here

Type of Film

• 360 VR
• Feature Film
• Panel
• Program
• Short Film
• Television
• Web Series

Genre

• Action/Adventure
• Activism/Social Issues
• Animation
• Comedy
• Documentary
• Drama
• Experimenta
• Fantasy/Sci-Fi
• LGBTQIA
• Music
• Romance

Global Curation

Film Festivals from around the globe have participated in helping to curate We Are One. They include:

• Annecy International Animation Film Festival
• Berlin International Film Festival
• BFI London Film Festival
• Cannes Film Festival
• Guadalajara International Film Festival
• International Film Festival & Awards Macao (IFFAM)
• International Film Festival Rotterdam
• Jerusalem Film Festival
• Mumbai Film Festival (MAMI)
• Karlovy Vary International Film Festival
• Locarno Film Festival, Marrakech International Film Festival
• New York Film Festival
• San Sebastian International Film Festival
• Sarajevo Film Festival
• Sundance Film Festival
• Sydney Film Festival
• Tokyo International Film Festival
• Toronto International Film Festival
• Tribeca Film Festival
• Venice Film Festival

So, pop some popcorn and get ready to be entertained by the We Are One Global Film Festival.

The Cannes Film Festival has been debuting new films since 1946. Each year there is an astonishing array of international films from venerated filmmakers and exciting debuts from new ones.

Although Cannes has been canceled this year, you can stream your own festival at home via an array of online for pay streaming services. Here is a short-list across all genres that would be especially entertaining and enlightening.

All About Eve 1950 (streaming sources)

Joseph Mankiewicz’s iconic film is about Margo Channing, a self-centered Broadway star. It is acerbic, funny, and tender. Played by Bette Davis, in one of her signature roles, she confronts the issue of a woman aging, when undermined by a conniving younger actress (Anne Baxter). It has some of the most quotable lines in movie history. Watch for a brief scene with a very young Marilyn Monroe. “Fasten your seatbelts, it is going to be a bumpy night.”

La Dolce Vita 1960 (streaming sources) Available free on YouTube.

Many consider this to be Fellini’s best film. It portrays the search for the “sweet life” over seven days in Rome. Marcello Mastroainni is the central figure, but Anita Ekberg dancing in the Trevi Fountain is the image that has become synonymous with this film – and maybe all of Italy in the 1960s.

A Man and a Woman 1961 (streaming sources)

One of the biggest Foreign Film hits in the U.S., this film is simply out and out romantic. Anouk Aimee as a script girl and Jean-Louis Trintignant as a racecar driver have a passionate affair. Francis Lai sets the story to a gorgeous score.

The Leopard 1963 (streaming sources) Available free on YouTube.

Luchino Visconti’s sumptuous visual retelling of the landmark novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lempedusais unforgettable. Burt Lancaster plays the eponymous “leopard,” and through his eyes we see the waning days of the Sicilian aristocracy. Alain Delon and Claudia Cardinale are gorgeous in their breathtaking roles as young lovers.

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg 1964 (streaming sources)

This is a delightful and colorful musical by Jacques Demy. Catherine Deneuve and Nino Castelnuovo sing their way through Michel Legrand’s lovely score. Many great vocalists have covered its hit that became a classic, “I Will Wait for You.”

Modesty Blaise 1966 (streaming sources) Available free on YouTube.

For pure escapist entertainment, Modesty Blaise is one of a long line of funny and ironic spy movies spawned by the James Bond series. The thing that sets it apart is that it’s made by an A-list director with A-list stars. Joseph Losey directs, and Monica Vitti, famous for serous Michelangelo Antonioni films, stars with heartthrob Terrence Stamp and dashing Dirk Bogarde. The eye-popping (and bustier popping) Sixties fashions alone make this worth watching.

M*A*S*H 1970 (streaming sources)

If you only know this from the TV series, watch the film. Robert Altman shocked the world with this anarchically funny war comedy. It is set during the Korean War – a stand-in for Vietnam, which was still raging at the time. Altman didn’t shy away from the brutality of war and casualties, but he showed how people cope with humor and whatever it takes. The film features career-making performances from Donald Sutherland, Elliott Gould, Sally Kellerman, and many others. The irony is that M*A*S*H was in contention with Patton for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. While the jury at Cannes chose M*A*S*H, the old guard at the Motion Picture Academy chose Patton.

The Go-Between 1971 (streaming sources)

Joseph Losey directed this delicate memory piece by screenwriter Harold Pinter. It’s the story of a boy who visits his friend for the summer. He becomes infatuated with his sister, Marian and the go-between between her (Julie Christie), and her secret lover (Alan Bates), a tenant famer. For her supporting performance, Margaret Leighton would later be nominated for an Oscar.

The Conversation 1974 (streaming sources)

Francis Ford Coppola made this tight, paranoid thriller between the first two Godfather movies. Gene Hackman is a detective who is out to prove that Harrison Ford plans to murder his wife. It’s a haunting, intelligent film depicting isolation and paranoia that seems more relevant today than ever.

Sex, Lies, and Videotape 1989 (streaming sources)

Steven Soderbergh’s indelible first film changes the game about obsession, sexuality, and humor. Peter Gallagher, Andie MacDowell, and Laura San Giacomo, are each drawn into the world of sex, lies, and videotape by James Spader. Since this directorial debut, Soderbergh has had a long and varied career in TV and film, winning many Emmys and Oscars.

The Piano 1993 (streaming sources)

Holly Hunter and Anna Paquin would later win Oscars for their roles as mother and daughter in this story of a lonely, unhappily married mute pianist. The film’s writer/director, Jane Campion is the only woman to win the Palme-d’Or to this day. She won the Oscar for her screenplay.

The White Ribbon 2009 (streaming sources)

Every frame of this atmospheric black and white film by Michael Haneke could be a stand-alone piece of German Expressionist art. Set in 1914 in a small village, and focusing mostly on its children, the film makes you understand how Fascism can rise. It portends the mood of the country before the rise of Hitler. Haneke’s work is fascinating and frightening, especially in our current era.

These are just a few of the extraordinary films featured at Cannes through the years. For other more comprehensive recommendations, check out these articles in The Guardian and The New Yorker.

Though you might not get to watch the stars walk the red carpet, you can experience why every year the Cannes Film Festival is a bastion for the best of international filmmaking.

MOMA

Join the Museum of Modern Art every Thursday for its Virtual Views – bringing its collection and galleries online, including access to Donald Judd’s revolutionary sculptures, Dorothea Lange’s powerful photographs, intimate home movies, and more.

Plus, every weekend, MOMA explores an exhibition or a favorite artwork from its collection through video stories and curator Q&As, as well as audio playlists and feature articles.

Coming this Thursday, May 21

Amy Sillman:  The Shape of Shape. Get a behind-the-scenes look at the acclaimed Artist’s Choice exhibition curated by painter Amy Sillman. Join Sillman in conversation with Michelle Kuo, the Marlene Hess Curator of Painting and Sculpture, as they talk about the importance of shape, the shape-making outliers of art history, and Sillman’s new zine: here.

Past MOMA Virtual Views are available here, and we think you might especially like these two

April 30

Dorothea Lange: Words & Pictures. Explore iconic works that redefined how we see America with Sarah Meister—plus introductory videos, poetry and artist’s books inspired by Lange, and the mystery around one of the most famous photographs in the world.  Available here.

May 7

The Sculpture Garden. Rediscover one of NYC’s most beloved outdoor spaces, the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden. Relive some of the most inspiring—and wildest—moments in the Sculpture Garden’s history, follow a guided meditation, see how huge sculptures are installed with cranes, and much more.  Available here.

The Frick Museum

Many New Yorkers consider the Frick the ultimate museum experience. Housed in the mansion of industrialist Henry Clay Frick, the collection is at once varied across time and singular in the quality of every piece.  Visitors not only experience this priceless art collection, but also are able to return to the grandeur of the Gilded Age and experience the ambience of exquisitely furnished rooms.

In 2010, award-winning filmmaker Christopher Noey produced and directed a short film about the Frick to celebrate the museum’s 75th anniversary. The 11-minute film is as timeless (and as manageable) as the museum.  You can view the short film here.

Every Friday, the museum is offering a weekly installment of

“Cocktails with a Curator”

These 15 to 20 minute segments are both erudite and very entertaining.  Each talk focuses on a single work of art that is in the collection or has an association with works in the collection.  We promise you’ll be captivated and learn a lot. You can find the list of previous talks here. And remember there is a new segment every Friday at 5:00 p.m.

More New York Museums

Many New York museums have virtual tours and exhibitions on their sites. If your favorite isn’t listed, don’t despair and check its site directly — the good news is that with so many, it’s not possible to capture them all.

• Museum of the City of New York
• New York Historical Society
• New York Public Library
• The Whitney
• Tenement Museum

 Google’s Arts & Culture platform allows virtual access to many New York museums. Below are links to some of the best known:

• The Brooklyn Museum
• Cooper Hewitt
• The Guggenheim
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Beyond New York

If you want to explore beyond New York’s institutions, Google’s Arts & Culture connects you to content from around the world, including:

• National Gallery

We think you will find this exhibit particularly interesting:

Fashioning a Nation: Drawings from the Index of American Design illustrate a brief survey of American fashions from 1740 to 1895. The costumes in this exhibit provide some insight into the character and quality of American life from colonial times into the period of the industrial revolution. Most of the costumes represented are formal or “fine” garments of the kind that were preserved and handed down in families from one generation to the next.

• The Uffizi

Don’t miss the Italian Renaissance collection and the virtual tour of many of the Uzzi Gallery rooms, which will remind you all over again why you love Florence.

• Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam

Choose any tour, and you’ll be wowed.

You can explore over 2,000 collections, 100,000 artworks, and 10,000 places from 80 countries with Google Arts & Culture

Although there are many inconveniences right now, this is a great time to remind ourselves of all the resources we have at our fingertips and never take advantage of… and a time to find new ones.

Nothing brings people together like music. Jazz, with its universal expressions, soulful melodies, and captivating rhythms speaks to us in ways words alone cannot. Hearing musicians coming together to create memorable performances confirms what greater good can come of joint efforts.

The community spirit of Jazz is part of what drove the development and growth of NoMad’s Tin Pan Alley. Its output of indelible songs influenced popular music of the time and continues to reach into the future, uniting people with its timeless tunes and rhythms. Even in times of isolation, Jazz can remind us of the bonds we still share.

Here are ways you can tap into the enduring power of Jazz.

LIVE JAZZ

If you’re looking for live streaming Jazz performances, Jazz at Lincoln Center’s guide keeps you informed about live digital jazz concerts and when they’re being broadcast. It’s updated continually so that you’re always in the know.

JAZZ HAPPY HOUR

For those who want to share jazz with others, The Jazz Gallery in NoMad continues its live Happy Hour Zoom sessions with jazz musicians. Hear great music, interact with a Jazz Gallery musician, and join the Jazz Gallery community. Tickets are $15 or free for members. Sessions are limited to 10 people, so be sure to get your tickets ahead of time here.

JAZZ PERFORMANCES, RECORDINGS, AND PLAYLISTS

Jazz at Lincoln Center continues to make Jazz performances, recordings, and playlists available:

• The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra Plays Monk, a concert from 2018. Watch the JLCO with Wynton Marsalis tackle some of Thelonious Monk’s best-loved tunes.
• “From The Vaults” Archival Concert: watch on YouTube.
• Jazz for Children playlist on Spotify.
• Rock Chalk Suite from the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis: Listen to the album or download it from Lincoln Center’s store.
• Discover the beauty of jazz vocals with these videos from its Jazz Academy archive

MORE ABOUT TIN PAN ALLEY

To learn more about Tin Pan Alley, read this informative four-part series on Experience NoMad:

• Tin Pan Alley’s name and accomplishments: Part 1
• Tin Pan Alley’s musical styles and composers: Part 2
• Social forces and technological developments that lead to Tin Pan Alley’s rise and fall: Part 3
• Tin Pan Alley’s lasting significance on culture and business models: Part 4

The mural that greets visitors to 1133 is from the American Renaissance period.  From 1876 to 1917, this classical revival art movement celebrated civic virtue with a profusion of public murals presenting Greek allegory.

The St. James mural was painted by Arthur Brounet, a nationally famous muralist of the Golden Age whom we’ll cover in a future article.  His work appeared in fine homes, theatres, and civic buildings, and commercial structures in New York City and beyond.

The St. James mural features three beautiful goddesses stunningly arrayed in a strong classically balanced composition.  For all its formal symmetry and balance, the mural has tremendous movement and energy created by the limbs and garments of its three imposing figures.

In the center is the Greek Goddess Athena (known to the Romans as Minerva) flanked by two virginal attendants, possibly the vestal virgins.  Athena/Minerva is associated with a shield, owl, olive tree/branch (while there are no owls in the mural, it is interesting that there are so many on the exterior of the building).  Athena is the patroness of learning and wisdom, guardian of cities, and a powerful goddess of war and peace.

Athena is also the patroness of arts and crafts which is fitting because the St. James was, from the outset, meant to be a building for architects and other creative and building trades professionals.  In fact, Bruce Price, the architect of the St. James, and Daniel Burnham, the architect of the Flatiron Building and the famous Chicago Columbia Exposition, had offices in 1133 Broadway.

The figure on the left holds the fasces, a cylindrical bundle of wooden rods out of which protrudes the head of an ax.  The fasces is a symbol of power and unity as well as magisterial and regal authority.  Unfortunately, it became a beloved symbol of “fascists,” who derived their name from this once-respected classical symbol of strength.  With this imagery, the figure on the right represents a guardian of hearth and domestic life.  On the right, the figure carrying the flame is a symbol of life, the undying fire.

The resulting composition when taken together was probably meant to represent the best values of the ever-victorious America — a fine fusion of commerce, culture, and that uniquely American phenomenon, domestic excellence.

In 1896, virtually any well-educated person would have a good idea of who these women were and would intuit the mural’s meaning.  Today, it may not be so clear, but there is still a lesson for us in the three fabulously beautiful portraits.  So the next time you arrive for work, look up, because a century later the mural like all art, can lift our spirits and inspire us to achieve more.  The goddesses might also calm you:  Have you ever seen such serenity, confidence and strength?