NEW YORK MAKES MUSIC and MUSEUM OPENINGS

POLLYTALK FROM NEW YORK
November 30, 2009
By Polly Guerin

NEW YORK MAKES MUSIC and MULTIPLE MUSEUM OPENINGS
While New York is dressed up with holiday glitter December is rich with Holiday concerts and museum openings that fairly take your breath away. Despite the holiday rush, take time to savor the multiple exhibits the musical fare that make this season a bounty of entertainments. Here’s the scoop!!!

A HOLIDAY CONCERT by the venerable St. George’s Choral Society (founded in 1817) takes place this Saturday, December 5 at 7:30pm, at the Church of the Incarnation, Madison Avenue corner at 35th street. Join us as we celebrate with music ranging from the opulent Venetian style of Giovanni Gabrielli’s Hodie Christus natus est, scored for double choir, organ and brass to the intimate and colorful works: the haunting A Hymn to the Virgin by Benjamin Britten, and the Quatre Motets pour le Temps de Noel by Francis Poulenc. The 70 voices that make up St. George’s Choral Society will perform these masterworks in the historic landmark church in Murray Hill with organ, brass and percussion. The grand cantata by Vaughn Williams, Hodie, features guest soloists Anneliese van Goerken, soprano; James Archie Worley, tenor: David Krohn, baritone; Andrew Yeargin at the renovated Aeolian-Skinner organ with the dynamic conducting of artistic director, Matthew Lewis. $25 at the door. Advance reservations $5 discount at http://www.stgeorgeschoralsociety.org/ or email stgeorgeschoralsociety@yahoo.com.
NIGHT & DAY…You are the one who might just want to put the exhibit Night & Day on your agenda, opening Dec. 3 to May 11, 2010 in the Fashion and Textile History Gallery at The Museum at FIT. The exhibit with more than 100 garments, textiles, and accessories by master designers illustrates how the rules for proper attire have shifted over the past 250 years. FREE no charge. Then catch “AMERICAN STYLE,” The Museum at FIT’S eighth annual symposium, American Beauty: Aesthetics and Innovation in Fashion, Dec. 4 & 5, 9:30 am to 5pm each day. $100 for both days. Designers, scholars, authors and curators discuss fashion of the Americas and explore themes ranging from the diversity of the American fashion industry to the unique characteristics of New York fashion. Where? On the second floor of FIT’s Marvin Feldman Center on West 27th St. between 7th & 8th Avenues. Information line: 212.217.4558.
THE VINTAGE WOMAN: A Century of Costume Jewelry in America 1910-2010 is a glittering gem of a fascinating story that came to life in a turbulent century darkened by two world wars and the Great Depression---indeed, times remarkably relevant to today. Master jewelers fled from Europe with little more than their tools and talent. With glass in lieu of gemstones, and pot metal substituting for gold, they created magnificently crafted jewelry so matchless in design that fine jewelry pales in comparison. View masterpieces by legendary designers Elsa Schiaparelli, Coco Chanel, Hattie Carnegie and Henry a la Pensee to name a few, plus costume jewelry houses Trifari, Coro, Ciner and Kenneth Jay Lane. At THE FORBES GALLERIES, a rare museum treasure at 62 Fifth Ave, corner of 12th St. Closed Mondays and 10 to 4pm on Tues.,Wed., Fri., Sat. Group tours on Thursdays by reservation. FREE no charge. To confirm that the galleries are open call 212.206.5548 the morning of your visit. Don’t miss the Highland Gallery with 8 glass panels designed by Jean Dupas for the Grand Salon of the Normandie, as well as other Art Deco fittings. http://www.forbesgalleries.com/.
Discover VELAZQUEZ at The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s new exhibit “Velazquez Rediscovered,” a special exhibition features a newly identified painting by Velazquez, Portrait of a Man. It will be shown alongside other works from the Museum’s superior collection of works by the great Spanish painter. On view to Feb. 7, 2010. Drumming their way into history are an ancient view on music and communication in “Sounding the Pacific: Musical instruments of Oceania, the first exhibition devoted to the subject ever mounted by an art museum, it features musical instruments and the many different roles they play, or played, in Pacific cultures, from announcing the onset of war to embodying the voices of supernatural beings or softly enticing a lover. This fascinating exhibit from small flutes and whistles to massive split gongs where thundering beats can carry for miles is worth a visit. These exhibits are featured on the Museum’s website: http://www.metmuseum.org/.
Ta Ta dear readers!!! I’m quite overwhelmed by all the joyful events in New York City, but best of all I will be singing in the chorus at the Holiday Concert by the St. George’s Choral Society Dec. 5th. Do come, it’s going to be such gorgeous singing. Fan mail goes to pollytalk@verizon.net and you can visit my blogs http://www.amazingartdecodivas.blogspot.com/ or http://www.awakenyoursleepingbeautyedgarcayce.blogspot.com/.