Alarm Will Sound, Gotham Chamber Opera and More Set for Met Museum Presents, Jan-Feb 2014

MET MUSEUM PRESENTS has announced its January and February 2014 lineup, featuring:

· Alarm Will Sound & Dance Heginbotham in The Charles Engelhard Court - A Site-Specific Program

· Gotham Chamber Opera - Monteverdi and a Beecher World Premiere in Galleries of Arms and Armor and Medieval Art

· The Hilliard Ensemble in Its Farewell Season

· Philippe Jaroussky & Venice Baroque Orchestra: Venetian Baroque

· Rosanne Cash Celebrates Martin Guitars

· Harold Holzer, Norman Lewis, Stephen Lang: The Unknown "Lincoln-Douglass" Debate

· A Valentine from Jane Monheit

PERFORMANCES:

Please note: A third performance of the Salzburg Marionette Theatre's production of Alice in Wonderland has been added: Sunday, December 15, 2013, at noon.

Saturday, December 14, 2013, at 2:00 p.m. in The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium

Just added: Sunday, December 15, 2013, at noon in The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium

Sunday, December 15, 2013, at 3:00 p.m. in The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium

Salzburg Marionette Theatre

Alice in Wonderland

This production of Lewis Carroll's timeless classic Alice in Wonderland features a newly recorded soundtrack voiced by actors in English, with 19th-century English folk songs performed on violin and piano.

These programs are made possible by the Brodsky Family Foundation.

Tickets: $60 for adults, $30 for children

Please note new program details:

Friday, December 20, 2013, at 7:00 p.m. in The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium

Salomé Chamber Orchestra

After their 2012-13 concert series playing the rare instruments of the Sau-Wing Lam Collection, the Salomé Chamber Orchestra returns to the Met with a festive program including Brahms Clarinet Quintet, Op. 115, for Viola and Orchestra (arr. Bashmet); Oran Eldor's Sephardic Prayer (2013); and works by Salomé's composer-in-residence, Alexey Shor: Four Seasons of Manhattan (2013), Baroque Fantasy (2013), Natalie's Waltz (2013), Odessa Walk (2013), Semi-Canonical Lover's Spat (2013), and Murka Variations (2012, with Oran Eldor)

Tickets: $40

Bring the Kids! $1 tickets for children (ages 7-16) when accompanied by an adult with a full-price ticket (subject to availability).

Wednesday, January 22, 2014, at 7:00 p.m. at The Temple of Dendur in The Sackler Wing

The Hilliard Ensemble: ARKHANGELOS, A Millennium of Music

The Hilliard Ensemble, England's celebrated a cappella vocal quartet, is disbanding at the end of this season's 40th-anniversary tour. For the New York appearance of their farewell tour, the group will perform a concert at The Temple of Dendur in The Sackler Wing encompassing a millennium of Christian music.

The concert will be hosted by WNYC's John Schaefer and recorded for later broadcast on WNYC's "New Sounds Live." This performance will be live streamed by Q2 Music at www.q2music.org.

"Arkhangelos, A Millennium of Music" complements the extensive arts of Byzantium in the Met's collection. The program takes its name from a Greek Orthodox text set by contemporary composer Ivan Moody for the ensemble. The concert also features music from Armenia, 13th-century France, and 16th-century England, and celebrates the ensemble's continuing relationship with several living composers: Arvo Pärt (Estonia), Vache Sharafyan (Armenia), and Katia Tchemberdji and Alexander Raskatov (Russia).

Unrivalled for its formidable reputation in the fields of both early and new music, The Hilliard Ensemble is one of the world's finest vocal chamber groups. The group's standing as an early music ensemble dates from the 1980s, when it released its series of successful recordings for EMI and its own mail-order record label, hilliard LIVE. The 1988 recording of Arvo Pärt's Passio began a fruitful relationship with both Pärt and the ECM label, and was followed by their recording of Pärt's Litany. The group has recently commissioned other composers from the Baltic States, including Veljo Tormis and Erkki-Sven Tüür, adding to a rich repertoire of new music from Gavin Bryars, Heinz Holliger, John Casken, James MacMillan, Elena Firsova, and many others. www.hilliardensemble.demon.co.uk

Tickets: $65

Thursday, February 13, 2014, at 6:00 p.m. in The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium

The Unknown "Lincoln-Douglass" Debate

Harold Holzer, Historian

Norm Lewis and Stephen Lang, Performers

Though they met at the White House several times and regularly exchanged views, Abraham Lincoln and African-American leader Frederick Douglass never publicly argued the crucial issues of slavery, freedom, and racial justice. This is the Lincoln-Douglass debate that never happened; but in this performance piece-using words from their actual correspondence and commentary, illustrated by period paintings, photographs, and sculpture-Harold Holzer brings Lincoln and Douglass face-to-face for an unprecedented confrontation.

Holzer will be joined by accomplished performers to portray Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln: Norm Lewis, Tony-Award nominated actor and singer (Porgy & Bess, ABC's Scandal), and Stephen Lang, Tony-Award nominated actor (The Speed of Darkness, Avatar).

Harold Holzer is one of the country's leading authorities on Abraham Lincoln and the political culture of the Civil War era. A prolific writer and lecturer, and frequent guest on television, Holzer serves as chairman of The Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation, successor organization to the U. S. Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission (ALBC), to which he was appointed by President Clinton in 2000, and co-chaired from 2001-2010. President Bush, in turn, awarded Holzer the National Humanities Medal in 2008. And in 2013, Holzer wrote an essay on Lincoln for the official program at the re-inauguration of President Barack Obama. He is serving currently as the first Roger Hertog Fellow at The New-York Historical Society. http://haroldholzer.com

This program is made possible by Martha Fling.

Tickets: $40

Saturday, February 15, 2014, at 7:00 p.m. in The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium

A Valentine from Jane Monheit

Grammy-nominated jazz and popular vocalist Jane Monheit sings a special program in celebration of Valentine's Day.

Monheit's latest recording release is The Heart Of The Matter, the vocalist's ninth studio album. The diverse and very personal set of songs includes both familiar standards and compositions by Lennon/McCartney and Randy Newman, two songs by Ivan Lins sung in the original Portuguese, and, for the first time, a Monheit original.

Monheit has been a leading light in both the jazz and cabaret worlds since emerging as a finalist in the Thelonious Monk Institute's 1998 vocal competition. In addition making solo recordings, she has worked alongside Terence Blanchard, Tom Harrell, Ivan Lins, and others. She says that the distinctive, continually surprising sound of The Heart Of The Matter is the result of an especially satisfying collaboration with Grammy-winning producer Gil Goldstein, who previously worked with such giants as Wayne Shorter, Gil Evans, and Pat Metheny. The pair first joined forces for part of Monheit's 2009 album The Lovers, The Dreamers, and Me. http://janemonheitonline.com

Tickets: $60

Thursday, February 20, 2014, at 7:00 p.m. in The Charles Engelhard Court

Alarm Will Sound: Twinned

Alarm Will Sound, the 20-member New York-based group led by Music Director Alan Pierson, is known for bringing vitality, intelligence, and a sense of adventure to a broad variety of musical and theatrical expression. The acclaimed ensemble performs, works with curators and educators, and conducts talks and workshops in a season-long artist residency at the Met.

In this site-specific dance performance created for The Charles Engelhard Court, Alarm Will Sound and Dance Heginbotham pair movement with the music of Tyondai Braxton, Aphex Twin, and Edgard Varèse. The program includes excerpts from Twin (2012) and the world premiere of Fly By Wire (2014).

The residency's final event is I Was Here I Was I, a Metropolitan Museum-commissioned music theater work, combining narratives surrounding the history of The Temple of Dendur by Kate Soper (composer) and Nigel Maister (librettist/director). It will be performed in the Lila Acheson Wallace Galleries of Egyptian Art and at The Temple of Dendur in The Sackler Wing (May 17, 2014).

"Alarm Will Sound brings to their performances a deep-rooted sense of discovery that stems from their creativity as composers and their appetite for all kinds of art," said Limor Tomer, the Met's General Manager of Concerts & Lectures. "Their nimbleness and their work in a variety of media make them wonderful collaborators with the Met."

Alarm Will Sound has established a reputation for performing demanding music with energetic skill. ASCAP recognized their contributions to new music with a 2006 Concert Music Award for "the virtuosity, passion and commitment with which they perform and champion the repertory for the 21st century." Their performances have been described as "equal parts exuberance, nonchalance, and virtuosity" by the Financial Times and as "a triumph of ensemble playing" by the San Francisco Chronicle. The New York Times says Alarm Will Sound is "the future of classical music" and "the very model of a modern music chamber band." www.alarmwillsound.com

New Pre-Concert Cocktails: A menu of limited-edition specialty cocktails celebrating Alarm Will Sound will be available for purchase before performances in either The Petrie Court Café or The Great Hall Balcony Bar. Both inspired by and named in honor of the ensemble's first performance at the Met, "The Permanent Collection" menu will feature an assortment of classic cocktails with a modern twist. This menu will be offered throughout the year, exclusively on evenings when Alarm Will Sound performs.

Tickets: $60

Bring the Kids! $1 tickets for children (ages 7-16) when accompanied by an adult with a full-price ticket (subject to availability).

Saturday, February 22, 2014, at 7:00 p.m. in The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium

Rosanne Cash and Friends: Early American Guitars

Martin Guitars has a long history with the Cash family. Johnny Cash had dozens of Martins, including some that had belonged to Mother Maybelle Carter of the Carter family of country music fame. Grammy Award-winning musician and songwriter Rosanne Cash celebrates Martin Guitar's legacy as well as her own family's history with the company through a program featuring music written and performed on the legendary instruments. Rosanne Cash's latest recording, The River & The Thread, will be released on January 14, 2014.

This program is in conjunction with the exhibition Early American Guitars: The Instruments of C.F. Martin, which will be on view at the Museum January 14-December 7, 2014. The exhibition is made possible by The Martin Guitar Company.

For more than three decades, Rosanne Cash has been one of the most compelling figures in popular music, with a remarkable body of work noted for its emotional acuity, rich and resonant imagery, and unsparing honesty. The eldest daughter of country music icon Johnny Cash and stepdaughter of June Carter Cash of the legendary Carter family, Rosanne's musical and family legacy is rooted in the very beginnings of American country music, with its deep cultural and historical connections to the South. Her own thoughtful, genre-blurring approach, which encompasses country, rock, roots, and pop influences, has garnered her a Grammy, 12 Grammy nominations, and 11 No. 1 singles. On her 2009 album The List, Cash recorded 12 songs from the list of "100 essential country songs" that her father compiled for her and instructed her to learn, when she was 18 and about to join his road show. The List received two Grammy nominations and won the Americana Music Association Awards' 2010 Album of the Year. http://rosannecash.com

Tickets: $60

Tuesday, February 25, 2014, at 7:00 p.m. in The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium

Philippe Jaroussky & Venice Baroque Orchestra: The Venetian Baroque

Acclaimed French countertenor Philippe Jaroussky joins the Venice Baroque Orchestra, the estimable Italian period-instrument ensemble, and its music director, Andrea Marcon, for a program of their core Italian Baroque repertoire. Jaroussky sings arias by Nicola Porpora: "Mira in cielo" from Arianna, "Si Pietoso il tuo labbro" from Semiramide riconosciuta, "Nel già bramoso petto" and "Le limpid'onde" from Ifigenia in Aulide, "Come nave in ria tempest" from Semiramide d'Assiria, "Dall'amor piu sventurato" from Orfeo, and "Alto Giove" and "Nell'attendere il mio bene" from Polifemo. The orchestra plays Vivaldi's Concerto in F Major for Two Horns, Strings, and Continuo, RV 538, and Geminiani's Concerto Grosso for Two Violins, Strings, and Continuo in D Minor "La Follia," after Corelli, Op. 5, No. 12.

This concert complements the Museum's newly reinstalled Venetian galleries.

Just 35 years old, countertenor Philippe Jaroussky has already established himself as a major international artist, having worked with such early music ensembles as Ensemble Matheus, Les Arts Florissants, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Le Concert d'Astrée, L'Arpeggiata, Le Cercle de l'Harmonie and Europa Galante, and conductors William Christie, Jean-Christophe Spinosi, Marc Minkowski, René Jacobs, Christina Pluhar, Emmanuelle Haïm, Jean-Claude Malgoire, and Fabio Biondi. In 2002 he founded Ensemble Artaserse, which has performed throughout Europe. Philippe Jaroussky is an exclusive Virgin Classics artist; his latest recording, La Dolce Fiamma, is dedicated to forgotten castrato arias by Johann Christian Bach with Le Cercle de l'Harmonie and Jérémie Rhorer. www.philippejaroussky.fr/en

Founded in 1997 by Baroque scholar and harpsichordist Andrea Marcon, the Venice Baroque Orchestra is recognized as one of the premier ensembles devoted to period- instrument performance. Committed to the rediscovery of 17th- and 18th-century masterpieces, the VBO has given the modern-day premieres of Francesco Cavalli's L'Orione, Vivaldi's Atenaide, and Andromeda liberata, among others. With Teatro La Fenice in Venice, the Orchestra has staged Cimarosa's L'Olimpiade, Handel's Siroe, and Galuppi's L'Olimpiade, and reprised Siroe at the Brooklyn Academy Of Music in New York in its first full staging in the U.S. The Orchestra's recent disc for Naïve, a pastiche of Metastasio's L'Olimpiade, featuring the recording premieres of many 18th-century opera arias, was released in 2012 and awarded Choc du Monde de la Musique. www.venicebaroqueorchestra.it

Tickets: $60

Bring the Kids! $1 tickets for children (ages 7-16) when accompanied by an adult with a full-price ticket (subject to availability).

Wednesday & Thursday, February 26 & 27, 2014, at 7:00 p.m. in the Emma and Georgina Bloomberg Arms and Armor Court and the Medieval Sculpture Hall

Gotham Chamber Opera

Neal Goren, Conductor

Robin Guarino, Director

Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda by Claudio Monteverdi

I Have No Stories to Tell You by Lembit Beecher-World premiere

This double-bill program by New York's acclaimed Gotham Chamber Opera, conducted by Artistic Director Neal Goren, presents a 17th-century battle set piece and a brand new work, each presented in a Metropolitan Museum gallery. Gotham Chamber Opera composer-in-residence Lembit Beecher and librettist Hannah Moscovitch respond to Monteverdi's 1624 depiction of fierce battle set during the First Crusade, Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda, by focusing on the after-effects of war. Their 30-minute opera, I Have No Stories to Tell You, a commission by Gotham Chamber Opera for performance in the Medieval Sculpture Hall, depicts a photojournalist's return home after an extended assignment in the Middle East. She is haunted by her experiences and reluctant to discuss them with her husband, who no longer understands her. The glimpses of her life that we see over the course of a year depict her struggles and a relationship driven to the brink. Scored for a period-instrument ensemble and inspired by interviews with soldiers and army psychologists, I Have No Stories to Tell You explores the effects of war on one's identity and sense of home. www.gothamchamberopera.org

Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda will be presented in the Emma and Georgina Bloomberg Arms and Armor Court. The audience will then proceed to the adjacent Medieval Sculpture Hall for the performance of I Have No Stories to Tell You. Featured singers will be mezzo-soprano Beth Clayton and baritone Craig Verm. Both productions are directed by Robin Guarino.

Instruments from the Metropolitan Museum's musical instruments collection will be used in the performance.

This program is made possible in part by Mr. and Mrs. Ronald J. Ulrich.

Tickets for performances: $175

Every Friday and Saturday, 5:00-8:00 p.m. on the Balcony Bar-Free with admission

ETHEL and Friends

ETHEL, the acclaimed string quartet that Pitchfork.com described as "a necessary jet of cold water in the contemporary classical scene," began as resident ensemble at the Metropolitan Museum's Balcony Bar in October. Marking the first time that a prominent music group has been featured in that venue, Ethel Will perform there each Friday and Saturday evening on a regular basis, sometimes with friends and collaborators, throughout the year. The quartet will also select music groups from ETHEL's expansive list of notable colleagues to perform when the group is on the road. This new programming initiative will provide a variety of musical experiences to Met audiences, delivered by a range of ensemble types and compositions.

Click here for the schedule of performers.

The Balcony Bar serves appetizers and cocktails on the second-floor balcony overlooking the Great Hall. Three sets of performances between 5:00 and 8:00 p.m. will take place each Friday and Saturday.

Free with Museum admission

For tickets, visit www.metmuseum.org/tickets or call 212-570-3949. Tickets are also available at the Great Hall Box Office, which is open Monday-Saturday, 11-3:30. Tickets include admission to the Museum on day of performance.

30 & Under Rush: $15 tickets for ticket buyers 30 years and younger, with proof of age, the day of the event on select performances (subject to availability). For more information, visit www.metmuseum.org/tickets call 212-570-3949, or visit the box office.

Bring the Kids!: $1 tickets for children (ages 7-16) for select performances when accompanied by an adult with a full-price ticket (subject to availability). For more information, visit www.metmuseum.org/tickets call 212-570-3949, or visit the box office.