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Queens Night Market rings in spring and more things to do this week in NYC
By
Steve Smith
Published Apr 14, 2023
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Scott Lynch for Gothamist
By
Steve Smith
Published Apr 14, 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."
Eat your way around the world at the Queens Night Market
As an enthusiastic fan of eating and a proud resident of Jackson Heights, I look forward to the Queens Night Market opening every year. It's one of the culinary highlights of the year, a fun and friendly way to sample Afghan mantu, Peruvian ceviche, Trinidadian shark sandwiches, and Sichuan ice jelly — literally dozens of options from around the world, and all of it reasonably priced. The Night Market also offers also arts and crafts vendors, activities for kids, DJs and live music. It's open every Saturday night starting at 5 p.m. in the wide-open field adjacent to the New York Hall of Science in Corona — the best way to get there is to take the 7 train to 111th Street. To keep a lid on traffic, the Market is selling tickets this Saturday and next; $5 in advance, or $8 for any remaining tickets at the gate. Then from April 29 onward, admission is free. Learn more here.
– Steve Smith
Meet an opera company that’ll make your heart race
The inventive company Heartbeat Opera has a knack for intelligently bringing opera into the present, with great musical standards. In previous performances I have attended, the results have been powerful and memorable – and, at a tidy 100 minutes apiece, great for both the opera-passionate and the opera-curious. “Tosca” as a lens on freedom of expression, and a “Macbeth” that centers Lady Macbeth as a figure frustrated by a male world of power? Bring it on. The company’s spring festival at Baruch College continues tonight through Sunday, April 23; check out a schedule and buy tickets here.
– Ed Yim, WQXR
Let your superhero freak flag fly at the Black Comic Book Festival, finally back to gathering in person on Friday and Saturday.
NYPL
Cheer for the return of a New York literary institution
For the first time since the onset of the pandemic, the Black Comic Book Festival is back in person today and tomorrow at the Schomburg Center, with fans of comic books, cosplay and animation finally reuniting with their communities. Visitors can participate in panels, workshops and a cosplay showcase, and meet independent artists and publishers. The event is free, but registration is required. For more information, look here. (You can learn more about the festival in a segment "All of It" aired on Monday.)
– Precious Fondren
New Yorkers all over the city are stopping to gaze at an abundant outburst of cherry-tree blossoms, deemed early by the Parks Department.
Josefa Velásquez/Gothamist
Drop everything and gawk at cherry tree blossoms
Spring is here again and the region’s cherry blossoms are back in bloom. Blossom seekers may be pleased to know that peak bloom is arriving little earlier than normal, the city parks department announced last week. The city is home to roughly 6,000 park-based cherry trees, and more than 34,000 line city streets — giving residents and visitors ample opportunity to shake away the winter’s bloomless blues. The parks department has compiled a list of suggested venues for blossom viewing, though people are encouraged to venture beyond with tools like the city tree map. (For more guidance, read on here.)
– Michelle Bocanegra
Boston Modern Orchestra Project, seen here in a recording session, celebrates its 25th anniversary at Carnegie Hall on Saturday.
Liz Linder for BMOP
Spend time with two powerful American orchestras that seldom hit NYC
Carnegie Hall is welcoming two prominent American ensembles who don't visit all that often. First up on Saturday night is a group with a self-explanatory name, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, affectionately known as BMOP (pronounced BEE-mop). Music director Gil Rose and his ensemble have been commissioning big new pieces and documenting important past works since 1996; now, the group is wrapping up its 25th anniversary celebration with Andrew Norman's "Play" and Lei Liang's "A Thousand Mountains, a Million Streams," two BMOP commissions that won the prestigious Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition, and Lisa Bielawa's concerto for orchestra, "In medias res." You'll find ticket information here.
Then on Tuesday night, the National Symphony Orchestra pays a visit from Washington, D.C. That group is hitting new peaks of critical and popular approval under the leadership of music director Gianandrea Noseda, and the program includes Sinfonia No. 4 ("Strands") by another great American composer, George Walker, whose music Noseda has been championing recently. (He'll conduct a different Walker piece with the New York Philharmonic in May.) You'll also hear Prokofiev's potent Piano Concerto No. 2, with Daniil Trifonov as the soloist, and Stravinsky's evocative ballet "The Firebird." Tickets are reportedly going fast, and you can grab yours here.
– Steve Smith
"Home," Dr. Lisa Cain's first New York City art exhibition, is on view through April 23 at Heath Gallery in Harlem.
Alison Stewart
See powerful works by a New York City artist in her first gallery show
Dr. Lisa Cain can definitely use both the left and right sides of her big brain. She's a neuroscientist and a celebrated artist, whose New York City debut show is open at the Heath Gallery this month. Dr. Cain has a degree in biology and a PhD in anatomy, and was a postdoctoral fellow in neuroscience at the Robert Wood Johnson medical school right here in our listening area in New Jersey. Her show, titled "HOME," features paintings and collage depicting what the artist says is "the beauty of the rural South." We spoke to Dr. Cain and Wade Bonds — director of the Rafael Gallery, and the curator of this show — in a segment that aired yesterday. "HOME" is on view at the Heath Gallery through April 23; read more here.
– Alison Stewart, "All of It"
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new york city
nyc events
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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