EVENT CATEGORIES

ART

Fri., Nov. 1, 6 p.m.

First Friday Art Walk

Join the Embassy of Argentina for its First Friday tour where it celebrates the opening of José Andrés Basbus’s exhibit “From the Ordinary to the Extraordinary-Panoramic Photography” Guests can also explore “Expiation” by Ana Rendich and the permanent collection. In Andrés Basbus’s exhibition “the viewers try to figure out what they’re looking at, the place and the angle the shot was taken,” according to the artist. That is what propels Basbus every time he snaps the shutter button on his camera. He achieves this, in part, through the composition of his panoramic landscape postcards with an infrared effect. Meanwhile, in “Expiation,” Ana Rendich’s resins and oil wall sculptures are drawn from a lifetime of observations and experiences of humanity and nature.

Embassy of Argentina

Nov. 1 to 29

Resonance: Works by 2019 Artist of the Year Jubee Lee

This solo exhibition of dreamlike glass installation and sculpture works focuses on Jubee Lee, the Korean Cultural Institute’s 2019 artist of the year. Lee explores her personal memories and perception by creating immersive art spaces that integrate interactive sound, light and visual elements. Growing up in a seaside city, she is particularly inspired by the natural element of water and creates innovative, large-scale installations, sculptures, drawing and paintings that reflect this influential setting primarily through layered, image-embedded glass.

Korean Cultural Institute

Nov. 9 to Oct. 12, 2020

Marcel Duchamp: The Barbara and Aaron Levine Collection

Featuring the recent gift of over 50 major historical works, including more than 35 seminal works by Marcel Duchamp, this exhibition comprises an unparalleled selection of art, thoughtfully acquired over the course of two decades and offering a rarely seen view of the entire arc of Duchamp’s career. This is the first stage of a two-part exhibition on the life and legacy of Duchamp. The second stage, opening spring 2020, will examine Duchamp’s lasting impact through the lens of the Hirshhorn’s permanent collection, including significant works by a diverse roster of modern and contemporary artists.

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

Through Nov. 17

Portraits of the World: Korea

Pioneering feminist artist Yun Suknam (born 1939) uses portraiture to gain insights into the lives of women, past and present. A wood assemblage portrait of her mother is the centerpiece of this exhibition, which includes portraits of American artists such as Louise Bourgeois, Louise Nevelson, Marisol, Kiki Smith and Nancy Spero.

National Portrait Gallery

Through Dec. 14

Moves Like Walter: New Curators Open the Corcoran Legacy Collection

This exhibition contains select paintings and photographs from the collection of 9,000 artworks the AU Museum received as a gift from the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Following the closure of the Corcoran, more than 19,456 works from the collection were distrubted to museums and institutions in Washington, D.C. This is the first in-depth exhibition at AU Museum of work from the collection and is inspired by Walter Hopps, briefly the director of the Corcoran and an American curator of contemporary art.

American University Museum

Through Dec. 15

Fast Fashion/Slow Art

“Fast Fashion/Slow Art” scrutinizes today’s garment industry. A diverse group of emerging and established contemporary artists and filmmakers including Julia Brown, Cat Mazza, Hito Steyerl and Rosemarie Trockel explore issues of waste, consumerism and the human cost of mass production through 11 films and video installations.

GW Art Galleries

Through Dec. 15

Ann-Sofi Sidén – After the Fact

Ann-Sofi Sidén is one of Sweden’s most internationally renowned contemporary artists. She puts herself in the center of her projects, often with provoking statements about society and the human condition. The works presented in House of Sweden include three ways of looking at the female body. They independently carve out their own narrative space and yet converge by depicting an experience either happening in the periphery or in the hidden, challenging preconceived ideas of what a woman is or should be.

House of Sweden

Through Dec. 15

Swedish Dads by Johan Bävman

The photo exhibition portraits 45 fathers who belong to the relatively small percentage of fathers in Sweden who choose to stay at home with their children for at least six months. Swedish photographer Johan Bävman examines why these fathers have chosen to stay at home with their children and how their relationship with their partners and their children has changed as a result. The exhibition aims to show the effects of gender equality on parenting, both for an individual and for society.

House of Sweden

Through Jan. 5

By the Light of the Silvery Moon: A Century of Lunar Photographs

The year 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing on July 20, 1969. Photography played a significant role both in preparing for the mission and in shaping the cultural consciousness of the event. An exhibition of some 50 works will include a selection of photographs from the unmanned Ranger, Surveyor, and Lunar Orbiter missions that led up to Apollo 11.

National Gallery of Art

Through Jan. 5

Ginny Ruffner: Reforestation of the Imagination

Imagine an apocalyptic landscape. It appears barren, devastated and hopeless. It is not. At the Renwick Gallery, internationally renowned artist Ginny Ruffner creates a seemingly bleak environment that suddenly evolves into a thriving floral oasis by combining traditional sculpture with augmented reality (AR) technology.

Renwick Gallery

Through Jan. 5

A Monument to Shakespeare

The Folger Shakespeare Library is throwing back the curtains on its origins and exciting future in an exhibition where visitors are invited to play, lounge, be curious and see more of the Folger Shakespeare Library than ever before. Among the treats: rummage through Henry Folger’s desk and read the correspondences that brought the Folger to the nation’s capital; explore large scale reproductions of Cret’s detailed architectural drawings, newly digitized for this exhibition; and visit the first complete edition of Shakespeare’s plays published in 1623.

Folger Shakespeare Library

Through Jan. 12

Everything is Palpitating: Rodolfo Abularach

From 1957, when the Art Museum of the Americas’ (AMA) founding director José Gómez Sicre acquired several pieces by Guatemalan master Abularach for its collection, the artist has been prominently interwoven within the institution’s history, as well as that of Guatemalan and Latin American art in a broader sense. This exhibition is an opportunity to gather one of the larger samplings of Abularach’s works representing 60 years of his output. It surveys not only the artist’s impact on the direction of art of the hemisphere in the 1950s to the 1970s, but also the role that AMA has played in its development.

Art Museum of the Americas

Through Jan. 12

Intersections: Los Carpinteros – Cuba Va!

Los Carpinteros (Marco Castillo and Dagoberto Rodríguez) is an internationally acclaimed Cuban artist collective best known for merging architecture, sculpture, design, and drawing. From the outset in the early 1990s, Los Carpinteros’s work has reflected on social transformations in post-revolutionary, socialist Cuba, offering critical commentary of dominant ideologies and power structures with humor and artistry.

The Phillips Collection

Through Jan. 12

Mid-Century Master: The Photography of Alfred Eisenstaedt

When he photographed her for the November 5, 1965 issue of Life magazine, Alfred Eisenstaedt cemented Marjorie Merriweather Post’s place among the most notable people of the 20th century. Featuring nearly fifty Eisenstaedt photographs and ephemera from his career in photojournalism, focusing on his timeless images of life in the mid-20th-century and the era’s most celebrated figures, this special exhibition will explore the relationship between Post and Eisenstaedt and the broader body of Eisenstaedt’s work documenting life in the mid-twentieth century.

Hillwood Museum, Estate & Gardens

Through Jan. 20

Live Dangerously

“Live Dangerously” reveals the bold and dynamic ways in which female bodies inhabit and activate the natural world. Twelve groundbreaking photographers use humor, drama, ambiguity and innovative storytelling to illuminate the landscape as means of self-empowerment and personal expression. A major section of the exhibition showcases the performative and fantastical works of Janaina Tschäpe. For the first time, NMWA will exhibit all 100 large-scale photographs in the series “100 Little Deaths” (1996-2002), in which the artist stages her own body within sites from her travels around the world.

National Museum of Women in the Arts

Through Jan. 26

Bonnard to Vuillard: The Intimate Poetry of Everyday Life

This exhibition presents over 60 exquisite, rarely seen works by a leading group of European Post-Impressionist artists who ushered in a new form of artistic expression in the 1890s. Assuming the name “Nabis” (from the Hebrew navi, meaning “prophet”), its members shared a belief in art’s intimate connection to everyday life.

The Phillips Collection

Through Jan. 26

None Swifter Than These: 100 Years of Diplomatic Couriers

Learn more about the U.S. Diplomatic Courier Service, which in wartime and peacetime carries the sensitive materials, equipment and information that make diplomacy possible. Today, the State Department’s 100 badged diplomatic couriers travel the globe safeguarding our nation’s most sensitive information and materials. They constantly trouble-shoot and innovate to ensure secure logistic supply chains while supervising the delivery of classified equipment and documents, as well as secure construction materials to nearly every nation where U.S. diplomats work.

Through Jan. 26

The Touch of Color: Pastels at the National Gallery of Art

Featuring approximately 70 exquisite examples drawn entirely from the permanent collection, “The Touch of Color: Pastels at the National Gallery of Art” traces the history of pastel from the Renaissance to the 21st century and examines the many techniques that artists have developed to work with this colorful and versatile medium.

National Gallery of Art

The National Postal Museum

Through Feb. 17

Alonso Berruguete: First Sculptor of Renaissance Spain

This is the first major exhibition held outside Spain to celebrate the expressive art of the most important sculptor active on the Iberian Peninsula during the first half of the 16th century, Alonso Berruguete, featuring an impressive range of more than 40 works from across his career, including examples of his earliest paintings from his time in Italy, where he trained.

National Gallery of Art

Through March 8

Visual Memory: Home + Place

This mid-career survey of multimedia artists Scherezade García and iliana emilia García explores how each artist reflects upon constructed notions of human geography and history in a creative multidisciplinary approach. Generating a provocative and incisive rethinking about the possibilities of visual memory, they engage with timeless universal concerns about global migration, settlement and the spaces we occupy.

Art Museum of the Americas

Through May 1

Women: A Century of Change

As we approach the 100th anniversary of the U.S. constitutional amendment confirming women’s right to vote, this powerful new exhibition and book from National Geographic showcases iconic women around the world. The exhibition’s stunning photographs, drawn from National Geographic’s unparalleled image collection, span nine decades and feature a myriad of countries.

National Geographic Museum

Through July 5

I Am… Contemporary Women Artists of Africa

Taking its name from a 1970’s feminist anthem, “I Am… Contemporary Women Artists of Africa” draws upon a selection of artworks by women artists from the National Museum of African Art’s permanent collection to reveal a more contemporary feminism that recognizes the contributions of women to the most pressing issues of their times. With experimental and sophisticated use of diverse media, the 27 featured artists offer insightful and visually stunning approaches to matters of community, faith, the environment, politics, colonial encounters, racism, identity and more.

National Museum of African Art

Through Sept. 7, 2020

Pat Steir: Color Wheel

The Hirshhorn will host the largest painting installation to date by the acclaimed abstract painter Pat Steir. The exhibition is an expansive new suite of paintings by the artist, spanning the entire perimeter of the Museum’s second-floor inner-circle galleries, extending nearly 400 linear feet.

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

Through Sept. 13, 2020

Lee Ufan: Open Dimension

“Lee Ufan: Open Dimension” is an ambitious site-specific commission by the celebrated Korean artist Lee Ufan. The expansive installation, featuring 10 new sculptures from the artist’s signature and continuing Relatum series, marks Lee Ufan’s largest single outdoor sculpture project in the US, the first exhibition of his work in the nation’s capital, and the first time in the Hirshhorn’s 45-year history that its 4.3-acre outdoor plaza has been devoted, almost in its entirety, to the work of a single artist.

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

DANCE

Nov. 23 to Dec. 29

The Nutcracker

Set to Tchaikovsky’s magical score, this celebrated production is set in historic 1882 Georgetown with George Washington, King George III and other historical figures coming to life with intricate, stunning set designs, original period costumes and over 100 dancers including students and trainees from The Washington School of Ballet. It has become the signature Nutcracker of the nation’s capital. Please call for ticket information.

THEARC (Nov. 23-24)

Warner Theatre (Nov. 30-Dec. 29)

Fri., Nov. 29, 7:30 p.m.

National Ballet Theatre of Odessa: Ukraine’s ‘Swan Lake’

This full-scale production, set to the music of Tchaikovsky and based on German legend, follows a heroic young prince working to free the beautiful swan maiden from an evil spell. Please call for ticket information.

Music Center at Strathmore

DISCUSSIONS

Sun., Nov. 3, 3 p.m.

A Diversity of Flavors: How Foreign-Born Chefs Are Redefining American Cuisine

Generations of immigrants have long made their mark on how Americans eat, both at home and when dining out. Cookbood editor Gabrielle Langholtz joins local chefs Bin Lu (Pineapple and Pearls), Carlos Delgado (China Chilcano), Pichet Ong (Brothers and Sisters), Diego Galicia (Mixtli in San Antonio, TX), Erik Bruner-Yang (Brothers and Sisters, Maketto, Spoken English, and &pizza) and Daniela Moriera (Timber Pizza) as they discuss their own experiences as food professionals and the impact that talented immigrants have made on the local and national dining scenes. Tickets are $30. For information visit smithsonianassociates.org.

S. Dillon Ripley Center

Sat., Nov. 16, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Mongolia: From Genghis Khan to Khubilai Khan

A little over 800 years ago, an ambitious and forward-thinking warrior named Temujin united the disparate tribes inhabiting the Mongolian steppe into a supra-tribal confederation. In doing so, he became known as Chinggis (Genghis) Khan, the “Oceanic” or “Universal” ruler of a vast world empire. In this day-long program, George Mason University historian Michael Chang traces the historical evolution of the Mongol empire from its emergence on the steppe to the conquest of China. Tickets are $140. For information visit smithsonianassociates.org.

S. Dillon Ripley Center

Mon., Nov. 18, 6:45 p.m.

Lidia Bastianich: An Italian Classic

Lidia Bastianich opened the doors to Felidia on Manhattan’s Upper East Side in 1981. Since then, it has been revered as one of the best Italian restaurants in the country. Get some behind-the-scenes glimpses of Felidia’s storied history as Bastianich joins The Washington Post’s Mary Beth Albright for a lively conversation about her close-knit family, her professional ascent, and the dedication and passion for food that led to multiple restaurants, many best-selling cookbooks and 20 years on public television as the host of her own cooking show. Tickets are $60. For information visit smithsonianassociates.org.

S. Dillon Ripley Center

FESTIVALS

Sat., Nov. 2, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Day of the Dead Celebration

Join the Mexican Cultural Institute for its most popular annual celebration, the Day of the Dead. This well-known community event is part of a unique Mexican tradition. This year’s special rendition of the Day of the Dead altar was prepared by Enrique Quiroz, a Mexican artist based in Washington, D.C., and will honor the victims of the El Paso shooting that happened in August as well remember prominent Mexican figures who passed away in 2019: artist Francisco Toledo, humanitarian Miguel León Portilla and singer José José.

Mexican Cultural Institute

GALAS

Fri., Nov. 8, 6:30 to 10 p.m.

Twilight in Argentina Gala

The Twilight in Argentina gala and silent auction will benefit THIS for Diplomats and Cimientos, an Argentinian nonprofit that promotes equal education opportunities. Co-hosted by Argentine Ambassador Fernando Oris de Roa and his wife Maria Mercedes de Campos, the evening will feature tango performances, live music, wine and hors d’oeuvres. THIS for Diplomats helps diplomatic families feel “at home” in the U.S. by offering cultural exchange programs, tours, educational sessions and special events. Tickets are $155. For information, visit THISforDiplomats.org.

Embassy of Argentina

MUSIC

Nov. 1 to 2

World Stages: The Manganiyar Seduction

Conceived and directed by Roysten Abel, “The Manganiyar Seduction” brings together more than 40 singers and instrumentalists from the Rajasthani deserts performing traditional Manganiyar music in an astonishing audio-visual feast. Tickets are $19 to $69.

Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater

Thu., Nov. 7, 8 p.m.

The Quebe Sisters

Combining the musical stylings of the Mills Brothers, Ray Price, Count Basie and Willie Nelson, the Quebe Sisters bring their authentic triple fiddle and three-part harmonies to concert halls and festivals all over the world. Tickets are $27.

Wolf Trap

Tue., Nov. 12, 7:30 p.m.

Richard Lin, Violin
Chih-Yi Chen, Piano

The Embassy Series and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO) present accomplished Taiwanese-American violinist Richard Lin, the newly crowned Gold Medalist of the 10th Quadrennial International Violin Competition of Indianapolis who has had recitals in Dallas, New York, Washington, D.C., Poland and China and is set to have a Carnegie Hall Stern Auditorium recital debut in June 2020, along with a tour through Vietnam with the Evergreen Symphony Orchestra. Tickets are $125, including buffet reception, wine and valet parking. For information, visit embassyseries.org.

Anderson House

Fri., Nov. 15, 8 p.m..
Sat., Nov. 15, 8 p.m.

The Silkroad Ensemble

The Silkroad Ensemble, founded by cellist Yo-Yo Ma, creates music that is contemporary and ancient, familiar and foreign, traditional and innovative, and draws on styles from around the world to create a new musical language. Tickets start at $62.

Wolf Trap

Fri., Nov. 15, 8 p.m.

Taipei Symphony Orchestra

Celebrating its 50th anniversary, the Taipei Symphony has grown from an ensemble of modest scale to a forceful musical presence known for its breadth of programming, extensive international appearances and commitment to cultural diplomacy. The program’s centerpiece, Gordon Shi-Wen Chin’s poetic “Double Concerto,”features the prodigious talent of two Taiwan-born, U.S.-based virtuosi: Paul Huang and Felix Fan. Please call for ticket information.

The Music Center at Strathmore

Sat., Nov. 16, 8 p.m.

Amjad Ali Khan

Having established himself as the world’s preeminent sarod player over the course of a distinguished career spanning more than six decades, Amjad Ali Khan brings his expressive sound to the intimate confines of Sixth & I for a family affair with his sons Amaan Ali Bangash and Ayaan Ali Bangash. Please call for ticket information.

Sixth & I

Sun., Nov. 17, 2 p.m.

Zoltán Fejérvári

A protégé of Sir András Schiff, Hungarian pianist Zoltán Fejérvári equally thrives performing major concerti with the Budapest Festival Orchestra, chamber music with the Musicians of Marlboro, and recitals from major venues across Europe to Carnegie Hall.

Kennedy Center Terrace Theater

Fri., Nov. 22, 7:30 p.m.

Elham Fanoos, Piano

This Kabul native, who is only 22, has been playing music from the age of 5 when he began to study the tabla. In the seventh grade, he enrolled in the Afghan National Institute of Music, where he learned to play the piano. Since then, Elham Fanoos has performed in Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Germany, where in 2012, he was awarded the third position at the Golden Key Piano Competition in Frankfurt and where he recorded a CD. As a member of the Afghan Youth Orchestra, Fanoos has also performed at the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall. Tickets are $125, including Afghan buffet and valet parking. For information, visit embassyseries.org.

Embassy of Afghanistan

THEATER

Nov. 2 to 23

Washington National Opera: The Magic Flute

This great adventure starts with an unexpected pair: Tamino, a handsome young prince, and Papageno, his silly bird-catcher sidekick. When the mysterious Queen of the Night enlists the duo to rescue her kidnapped daughter Pamina, a fantastic journey follows. Tickets are $25 to $299.

Kennedy Center Opera House

Through Nov. 3

Escaped Alone

In a serene British garden three old friends are joined by a neighbor to engage in amiable chitchat — with a side of apocalyptic horror. The women’s talk of grandchildren and TV shows breezily intersperses with tales of terror in a quietly teetering world where all is not what it seems. Please call for ticket information.

Signature Theatre

Nov. 5 to 17

Protest & Vaněk Unleashed

The Alliance for New Music-Theatre will open the double bill of Václav Havel’s seminal play “Protest” and New Music-Theatre’s “Vaněk Unleashed.” In “Protest,” Vaněk pays a visit to the lavish home of former colleague Staněk, who has invited the renowned activist to help him secure the release of a jailed radical musician, the fiancé to his daughter. But Vaněk also seeks a favor: the influential man’s signature in a far-reaching protest. “Vaněk Unleashed” is a uniquely American response to the same beloved central character of Vaněk, with playwrights Samuel Beckett and Tom Stoppard paying tribute to Havel by making Vaněk a universal character, adding music, clowning and silent film tropes in the genre of the theater of absurd. For ticket information, visit newmusictheatre.org/the-havel-project.

Dupont Underground

Nov. 5 to Dec. 22

Amadeus

Genius and jealousy collide in the opulent salons and opera houses of 18th-century Vienna when an impulsive and eccentric prodigy outshines an envious, God-fearing composer consumed by bitterness. Theatrical fireworks emerge as mediocre Salieri will do everything in his power to destroy his musical rival Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Tickets are $27 to $85.

Folger Theatre

Nov. 6 to Dec. 8

White Pearl

A leaked ad for skin-whitening cream is going viral for all the wrong reasons and someone’s definitely getting fired in this twisted corporate comedy about selling whiteness and the ugliness of the beauty industry. Please call for ticket information.

The Studio Theatre

Nov. 7 to 24

Sea by Jon Fosse

Scena Theatre opens its 33rd season with the U.S. premiere of “Sea” Norway’s acclaimed writer, Jon Fosse. In this harrowing story of a shipmaster who guides a bizarre band of travelers through a modern-day Hades, “Sea” is an episodic tale of lost love in the otherworld that unfolds as past relationships meet present realities. Tickets are $15 to $35.

District of Columbia Arts Center

Nov. 7 to Dec. 8

Occupant

Edward Albee’s “Occupant” imagines an interview with sculptor Lousie Nevelson from beyond the grave and digs into the icon’s turmoil and triumphs as she transforms from a young Jewish girl immigrating from Russia to a master at the height of her creative powers. Through her ups and downs, her contradictions and evasions, the audience witnesses the complicated evolution of one of the 20th century’s greatest artistic minds. Tickets are $39 to $69.

Edlavitch DCJCC Theater J

Through Nov. 10

The Right to Be Forgotten

The Internet never forgets. A young man’s mistake at 17 haunts him online a decade later. Desperate for a normal life, he goes to extraordinary lengths to erase his indiscretion. But freedom of information is big business, and the tech companies aren’t going down without a fight. Tickets are $40 to $95.

Arena Stage

Through Nov. 16

Washington National Opera: Otello

Verdi’s epic retelling of Shakespeare’s tragedy traces the collapse of a great hero. As Iago manipulates Otello, the general will confront his deadliest enemy: his jealous heart.

Tickets are $45 to $299.

Kennedy Center Opera House

Through Nov. 17

Everybody

Everybody — a role assigned each night from a small cast of actors by lottery live on stage — is a happy person, a free person, a person who believes nothing but the best lies ahead. Then Death comes calling and Everybody must go on the journey of a lifetime. Please call for ticket information.

Shakespeare Theatre Company

Mon., Nov. 18, 7 p.m.

Spotlight on Contemporary Spanish Theater: Women Dramatists

As part of a new series showcasing works by contemporary Spanish female playwrights, Spain arts + culture presents Yolanda García Serrano’s “Iceberg,” a raucous and humorous four-character play that takes place on the last night of the ill-fated voyage of the Titanic. It is a comedy of errors, full of hilarious plot and character twists, that intertwines mischief, shady business, indulgence, and deceit. “Spotlight on Contemporary Spanish Theater” is a new initiative organized by the Cultural Office of the Embassy of Spain, in collaboration with Estreno Contemporary Spanish Plays and AENY – Spanish Artists in New York to provide a platform for unheard stories to D.C. audiences. For information, visit spainculture.us/city/washington-dc/.

Former Residence of the Ambassadors of Spain

Nov. 20 to Dec. 22

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Murder. Mystery. Mayhem. Math. What begins as an investigation into the grisly death of a neighbor’s dog results in a remarkable coming-of-age journey for 15-year-old Christopher Boone, a self-described “mathematician with some behavioral problems. Tickets are $32 to $68.

Round House Theatre

Nov. 29 to Dec. 29

A Christmas Carol

It’s the 10th Anniversary of Olney’s favorite Christmas tradition, as Paul Morella’s captivating solo performance of the Dickens classic keeps audiences coming back season and after season. Tickets are $40 to $84.

Olney Theatre Center

Through Jan. 4

A Chorus Line

Winner of nine Tony Awards and the Pulitzer Prize, overflowing with sensational ballet, tap and jazz dance numbers, this nonstop showcase with one of the largest casts in Signature history is the one singular sensation for the holiday season. Please call for ticket information.

Signature Theatre