Asphalt Orchestra at the Met Museum

Our latest Noteworthy Video is another “flash mob” – this one featuring the innovative Asphalt Orchestra (commonly referred to as “not your mother’s marching band”) – performing in the Metropolitan Museum's New American Wing Galleries for Paintings, Sculpture, and Decorative Arts in Manhattan. In this quirky and engaging video, the Asphalt Orchestra performs a medley of works mainly stemming from their latest album on Cantaloupe Records – a range of jazz-infused and contemporary works by such composers as Stew and Heidi Rodewald (of the Bang on a Can ensemble) and Frank Zappa, as well as new arrangements inspired by the “shape-note” tradition of 19th century America. Alongside the animated and casually-attired musicians we see the museum’s surprised and delighted patrons, with the museum’s grand architecture and stunning works of sculpture as the backdrop – a true post-modern experience. Tell us what you think!

Composer: Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)  

On May 7, we’ll commemorate the 179th birthday of Johannes Brahms – among the greatest composers of all time, a towering voice of the late-Romantic period, and one whose music is marked by passionate expression and consummate craft. Such esteem is borne out by Brahms’ immense and enduring popularity among artists and music lovers alike. This free concert features a wide mix of Brahms’ works in a variety of genres – solo piano, chamber, orchestral, choral, and solo vocal – by our outstanding roster of independent artists.

Period: Classical (1730-1800) 

The Classical Period saw a rejection of the intellectual rigors of the late-Baroque in favor of a simpler, more “enlightened” style, that would usher in some of the world’s most popular music. This is the age that gives rise to Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven.

The voice is the most natural of instruments, the only one capable of conveying both music and text, and thus it has played an essential role in the history of Western art music. This concert features great examples from every era, including by Handel, Bach, Mozart, Schubert, Verdi, Berg, and others.