COMMUNITY EVENTS
NEW IN MANHATTAN
Medieval Festival
Sept. 18, 11:30 a.m.–6 p.m.
Fort Tryon Park
The festival brings to life the customs and spirit of the Middle Ages. Ft. Tryon Park is transformed into a medieval market and visitors are greeted with medieval music, dance, magic, jesters, and a live chess game by performers in medieval costumes. The afternoon concludes with a thrilling joust between four knights on horseback starting at 5pm. The rain date is Sunday, Sept. 25. WHIDC.org
Out of Line: Heartbeat Opera
Sept. 22, 9 p.m.–10 p.m.
The High Line
We’ve asked Heartbeat Opera to bring their powerful-but-minimalist production to the High Line as part of our summer-long tribute to the infamous Renegade Cabaret fire escape series: Out of Line. Performance location provided via email following RSVP. Free. TheHighLine.org
NEW ELSEWHERE
Brooklyn Book Festival
Sept. 12–18
Various locations
The Brooklyn Book Festival is the largest free literary event in New York City, presenting an array of national and international literary stars and emerging authors. One of America’s premier book festivals, this hip, smart diverse gathering attracts thousands of book lovers of all ages to enjoy authors and the festival’s lively literary marketplace. Free. BrooklynBookFestival.org
ONGOING ELSEWHERE
SummerStage
Through Sept. 23
NYC Parks
New York City’s largest free performing arts festival, bringing more than 100 free performances to Central Park and 15 neighborhood parks throughout the five boroughs. Free. SummerStage.org
Falun Dafa (Falun Gong) Exercises
LOCATION 1: Fort Hamilton Library, 9424 Fourth Ave., Brooklyn
Thursdays 11 a.m.–12:30 p.m., through Sept. 22
LOCATION 2: McKinley Park Library at 6802 Fort Hamilton Pkwy., Brooklyn
Thursdays 6 p.m.–7:30 p.m., through Sept. 29
A class of five exercises including meditation. Come relieve your stress and anxieties, increase your energy and vitality, and enjoy peace of mind. Free. en.FalunDafa.org
VISUAL ARTS
NEW IN MANHATTAN
Faith and Photography: Auguste Salzmann in the Holy Land
Sept. 12–Feb. 5
The Met Fifth Avenue, Gallery 852, The Howard Gilman Gallery
The first-ever exhibition devoted exclusively to the career of the French academic painter, archaeologist, and photographer Auguste Salzmann. In 1853, Salzmann embarked on the arduous journey from Paris to Jerusalem. Hoping to objectively verify religious faith through the documentation of the city’s holy sites, he turned to photography, creating one of the most enigmatic bodies of work of the 19th century. $12–$25 suggested. METMuseum.org
On Time: The Quest for Precision
Sept. 14–Nov. 19
Grolier Club, 47 E. 60th St.
From sundials to atomic clocks, the story of the development of precision in timekeeping is documented in rare books and journals from the fifteenth century to the present. Curator Bruce Bradley tells a timely story with 86 illustrated books that graphically and artistically depict the sweep of timekeeping. Free. www.GrolierClub.org
Jerusalem 1000–1400: Every People Under Heaven
Sept. 26–Jan. 8, 2017
The Met Fifth Avenue, Gallery 899
This exhibition will illuminate the key role that the Holy City played in shaping the art of the period from 1000 to 1400. While Jerusalem is often described as a city of three faiths, that formulation underestimates its fascinating complexity. In fact, the city was home to multiple cultures, faiths, and languages. History records harmonious and dissonant voices of people from many lands, passing in the narrow streets of a city not much larger than midtown Manhattan. $12–$25 suggested. METMuseum.org
ONGOING IN MANHATTAN
Design for Eternity: Architectural Models From the Ancient Americas
Through Sept. 18
The Met Fifth Avenue
From the first millennium B.C. until the arrival of Europeans in the sixteenth century, artists from the ancient Americas created small-scale architectural models to be placed in the tombs of important individuals. $12–$25 suggested. METMuseum.org
Expressions of Nature in Korean Art
Through Sept. 18
The Met Fifth Avenue
The display shows how select motifs, especially plants and animals, have been illustrated on ceramics, painting, sculpture, lacquer, and textiles, and what they mean. Some types of images and symbols are nearly universal across East Asia; others are specific to Korea. $12–$25 suggested. METMuseum.org
NEW ELSEWHERE
The Battle of Brooklyn
Sept. 23–Jan. 8
New York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West
On August 27, 1776, on the marshy fields of Gowanus and Red Hook, George Washington and his rag-tag army of untrained soldiers fought the Royal Army, one of the most powerful military forces in the world. NYHistory.org
ONGOING ELSEWHERE
Manifesto
Sept. 13–25
634 Park Ave., Brooklyn
Drawing on more than 50 manifestos by artists, architects, choreographers, and filmmakers, this highly theatrical cinematic installation by cinematographer and video artist Julian Rosefeldt reinterprets these famous texts as poetic monologues that are brought to life by Academy Award-winner Cate Blanchett. $20. ArmoryOnPark.org
PERFORMING ARTS
NEW IN MANHATTAN
Balanchine B&W: All Stravinsky
Sept. 21–Oct. 8
David H. Koch Theater, Lincoln Center
Highlighting a signature NYCB style, this collection of boundary breaking ballets celebrates the apex of the Stravinsky/Balanchine collaboration, each work a streamlined marvel of music and movement that continues to astonish decades after its creation. $30–$175. NYCBallet.com
Bound for Broadway
Sept. 26, 7:30 p.m.
Merkin Concert Hall, 129 W. 67th St.
Want to see the next Avenue Q or Hamilton before anyone else? Don’t miss Bound for Broadway! An annual event eagerly anticipated by New York’s most serious and knowledgeable musical theater fans, this performance previews some of the best new musicals headed to New York theaters. KaufmanMusicCenter.org
Tristan und Isolde
Sept. 26–Oct. 27
Metropolitan Opera
Tristan und Isolde opens the Met season in a new production by Mariusz Treli?ski (the director responsible for the 2014-15 season’s double bill of Iolanta and Bluebeard’s Castle), and will be well served by a cast of outstanding Wagnerians: Nina Stemme as Isolde, Stuart Skelton as Tristan, Ekaterina Gubanova as Brangäne, and René Pape as King Marke, with Sir Simon Rattle conducting, in one of his rare appearances at the Met. From $27. MetOpera.org
Don Giovanni
Sept. 27–May 11
Metropolitan Opera
Three charismatic singers, Simon Keenlyside, Ildar Abdrazakov, and Mariusz Kwiecien, share the role of the title hero, who goes to hell in a dazzling coup de théâtre. From $25. MetOpera.org
ONGOING IN MANHATTAN
Measure for Measure
Through Sept. 17, 7 p.m.
Upper Terrace (10 performances)
Thursday, 9pm; Friday & Saturday, 7pm; Sunday, Sept 4, 3pm
See The Drilling Company perform Shakespeare’s “Measure for Measure” in the park! Free. BryantPark.org
ONGOING ELSEWHERE
Rites of Passage
Sept. 24, 8 p.m.
Gerald W. Lynch Theater, 524 W. 59th St.
Dzul Dance fuses multiple dance forms with aerial and circus arts as a means to communicate pre-Hispanic, Mexican, and Latin culture. By transforming bodies into earthbound and airborne forces of nature Dzul creates bridges between contemporary art and historical heritage while breaking physical and cultural boundaries. $30. Dzul.Eventbrite.com
MUSIC
NEW IN MANHATTAN
Mariko Takahashi
Sept. 16, 8 p.m.
Stern Auditorium/ Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall
Japanese vocalist Mariko Takahashi has been performing for over 40 years. She recorded her first songs with the band Pedro and Capricious, and has since released over 60 albums as a solo artist. She has performed at Royal Albert Hall in London and the Convention and Exhibition Centre Grand Hall in Hong Kong, and now returns to Carnegie Hall for a third time. $40–$120. CarnegieHall.org
ONGOING IN MANHATTAN
Piano in Bryant Park
Upper Terrace
Mon.–Fri., 12:30 p.m.–2:30 p.m., through Sept. 30
Summertime, and the livin‘ is easy... so swing on by for toe-tappin’ performances by New York’s finest, playing ragtime, stride, and jazz to your and My Heart’s Delight. Free. BryantPark.org
Spiral Music
Wednesdays
Rubin Museum, 150 W. 17th St.
Spiral Music presents acoustic music every Wednesday evening at the base of the museum’s spiral staircase. Artists who specialize in music from the Himalayas and South Asia are invited to forge a connection between their music and the art in the galleries. Free. RubinMuseum.org
NEW ELSEWHERE
New York Polyphony (5BMF)
Sept. 24 at 7:30 p.m. at Christ Church Riverdale, the Bronx
Sept. 25 at 5:00 p.m. at Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, Staten Island
The ensemble performs a mix of Renaissance and contemporary music, in a program entitled Passion, featuring works by Compere, Andrew Smith, de Penalosa and Kreek?. 5bmf.org