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Celebrate Cinco de Mayo with music and more things to do this week in NYC
By
Steve Smith
Published May 5, 2023
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Courtesy Kupferburg Center for the Arts
By
Steve Smith
Published May 5, 2023
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Seven Picks a Week is our guide to what’s worth catching in arts, culture and activities during the week ahead, with contributions from reporters throughout the WNYC/Gothamist newsroom and colleagues from WQXR and "All of It."
Celebrate Cinco de Mayo with a musical fiesta in Flushing
Today is Cinco de Mayo, an annual celebration commemorating Mexico's victory over the Second French Empire in 1862, and whether you neglected to plan ahead or just want to extend the partying beyond today, the Kupferberg Center for the Arts at Queens College in Flushing is hosting its inaugural Festival del Son, a family-oriented music and dance festival, on Saturday afternoon. An impressive lineup of artists includes Ensamble Huasteco, Mariachi Real de Mexico with José Adán Pérez, Tlen Huicani (celebrating its 50th anniversary) and Ballet Folklorico Mexicano de Nueva York. The concert starts at 3 p.m., and you can find all the details you need here.
– Steve Smith
Enjoy a friendly shopping experience in Brooklyn
Grab your friends and head to Bed-Stuy this Sunday for the kickoff of Stoop Sessions. Hosted by To Many More, the event is part shopping experience, part block party. Shop for new clothes, accessories or food and enjoy DJ sets, nice weather, and the potential to meet and make new friends. To Many More describes itself as a community collective intent on “celebrating connection, creativity, and culture in NYC,” and some of the vendors ready to set up shop include Only Made, Sunday Drop Shop and Carla Barla Cakes. For more information, visit here.
– Precious Fondren
A scene from a performance of "Race: The Movie: The Play" at the New York Theater Festival in 2022
Amouri Edwards
Laugh at a play about “white saviors” and Oscar-bait films
“No white saviors are safe in this screwball comedy,” proclaims the website for “Race: The Movie: The Play,” which parodies some of the cringe ways Hollywood has depicted race when making movies to win Oscars. The story follows a white chauffeur named Wyatt Saveyer, who works for Black musician Gene Yus (played by ‘SNL’ alum Dean Edwards), and becomes a “panoramic parody” of familiar films, including "Green Book" and "12 Years A Slave." The play won Best Script and Best Actor at the New York Theater Festival. It began its off-Broadway run on Thursday at the SoHo playhouse, where it’s running until Saturday, May 27. Tickets are $41, and it’s recommended for ages 18 and older. You can learn more here.
– Kerry Shaw
Scratch your new-music itch with three abundant weekend events
The intrepid composers collective Bang on a Can could never be accused of thinking small: This is the organization that really put the idea of the 12-hour marathon concert on the map in New York City. And now, composers Michael Gordon, David Lang and Julia Wolfe are going bigger still with Long Play, a weekend-long celebration presented in venues all over Brooklyn, spanning a wide-open range of styles: contemporary classical music, improvisation, jazz, electronic music, avant pop and more. Tonight's opening event with Meredith Monk and the Bang on a Can All-Stars is sold out, but plenty of highlights remain, from the Philip Glass Ensemble at Roulette and a Michael Gordon percussion work in Fort Greene Park on Saturday to concerts by Henry Threadgill's Very Very Circus at Mark Morris Dance Center and the Art Ensemble of Chicago at Pioneer Works on Sunday. Feast your eyes on a complete schedule here.
If that's not enough, there are two more substantial new-music offerings happening this weekend. At the Kaufman Music Center's Merkin Hall, a stellar lineup of pianists will perform compositions by the late Frederic Rzewski, an iconoclastic modern Romantic virtuoso with an abiding interest in social and political justice. "The Pianists United: Rzewski in New York" runs in three segments on Saturday, and the participating pianists include Ursula Oppens, Jed Distler, Kathleen Supové, Lisa Moore, Anthony de Mare and Conrad Tao. See the full schedule here.
But wait, there's more! The boundary-bursting TAK Ensemble, an experimental music group whose mastery, advocacy and passion always prove persuasive, is celebrating its 10th anniversary on Friday and Saturday at the Clemente on the Lower East Side. "SwoonFest" offers two jam-packed bills of premieres and collaborations; learn more here.
– Steve Smith
Paintngs by Lesia Khomenko, including "A Copy of Fyodor Usypenko's Painting 'The Response of the Mortar Guardsmen,'" are on view now at the Ukrainian Museum.
Lesia Khomenko, courtesy Ukrainian Museum
View paintings by a Ukrainian artist whose connection to war is personal
A new exhibition at the Ukrainian Museum features the work of artist Lesia Khomenko, who fled Ukraine in March 2022 after Russia invaded her country. She left behind her husband, also an artist, who is currently serving in Ukraine's military. "Lesia Khomenko: Image and Presence" is her first solo exhibition in the U.S., and her paintings on view examine identity, politics and violence in the context of the war. Khomenko and curator Lilia Kudelia joined us this week to discuss the show, which is on view until Sept. 2; you'll find more details here.
– Alison Stewart and Simon Close, "All of It"
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Steve Smith
Steve Smith is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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