At the Dweck Center, you'll experience the best cultural and educational programming in Brooklyn, from prize-winning authors to musical trendsetters. And don't miss a great set of programs we've created just for families. A select number of special performances require advance ticket purchase.
For a full schedule of performances at Central Library check out the Culture & Arts page.
Thursday, September 18, 7:00PM Central Library, Dweck Center
Brooklyn Sings, Brooklyn Swings: Andy Statman
Internationally-acclaimed clarinet and mandolin virtuoso Statman plays American roots music incorporating Hasidic and avant-garde jazz influences.
Statman is a driving force behind the neo-klezmer and "newgrass" music movements.
Tickets are $10 ($7 students and seniors). Visit www.smarttix.com to purchase tickets.
Khrzhanovsky, an animator, screens excerpts of his films about poets Alexander Pushkin and Joseph Brodsky. Pushkin left 2,000 sketches in pen and ink on his manuscript sheets, which the director has incorporated in A Pushkin Trilogy.
Virtuoso clarinetist David Krakauer presents a genre-defying recital program exploring his vast repertoire, from Debussy and Brahms to klezmer. Assisting artists include Marija Stroke on the piano and Peter Weitzner on the double bass.
Thursday, September 25, 7:00PM Central Library, Dweck Center
Brooklyn Sings, Brooklyn Swings: Mr. Z
Jazz singer Mr. Z has performed with Art Blakey, Annie Ross and Jon Hendricks. He also appeared on Broadway in hit shows including The Lion in Winter with Christopher Walken and Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie? with Al Pacino.
Tickets are $10 ($7 students and seniors). Visit www.smarttix.com to purchase tickets.
Saturday, September 27, 1:00PM Central Library, Dweck Center
Russian American Kids Circus
The Russian American Kids Circus is a circus of delight. Trained and produced by Moscow Circus veterans, these artists dazzle audiences with their synchronized acrobatics, unicycling, juggling, and daring aerial feats.
Saturday, September 27, 4:00PM Central Library, Dweck Center
Funny Men: Warren Adler
Adler reads from his new novel Funny Boys, a dark, funny comedy of errors about success, the mob and finding true love. Two of his previous novels, The War of the Roses and Random Hearts, were made into major films.
Stanley Renshon, a political scientist and a certified psychoanalyst, considers the character of the candidates in the 2008 presidential election. Renshon is the author of In His Father's Shadow: The Transformations of George W. Bush.
Dishwashers, Neurosurgeons and Nannies: Why We Need Immigrants
Andrew Hacker discusses the positive impacts of immigration on American society. Hacker teaches political science at Queens College and writes frequently for the New York Review of Books. This lecture is sponsored by Martin and Rona Schneider.
Brooklyn Sings, Brooklyn Swings: The Blue Vipers of Brooklyn
The Blue Vipers of Brooklyn deliver early jazz, swing and blues on resonator guitar, upright bass, horns and a homemade washboard. Their repertoire of witty songs from the 1920s and 30s is augmented by original tunes in four-part harmony.
Tickets are $10 ($7 students and seniors). Visit www.smarttix.com to purchase tickets.
Louie has been dazzling the hearts of children, parents and teachers everywhere he goes by integrating high energy, passion, rhymes and melodies into every concert he performs.
Cosmopolis: Immigrant Writers in New York City - Dalia Sofer
Iranian-born Sofer reads from The Septembers of Shiraz, a novel about a Jewish gem dealer in Tehran who finds himself wrongly accused of anti-government activity after the fall of the Shah of Iran. Leonard Lopate of WNYC Radio hosts the series.
Often remembered as a homeless vagabond, Charlie Chaplin's Tramp character has roots in the working class. He confronts class barriers and social inequality in these short films: The Count, Police and The Pawnshop.
Classical Interludes: Piano Conversations with Julian Gargiulo
Julian Gargiulo's electrifying performances on the piano are enriched by his informal and often humorous interactions with the audience, which illuminate the lives of the great composers.
Prepare to be amazed as Brooklyn's own Amazing Ken delights with magic. Music, illusions and full audience participation make this a delightful experience for the entire family.
WBGO's Josh Jackson and Village Vanguard owner Lorraine Gordon discuss Gordon's book Alive at the Village Vanguard, which chronicles her rich biography and her involvement as a key figure in the business history of jazz.
A writer, poet, literary critic and journalist, Bykov writes a weekly column in the popular Ogonek magazine and is the author of an award-winning biography of Boris Pasternak.
Fleer performs much beloved arias from operas by Puccini, Mozart and Verdi, as well songs by Rachmaninoff, Cole Porter and George Gershwin. Fleer sang recently at the esteemed Glimmerglass Opera.
Join Shari of the UpBring Dance Company for an afternoon of dance. UpBring incorporates all styles of dance -- jazz, hip- hop, lyrical, theater dance, modern, Salsa, Hula, African -- into a unique blend of movement.
A tale of heartbreak and hope set in New Orleans's most fascinating neighborhood. The film is an elegy to the oldest black neighborhood in America, a center of economic independence and political activism from slavery to the 1960s.
Simas, a composer, singer and pianist, performs music by Ernesto Nazareth and Tom Jobim and American standards with a Brazilian flavor. His original compositions mix European, Romantic and salon music with lively African rhythms.
Tickets are $10 ($7 students and seniors). Visit www.smarttix.com to purchase tickets.
This is the story of El Coqui, an artist from Puerto Rico who wants to share his art with the world. To accomplish this, he travels to a city full of tall buildings, which he makes his home. Join us for this free show to find out if he will forget where he comes from.
Broadway vocalist Jenkins and award-winning composer Rosen offer selections from The Black Loom, a trilogy of song cycles based on the works of Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou and Nikki Giovanni.
Presidential discourse is an important aspect of political leadership. Mark Crispin Miller, author of The Bush Dyslexicon: Observations on a National Disorder, analyzes the politics of presidential speech.
Trio members Hristo Popov, Kalin Ivanov and Joshua Pierce, perform works from the classical composers Franz Joseph Haydn, Antonin Dvorak, and Bulgarian composer Roumi Petrova.
Brooklyn Independents: An Evening with Edward Hirsch and Peter Cole
BOMB Magazine presents an extraordinary evening of literary conversation. MacArthur Fellow Hirsch interviews Cole, recipient of the 2007 MacArthur Foundation Fellowship. Cole wrote three books of poetry, most recently, Things on Which I've Stumbled. He has translated widely from Hebrew and Arabic and has received numerous awards, including the PEN Translation Prize and a Guggenheim Fellowship. His anthology, The Dream of the Poem: Hebrew Poetry from Muslim and Christian Spain, 950-1492, received the university press "Book of the Year" award from the American Publishers Association.
Hirsch is president of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation and author of more than 10 books of poetry and prose, including the national bestseller How to Read a Poem and Fall in Love with Poetry.
This event is part of BOMBLive!, an ongoing series of conversations filmed in front of audiences throughout the city.
Sandhaus's power as a jazz vocalist lies in her vocal clarity and subtle delivery. She enlivens standards by Ellington and Porter with her ability to swing, scat and soar into a beautiful soprano.
Tickets are $10 ($7 students and seniors). Visit www.smarttix.com to purchase tickets.
The Harbor Opera Company presents highlights from Jules Massenet's opera, which is based on the Cinderella fairy tale. This production will be directed by Heidi Lauren Duke.
Twentieth-century Russian poet Marina Tsvetaeva is the subject of this one-woman play performed by Zhanna Vladimirskaya and directed by Alexey Kovalev. This program is presented in Russian.
The American Presidency: The President and the Cities
Historian Kenneth Jackson will present the first in a series of annual lectures offered in honor of Robert S. and Dorothy H. Kahn. Jackson directs the Herbert H. Lehman Center for the Study of American History and is the Jacques Barzun Professor of History and the Social Sciences at Columbia University. His latest book is Empire City: New York Through the Centuries.
Classical Interludes: BPL Chamber Players: Imani Winds
Imani Winds present a program that expands the wind quintet repertoire to include European, American, African and Latin influences. Their artistry has inspired collaborations with artists as diverse as Wayne Shorter and Yo-Yo Ma.
Elizabeth Nunez, Linda Susan Jackson, Joanna Sit and Gregory Pardlo join Medgar Evers College creative writing students to read selections from the premier issue of Visions, a peer-reviewed, academic journal.
Matt Munisteri and Will Holshouser play musette and swing, echoing the French jazz of the 1920s-1940s, but with an emphasis on fiery improvisation. The group plays classics by accordionist Gus Viseur and guiatarist Baro Ferret.
Tickets are $10 ($7 students and seniors). Visit www.smarttix.com to purchase tickets.
This unique show, performed in verse, combines storytelling, shadow puppets and cranky -- a form of puppetry that has its origins in China. Witch Bungle tells a tale of fears and friendship that the whole family will enjoy.
Cosmopolis: Immigrant Writers in New York: Junot Diaz
The Pulitzer-prize winning author reads from The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, a powerful, colorful and often funny novel spanning three generations and chronicling the Dominican and Dominican American experience. WNYC's Leonard Lopate hosts.
This series of short films traces the rise of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy as their characters evolve into the famous comedy duo Laurel and Hardy. Films include: Do Detectives Think?; Putting Pants On Philip; We Faw Down; Big Business.
Winner of the 2006 Concert Artists Guild International Competition, the Janaki Trio incorporates standard works of the repertory, rarely heard masterworks, such as Penderecki's String Trio and new pieces by composers such as Andrew Norman.
A documentary on the history of Russian art, based on the wildly popular Russian art retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum of Art in 2005-06. Director Nina Zaretskaya introduces the film.
Somi weaves jazz, funk, soul and gospel with Rwandan and Ugandan music into a style she calls holistic new African soul. Critics compare her full voice and earthy delivery to the voices of Nina Simone, Miriam Makeba and Sarah Vaughan.
Tickets are $10 ($7 students and seniors). Visit www.smarttix.com to purchase tickets.
A poet, essayist and translator, Shcherbina is one of the most prominent voices in literary Moscow. Her works first appeared in samizdat. In the early 90's she lived in Germany and France and worked at Radio Liberty (Svoboda.)
One of the premiere cellists of her generation, Soo Bae was a featured soloist with the Asian Youth Orchestra, performing Tchaikovsky's Rococo Variations under the baton of Okku Kamu. Her repertoire includes works by Haydn, Schumann and Elgar.
Wednesday, November 12, 7:00PM Central Library, Dweck Center
Brooklyn Independents: Baseball and Literature
Sandy Koufax, Joe Torre and Rico Petrocelli kicked the dust on Brooklyn's Parade Grounds sixty years ago. Today, Brooklyn authors including Michael Thomas, Nicky Dawidoff and Kevin Baker add their legends to baseball literature.
Chocolate Chip Chamber Music's engaging and interactive shows introduce very young audiences (2-6 year- olds) to live ensemble music of the highest quality in a meaningful way. In A Pirate's Treasure of Trumpets, children join emcee and mascot, Baker Bobbie, and a quartet of friendly musical pirates aboard a pirate ship for a memorable adventure at sea!
Funny Men: Rees vs. Taibbi: How Doomed is America?
Comic artist David Rees (Get Your War On) and journalist Matt Taibbi (Spanking the Donkey) discuss politics and journalism, placing America's future on a scale of one to doomed.
The Pleasures of Food: Julia Child's French Thanksgiving: Alex Prud'homme
Journalist and author Alex Prud'homme helped his great aunt, the widely-beloved American chef Julia Child, craft My Life in France, a memoir about the years she and her husband spent in postwar France.
Classical Interludes: Tango and the Music of Latin America
Guitarist Yuri Liberzon performs compositions by Antonio Lauro, Carlos Farinas and Augustin Barrios Mangore. Pianist Cesar Vuksic offers a program featuring Pedro Belisario Perez, Astor Piazzolla and Horacio Salgan, among others.
Wednesday, November 19, 7:00PM Central Library, Dweck Center
Black Independents Film Series: Music is My Life, Politics My Mistress: The Story of Oscar Brown, Jr.
This documentary film by donnie l. betts captures Brown's strength as a performer, songwriter and social activist. Noted for such songs as "Work Song" and "Watermelon Man," he also penned socially-conscious plays and poetry. Mr. betts introduces the film.
Hip Hop artist BR (Beyond Recognition) lays his lyrical versatility over the grooves of Timebomb, a seven piece band that blends soul, R and B, jazz and classical music into a new sonic dimension of hip hop.
Tickets are $10 ($7 students and seniors). Visit www.smarttix.com to purchase tickets.
Hysterical events revolve around these incredibly charming but not too bright characters. Juan Bobo and Pedro Animal are two kids from different islands that do everything backwards. Every other second they find themselves in sticky situations and that is when they turn to their most valuable resource: the audience. Presented by The Society of the Educational Arts, Inc. (Teatro SEA.)
Joseph Heller's classic novel, adapted for the stage by the author himself. Yossarian, a bombardier on a B-25, is based on a small island off the coast of Italy in 1944. He questions the futile and ridiculous administration of his air base.
Melissa Murphy, chef and co-owner of Brooklyn's Sweet Melissa Patisserie, discusses holiday baking. She is the author of The Sweet Melissa Baking Book and has written numerous articles for magazines such as Food and Wine, Bride's Magazine and Fine Cooking.
Trio Solisti members Maria Bachmann and Jon Klibonoff join clarinetist Alan Kay in a recital drawing on canonical and contemporary composers. These award-winning artists will offer a spectrum of styles, highlighting the interplay of violin and clarinet.
This feature film by Boris Frumin is part dark comedy and part spy drama. The Soviet intelligence service reassigns an agent from Helsinki to Leningrad, where he protects a fellow spy while living undercover in his own country.
Black Independents Film Series: The Blues Trail and Close Strangers
These short films document the musicians and culture of the Mississippi Delta. Created during 2007's NBPC New Media Institute, filmmakers traveled to sites along the Mississippi Blues Commission's Blues Trail.
This feature film by Boris Frumin is part dark comedy and part spy drama. The Soviet intelligence service reassigns an agent from Helsinki to Leningrad, where he protects a fellow spy while living undercover in his own country.
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*Refunds and Exchanges: Before purchasing tickets, carefully review your event date, time and seat selection. Policies set forth by our clients, including producers, promoters and venue, prohibit SmartTix from issuing exchanges or refunds after a ticket has been purchased. This is the case for lost, stolen, damaged or destroyed tickets and even if you are unable to attend the event. Delivery of Tickets and Will Call: When you order your tickets you are given an option on delivery methods: will call, US Mail, Over Night Delivery. We encourage you to have your tickets delivered by Mail or Over-Night delivery to avoid lines at the event. Tickets delivered through Will Call are typically available only one hour prior to the event start time and you will need to present your confirmation number, the credit card used to purchase tickets and a picture identification. Tickets will only be released to the cardholder of the credit card used to purchase the tickets.
