Due to overwhelming demand, Maxwell and the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) Pops have added a fourth show to their September run on Saturday, September 21, at 5 p.m. in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. These concerts mark the soul star’s first ever performance with a live orchestra, and will feature veterans of his longtime band in reimagined arrangements of songs from Maxwell’s hit-filled career—including thirteen #1 R&B chart toppers.
Fresh Talk: Judy Chicago: New Views
Sunday, Sept. 22, 4:30–6 p.m., followed by book signing and Catalyst, a cocktail hour with a topic and a twist, 6–7 p.m.
Join iconic feminist artist Judy Chicago for the debut of Judy Chicago: New Views—the first major monograph on the artist in nearly 20 years. Published by NMWA and Scala Arts Publishers, Judy Chicago: New Views offers fresh perspectives on the artist’s oeuvre by leading scholars and curators. Chicago joins book contributor Martha C. Nussbaum, philosopher and Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago, to discuss New Views and the current exhibition Judy Chicago—The End: A Meditation on Death and Extinction, featuring her newest body of work. The exhibition is on view at NMWA from Sept. 19, 2019, to Jan. 20, 2020. Reservations required. $80 general, $65 members, seniors, students. Price includes museum admission, program, one copy of Judy Chicago: New Views (available for preorder in the Museum Shop for $49.95) and Catalyst cocktail hour (during which Chicago and Nussbaum will be available to sign copies of Judy Chicago: New Views). Reserve online.
The Improvised Shakespeare Company
Based on one audience suggestion (a title for a play that has yet to be written) The Improvised Shakespeare Co. creates a fully improvised Shakespearean masterpiece right before your very eyes! The night could reveal a tragedy, comedy, or history. Each play is completely improvised, so each play is entirely new!
Tickets: $39-49
Women Looking at Women: LIFE Magazine’s Female Photographers
Thursday, October 3, 2019, 5:30-8 p.m.
Alissa Schapiro, museum curator and art historian, will explore LIFE Magazine’s female photographers and their documentation of the fluctuating status of women in the United States while solidifying their own place within LIFE’s male-dominated photography staff.
Note: This is the first program in the Mid-Century Master lecture series.
4155 Linnean Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20008
Mid-Century Muses: Looking at Fashion in the Photography of Alfred Eisenstaedt
Thursday, October 10, 2018, 5:30-8 p.m.
Megan Martinelli, Hillwood’s assistant curator of apparel, jewelry, and accessories, will provide an in-depth look at Alfred Eisenstaedt’s role among twentieth-century fashion media, expanding upon the special exhibition Mid-Century Master: The Photography of Alfred Eisenstaedt.
Note: This is the second program in the Mid-Century Master lecture series www.HillwoodMuseum.org
4155 Linnean Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20008
Ultimate Insiders: White House Photographers and How They Shape History
Wednesday, October 16, 2019, 5:30-8 p.m.
Kenneth T. Walsh, award-winning White House correspondent, will share stories of White House photographers, the ultimate insiders, emphasizing their personal observations and visual histories of the presidents the photographers got to know so well.
Note: This is the third program in the Mid-Century Master lecture series.
4155 Linnean Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20008
Cultural Capital: The Big Quiet
Wednesday, Oct. 23, 7:15–9:15 p.m.
The Big Quiet is a mass meditation movement that brings together thousands of people at cultural landmarks and institutions across the U.S. Designed for people with any level of meditation experience, each event incorporates live sound practitioners, string instrumentalists and musicians to create a guided meditation and music experience unlike anything else. Visitors will have the opportunity to arrive early to browse NMWA’s galleries and exhibitions, then breathe deeply and slow down for this special event in the museum’s iconic Great Hall. Reservations required. $33 general; $28 members, seniors, students. Reserve online after Sept. 11.
Life in the Art World: LIFE Magazine and Modern American Art
Thursday, October 24, 2019, 5:30-8 p.m.
Melissa Renn, collections manager at the HBS Art and Artifacts Collection, will demonstrate how LIFE magazine shaped both the public and the critical reception of modern art and architecture in the United States in the second half of the twentieth century.
Note: This is the fourth program in the Mid-Century Master lecture series.
4155 Linnean Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20008
CapitalBop continues its FALL 19 season with a special Traveling Loft presentation of the Noah Haidu Quartet and Kris Monson’s Suite for Charlottesville on Saturday, Nov. 23, picking up on the momentum from a sold-out concert last month featuring the legendary Fred Frith.
This month’s Traveling Loft, in the black-box theater at 1358 Florida Ave. NE, presents a mix of elder master artists and young up-and-comers. Haidu, a rising star on New York City’s straight-ahead jazz scene, brings a band featuring the veteran saxophonist Gary Thomas (who has worked with Jack DeJohnette, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter and Pat Metheny), drummer John Davis (a sideman for Cassandra Wilson and Leslie Odom, Jr.) and the legendary bassist Buster Williams, whose career has included stints with some of the most immortal names in jazz.
Kris Monson, a young bassist hailing from Virginia, will bring a band full of New York’s rising stars: Alex Hamburger (flute), Jasper Dutz (bass clarinet), Guy Moskovich (piano) and Jongkuk Kim (drums) — plus a couple of hard-hitting veterans from Monson’s native Charlottesville, guitarist Jamal Millner and trumpeter John D’earth.
This concert is the most recent in CapitalBop’s marquee Traveling Loft series, which places nationally touring artists in unconventional venues around the District. This installment will take place at a theater and artist space that many fans of the D.C. theater scene — and attendees of CapitalBop shows past — might find familiar.
Doors open at 7:30 p.m., and the first set begins at 8. Tickets are $15 in advance or $20 at the door; students get $5 off the price of their admission. The show is all-ages.
Cultural Capital: 19: The Musical
Monday–Wednesday, Nov. 25, 26 and 27, 7–9:30 p.m.
NMWA hosts the world premiere of 19, a musical telling of the dynamic and little-known story of Alice Paul, Ida B. Wells, Susan B. Anthony, Carrie Chapman Catt, Inez Milholland and all of the suffragists who fought to get women the right to vote—the 19th Amendment. The inspirational story of these fearless women is brought to life through jazz, traditional musical standards style, spoken word, hints of gospel and dance. The suffragists and their fight for equality have been reimagined for a new generation with a poignant and uplifting message. In an age when women’s rights are again front and center, the time to tell the story of 19 is now. Please note: the Nov. 25 showing is a live recording. Reservations required. $50 general; $45 members, seniors, students. Register online.
