Sweep of Free and Choose-What-You-Pay Events

Begin Sept 7

 

NEW YORK, NY (August 10, 2023) – As Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (LCPA) nears the close of Summer for the City, the organization today announced its fall/winter season of programming.

Featuring the contemporary, the classical, and new collaborations, the season offers fresh interpretations, boundary-blurring presentations, contemporary artistry in genres rarely seen at Lincoln Center, and collaborations that defy conventional artistic definitions.

Fresh perspectives on classical music, dance, and literature build upon the rich traditions of these art forms, including:

• Turtle Island Quartet’s Island Prayers featuring New York premieres by David Balakrishnan, Terence Blanchard, Rhiannon Giddens, and Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate, a co-commission of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Meany Performing Arts Center, and The Music Hall (Oct 27);

• The US Premiere of a new production from Les Arts Florissants of Henry Purcell’s The Fairy Queen directed by French-Algerian choreographer and director Mourad Merzouki and featuring dancers from The Juilliard School in Alice Tully Hall (Nov 2);

• Philip Glass’s The Complete Piano Etudes, an epic performance of the full sweep of Philip Glass’s 20 piano etudes with Timo Andres, Inon Barnatan, Lara Downes, Daniela Liebman, Jenny Lin, Nico Muhly, Maki Namekawa, Ursula Oppens, and more in David Geffen Hall (Nov 19); and

• Mexican operatic tenor Rolando Villazón and French harpist Xavier de Maistre in an evening of music from their album, Serenata Latina, in association with The Metropolitan Opera at Alice Tully Hall (Dec 18).

 

Contemporary artistry across genres feature some of the most exciting up and coming voices from New York and beyond, including:

• Rising star and Lincoln Center regular Jaime Lozano will present two evenings this season: one to celebrate the release of his new album, Songs by an Immigrant Vol.2 and Navidad en Familia (Sept 15 & Dec 14);

• North Star: Conversations on Boundlessness, a two-day symposium with visual artist Kambui Olujimi featuring the world premiere of his film, North Star (Oct 7 & 8);

• FUTUROS, New Ideas in Composition, the New Latin Wave Festival’s Latine Composers Showcase (Nov 2, 9, & 16);

• The return of the Unsound Festival featuring a new genre-defying project Osmium and Robin Fox’s TRIPTYCH (Dec 2); The Caretaker and Moor Mother’s Black Encyclopedia of the Air  (Dec 4); and an evening with Raphael Rogiński and Martyna Basta, two leading voices from the Polish avant-garde scene (Dec 1);

• The return of globalFEST in David Geffen Hall with emerging artists from around the world (Jan 14).

 

New collaborations push the boundaries of expectations for artists and audiences, including:

• A collective of early career designers and artists curated by Artist-in-Residence Mimi Lien and Itohan Edoloyi present works in The Social Sculpture Project, a series of installations across campus that examine how cultural spaces perpetuate spatial inequity and how power structures are manifested in physical spaces

• Gospel, funk, soul, and Afrobeat come together in The Sound of (Black) Music, a reimagining of the beloved Rogers and Hammerstein score by Michael Mwenso and Jono Gasparro in Alice Tully Hall (Nov 9); and

• Deep River, a new project of Alonzo King LINES Ballet in collaboration with vocalist Lisa Fischer and pianist Jason Moran (Feb 22 - 24).

 

The majority of programs are offered for FREE or Choose-What-You-Pay, helping to remove cost as one barrier to participation in the arts. Livestreams of performances will be offered regularly and for free on Lincoln Center’s social channels for audiences unable to attend in person.

“The rich cultural traditions across this city and across Lincoln Center are truly what set us apart,” said Shanta Thake, Ehrenkranz Chief Artistic Officer of LCPA.  “It is our job to honor and build upon this history and the phenomenal work currently offered throughout our campus.” 

Thake continued, “We’re deepening work this season with our two artists-in-residence. Mimi Lien’s The Social Sculpture Project, a collaboration with artists and designers whose installations across campus will help us continue to examine how the built environment helps shape relationships and equity. Mahogany L. Browne, whose poetic rituals have inspired so many at Lincoln Center, continues to evolve her series of poetry readings and workshops. And, of course, our year-long celebration of composer Terence Blanchard continues with a new co-commission and collaborations with the New York Philharmonic, Juilliard, and Jazz at Lincoln Center.”

Legacies of San Juan Hill, the digital hub dedicated to exploring the Manhattan neighborhood that existed before Lincoln Center was built, adds new essays and in-person talks throughout the season.

The Festival of Firsts is back with a dozen artists embarking on new journeys and celebrating significant moments in their careers; shows for kids, teens, and families welcome audiences from infants through young adulthood, including presentations designed specifically for neurodivergent audiences; the Lincoln Center Moments series returns, with events for those with dementia and their caregivers offered in-person and online; and Lincoln Center Passport returns for children, teens, and adults with disabilities and their families, offering inclusively-designed dance classes with the New York City Ballet, a dress rehearsal at the Metropolitan Opera, family performances with Jazz at Lincoln Center, and more.

A collective of early career designers and artists curated by Artist-in-Residence Mimi Lien and Itohan Edoloyi present works in The Social Sculpture Project, a series of installations across campus that examine how cultural spaces perpetuate spatial inequity and how power structures are manifested in physical spaces. The project continues many of the explorations behind Mimi Lien’s groundbreaking 2021 installation, The GREEN, that transformed Josie Robertson Plaza into a participatory public art installation that invited New Yorkers to relax and enjoy the open-air space, along with live performances.

 

*****

Lincoln Center Presents

Fall/Winter Season

Imagery and video may be accessed here.

 

José Soto’s The Ancestral Call

Thursday, September 7 at 7:30 pm

David Rubenstein Atrium

The rapidly disappearing language and culture of the indigenous Bribri people of Panama and Costa Rica serves as an inspiration for Costa Rican composer José Soto, whose Lincoln Center premiere celebrates the release of his debut LP, The Ancestral Call. Soto's album is the culmination of years of study and direct engagement with the Bribri, particularly through their cultural ambassador Ali Garcia, whose voice provides a connecting thread throughout the work. With a core band featuring Soto on the piano alongside an international cast that includes Cuban drummer (and Lincoln Center regular) Francisco Mela, Boston saxophonist George Garzone, and Spanish flugelhornist Milena Casado, The Ancestral Call utilizes contemporary jazz to engage in a remarkable conversation with ancient tradition.

 

Kat Wright

Friday, September 8 at 7:30 pm
David Rubenstein Atrium

Once you hear Kat Wright sing, you'll never forget her voice. Sultry and dynamic, satin smooth with a bed of grit and whiskey, Wright's vocals evoke Bonnie Raitt's velvet growl and Amy Winehouse's sweet-and-sour croon. Wright and her touring band have performed a southern-spiced blend of R&B, folk, and rock music opening for Kacey Musgraves, The Wood Brothers, Leon Russell, Grace Potter, and dozens of other like-minded country soul artists. Following the release of her 2016 breakout album, By My Side, Wright spent the COVID years honing her craft with bandmates Josh Weinstein on bass and Bob Wagner on guitar in service of a pair of beguilingly stripped-down acoustic Trio Sessions EPs. Her forthcoming sophomore album, produced by Benny Yurco, is due in 2024.

 

보바 Gays Take Lincoln Center!
An All-Asian, All-Queer Comedy/Variety Show

Saturday, September 9 at 7:30 pm

David Rubenstein Atrium

Alex Kim and Kenny Park Yi are two queer, Korean-American comedians who perform and produce shows all around New York City. Now they're bringing their iconic Boba Gays, an all-queer and all-Asian comedy/variety show, to the Lincoln Center stage. Don't miss these two up-and-coming comedians in their biggest show yet! Best known for programming at their beloved home venue of Caveat NYC, the duo brings the laughs, boba, music, drag, and above all, queer Asian excellence to Lincoln Center. The pair will be joined by featured performer and Lincoln Center darling, the superstar Jasmine Rice LaBeija, as well as a host of super special guests.

 

Table of Silence Project 9/11

Monday, September 11 at 8:05 am

Josie Robertson Plaza

The Table of Silence Project 9/11 is an annual, free public performance ritual and call to action for peace conceived and choreographed by Jacqulyn Buglisi in 2011 to commemorate the loss of life and honor the bravery of all individuals affected by acts of terror, war and oppression of freedom. Artistic collaborators for this year’s program include Buglisi Dance Theatre Co-Founder/Principal Dancer Terese Capucilli, Composer/Violinist Daniel Bernard Roumain, Conch/Flute John Ragusa, and Film/Livestream Producer Nel Shelby and Nel Shelby Productions. 

 

The company will present the original full-scale version of the work with elements of the reimagined version as more than 150 dancers slowly ascend onto Josie Robertson Plaza at Lincoln Center to the sound of a conch shell’s call to action. Daniel Bernard Roumain performs a prologue on electric violin. Moving to the plaintive strains of the flute, the heartbeat of bass drums, trumpet, bells and the cries of a chorus, the dancers form patterns of three concentric circles around the iconic Revson Fountain while repeating 12 symbolic ritualistic gestures ten times to create a peace labyrinth. This sacred landscape becomes filled with the transcendent energy of the Mandala, connecting dancers and viewers to the healing rituals of the natural world. Hidden in the pocket of the dancers’ robe is a ceramic plate sculpture, a metaphor for a gathering of humanity at the banquet table for peace. At 8:46 AM, the dancers turn their wrists with open palms and extend their arms to the sky for 60 seconds in a gesture of universal peace.

 

Presented in partnership with Buglisi Dance Theatre and Lincoln Center as A Project of the Arnhold Dance Innovation Fund, and through community partnerships with Dance/NYC, Chelsea Factory, Juilliard, Gibney Dance Center, Martha Graham Center, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Steps on Broadway, among others, the performance ritual is streamed live around the world, reaching international viewership to date by over 4.4 million people and growing in all 50 states and 235 countries and territories.  

 

Trace Mountains

Thursday, September 14 at 7:30 pm

David Rubenstein Atrium

Pitchfork calls the lyric-forward, New York-based indie rock band Trace Mountains, "a decisive step forward" for its lead singer-songwriter Dave Benton (formerly of LVL UP). Benton’s sprawling and introspective tunes borrow flavor from a host of contemporary indie giants—the sad laments of Phil Elverum, the antic invention of Dinosaur Jr., the delicate jangle of Sufjan Stevens—while still managing to maintain his own original and innovative voice. Trace Mountains' latest LP, 2021's House of Confusion, finds the combo exploring a metaphoric backroad of rural American isolation. Alongside drummer Greg Rutkin, bassist Bernard Casserly, guitarist Jim Hill and keyboardist Logan Roth, Benton will play hits from that album, plus other Trace Mountains songs, both classic and soon-to-be-released. 

 

Jaime Lozano’s Songs by an Immigrant Vol. 2

Friday, September 15 at 7:30 pm

David Rubenstein Atrium

Heralded by no less than Hamilton’s Lin-Manuel Miranda as “the next big thing on Broadway," Mexican musical multi-hyphenate and Lincoln Center regular Jaime Lozano returns to the David Rubenstein Atrium to celebrate the release of his highly anticipated new album Songs by an Immigrant Vol. 2. A 2022 Jonathan Larson Grant recipient, Lozano honestly portrays the challenges of the first- and second-generation middle class U.S. immigrant experience: finding a new home, learning a new language, dealing with discrimination, pursuing the American Dream, and searching for ways to build bridges instead of walls. His new album, released by award-winning label Concord Records, features an all-star Latine lineup of Broadway and Off-Broadway performers: Florencia Cuenca, Mauricio Martínez (ON YOUR FEET!), Mandy Gonzalez (Hamilton), Raul Midón (Grammy Award nominee), and new family members like Robin de Jesús (Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tick, Tick… Boom!), Melissa Barrera (Scream, In The Heights), Ella Bric (2018 Producer of The Year Latin Grammy Award winner), Eden Espinosa (Wicked), among many more!

 

Voices of a People’s History

Thursday, September 21 at 7:30 pm

David Rubenstein Atrium

The works of Brooklyn-born author and historian Howard Zinn (1922–2010), particularly the classic bestsellers A People's History of the United States and Voices of a People’s History of the United States, continue to shine a light on the extraordinary history of those engaged in struggles for freedom and justice in America. In collaboration with longtime Lincoln Center partner Voices of a People's History, this event spotlights readings and music from the social movements that have shaped our recent past, as collected in the newest Voices book, Voices of a People’s History of the United States in the 21st Century: Documents of Hope and Resistance. This new volume gives proof that history is made not only by the rich and powerful, but by ordinary people taking collective action.

 

Cimarrón

Friday, September 22 at 7:30pm

David Rubenstein Atrium

Led by the singer Ana Veydó, the GRAMMY-nominated band Cimarrón ("Maroon") are celebrated for their fierce, free, and festive take on traditional joropo music. Originally hailing from Bogotá, with deep ties to the local culture of the Orinoco River Plains of Colombia and Venezuela, the sextet performances spark with fiery vocals, percussive dance, and rapid staccato strings, all in the vernacular of their Latin Indigenous and African roots. The group's instrumental repertoire includes the cuatro, bandola, harp, maracas, Afro-Peruvian cajón, Brazilian surdo, Afro-Colombian tambora, and tribal bone whistles rarely seen outside of Latin America. Orinoco, Cimarrón’s 2019 Latin GRAMMY-nominated LP, received rave reviews in Billboard, Forbes, Newsweek, and Pop Matters.

 

Samuel Torres and the Bergamot Quartet

Thursday, September 28 at 7:30 pm

David Rubenstein Atrium

Colombian-born Samuel Torres is a Latin GRAMMY-winning percussionist, composer, and arranger. Following in the footsteps of his uncle Edy Martínez, a legend of the 1970s NYC salsa scene, Torres' versatile resume as a performer, producer, and musical creator crosses between the worlds of of jazz, Latin pop, and contemporary classical, with a resumé boasting recordings with Lila Downs, Paquito D’Rivera, Tito Puente, Chick Corea, Angélique Kidjo, Marc Anthony, Shakira, Rubén Blades, the Boston Pops, Bogotá Philharmonic, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Torres' latest triumph is a forthcoming album featuring an A-list Latin jazz sextet and the critically acclaimed, all-female string ensemble, Bergamot Quartet. This unique collaboration will debut their new works in an intimate concert at Lincoln Center.

 

This project by Samuel Torres featuring the Bergamot Quartet has been made possible with support from Chamber Music America’s New Jazz Works program funded through the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

 

¡VAYA! 

Son Del Monte

Friday, September 29 at 7:30 pm

David Rubenstein Atrium

A Lincoln Center favorite since 2015, ¡VAYA! is a showcase for the finest Latin dance traditions. ¡VAYA! offers devotees of Latin music a friendly community, excellent orchestras, and the city's most inviting dance floor. The scorching hot Cuban ensemble Son Del Monte is led by master Timbalero, Manuel Rivera, formerly of the Yambu Orchestra and Sonsublime. The 12-piece Son Del Monte band incorporates trombones alongside lively vocals and soaring contributions from flute, violin, trombone, piano, and congas to merge charanga and conjunto musical styles into a uniquely New York sound that Rivera has dubbed chajunto. You'll call it "perfecto" as this talented cadre of musicians perform a hard-driving whirlwind of melodic power that pays homage to the son cubano greats of past and present.

 

The Social Sculpture Project

Kameron Neal’s Down The Barrel (Of A Lens)

Friday, September 29 through Tuesday, October 3 at 5:00 pm

Clark Theater

What does it mean to be seen and documented in a public space without your consent? Kameron Neal, Public Artist in Residence with NYC’s Department of Records, explores this all-too-relevant concern with Down the Barrel (of a Lens), a large-scale video installation of charged imagery culled from the NYPD’s declassified surveillance film collections from 1960 to 1980. Each scene captures the moment when civilian targets realize they are being taped by a 16mm police camera and choose to stare back at their watcher. Down the Barrel (of a Lens) is an empowering and chilling collection of historical portraiture that poses questions about policing, acceptable intrusion, personal privacy, and quiet protest.

 

The Social Sculpture Project

Valeria Divinorum’s Locus Amoenus: Into the 4th Dimension

Friday, September 29 through Saturday, October 8 from 6:00 – 9:00 pm

Griffin Sidewalk Studio

In the Allegory of the Cave, Plato refers to human perception through cinematic projections of animated shadows onto a wall. Valeria Divinorum's work updates this idea using glass, a material that does not retain the light that passes through it; rather, it drags its colors and shapes. This is how we witness a changing spectacle such as a sunset, an eclipse, or the formation of a rainbow. “A major theme in my work is the human connection with nature and the organic expressions that emerge from that relationship”, according to Divinorum.                                              

 

Firas Andari

Saturday, September 30 at 7:30 pm

David Rubenstein Atrium

Presented in collaboration with Brooklyn Maqam 

Lebanese vocalist, oud player, educator, and maestro of the Arabic maqam musical tradition, Firas Andari began his musical studies at the age of 6. Andari acquired his classical repertoire from his teachers by ear, a critically grounding asset for an oral musical methodology that dates back over 800 years. His teachers' musical lineage trace directly to great masters in Egypt and the Levant, giving Andari access to a music culture that is all but lost — maqam performance with a richness in intonation and style unadulterated by western standard notation and the colonial influences of the 20th century. In his U.S. debut, Andari performs maqam music from regions historically of the Ottoman and Persian empires; namely the Middle East, Egypt, Turkey, and North Africa—presenting the different forms characteristic to maqam's many offshoots, including muwashahat, tawashih, qudud, adwar, mawawil, and qasa‘id.

 

Festival of Firsts

Rami Khalifé’s LOST, Return to Beirut

Thursday, October 5 at 7:30 pm

David Rubenstein Atrium

Considered "a musician of extreme caliber and pure expression" by the Daily Star UK, the adventurous Lebanese pianist Rami Khalifé presents work that is as eclectic as it is bold, ranging from improvised concerts, original film soundtracks, reimagined electronic club music with his AUFGANG project, and live tours with his father, the famed composer and oud player Marcel Khalifé. Rami's musical perambulations have led him to classical training at Juilliard; solos with Globalis Orchestra, the Qatar Philharmonic, the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, and The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia; live performances at the Kennedy Center, the Sydney Opera House, and Queen Elizabeth Hall; and over a half dozen albums. As part of the Festival of Firsts, Khalifé will premiere his latest work, LOST, Return to Beirut, at the David Rubenstein Atrium.

 

Festival of Firsts
J Noa

Friday, October 6 at 7:30 pm
David Rubenstein Atrium

As the title of the Dominican Hip-Hop artist J Noa's 2023 major label debut EP attests, she has always been a self-starter. Autodidacta is a blazing-hot introduction to the San Cristobal rapper's considerable gifts: tongue-tying rhymes, nonstop bars, and the skills to switch up her flow from heartbeat to heartbeat. Spanish-speakers will be equally impressed by J Noa's intricate lyricism and poignantly relevant social and political statements on drug addiction, bucking racism and homophobia, and clap backs at local government mismanagement. At the ripe age of 17, J Noa can already boast a ten-year songwriting career and a million-plus viewed YouTube hit with "Betty," depicting the challenges of teen pregnancy. Don't miss the Lincoln Center premiere of the international star Rolling Stone is calling "a juggernaut."

 

North Star: Conversations on Boundlessness

October 7: Symposium 12:30–6:30 pm; film debut 8:00 pm

October 8: Symposium 12:30–6:30 pm; DJ at 8:00 pm

David Rubenstein Atrium

Brooklyn native and visual artist Kambui Olujimi invites you to a two-day symposium inciting provocations at the boundaries of science and art. Over the last four years, Olujimi has worked on a transmedia project entitled North Star that recontextualizes sites of blackness and Black bodies within history, science, and contemporary art. North Star subverts notions of a Black body constructed from the "inescapable" gravity of oppression and instead explores the innate state of Black Rhapsody and asks; “What does the Black body look like in zero gravity?” This two-day symposium is an artist convening that will create discourse intersecting with concepts and theories of the North Star Project. The symposium includes panel discussions with leading artists, scientists, and scholars; performances by poets, musicians, and dancers; and the world premiere screening of Olujimi's North Star film. This gathering will function as a site of liberatory exploration, concentrated curiosity, serious play, and other paradoxes of creative inquiry.
 

The Social Sculpture Project

Rena Anakwe’s Lifting the Ground Up

Saturday, October 7

Healing takes time and change comes gradually. Lifting the Ground Up is an interactive, durational tribute inspired by the native ecology and original earth that makes up Manhattan. Through measured engagement of land stewardship and communal care, Lifting contributes to Lincoln Center's ongoing efforts to honor the communities of San Juan Hill. This two-year project begins on October 7 with an experiential sensory ritual staged by the interdisciplinary audio artist and holistic healer Rena Anakwe in preparation for an ensuing planting ceremony with local students and community residents on the Lincoln Center campus and a subsequent 2024 welcoming event. Free, locally sourced plants will be made available for all attendees, allowing the project's footprint to extend throughout the city.

 

Festival of Firsts

Vuyo Sotashe and Chris Pattishall

Wednesday, October 11 at 7:30 pm

David Rubenstein Atrium

Presented in collaboration with Jazz at Lincoln Center

Over the past decade, South African vocalist Vuyo Sotashe and American pianist/composer Chris Pattishall have become mainstays of the NYC live club scene, with each contributing separately to a wide range of projects spanning jazz, gospel, theater, and film. Now, for Lincoln Center's Festival of Firsts, Sotashe and Pattishall present their live debut collaborative performance at the Atrium with an evening of soulful original arrangements. Together, they make songs with a hushed vulnerability, as a quiet invocation of community amid turbulent times. In a program that references Duke Ellington, Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone and traditional South African Xhosa hymns, Sotashe and Pattishall will celebrate the release of their first single, “They Say I Look Like God.”

 

Thursday, October 12 at 7:30 pm

Festival of Firsts

Salty Brine’s And If You Listen Very Hard: The Led Zeppelin Show

David Rubenstein Atrium

The ostentatious performance artist, playwright, and vocalist Salty Brine is the next big name in outré downtown alt-cabaret. As part of the Festival of Firsts, Salty makes his Lincoln Center debut with a show from his ongoing Living Record Collection, a thus far 20-chapter (and growing) series of expeditions into the heart of popular music. Each LRC event merges the live recreation of an entire classic album with stories of personal experience alongside interpolations of literature and theater, blending autobiographical monologue, a musical celebration of great LPs, and a fresh look at the artistic process. The key ingredients in this evening's Salty stew are Robert Louis Stevenson’s immortal pirate adventure Treasure Island and the heavy metal folk rock masterpiece, Led Zeppelin IV.

 

Festival of Firsts

Lady Wray

Friday, October 13 at 7:30 pm

David Rubenstein Atrium

A mainstay of the U.S. Billboard charts since the early 2000s, Nicole "Lady" Wray's clarion voice, potent storytelling, and deeply emotive performances evoke both the church-ready chanteuses of 70s soul and the Hip-Hop inflected R&B of the 90s. The Guardian calls Lady Wray's long-awaited third album, Piece of Me, which boasts a recent remix from New York's own Pete Rock and a guest verse from Wu-Tang Clan's Ghostface Killah, "a classy retro-soul LP... steeped in experience, familial warmth, and overcoming heartbreak." As part of the Festival of Firsts, Lady Wray makes her long overdue Lincoln Center debut with a bravura showcase of songs from Piece of Me interspersed with favorite covers and classic hits, all supported by a full live band packed with special guests.

 

s3: Lincoln Center Poetry Festival

Friday, October 13 at 6:30 pm

Saturday, October 14 at 5:00 pm

Sidewalk Studio

The two-day s3: Lincoln Center Poetry Festival is the first of its kind on campus and born from the curation of its first poet-in-residence, Mahogany L. Browne. Passionate soliloquies to rhythmic verses bring together a diverse array of talented performers who captivate audiences with their lyrical prowess and engaging stage presence. The festival takes place in a one-of-a-kind, intimate performance space surrounded by the buzz of New York City. Extending past traditional poetry recitations, it embraces experimentation and innovation, featuring collaborations with musicians, dancers, and visual artists, hands-on haiku, and book signings. Prepare to be enchanted by the interplay of words, sounds, and visuals as artists push the boundaries of what is possible in the realm of performance poetry. Whether you are an ardent lover of poetry or a curious newcomer to the world of spoken word, the s3: Lincoln Center Poetry Festival promises an immersive experience featuring captivating performances that will leave you spellbound. Join us and be swept away by this extraordinary journey of self-discovery, empathy, and artistic brilliance.

 

Wednesday, October 18 at 7:30 pm

Festival of Firsts

Truth to Power Café

David Rubenstein Atrium

From Adelaide to Zagreb and now in New York for its U.S. premiere, Jeremy Goldstein’s Truth to Power Café is a profound theatrical reflection on loss, hope, and resistance. This inspirational performance event is told through memoir, image, film, poetry, music, and true and authentic stories in response to the question: ‘who has power over you and what do you want to say to them?’ Speaking truth to power is a non-violent means of conflict resolution, the origins of which lie in the anti-war movement. Is it to your parents, a sibling, politician, landlord, neighbor, banker, boss, or simply your best friend? It’s time to tell them the truth before it’s too late. Truth to Power Café is inspired by the political and philosophical beliefs of Nobel Prize-winning playwright Harold Pinter and his inner circle “The Hackney Gang”, which included Café creator Jeremy Goldstein’s late father, Mick Goldstein, and poet and actor Henry Woolf.

 

Thursday, October 19 at 7:30 pm

Festival of Firsts
Erni Lu
David Rubenstein Atrium

Peruvian-born singer-songwriter and guitarist Ernesto "Erni Lu" Lúcar has found his true musical home in New York. From a young age, Erni fell in love with the city's music scene, particularly the infectious rhythms of boleros, waltzes, acid jazz, and funk. These genres, along with strains of contemporary Latin pop and traditional Peruvian folk, define his enticing sound. Over the past several years, Erni has gained significant experience composing film scores for movies such as Gary Terracino's Elliot Loves and Gonzalo Benavente's Rocanrol 68. As part of the Festival of Firsts, Erni will make his Lincoln Center premiere, backed by a full live band performing a set of original songs celebrating the release of his debut album Siempre, including the new hit single, "Amor Platónico".

 

¡VAYA!

Festival of Firsts

Uptown Royalty

Friday, October 20 at 7:30 pm

David Rubenstein Atrium

A Lincoln Center favorite since 2015, ¡VAYA! is a showcase for the finest Latin dance traditions. ¡VAYA! offers devotees of Latin music a friendly community, excellent orchestras, and the city's most inviting dance floor. The husband and wife duo of trombone player and bandleader Ron Renaissance and the glamorous vocalist Jodi Music are at the heart of the NYC-based Uptown Royalty, a combo at the forefront of the future of the modern salsa revolution. Uptown Royalty's fusion of classic salsa with contemporary pop, disco, rock, and R&B ignores divisions of genre and seeks connection across the musical spectrum. Backed by a multi-piece band, Ron and Jodi's fresh approach to live performance sizzles with irresistible charisma, energizing audiences with their spectacular energy.

 

Jazz in San Juan Hill: One Neighborhood’s Impact on Music that Made History (1900–1950)

Tuesday, October 24, 2023 at 7pm

Sidewalk Studio

Co-presented by Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

Jazz thrived over generations in San Juan Hill, a historic Manhattan neighborhood home to many iconic musicians and performance venues in the first half of the twentieth century. Jazz musicians who lived and performed there fueled a vibrant creative community and evolved the genre through the stride piano, swing, and bebop eras. James Reese Europe, James P. Johnson, Benny Carter, Thelonious Monk, and countless others who lived and worked in the neighborhood broke new ground musically and shaped an art form that has captivated listeners worldwide.

 

Join us for a conversation about this compelling era in jazz history, whose influence has resonated over decades. 

 

There will be live music and complimentary wine before and after the panel discussion.

 

Festival of Firsts

Migguel Anggelo’s JOY

Wednesday, October 25 at 7:30 pm
David Rubenstein Atrium

Venezuelan-born and Brooklyn-based artist Migguel Anggelo’s work explores the intersections of queer, Latiné, and immigration identities. As a musician, he has released three albums (English with an Accent, La Casa Azul, Dónde Estara Matisse). As a theater creator, he has been awarded residencies to develop new works at MASS MoCA, the Kimmel Center, Washington Performing Arts, and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. For his new multidisciplinary project as part of the Festival of Firsts, Anggelo dons the whimsical persona of JOY, a raisonneur inspired by the mime Marcel Marceu's immortal Bip the Clown, who asks us to consider the power of silence in new ways. With the addition of an all-star lineup of live musicians, JOY features original music by Migguel Anggelo and Michelle Rodriguez. The debut of Migguel Anggelo’s JOY, a work-in-progress, is directed, choreographed, and created in collaboration with award-winning artist Rosie Herrera, and made possible through developmental support from the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

 

Festival of Firsts

Truth Future Bachman’s Skyward: An Endling Elegy

Thursday, October 26 at 7:30 pm

David Rubenstein Atrium

Brooklyn-based composer, playwright, vocalist, and La MaMa resident artist Truth Future Bachman deftly interweaves three of the most compelling cultural threads of our moment: musical theater, gender fluidity, and superhero/sci-fi parables. Bachman's ongoing Shapeshifters saga reimagines the othering of queerness as a gift, empowering their diverse, trans-human cast's epic adventures. Following the 2022 presentation of Luna and the Starbodies at last year’s Festival of Firsts, Lincoln Center is proud to host the world premiere of Bachman's next great origin story within their multiversal mythos, Skyward. After birdwatcher Aria sights a flock of extinct animals within a great migration, the bird's ghostly songs awaken an avian adaptation that transforms her life forever. 

 

Festival of Firsts

Larissa Luz
Friday, October 27 at 7:30 pm

David Rubenstein Atrium
Presented in collaboration with AFROPUNK

The multitalented and Latin GRAMMY-nominated Brazilian singer-songwriter Larissa Luz also hosts a popular talk show, has acted in numerous television and film roles, and placed second this year in Brazil's nationally televised edition of The Masked Singer.  She has parlayed her stardom into a thriving career as a social activist, speaking out against sexism, racism, and colorism in a field that's still greatly defined by it. A regular performer in music festivals, including Lollapalooza and Rock in Rio, Luz's debut at the David Rubenstein Atrium as part of the Festival of Firsts is presented in collaboration with AFROPUNK. Luz will be performing music from across her career, including new songs and cuts from her most recent release, the trap pop EP Deusa Dulov.

 

See Me As I Am: Terence Blanchard

Turtle Island Quartet: Island Prayers

Friday, October 27 at 7:30 pm

Alice Tully Hall

Experience four brand new works from Turtle Island Quartet! Since its inception in 1985, the group has been a singular force in the creation of bold, new trends in chamber music for strings, as their signature style has fused jazz, American roots & new, innovative string techniques. Winners of the 2006 and 2008 Grammy Awards for Best Classical Crossover Album, Turtle Island has merged classical quartet instrumentation with contemporary American musical styles. And now, they embark on a new adventure! In the past three years, the group - resident composer, artistic director, and violinist David Balakrishnan with violinist Gabriel Terracciano, violist Benjamin von Gutzeit and cellist Naseem Alatrash – has transitioned from an ensemble that primarily features a variety of arranged works to one that commissions and creates original music.

 

A major statement in this realm, Island Prayers is an ambitious, multi-composer extravaganza co-commissioned by Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Meany Performing Arts Center, The Music Hall (Portsmouth NH), Savannah Music Hall & Emory University. The project features New York Premieres of works written by the quartet’s founder Balakrishnan; six-time GRAMMY Award-winner and double Oscar Award-nominee Terence Blanchard; MacArthur Genius fellow, singer, and banjo player Rhiannon Giddens; and New Music USA composer-in-residence and Joyce Award winner Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate. The evening is part of See Me As I Am, Lincoln Center’s year-long celebration of Terence Blanchard. This group of crossover magicians will bring you an unforgettable evening of new music!

 

FUTUROS, New Ideas in Composition

Featuring Ivalas String Quartet and Efraín Rozas

Thursday, November 2 at 7:30 pm

David Rubenstein Atrium

Presented in collaboration with New Latin Wave

Hear some of New York’s most unique Latine voices as the New Latin Wave brings their popular Latine Composers Showcase to the Atrium for three nights only. Composers in new music, experimental, and neo-classical fields showcase the depth and breadth of this vibrant corner of the Latine cultural multiverse. On November 2, the Ivalas String Quartet performs a selection of works from contemporary composers. Currently the Graduate Resident String Quartet at The Juilliard School, they are dedicated to celebrating BIPOC voices and composers. Next up percussionist and composer Efraín Rozas presents new work incorportaing robotics, percussion, light and video to create a hypnotic experience for the audience. The evening will end with a brief post concert discussion and chance to connect with the composers and performers.

 

Henry Purcell’s The Fairy Queen
Performed by Les Arts Florissants

Thursday, November 2 at 7:30 pm

Alice Tully Hall

For over 20 years, the French/American baroque heritage preservation society Les Arts Florissants has hosted Le Jardin des Voix, a vocal academy intensive culminating in an international tour, intended to cultivate the next generation of baroque singers. For the 2023 edition, nearly 100 candidates from around the world have been selected by the Co-Musical Directors of Les Arts Florissants, William Christie and Paul Agnew, to take part in the performance of Henry Purcell's exhilarating opera, The Fairy Queen. This original – and U.S. premiere – production of Purcell's musical fable, conducted by Paul Agnew, marks Les Arts Florissants’ first collaboration with choreographer and director Mourad Merzouki and his Compagnie Käfig dance corps, joined here by two young American dancers from Juilliard. Renowned for his fusion of classical influence and contemporary innovation, Merzouki's Fairy Queen promises a unique, visually spectacular, and emotionally powerful staging.

 

DJ Rekha's Desi Dance Party

Friday, November 3 at 7:30 pm

David Rubenstein Atrium

The multitalented DJ, producer, curator, and activist DJ Rekha is a pioneer in live-mixing Bhangra and Bollywood songs with electronic music and Hip-Hop. Rekha's first LP, 2008’s DJ Rekha presents Basement Bhangra, featured a collaboration with Wyclef Jean and received a Best DJ Album nomination at the PLUG Awards. Appointed the “Ambassador of Bhangra” by The New York Times, Newsweek has credited Rekha as being one of the most influential South Asians in the U.S. An inductee into New York City's People’s Hall of Fame, Rekha was an official DJ for the 2017 Women's March on Washington. For this autumn celebration dance party at the Atrium, Rekha will spin an eclectic mix of South Asian dance floor hits accompanied by dynamic visuals, live percussion, and professional dancers.

 

Magnetic North (Kids & Family)

Saturday, November 4 at 11:00 am

David Rubenstein Atrium

Vancouver-based performer, producer, and composer Ruby Singh (aka RupLoops) utilizes vocal percussion, fresh rhymes, live looping, and an arsenal of eclectic instruments from around the globe for an interactive, family-friendly concert that freely incorporates dub reggae, electro-pop, rap, and eastern classical compositions. Through field recordings of animal, plant, and mushroom music, RupLoops' Magnetic North focuses on the deeply creative connection between humans and the natural world. RupLoops builds sonic ecosystems that invite us to explore our relationship to justice, environmental preservation, and climate change. Amidst an array of sound, visual arts and all-ages games, Magnetic North gently encourages audiences to act to safeguard our endangered future.

 

Healing Justice Lineages: Dreaming at the Crossroads of Liberation, Collective Care & Safety

Wednesday, November 8 at 7:30 pm

David Rubenstein Atrium

Join editors Cara Page and Erica Woodland of the anthology Healing Justice Lineages: Dreaming at the Crossroads of Liberation, Collective Care & Safety on the New York stop of their national book tour—held at the David Rubenstein Atrium. This listening and cultural memory tour takes the form of a conversation with local community leaders and artists who are in the lineage of collective care, safety, and healing justice. Healing Justice Lineages is rooted in anti-capitalism, Black feminism, and abolition; it’s a profound and urgent call to embrace community and survivor-led care strategies as models that push beyond commodified self-care, the policing of the medical industrial complex, and the surveillance of the public health system. Centering disability, reproductive, environmental, transformative justice and liberatory harm reduction, this collection elevates and archives an ongoing tradition of liberation and survival—one that has been largely left out of our history books, but continues to this day.

 

Electric Root Presents The Sound of (Black) Music (Kids & Family)

Thursday, November 9 at 7:00 pm

Alice Tully Hall

Gospel, funk, soul, and Afrobeat come together in this joyful presentation of Rodgers and Hammerstein songs as viewed through a utopian, afrofuturistic lens. The Sound of (Black) Music is a vibrant one-act concert reimagining of the classic musical, featuring songs such as “Do-Re-Mi,” “Edelweiss,” and “Climb Ev’ry Mountain,” all recast through a Black Roots music kaleidoscope. Created for 20 musicians and vocalists curated by Michael Mwenso and Jono Gasparro, in association with Electric Root, co-directed by Shariffa Ali and Kamilah Long with arrangements by Mathis Picard and music direction by Vuyo Sotashe, the concert channels the singular musical gifts of some of today’s most talented Black musicians into an overflowing celebration of Black Roots music. Vocalists Vuyo Sotashe, Brianna Thomas, Charenee Wade, Alexis Lombre, and Zhanna Reed are supported by an electrifying band, bringing to life a vibrant retelling of the beloved classic—one fit for the whole family!

 

FUTUROS, New Ideas in Composition

Featuring stefa marin alarcon, LOPEZLOPEZ, and Isabel Crespo Pardo

Thursday, November 9 at 7:30 pm

David Rubenstein Atrium

Presented in collaboration with New Latin Wave

Hear some of New York’s most unique Latine voices as the New Latin Wave brings their popular Latine Composers Showcase to the Atrium for three nights only. Composers in new music, experimental, and neo-classical fields showcase the depth and breadth of this vibrant corner of the Latine cultural multiverse. For the second night of the series, Queens-native, vocalist, composer and multi-media performance artist stefa marin alarcon presents a selection of their new material, an amalgamation of punk, experimental pop, and classical minimalism with maximalist ethereal aesthetics. Then NYC-based bassist and composer Brandon Lopez joins Argentinian composer and multimedia artist Cecilia Lopez for an electrifying improvisation session. Rounding out the evening, NYC-based Latinx vocalist and interdisciplinary artist Isabel Crespo Pardo presents songs from their upcoming album, entangling music, visual art, text and performance. The evening will end with a brief post concert discussion and chance to connect with the composers and performers.

 

FUTUROS, New Ideas in Composition

Featuring Walter Aparicio, Raquel Acevedo Klein and Pauchi Sasaki

Thursday, November 16 at 7:30 pm

David Rubenstein Atrium

Presented in collaboration with New Latin Wave

Hear some of New York’s most unique Latine voices as the New Latin Wave brings their popular Latine Composers Showcase to the Atrium for three nights only. Composers in new music, experimental, and neo-classical fields showcase the depth and breadth of this vibrant corner of the Latine cultural multiverse. The last evening of the series features vocalist, composer and conductor Raquel Acevedo Klein performing a selection of her compositions for voice and electronics; Bolivian, NYC-based pianist Walter Aparicio playing a selection of works by Latine composers; and composer-performer Pauchi Sasaki, whose interdisciplinary approach integrates musical composition with the design of multimedia performances and the application of new technologies. The evening will end with a brief post concert discussion and chance to connect with the composers and performers.

 

Jungle Book reimagined

Thursday, November 16 at 7:30 pm

Friday, November 17 at 7:30 pm

Saturday, November 18 at 7:30 pm

Rose Theater

Choreographic auteur Akram Khan's two-decade relationship with Lincoln Center has produced a half-dozen masterpieces. His latest work, a rethinking of the Rudyard Kipling classic The Jungle Book, updates the original's colonizer-centric perspective to tell the story of the young girl Mowgli as a refugee child stranded by the cruel realities of climate change. This family-friendly and narrative-driven production features an original score by the BAFTA and Olivier Award-winning composer Jocelyn Pook, a cast of ten international dancers, and a stage bursting with state-of-the-art animation and visual projections. This is a Jungle Book retold with nuanced beauty and devastating immediacy that expresses a universal need for connection and a deep respect for the natural world.

 

A project of the Arnhold Dance Innovation Fund. Major support provided by the Arnhold Dance Innovation Fund.

 

Co-produced by Curve Leicester, Attiki Cultural Society – Greece, Birmingham Hippodrome, Edinburgh International Festival, Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay Singapore, Festspielhaus St. Pölten, Internationaal Theater Amsterdam, Joan W. and Irving B. Harris Theater for Music and Dance – Chicago, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts – New York, Maison de la Danse / Pôle Européen de création – Lyon, National Arts Centre – Canada, New Vision Arts Festival – Hong Kong, Orsolina28, Pfalzbau Bühnen – Theater im Pfalzbau Ludwigshafen, Romaeuropa Festival, Stanford Live / Stanford University, Teatros del Canal – Madrid, théâtre de Caen, Théâtre de la Ville – Paris

 

¡VAYA!

Freily eL F’

Friday, November 17 at 7:30pm

David Rubenstein Atrium

An Atrium favorite since 2015, ¡VAYA! honors NYC's rich traditions of Latin dance and music with concerts programmed for true fans of the genre. New Jersey native Freily eL F' is a vibrant and talented voice in contemporary merengue. Raised in a Dominican household, Freily began playing tamboras and congas when he was only five, instilling a deep and early love for traditional Caribbean rhythms. After joining his first band in his teens, Freily's ascent as a producer and performer has been steady, with featured collaborations alongside industry favorites like Toby Love and Mala Fe. For his Lincoln Center debut, Freily eL F' will be joined by a full band to celebrate the release of his 2023 album Unplugged Volume 1, featuring the hit single "La Guerra".

 

The Social Sculpture Project

Marcus Middleton’s Calling Me Home: A Visual Ode to the Low Country

Saturday, November 18 through Monday, November 20

David Rubenstein Atrium

Photographer Marcus Middleton's parents grew up on Wadmalaw Island in Charleston, South Carolina, adjacent to the Atlantic Ocean. First settled by the British in the 15th century, the Island has long been a home for tea gardens but otherwise remains relatively unspoiled by progress. "The only way to get to the Island by land is the Esau Jenkins Bridge," says Middleton. "Crossing over it is like going back in time." Calling Me Home: A Visual Ode to the Low Country is Middleton's visual tribute to what he calls his "living museum." His portfolio of photographs, available to view on short-term display at the David Rubenstein Atrium, captures a visual ode to the American South that is turbulent and beautiful, transplanted to the heart of New York City.

 

Philip Glass’s The Complete Piano Etudes

Sunday, November 19 at 7:00 pm

David Geffen Hall 

One of the most influential composers of our time, Philip Glass has had an extraordinary and unprecedented impact upon the musical and intellectual life of our age, with more than 30 operas, 14 symphonies, 13 concertos, numerous soundtracks to films, nine string quartets, a growing body of work for solo piano and organ, and collaborations with artists from Twyla Tharp to Allen Ginsberg, and Leonard Cohen to David Bowie. He describes himself as a composer of “music with repetitive structures” and says that “If I’m to be remembered for anything, it will probably be for the piano music, because people can play it.” Philip Glass conceived The Etudes as a set of 20 works for solo piano written to improve his own performance technique. His most personal body of work, the pieces are a self-portrait of a life’s practice, representing some of the most intimate and inventive music of Glass’s oeuvre. The evening celebrates the release of a new special edition Philip Glass Piano Etudes (Artisan), a boxed set that includes the Complete Etudes 1-20 and a hardcover book, Studies in Time: Essays on the Music of Philip Glass. This rare concert performance of all 20 of his etudes is an evening of master piano works for the 21st century, featuring 10 pianists onstage: Timo Andres, Inon Barnatan, Lara Downes, Jenny Lin, Daniela Liebman, Nico Muhly, Maki Namekawa, Ursula Oppens, among others!

Produced by Pomegranate Arts

 

La Banda Chuska

Tuesday, November 21 at 7:30 pm

David Rubenstein Atrium

La Banda Chuska merges the sounds of vintage Peruvian cumbia and psychedelic chicha with 1960s Latin American and Middle Eastern surf rock. They then add a dose of the surreal intensity of New York City to amplify their diverse musical and cultural backgrounds: Peru, Argentina, Puerto Rico, and various corners of the U.S. The result is a fireball of post-punk energy and subversive playfulness, a sort of tropical funk meets The B-52s. La Banda Chuska's self-titled EP is a darkly cinematic, musically expansive, and eminently danceable weirdo party on wax that's whipped up the fanbase they attract at regular performances at Brooklyn's Barbès and other NYC music mainstays. For their Lincoln Center debut, they'll play songs from their first EP and introduce new cuts from their forthcoming LP.

 

The Creative Life of San Juan Hill (1900–1960)

November

Sidewalk Studio

The historic neighborhood of San Juan Hill anchored Manhattan’s upper west side in the first half of the twentieth century. During its time, the area was known for its theaters, clubs, and dance halls, and the creative activity that proliferated in those spaces became a hallmark of the neighborhood. James P. Johnson led “cuttin’ contests” among jazz musicians at the Jungles Casino. The 63rd Street Music Hall premiered the first all-Black Broadway hit, Shuffle Along. The show Runnin’ Wild debuted at the Colonial Theatre, and through its run, catapulted “The Charleston” to international fame. Artists and writers, such as George Bellows, Robert Henri, and Eugene O’Neill, had studios in the Lincoln Square Arcade, and venues like Tom Sharkey’s and the Saint Nicolas Arena brought in massive audiences for matches, games, concerts, and Latin dance nights. 
 

Explore the history of these cultural spaces, the artistry that thrived there, and how they reflect the dynamics of 20^th century New York City with leading experts in the field.

 

Gimme Please (Kids & Family)
December 1 at 11:00 am

December 2 at 11:00 am and 2:00 pm

December 3 at 11:00 am and 2:00 pm

December 9 at 11:00 am, 2:00 pm, and 4:00 pm

December 10 at 11:00 am and 2:00 pm

Clark Theater 

The December 1–3 performances are recommended for children ages 2-5 and their families; and performances on December 9–10 are especially adapted for neurodivergent audiences, designed to be inclusive for guests with a range of sensory needs.

 

Audiences will be enthralled by Gimme Please, a poetic play about friendship. Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre brings us a highly visual work that follows the journey of two friends from initial meeting to lasting connection as they pretend, provoke, and persist in getting what they want and need from the world and each other. Through the use of live music, lighting, and magic, the story invites audiences in with its deep sense of play and honest exploration of growing up and finding your path. The work is directed by Megan Alrutz and Samantha Provenzano. 

 

Unsound New York

Raphael Rogiński and Martyna Basta

Friday, December 1 at 7:30 pm

David Rubenstein Atrium

Unsound—a festival and platform of adventurous music—takes over the David Rubenstein Atrium with two leading voices of the Polish avant-garde scene. Guitarist Raphael Rogiński is an expert improviser who draws from jazz, blues, and folk traditions from across the globe. Rogiński's key inspirations lie in his Jewish roots and the American outsider audio art of experimental composers and performers like Harry Partch, John Fahey, and Henry Cowell. For this performance, he'll present his interpretations of work by John Coltrane as well as his new Unsound-commissioned project Žaltys, inspired by Lithuanian mythology. Martyna Basta dissolves the borders between electro-acoustic experimentation, folk and ambient music, and opens the evening with a set of delicate atmospheric sound that Pitchfork calls "enchantingly enigmatic." This event is free and is presented with Polish Cultural Institute New York in partnership with the Adam Mickiewicz Institute.

 

Osmium and Robin Fox’s TRIPTYCH
Unsound New York
Featuring Hildur Guðnadóttir, Sam Slater, James Ginzburg, and Rully Shabara

Saturday, December 2 at 7:30 pm

Alice Tully Hall

Continuing a decade-long relationship, Poland’s adventurous annual Unsound Festival returns to NYC with a new genre-defying, risk-taking project, Osmium. Comprised of four wildly successful band members—Oscar Award-winning composer and cellist Hildur Guðnadóttir, best known for her work on the scores of HBO's Chernobyl series and 2019's Joker; Grammy Award-winning British sound designer and producer Sam Slater; Subtext boss and genre-hopping scene producer James Ginzburg (half of industrial-experimental duo Emptyset); and idiosyncratic Indonesian vocalist Rully Shabara, of Senyawa—Osmium’s unique sound is attributed to specially built instruments that create surprising and hypnotic music that strikes a balance between the mechanical and the organic. Robin Fox—making his first solo A/V laser performance in the U.S.—opens the evening with his stunning audio-visual work TRIPTYCH, which uses full-color lasers to transform Alice Tully Hall into a thrilling new environment. Inspired by Polish A/V innovator Stanislaus Ostoja-Kotkowski, TRIPTYCH recently won this year’s Isao Tomita Special Prize from the Prix Ars Electronica.

 

The Caretaker and Moor Mother's Black Encyclopedia of the Air

Unsound New York

Monday, December 4 at 8pm

David Geffen Hall

Continuing a decade-long relationship, Unsound Festival returns to Lincoln Center with Leyland James Kirby, performing as The Caretaker. Over the past 25 years, James has released more than a dozen full-length albums which were initially inspired by the trapped-in-time ballroom from Stanley Kubrick's The Shining before then exploring audio representations of memory deterioration. His explorations of nostalgia and deterioration recreate the atmosphere of a 1930s dance hall with a warped, confusing and haunting verisimilitude. The avant-jazz poet and musician Moor Mother opens the evening with the premiere of a brand-new performance based on her 2021 album Black Encyclopedia of the Air. In this first-ever live presentation, Moor Mother will celebrate the poetry and spoken word traditions of the '60s and '70s, featuring an array of special guest appearances by underground Hip-Hop icons and legendary artists along with the innovative jazz band Irreversible Entanglements, dancer Kayla Farrish, and tap dancer Melissa Almaguer.

New York Community Blood Drive 

Monday, October 2 at 1:00 pm
Monday, December 4 at 1:00pm

David Rubenstein Atrium

Blood donation is essential to treat a wide range of chronic, acute, and emergency medical conditions across all communities. Donating blood is safe, easy and vital to those who need it, and every donation can save three lives. Stop by during the day or early evening hours. This is your chance to help your fellow New Yorkers in need; sign up to donate blood today.

 

These events run until 7:00 pm

Enjoy live musical performances by The Juilliard School from 1:00–3:00 pm and 4:00–6:00 pm.Appointments are required. To schedule an appointment to donate, visit: nybc.org/lincolncenter. If you’re unable to donate, you can still help by spreading the word.

 

Chinatown Records with YiuYiu 瑶瑶

Thursday, December 7 at 7:30 pm

David Rubenstein Atrium

Pulling from the ever-growing archive of her Chinatown Records personal history project, the multi-hyphenate educator-DJ-cultural organizer YiuYiu 瑶瑶 lovingly presents a selection of favorite Chinese albums inherited from family and neighbors. With songs dating from the present day and as far back as the 1920s, YiuYiu 瑶瑶 sets the stage for a time-traveling deep dive into Mandopop and Cantopop LPs. Merging art, music, and oral history, YiuYiu 瑶瑶 builds her practice around the belief that we are all storytellers. Her work aims to open up and cultivate communities as classrooms and living rooms, where we can look to our loved ones to pass down, learn, and celebrate histories together. Join in for an intimate, intergenerational sonic history set at Lincoln Center's David Rubenstein Atrium.

 

Seen, Sound, Scribe

Featuring John Murillo and Franny Choi

Saturday, December 9 at 7:30pm

David Rubenstein Atrium

Brooklyn’s Mahogany L. Browne, a prolific writer and avid advocate for public art, is Lincoln Center’s inaugural poet-in-residence. Browne has written works of fiction, theater, critical essays, edited six anthologies, and authored another half-dozen poetry collections. For her Seen, Sound, Scribe series, Browne curates thought-provoking and politically driven evenings of spoken word, spirited dialogues, and presentations of new work. The December 9 program features readings and conversations with the Pushcart Prize-winning poet and writer of the collection Up Jump the Boogie John Murillo, alongside poet, essayist, and faculty in Literature at Bennington College, Franny Choi.

 

Jaime Lozano’s Navidad en Familia

Thursday, December 14 at 7:30 pm

David Rubenstein Atrium

Heralded by no less than Hamilton’s Lin-Manuel Miranda as “the next big thing on Broadway," Mexican musical multi-hyphenate and Lincoln Center regular Jaime Lozano returns to David Rubenstein Atrium for the latest concert in his 2023 residency. Navidad en Familia is a concert full of stories and songs about finding a new home, learning a new language, trying to fit in, pursuing the American Dream, missing your native land, and what it means to celebrate Navidad as an immigrant in a new country. Joining Lozano is his Familia, an all-star, all-Latine lineup of Broadway and Off-Broadway performers!

 

¡VAYA!

La Excelencia

Friday, December 15 at 7:30 pm

David Rubenstein Atrium

Dance to the sounds of award-winning NYC-based La Excelencia an eleven-piece band inspired by the salsa music of the ‘70s and the sociopolitical landscape of today. Combining traditional salsa elements with a modern and unapologetic sound, their music invigorates social mindedness amidst a powerful and danceable soundtrack, the perfect backdrop for an unforgettable social dance ¡VAYA! night at the Atrium. Founded in 2005, the band honed their sound by performing at local venues around NYC and eventually caught the attention of the international salsa community with their 2006 debut album, Salsa Con Conciencia. La Excelencia’s in-your-face sound and energetic live performances reach outside of the salsa norm to propel the band to mainstream audiences and venues. Under the leadership and direction of founder Julian Silva, La Excelencia has enjoyed solid success and continues to keep their sights on the future with a commitment to giving voice to the next generation of salseros.

 

Sakasaka (Kids & Family)

December 15 at 2:00 pm

December 16 at 11:00 am and 2:00 pm

December 17 at 11:00 am and 2:00 pm

Clark Theater

Joyful, silly, and… soaking wet! A delightful wordless comedy for all ages created by Madagascar’s La Compagnie Zolobe, Sakasaka will add joy to everyone’s day. In the great tradition of slapstick comedians like The Three Stooges, La Compagnie Zolobe’s clown trio uses physical comedy and body language to tell their story while remaining completely silent. They are accompanied by a musician who plays traditional instruments: kabosy (a rectangular guitar) and djembe (drum). The word sakasaka means “thirsty” in Malagasy and, using just a mop, bucket and a few bottles of water, the clowns take audiences on hilarious adventures that gently and sincerely explore the preciousness of water. Laugh out loud and learn important lessons as you go on a journey of dance, music, splashes, and joy!

 

Rolando Villazón and Xavier de Maistre’s Serenata Latina

Monday, December 18 at 7:30 pm

Alice Tully Hall

Presented in collaboration with The Metropolitan Opera

Join two masters of their crafts for an intimate evening of music! Mexican operatic tenor Rolando Villazón and French harpist Xavier de Maistre offer selections from their 2020 album Serenata Latina. These exceptional artists joined forces to explore songs from Latin America’s rich repertoire with new arrangements for voice and harp. The evening offers a collage of sounds, with songs imbued with deep longing, melancholy, desire and loss, from traditional folk songs to arts songs. A night to remember!

 

Hovy’s Journey Into Sound

Tuesday, December 21 at 7:30 pm

David Rubenstein Atrium

A native of Cali, Colombia now based in New York City, the DJ and producer Jose Gonzalez aka “Hovy” has blossomed into a prolific creator of new music, releasing five full-length albums since 2019. Hovy's house-forward shows draw from a number of Latin influences, with the flavors of cumbia, samba, salsa and Latin jazz deeply saturating his sets. His stylistic ease with house and techno borrows liberally from electronic traditions hailing from as far afield as Detroit to Ibiza. For his debut dance club performance at the David Rubenstein Atrium, Hovy curates Journey Into Sound, an imaginative travelogue through all the audio adventures he's undertaken on the road to Lincoln Center, the biggest stage in a career that already promises many more.

 

Works & Process at Lincoln Center

Friday, January 12

Alice Tully Hall

Celebrating New York City’s extraordinary street and social dance artists, Works & Process inaugurated the Underground Uptown Dance Festival at the Guggenheim Museum in 2023. Now, the festival expands across town to Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall as part of JanARtsNYC.

 

globalFEST

Sunday, January 14

David Geffen Hall

Following on the heels of the epic opening series at David Geffen Hall and an evening-long outdoor celebration as part of Lincoln Center’s Summer for the City in 2022 and 2023, the cultural catalysts at globalFEST return to Lincoln Center for another spectacular evening of musical discovery. This annual event has featured stars like Angélique Kidjo, Tanya Tagaq, and DakhaBrakha alongside up and coming bands you'll see on stages around the world following their performance at globalFEST. This past January's sold-out blockbuster, ten-sets-in-one-night blowout returns to David Geffen Hall for another full-theater takeover, inhabiting all the floors and venues of the newly renovated building with breathtaking artists from across the planet, and around the corner. Full lineup will be announced in October!

 

See Me As I Am: Terence Blanchard / The Art of the Score

The Movie Music of Terence Blanchard

Sunday, January 28 at 7:30 pm

David Geffen Hall 

Presented by Lincoln Center in collaboration with the New York Philharmonic as part of The Art of The Score

The Movie Music of Terence Blanchard celebrates more than 30 years of collaboration between multiple GRAMMY-winning musician and Oscar-nominated composer Terence Blanchard and numerous iconic filmmakers, chief among them Spike Lee, alongside luminaries Gina Prince-Bythewood, Regina King, Kasi Lemmons and many more. Movie Music showcases curated highlights of Blanchard's lush soundtracks from his astonishing 80 film & television credits. The program created for this performance will mostly feature collaborations with Lee, including Malcolm X (1992), 25th Hour (2002), and BlackKklansman (2018). The east coast premiere of this exclusive performance program features the New York Philharmonic and Blanchard's quintet The E-Collective, starring the maestro himself on trumpet. Don't miss this one-night-only opportunity to experience the pathos, complexity, and beauty of Blanchard's historically important work with some of the great movie-makers of our era.

 

Alonzo King LINES Ballet’s Deep River

Thursday, February 22 at 7:30 pm

Friday, February 23 at 7:30 pm
Saturday, February 24 at 7:30 pm

Rose Theater

Celebrated American choreographer Alonzo King and his company Alonzo King LINES Ballet will make their Lincoln Center debut with Deep River, at once a contemplative and high-intensity work of heart-stopping beauty. King has been recognized internationally as one of the most consequential choreographers of his time, and noted by The New York Times as a choreographer with “astonishing originality.” Deep River is a collaboration featuring GRAMMY Award–winning vocalist Lisa Fischer (20 Feet to Stardom and longtime lead backup vocalist for the Rolling Stones) and Kennedy Center Artistic Director for Jazz and MacArthur Award winner Jason Moran. Melding dance with spiritual music from the Black, Jewish, and Indian traditions, Deep River invites audiences to consider the physical beauty and majesty of humanity as the pinnacle of creation. King says the work is a reminder that “love is the ocean that we rose from, swim in, and will one day return to”—and that love, when deeply cultured, can liberate us.

 

A project of the Arnhold Dance Innovation Fund. Major support provided by the Arnhold Dance Innovation Fund.

 

This season, Lincoln Center offers relaxed performances across campus, with performances open to all and designed for people with autism, sensory and communication disorders or learning disabilities offered by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Opera Guild, Jazz at Lincoln Center, LCPA, and New York City Ballet. At these events, the artistic integrity of the piece remains unchanged, but modifications to social environment and sensory elements may be made. A calendar of all relaxed performances at Lincoln Center may be accessed here.

 

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts continues to explore new ticketing practices to help make our performances more accessible to more people and to center equity and inclusion in every aspect of our field. The majority of Lincoln Center Presents programs are FREE—with a priority access Fast Track option—or Choose-What-You-Pay. Member Pre-sale for fall events begins September 12 at noon, and General On-sale begins September 15 at noon. For tickets and more information, please visit LincolnCenter.org/Presents.

 

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About Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (LCPA) is a cultural and civic cornerstone of New York City. The primary advocate for the entire Lincoln Center campus, our strategic priorities include: fostering collaboration and deepening impact across the Lincoln Center resident organizations; championing inclusion and increasing the accessibility and reach of Lincoln Center’s work; and nurturing innovation on stage and off to help ensure the arts are at the center of civic life for all. LCPA presents hundreds of programs each year, offered primarily for free and choose-what-you-pay, including many specially designed for young audiences, families, and those with disabilities.

 

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Major support is provided by the Shubert Foundation 

 

Additional support is provided by Barbara H. Block and the DuBose and Dorothy Heyward Memorial Fund 

 

Lincoln Center’s artistic excellence is made possible by the dedication and generosity of our board members 

 

Operation of Lincoln Center’s public plazas is supported in part with public funds provided by the City of New York 

 

Programs are made possible, in part, with public funds provided by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Empire State Development, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor, Mayor of the City of New York, the New York State Legislature and the New York City Council 

 

NewYork -Presbyterian is the Official Hospital of Lincoln Center 

 

United Airlines is the Preferred Airline of Lincoln Center Presents

 

Steinway is Lincoln Center’s Preferred Piano Partner 

 

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For more information, please contact: 

Isabel Sinistore

[email protected]

212-671-4195

 

Desiree Naranjo-Ochoa

[email protected]

212-875-5078

 

Jenni Klauder

[email protected]

212-875-5490

 

Rosie Marinelli

[email protected]

212-671-4747

 

Cristina Camacho

[email protected]

212-671-4846