51 free things to do in New York City (NYC) on Wednesday, May 9, 2012
All events are free unless otherwise noted.
Tai chi is a Chinese exercise system that uses slow, smooth body movements to achieve a state of relaxation ...
more >> of both body and mind. Be sure to wear comfortable clothing. Heavy rain will cancel the event.
6:30 am
free, no reservation required
Explore the Cathedral's newly cleaned and restored Nave. Learn about the art, architecture and history ...
more >> of this great sacred space from 1892 to the present.
Learn about central banking functions that Federal Reserve System performs and see Bank's vault of international ...
more >> monetary gold on bedrock of Manhattan Island, five stories below street level. Learn why Federal Reserve has "Federal" in its name, while it's a private bank, not Federal at all. Congressman Ron Paul considers the Federal Reserve "both corrupt and unconstitutional"
Tour times: 11:15 a.m., 12:00 p.m., 1:15 p.m., 2:30 p.m., 3:15 p.m., and 4:00 p.m.
12:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Editor's Pick
12:00 pm
free, no reservation required
12:20 pm
free, no reservation required
12:30 pm
$10 suggested donation
As you promenade through the heart of the Park, imagine yourself living in 19th Century New York City. ...
more >> Learn about the Park's history and how its designers, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, struggled to create the magnificent "Greensward" for the enjoyment of all. Tour lasts approximately one hour.
12:30 pm
free, no reservation required
Explore the Cathedral's newly cleaned and restored Nave. Learn about the art, architecture and history ...
more >> of this great sacred space from 1892 to the present.
A jazz concert for the midtown community. These popular midday concerts feature well-regarded artists. ...
more >> The programming is overseen by jazz pianist Ronny Whyte.
1:00 pm
$10 suggested donation
What do thinkers think about when they’re not “thinking”? Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia and René ...
more >> Descartes shared an intense correspondence in which they discussed Descartes’ revolutionary Cogito -- “I think therefore I am” -- but also the pleasures and pains of daily life in some intimate detail. Inspired by their letters, we have set out to rethink, with them, the usual story of “Cogito sum” in terms of “Cogito Interruptus.” Focusing on the debate between the young princess and the ageing philosopher about the interaction or interference between the mind and the body, this presentation traces the emergence of these two philosophical characters as they build an extraordinary friendship across social, political and religious barriers. We begin to see a Descartes who is more than a thing that thinks and Elisabeth as the first Cartesian revolutionary.
Anne O'Byrne is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Stony Brook University. Kyoo Lee is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at John Jay College, CUNY. Philosophers both, Drs. Lee and O'Byrne are writers in residence at the Library's Wertheim Study.
1:15 pm
free, no reservation required
Editor's Pick
The brother-sister duo: Vita Wallace, violin, and Ishmael Wallace, piano.
Program:
Mozart's Sonata ...
more >> in E-flat Major (K. 481)
Louis Spohr's Barcarolle, Op. 135
1:15 pm
free, no reservation required
2:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Join a free Stay Well exercise session. Stay Well volunteers certified by the NYC's Department for the ...
more >> aging will lead participants in a well-balanced series of exercises for seniors of all ability levels. Please wear loose comfortable clothing. Exercise equipment will be provided. All participants are required to sign a personal medical waiver at the beginning of the class.
The Cardinal Carter Academy Singers from Toronto, Canada perform works by Allegri, Whitacre, Byrd, Rheinberger, ...
more >> Victoria and Tavener.
4:00 pm
free, no reservation required
4:00 pm
free, no reservation required
They're easy. They're silly. They're healthy. They're clever. They're artistic. They're delicious. They're ...
more >> fun. They're a great way to start the day. One breakfast at a time, Bill Wurtzel is determined to make you laugh and eat and play and laugh some more. Riffing over the years with oatmeal, eggs, apples, and nuts, it is finally ours to share...
4:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Starring Kathy Bates, Alfrie Woodard.
Two families from different walks of life learn to work together.
111 ...
more >> min.
4:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Hands on using wireless laptops. Learn about online social networks and explore some of the most popular ...
more >> websites, including Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
5:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Spend an hour with Harley Spiller aka Inspector Collector and learn the ins and outs of coins and other ...
more >> international forms of money from across the ages. From wampum belts and cowrie shells to golden dollars and collectible mistakes, this lively hands-on exploration exposes facts and figures about pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, and more. Learn what exactly happens when the U.S. Mint uses 25, 000 pounds of pressure to create coins; why a Caribbean nation intentionally drilled holes in its coins, and a whole lot more.
5:30 pm
free, no reservation required
"Sentimental, heartfelt….the exploration of Henry’s changing relationship with his family and with ...
more >> Keiko will keep most readers turning pages...A timely debut that not only reminds readers of a shameful episode in American history, but cautions us to examine the present and take heed we don’t repeat those injustices." - Kirkus Reviews
5:30 pm
free, no reservation required
Editor's Pick
The documentary explores the issues of masculinity, violence, phobias and sexism in hip hop music and ...
more >> culture.
61 min.
5:30 pm
free, no reservation required
Modern society ... we're all part of it. But how often do we step back from the hubbub of daily life ...
more >> to look at it with fresh eyes? Filmmaker/Visual Humorist Cameron Tingley presents his series of short films. Come to laugh, think and wonder, all at the same time.
5:30 pm
free, no reservation required
Zumba is a mixture of merengue, salsa, cha-cha, cumbia, reggaeton dance mixed with exercise conducted ...
more >> by Miriam. Zumba provides an effective total workout where you can lose body fat, gain muscle, improve posture, alignment and balance and feel more energetic! Participants should wear loose clothing or shorts and sneakers.
5:45 pm
free, no reservation required
6:00 pm
free, no reservation required
6:00 Recess
7:00 Barnstormer and Seer/sucker
8:00 Family Haircut & Whiskey Rebellion
9:00 ...
more >> Birds & Someday the Cake
10:00 USA & The Faculty
11:00 Improdome
6:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Contemporary women in our culture hold an unprecedented fear of giving birth, having too often been conditioned ...
more >> to associate it with excruciating pain, thereby causing their bodies to become tense and unable to perform what should be a normal physiological function. Founded by Marie Mickey Mongan, HypnoBirthing®, currently successfully practiced in 34 countries throughout the world, is a unique method of relaxed, natural childbirth education enhanced by self-hypnosis and guided imagery techniques that allows women to use their natural instincts to bring about safer, easier, more comfortable birthing.
Students working in etching, screenprint, woodcut, lithography, and other printmaking media showcase ...
more >> their artwork.
6:30 pm
free, no reservation required
In this visual presentation the author serves up an in-depth look at Buffett's 2008 shareholder letter, ...
more >> highlighting 25 tantalizing nuggets of wisdom. These "bites" afford an inside look at Buffett's unconventional ways that have created Berkshire Hathaway's unrivaled success. She will offer a first hand report of Buffett’s May 5, 2012 annual meeting in Omaha.
6:30 pm
free, no reservation required
Editor's Pick
The festival highlights more than 100 films by students graduating from the BFA Film, Video and Animation ...
more >> Department. The program includes screenings of short films, videos and animations, and culminates in an awards ceremony with notables from the film and animation industries.
Politics and Letters come together for an evening of readings by Elissa Schappell, Téa Obreht and student ...
more >> contributors to 12th Street Issue 5.
7:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Actor and comedian Steve Guttenberg, star of Police Academy and Three Men and a Baby, talks about his ...
more >> new memoir and the hills and valleys of show business.
7:00 pm
free, no reservation required
7:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Join three favorite lit mags, all carefully curated and beautifully produced — harlequin creature, ...
more >> the Agriculture Reader and Ugly Duckling Presse‘s 6×6 — for a reading and live music by Relatives and Isaac Gillespie. Limited amount of complimentary refreshments followed by cash bar.
7:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Editor's Pick
A staged reading of three one-act plays: “Romeo and Juliette,” “Motl Peysi in America,” and “Nishto ...
more >> Yosl” (Where is Yossel?), written by Sholem Aleichem, Khaver Paver, and Moyshe Nadir. In Yiddish with English and Russian supertitles.
7:00 pm
free, no reservation required
"The Double Life of Veronique [constructs] a fluttering opera of duality and déjà vu seemingly suspended ...
more >> in motion. Through the parallel characters of Polish singer Weronika and French music teacher Veronique (both played by Irene Jacob)...Kieślowski envisions a modern world where the combination of touch and fate can reconcile life's incomprehensible mysteries." — Glenn Heath Jr., Slant Magazine
96 min.
7:00 pm
free, no reservation required
PROGRAM:
Ernst Krenek Serenade op. 4 for clarinet, violin, viola and cello
Franz Schubert Hirt auf ...
more >> dem Felsen D 965 for soprano, clarinet and piano
Ernst Krenek Sonata for viola solo op. 92 No. 3
Ernst Krenek Verhaeren Lieder op. 30a for mezzo-soprano, clarinet and string quartet
Ernst Krenek Trio op. 108 for violin, clarinet and piano
Ernst Krenek Zeitlieder op. 215 for mezzo-soprano and string quartet
Franz Schubert Adagio & Rondo Concertante D 478 for piano quartet
An evening with the Vienna-based Krenek Ensemble, who will perform a concert in New York as part of their 2012 US-tour.
The Ernst Krenek Ensemble, founded in 2008, is a collective of musicians playing in leading European orchestras (including Wiener Philharmoniker, Concentus Musicus Wien, and Opernorchester Zürich). Siegmund Weinmeister is the artistic director of the ensemble which performs with a varying chamber musical instrumentation and focuses on the oeuvre of Ernst Krenek and his immediate music-historical and stylistic context.
Third-year Drama students are featured in their annual performances of works by Shakespeare.
New York City, NY; NYC
Program:
Hô (excerpts) - 1960 - Giacinto Scelsi (1905-1988)
Silvie Jensen (mezzo-soprano)
Maknongan ...
more >> - 1976 - Giacinto Scelsi
Michael Ibrahim (baritone saxophone)
Pwyll - 1954 - Giacinto Scelsi
Ashley Addington (flute)
World Premiere (Title TBA) - 2012 - Gregory Cornelius (b. 1977)
Amp Ensemble
Quando stanno morendo, diario polacco n.2 - 1982 - Luigi Nono (1924-1990)
Ekmeles Vocal Ensemble: Megan Schubert (soprano), Christie Finn (soprano), Amirtha Kidambi (mezzo-soprano), Silvie Jensen (mezzo-soprano)
AMP is a new music group based in New York City that grapples with experimental, electroacoustic, gestural, or situational compositional trends in the context (for the perspective) of a broader musical modernism. Without fixed ensemble, we draw from the rich new music scene in New York to organically develop a few concerts each year, each usually featuring a particular composer or nexus of compositions.
Ekmeles is a vocal ensemble dedicated to the performance of new and rarely-heard works, and gems of the historical avant garde. New York is home to a vibrant instrumental New Music scene, with a relative paucity of vocal music. Ekmeles was founded to fill the gap by presenting new a cappella repertoire for solo voices, and by collaborating with these instrumental ensembles.
Director Jeffrey Gavett brings a hybrid vision to the group: he is an accomplished ensemble singer and performer of new works, and holds degrees from Westminster Choir College and Manhattan School of Music's Contemporary Performance Program. He has assembled a virtuoso group of colleagues who bring their own diverse backgrounds to bear on the unique challenges of this essential and neglected repertoire.
8:00 pm
free, no reservation required
8:00 pm
free, no reservation required
8:00 pm
free, no reservation required
8:00 pm
free, no reservation required
8:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Editor's Pick
One of the most sought-after ensembles in the United States, the Orion String Quartet presents four annual ...
more >> concerts. Its members - violinists Daniel and Todd Phillips, violist Steven Tenenbom, and cellist Timothy Eddywork - with students in a series of chamber music master classes.
Maria Bamford joins Arts in Mind for some laughs and conversation about her struggles with mental illness. ...
more >> Bamford is the first female comic to have two half-hour Comedy Central Presents specials. She starred in the Comedy Central series, The Comedians of Comedy and Netflix’s Comedians of Comedy: The Movie. She has made multiple late-night appearances on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, Late Night with Conan O’Brien and Jimmy Kimmel Live, as well as not-so-late appearances on John Oliver’s New York Stand Up Show, Premium Blend, Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn and The World Comedy Tour: Melbourne 2003.
8:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Laksmi Nrsimha das (Larry Pugliese) has been practicing bhakti yoga for nearly forty years both in the ...
more >> USA and India under the mentorship of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami. For 3 years Laksmi traveled throughout the USA with the legendary kirtaniya Visnu Jana Swami on a temple bus, bringing kirtan to nearly every town, city and university in North America. He has continued to this day to perform kirtan at yoga studios in the NY/NJ area as well as in many temples and homes of kirtan enthusiasts.
8:30 pm
$10 suggested donation...
9:00 pm
free, no reservation required
Stand-up comedy show (that has been featured on MTV, and that fills to standing-room only each week). ...
more >> The show is produced by Brendan Fitzgibbons (The Onion, McSweeney's) and Lance Weiss (Carolines on Broadway) with comedians from David Letterman, Vh1, MTV, The Onion, and Comedy Central. Free pizza!
9:00 pm
free, no food/drink...
Sketch Comedy meets Block Party. This monthly show features a guest host comedian, three guest sketch ...
more >> troupes and drinking. Come meet, mingle, and perform!
A great way to hear some of the most talented young lions of jazz while enjoying spectacular views of ...
more >> Manhattan.