Culture Picks: February 17

Valentine’s Day may have come and gone, but love is still in the air – and onstage. Take a look!

Mark Morris Dance Group presents
Layla and Majnun Week
Streaming now through February 20
MMDG is celebrating Valentine’s Day with Mark Morris’s delightful Layla and Majnun, a classic love story well-known in the Middle East in its first large-scale Western presentation. This includes a full-length screening of the work as filmed during its premiere in 2016, a multimedia exhibit, virtual dance classes, and more.
Mark Morris Dance Group | Layla and Majnun Week

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater presents
Ailey All Access: Robert Battle’s Unfold by & Lar Lubovitch’s Fandango
Streaming now through February 27
Set to Leontyne Price’s intensely romantic recording of Gustave Charpentier’s aria “Depuis le Jour” about the first day of love, Unfold conveys the intricacies of passion with nuanced gestures and vivid imagery, while Fandango, set to the lush intensity of Maurice Ravel’s “Bolero,” explores the infinite possibilities of partnering through sensual, athletic movement.
Stream Full-Length Dance Performances | Ailey All Access (alvinailey.org)

Carnegie Hall presents
RingShout: A Sonic Healing
Friday, February 18, 5pm
Sound artists and composers Mendi + Keith Obadike will engage in a virtual dialogue with Chief Systems Engineer Nzinga Tull about RingShout, their new sound art piece, a screening of their video work, LIFT and discussion on their collaboration of music, art, and literature.
Supported in a co-partnership between National Black Theatre, the Apollo Theater and the American Composers Orchestra as part of the Carnegie Hall Afrofuturism Festival.
RingShout: A Sonic Healing Registration, Fri, Feb 18, 2022 at 5:00 PM | Eventbrite

Philadelphia Chamber Music Society presents
Mahan Esfahani, harpsichord
Livestream on Wednesday, February 23, 7:30pm
On-demand after February 23
Bach: Aria with Thirty Variations, BWV 988, Goldberg Variations
Harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani approaches one of the greatest masterpieces of the Baroque repertoire with fresh eyes. “I cannot deny that I find a great deal of narrative and life beyond the score when I play [Bach’s Goldberg Variations], he says. “They offer us a view both of someone looking back on his decades-long aesthetic transformation and of an innovative and sensitive musician responding to new trends and techniques around him.”
Mahan Esfahani, harpsichord – Philadelphia Chamber Music Society (pcmsconcerts.org)

The 92nd Street Y presents
BBC America’s Killing Eve: Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer
Thursday, February 24, 7 pm
Join Golden Globe® winner Sandra Oh and Emmy® Award winner Jodie Comer in conversation with Vanity Fair‘s Joy Press about the fourth and final season of their acclaimed hit show Killing Eve. Brilliantly deconstructing and breathing new life into the international spy thriller for the 21st century, Killing Eve is as wickedly fun as it is smart — a cat-and-mouse game between a foreign intelligence officer and a volatile assassin anchored by gripping and often hilarious performances by Oh and Comer. Hear them discuss their remarkable performances — how they established themselves in their roles, the arc of the series, surprises from the final season, stories from behind the scenes, and more.
BBC America’s Killing Eve: Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer in Conversation with Vanity Fair’s Joy Press

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Culture Picks is a weekly feature celebrating the performing arts. The arts are back and there is so much to take in, both live and virtual. Cultural connoisseur and PAC staff member Coni Guhl is here to help you sort through it all. Each week we will post her curated selection of events featuring the artists you know and love from The PAC Center Series, plus a sampling of stellar local experiences. Enjoy!

All times are EDT unless otherwise noted.