ART

NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM Artalks hosts a guided tour of “Spanish Painting: El Greco to Picasso: Time, Truth, and History,” an exhibit currently on at the Guggenheim Museum. Led by Deb Markow, an art lover who earned a Ph.D. in art history as a second act, Artalks offer participants an experience that is perhaps more connected than museum-issue audio guides. All are encouraged to stop and ask questions during the 90-minute tour. The exhibit brings together for the first time works by the great Spanish masters of the 16th through the 20th centuries. Tomorrow, 1 p.m., Friday, 5:30 p.m., exhibit through Wednesday, March 28, Saturday–Wednesday, 10 a.m.–5:45 p.m., Friday, 10 a.m.–7:45 p.m., Guggenheim Museum, 1071 Fifth Ave. at 89th Street, 212-423-3500, $43-$50, includes museum admission. For complete information and to reserve, go to artalks.com.

FILM

WITH MIRTH IN FUNERAL The Film Society of Lincoln Center hosts a screening of Bahman Farmanara’ s “Smell of Camphor, Fragrance of Jasmine” (2000), a political parable that features the director in the lead role. A desperate Mr. Farmanara, prohibited from working for two decades by Iran’s postrevolutionary censorship board, accepts an assignment from Japanese TV to make a documentary about funeral rites, which gradually becomes a film about his own impending death and a bracing look at contemporary Iran. The award-winning film is featured as part of a week-long celebration of the Iranian filmmaker’s work, “Storm Warnings.” Today, 1 p.m., tomorrow, 3 p.m., Lincoln Center, Walter Reade Theater, 165 W. 65th St., between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue, 212-496-3809, $10 general, $7 students, $5 children, $6 members.

MUSIC

CONCERT FOR RELIEF Carnegie Hall presents the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, which performs a concert to benefit the Meir Panim Relief Centers in Israel. The program includes Modest Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition.” Conductor Lorin Maazel leads the orchestra and violinist Maxim Vengerov is a featured performer. Meir Panim is a charitable network that has 14 branches throughout Israel, where 22% of the population lives below the poverty line. Tonight, 8 p.m., Carnegie Hall, Stern Auditorium, 54 W. 57th St. at Seventh Avenue, 212-247-7800, $45–$125.

NEW JAZZ YEAR The Manhattan School of Music Concert Jazz Band kicks off the new year with a performance of songs by composers Bill Holman and Kenny Wheeler. The band is led by conductor Justin DiCioccio. Tonight, 7:30 p.m., MSM, John C. Borden Auditorium, Broadway and 122nd Street, 212-749-2802, free.

POETRY

DRIVE ON The Queens Borough Public Library presents a reading by Davidson Garrett, a poet, actor, and taxi driver. He reads from his collection of poetry, “King Lear of the Taxi: Musings of a New York City Actor Taxi Driver” (Advent Purple Press). Thursday, 1:30 p.m., Bay Terrace Community Library, 18-36 Bell Blvd. at 23rd Avenue, 718-423-7004, free.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Galway Kinnell is best known for rejecting the poetic tradition of escaping reality to ease personal pain, writing poems about dealing with life through examination and meditation, such as “After Making Love We Hear Footsteps.” His 80th birthday is celebrated at the Cooper Union with a gala reading. Featured authors include E.L. Doctorow, Edward Hirsch, Mark Doty, Cornelius Eady, and Sharon Olds. The event is co-sponsored by Poets House. Thursday, 7 p.m., the Cooper Union, Great Hall, 7 E. 7th St. at Third Avenue, 212-353-4195, free.

TALKS

FROM THE MOUTHS OF SOLDIERS A historian and fellow at the American Antiquarian Society, Robert Bonner, delivers “The Soldier’s Pen: Firsthand Impressions of the Civil War,” a presentation of 16 letters, diaries, and sketches written by soldiers active during the conflict. Mr. Bonner chose the letters from the Gilder Lehrman Collection. Tonight, 5:30 p.m., New York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West at 77th Street, 212-868-4444, $15 general, $10 students, seniors, and educators, $8 members.

GYPSIES, TRAMPS, AND THIEVES A talk with novelists Colum McCann and Richard Price, is featured as part of the ongoing series “Conversations,” presented by the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library. Mr. McCann is the author of “Zoli” (Random House), about the imperiled world of a Slovakian Roma Gypsy poet from World War II through the establishment of the Communist bloc. Mr. Price is the author of “Freedomland” (Delta), set in the same gritty New Jersey housing project of his “Clockers” (HarperPerennials) and the 1995 film of the same name. The Cullman Center is a home in the library for 15 fellows-in-residence, who work with NYPL collections researching new projects. Tonight, 7 p.m., NYPL, South Court Auditorium, between Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, 212-868-4444 $15 general, $10 members, students, and seniors.

THEATER

A LIFE’S JOURNEY Oren Safdie’s “The Last Word” follows the life of a Viennese Jew as he escapes the Holocaust, becomes a successful advertising executive in New York, retires to become a playwright, and strikes up a friendship with a college student who serves as his assistant. The play is directed by Alex Lippard, and featured actors include Daniel Travanti. Tonight through Sunday, March 11, Theatre at St. Clement’s, 423 W. 46th St., between Ninth and Tenth avenues, 212-279-4200, $65.

PAINTINGS

X CHROMOSOME Cynthia Sisson’s abstract paintings evoke femininity through representations of lace motifs and waterscapes. The exhibit “Places To Get Lost” features her latest paintings, and selections include “Lace Tangle” (2006). Through Saturday, Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m., Kathryn Markel Fine Arts, 529 W. 20th St., between Tenth and Eleventh avenues, 212-366-5368, free.

To submit an event for consideration for the Calendar, please wire the particulars to calendar@nysun.com, placing the date of the event in the subject line.