Friday, March 2
East-West jazz
WHAT: The Sound of Surprise: A Vijay Iyer Mini-Festival
WHERE: Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
WHEN: 8 p.m.
The jazz pianist Vijay Iyer makes extensively sourced, deeply grooved music, combining elements of rock, soul, classical, and even his Indian heritage into something that could be called cosmopolitan if it wasn’t so darn funky. On Friday, the second of a two-night stand, he’ll veer from a set with poet/provocateur Mike Ladd to another with Indian musicians. Learn more at walkerart.org
Friday, March 2
Dr. Seuss returns
WHAT: Dr. Seuss Birthday Celebration
WHERE: Jean Stephen Galleries, Minneapolis
WHEN: 4 to 7 p.m.
Before going off to see The Lorax, have the kids meet you after work on Friday for this national show of student work riffing on Dr. Seuss stories, celebrating the good doctor’s 108th birthday. The gallery, among the few authorized to sell prints of Dr. Seuss’s original art, will also display the latest works to go on sale and a bronze, so-called life-sized Lorax (five inches tall), the only one outside the Seuss estate. Learn more at jeanstephengalleries.com
Saturday, March 3
Je t’aime Minnesota
WHAT: Springtime in Paris
WHERE: Orchestra Hall, Minneapolis
WHEN: 8 p.m.
It’s almost spring (keep telling yourself that), when thoughts turn to love—or, more poetically, across the pond to the City of Love. Sarah Hicks and the Minnesota Orchestra will conjure a bit of that joie de vivre through the music of Edith Piaf, Josephine Baker, Django Reinhardt, Serge Gainsbourg, and others. Learn more at mnorch.org
Saturday, March 3
It’s getting Louden in here
WHAT: Sharon Louden: Movement and Gesture
WHERE: Burnet Gallery, Minneapolis
WHEN: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
If you’ve noticed the wildly shimmering “Merge” sculpture at the reopened Weisman Art Museum (and how could you not?), that’s Sharon Louden’s handiwork—some 250,000 metal pieces cascading across an entire gallery. At the Burnet, she fills the gallery with multiple works in a similar vein, evoking movement through bold, minimalist lines as though you’ve walked in on a very cool dance party. Learn more at burnetgallery.com
Sunday, March 4
Don’t drink alone
WHAT: Minnesota Monthly Food & Wine Experience
WHERE: Target Field, Minneapolis
WHEN: 1 to 5 p.m.
It sounds unusual, to say the least: more than 350 wines, 75 specialty beers, fine cheeses—in a baseball stadium? Trust us, from inside Target Field’s cozy, glass-walled Metropolitan Club, the views of downtown Minneapolis are terrific and there’s not a hot dog in sight. Learn more at foodwineshow.com
Sunday, March 4
Poetry in song
WHAT: Bakken Trio’s American Lyric
WHERE: McPhail Center for Music, Minneapolis
WHEN: 4 p.m.
The beguiling Bakken Trio, joined by soprano Christina Baldwin, offers an afternoon of poetically influenced chamber music, including the world premiere of “A Screened Porch in the Country,” based on the poetry of Pulitzer Prize-winner James Dickey. Other highlights include George Crumb’s “Voices of the Whale,” in which the musicians are amplified and wear masks, managing to be both avant-garde and charming at the same time. Learn more at bakkentrio.org
