ART

STORY TIME The group exhibit “Art As Anecdote” at the Brooklyn Arts Council Gallery attempts to create a discussion about the meaning of art between the creator and the viewer. The show is curated by Sarah Schmerler, and featured artists in the show include Alexis Ditkowsky, Benjamin Evans, and Marney Fuller. Selections include Orrie King’s “Zoë Car” (2004), above. Through Friday, April 10, Monday–Friday, 11 a.m.–5 p.m., BAC Gallery, 111 Front St., between Washington and Adams streets, DUMBO, Brooklyn, suite 218, 718-625-0080, free.

BOOKS

FAMILIAL RELATIONS Colm Tóibín reads from and speaks about his collection of stories “Mothers and Sons” (Scribner), which features stories about a grieving son who buries his mother and discovers desire, and a singer who captivates fans but cannot reconcile with her estranged sons. Tonight, 7 p.m., New York University, Glucksman Ireland House, 1 Washington Mews, Fifth Avenue, between 8th Street and Washington Square North, 212-998-3950 ext. 3, free, reservations required.

MYSTERY WOMAN “The Polish Woman” (Bridge Works Publishing) by Eva Mekler chronicles the story of a Polish-Catholic woman who presents herself to a Jewish family in 1967 as a cousin who was assumed to have died during the Holocaust. Ms. Mekler reads from and signs her novel. Tonight, 7 p.m., Barnes & Noble, 1972 Broadway, 212-595-6859, free.

MUSIC

AN INSPIRED ORATORIO “An Early Music Tour of Europe,” a concert given by the Trinity Choir, features a performance of “Jephte” by Giacomo Carissimi and “Messa à Voci da Cappella” by Monteverdi. The Rebel Baroque Orchestra is a featured guest. “Jephte” is considered Carissimi’s masterpiece, an oratorio loaded with dramatic scenarios and operatic gesture. The work tells the tale of an illegitimately born outlaw leader who makes a pact with God. Tonight, 6 p.m., Trinity Church, 74 Trinity Pl., between Broadway and Wall Street, 866-468-7619, $25–$40 general, $15 students and seniors.

TAKE THESE BROKEN WINGS The New York-based Alaria chamber ensemble performs works by the Russian composer Alexander Tcherepnin and the German violinist, instructor, and composer Paul Hindemith. Ensemble members include violinist Yuri Vodovoz and cellist Diliana Momtchilova. Clarinetist Alexander Fiterstein is a featured guest. The group’s name is derived from the Latin roots ala, meaning wing, and aria, meaning song, and thus Alaria is a way of saying “winged song.” The name is reflected in the ensemble’s preference for lyrical styles in music of all periods. Tonight, 8 p.m., Carnegie Hall, Weill Recital Hall, 54 W. 57th St. at Seventh Avenue, 212-247-7800, $32.

PROTEST MUSIC Maskanda is a style of Zulu music born at the turn of the 20th century in the face of labor difficulties the tribe was experiencing. Maskanda songs feature a picking guitar style, instrumental introductions, and spoken sections of izibongo, Zulu praise poetry. The musician Shiyani Ngcobo makes his American debut with his take on this traditional genre. Friday, 8:30 p.m., Carnegie Hall, Zankel Hall, 881 Seventh Ave. at 57th Street, 212-247-7800, $30-$42.

READINGS

PASSIONATE KISSES The Sterling Professor of Comparative Literature at Yale University, Peter Brooks, presents a lecture, “Henry James and Dirty French Novels,” about the author’s struggle to reconcile his simultaneous disgust and admiration for the writings of Sand, Flaubert, and Zola. Mr. Brooks is the author of “Henry James Goes to Paris” (Princeton). Tonight, 5 p.m., Columbia University, Maison Française, Buell Hall, East Gallery, 116th Street and Broadway, 212-854-4482, free.

THE DANDY Author Gay Talese launches the third annual “Best-Selling Author Series” at Kingsborough Community College. Mr. Talese, who has been hailed the most important nonfiction writer of his generation, discusses “The Writer’s Life” (Knopf). During a career that included reporting for Esquire magazine, the always dapper journalist conducted memorable interviews with such figures as civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., baseball legend Joe DiMaggio, and the entourage of Ol’ Blue Eyes for “Frank Sinatra Has a Cold” (1966). Still, Mr. Talese has admitted to being an unreformed procrastinator, famously taking a decade or more to finish a book. Tonight, 7 p.m., Kingsborough Community College, Leon M. Goldstein Performing Arts Center, 2001 Oriental Blvd., between Quentin Street and Decatur Avenue, Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn, 718-368-5051, free with RSVP.

TALKS

A GRAND OLD PARTY “Whither the Republicans?” is the topic of a conversation between a conservative columnist for the New York Times, David Brooks, and the managing editor of Newsweek magazine, Jon Meacham. Mr. Brooks is also a commentator on “The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer.” Messrs. Brooks and Meacham address the state of the party in the face of an election in which Democrats took majorities in both the House and Senate. Tonight, 8 p.m., 92nd Street Y, Kaufmann Concert Hall, 1395 Lexington Ave. at 92nd Street, 212-415-5500, $25.

WHITE NOISE “Race in Jazz Academia” is the subject of a panel discussion featured as the inaugural event in a series of lectures presented by Jazz at Lincoln Center. Featured panelists include poet and essayist Amiri Baraka, a saxophonist and a professor at the Brooklyn College Conservatory of Music, Salim Washington, and a professor of music at Harvard University, Ingrid Monson. A professor of music at Rutgers University, Lewis Porter, is moderator of the event. Tomorrow, 7 p.m., JALC, Frederick P. Rose Hall, Irene Diamond Education Center, 33 W. 60th St. at Broadway, 212-721-6500, $17.50.

BRINGING UP BABY The Museum of Jewish Heritage — A Living Memorial to the Holocaust hosts “A Jewish Perspective on Infertility,” an open discussion of the theological and complicated ethical issues concerning infertility and the treatment thereof among Jewish couples. The panel is moderated by journalist Lisa Castleman Glazer, and featured panelists include clinical psychologist Sara Barris; Rabbi Barry Freundel of the Georgetown Synagogue, Kesher Israel, and Pamela Madsen, a New York mother whose IVF treatments produced two sons . Tomorrow, 7 p.m., Museum of Jewish Heritage, 36 Battery Place at First Place, 646-437-4202, free.

READING PASSAGES CLOSELY The Richard Gilder Distinguished Lecturer Series, presented by the New-York Historical Society, features an Adams University Professor Emeritus of Harvard University, Bernard Bailyn. His topic, “How Historians Get It Wrong: The American Constitution, For Example,” focuses on important misconceptions by historians about the Constitution, and how future historians can work on re-interpreting difficult passages. Thursday, 6:30 p.m., N-YHS, 170 Central Park West at 77th Street, 212-868-4444, $18 general, $12 students, seniors, and educators, $10 members.

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