Towards thee I roll.
The Metropolitan Opera gets heavy with Mastodon – the band, not the platform – plus recommended live new-music events Feb. 26–March 4.
Work on the new thing continues, but it’s going more slowly and with more technological setbacks than I’d anticipated, and for that I’m truly sorry. I’d like to be writing more about what’s going on in new music, but I keep tapping the brake here in hopes of getting the new platform up and running rather than contributing to a platform whose leaders I mistrust. For anyone unaware of the issues, lawyer and journalist Imani Gandy (and others) laid it all out again today on Bluesky, presumably in response to Joy Reid signing off her final MSNBC broadcast last night by alerting viewers to her new venture here.
Still… I have to take a moment to throw horns to the Metropolitan Opera – yes, really – for a very clever enrichment program they’re presenting ahead of opening Moby-Dick, the 2010 opera by composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer, on Monday, March 3. On Friday, Feb. 28 at BRIC in Brooklyn, metal-fluent opera composer David T. Little will moderate a conversation among Heggie, fellow composer Tamar-kali, and members of the metal band Mastodon—whose epic 2004 concept album, Leviathan, also took its inspiration from Herman Melville’s sea-faring literary landmark.
Kudos to whoever it was that proposed this offbeat free event, which evidently is already booked to capacity. May more such bold ventures follow.
Having reviewed the world premiere of Moby-Dick at the Dallas Opera for The New York Times in 2010, I’m looking forward to seeing and hearing the opera again. In my original draft, I praised Scheer for expertly flensing Melville’s vast, circuitous novel down to an efficient, dramatic libretto, only to be told by an editor that my chosen verb was too esoteric. (Think about it.)
Here’s a little gift link as a treat.
In case you missed it, the Met announced its 2025–26 season last week, and the contemporary offerings are prominent if not quite so numerous as in the current season or the one before it. Coming in September is The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Klay, a Scheer adaptation of the powerful, poignant Michael Chabon novel, with music by Mason Bates. Innocence, the staggering final opera by Kaija Saariaho with a libretto by Finnish author Sofi Oksanen, arrives in April. And May brings El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego, a ravishing creation by composer Gabriela Lena Frank and playwright Nilo Cruz.
The Night After Night Watch.
Concerts listed in Eastern Standard Time
NOTAFLOF = no one turned away for lack of funds.
26
Wendy Eisenberg
Glass Box Theatre, The New School
55 W. 13th St., Greenwich Village
Wednesday, Feb. 26–Saturday, March 1 at 8:30pm; $20 cash only
thestonenyc.com
Protean guitarist and singer-songwriter Wendy Eisenberg comes to the Stone series at The New School for an enticing run of shows demonstrating a fair chunk of their range. They’ll open in a duo with their musical and personal partner, Mari Maurice (a.k.a. more eaze) – heard on a new Longform Editions release, Close Quarters, credited as whait – on Wednesday, and continue in another duo with flute radical Laura Cocks on Thursday. Two trio projects arrive for the weekend: Darlin’ with cellist Lester St Louis and drummer Ryan Sawyer on Friday, and The Machinic Unconscious with bassist Trevor Dunn and drummer Ches Smith on Saturday.
27
Carpe Diem String Quartet
Weill Recital Hall, Carnegie Hall
154 W. 57th St.; Midtown West
Thursday, Feb. 27 at 8pm; $50
carnegiehall.org
The seasoned, spirited Ohio-based Carpe Diem String Quartet performs world premieres by Laura Kaminsky, Mark Lomax II, and quartet violist Korine Fujiwara, along with works by Sergei Prokofiev and Somei Satoh.
Third Coast Percussion
Zankel Hall, Carnegie Hall
881 Seventh Ave.; Midtown West
Thursday, Feb. 27 at 7:30pm; $65–$75
carnegiehall.org
The scintillating quartet Third Coast Percussion comes to Carnegie Hall with a characteristically wide-ranging mix of works, including the New York premiere of Murmurs in Time, a composition by the late tabla master Zakir Hussain, whose role will be filled here by a disciple, Salar Nader. The rest of the program comprises more New York premieres by Jlin, Jessie Montgomery, and Tigran Hamasyan.
Zosha Warpeha
Issue Project Room
22 Boerum St.; Brooklyn
Thursday, Feb. 27 at 8pm; free admission, registration recommended
issueprojectroom.org
Having released one of 2024’s most memorable recordings with Silver Dawn, a collection of improvised songs and ruminations on the Relative Pitch label, Hardanger d’amore player Zosha Warpeha presents the first project of her 2025 Issue Project Room residency: Shadow, Come, a site-specific solo work specifically designed for the sonorous acoustics of 22 Boerum St.
28
Mary Halvorson
The Jazz Gallery
1158 Broadway, 5th floor; Midtown East
Friday, Feb. 28 & Saturday, March 1 at 7:30 & 9:30pm; $35–$45, livestream $22
jazzgallery.org
Guitarist, composer, and bandleader Mary Halvorson returns to The Jazz Gallery with a taut quartet project called Canis Major, featuring trumpeter Dave Adewumi, bassist Henry Fraser, and drummer Tomas Fujiwara. If you can’t attend in person, livestream tickets are available for purchase.
3
Moby-Dick
Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center
30 Lincoln Center Plaza; Upper West Side
Monday, March 3–29, times vary; $42–$400
metopera.org
Karen Kamensek conducts the Met Opera premiere of a 2010 opera by Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer, which handily adapts Herman Melville’s classic novel into a lean, effective lyric drama resourcefully staged by Leonard Foglia. As I wrote about the 2010 world premiere at Dallas Opera (gift link), you’ll hear echoes of Debussy, Puccini, Britten, Glass, and more, deployed with shrewd dramatic instincts. The solid cast here includes Brandon Jovanovich, Stephen Costello, Peter Mattei, Ryan Speedo Green, and Janai Brugger.
David Murray Octet
Blue Note Jazz Club
131 W. 3rd St.; Greenwich Village
Monday, March 3 at 8 & 10pm; table seating $45, bar $30
bluenotejazz.com
Tenor saxophonist and bass clarinetist David Murray has played in every configuration under the sun across his decades on the global jazz stage, from solo to big band. But you could argue it was his beautifully boisterous 1980s octet recordings Ming, Home, and Murray’s Steps that cemented his renown as a composer and bandleader. Continuing his ongoing burst of local activity after decades spent abroad – a process reported by Piotr Orlov of Dada Strain in a story we completed for WNYC and Gothamist in 2023 – Murray is breaking in a promising new octet here, with Immanuel Wilkins on alto sax, trumpeter Shareef Clayton, trombonist Corey Wallace, Mingus Murray (the leader’s son) on guitar, pianist Lafayette Gilchrist, bassist Luke Stewart, and drummer Russell Carter. A joyful noise is guaranteed.
4
David Grubbs + Sam Weinberg Trio
Sisters
900 Fulton St.; Brooklyn
Tuesday, March 4 at 8pm; $20
sistersbklyn.com
The eternally inquisitive guitarist and composer David Grubbs celebrates the release of his newest album, Whistle from Above, playing solo and collaborating with trumpeter Nate Wooley, fiddler Cleek Schrey, and fellow guitarist Wendy Eisenberg. Sharing the bill, saxophonist Sam Weinberg musters a trio with bassist Henry Fraser and drummer Jason Nazary.
Jon Madof
Chevra Ahavas Yisroel
306 Albany Ave.; Brooklyn
Tuesday, March 4 at 8pm; $36
chevraahavasyisroel.org
For a project titled “Joyful Noise,” guitarist and bandleader Jon Madof convenes a group of disparate but like-minded colleagues – pianist and composer Doniel Berry, cellist Laura Melnicoff, and percussionist Moshe Sobol – for an evening of imaginative elaborations on traditional Chassidic nigunim.
More vital directories of new-music destinations:
Find even more events in Night After Night Watch: The Master List, here.
Photographs by Steve Smith, except where indicated.
Tangentially: When I was a teen, Ronnie Dio and the Elves used to play at little bars in my hometown (http://www.dio.net/pictures_tickets/19720206_ad.jpg.) Never got to see them, though. Also missed out on the Smorgasbord, apparently.