ART

A BIRD’S EYE VIEWING The New-York Historical Society presents the opening of “Audubon’s Aviary: Natural Selection,” an exhibit of 43 watercolor paintings by John James Audubon, drawn from the society’s permanent collection. Twenty-one bird species are represented in the show — portraits that the artist frequently reworked two or three times. The show is complemented by recorded birdcalls from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and a video that underscores Audubon’s mastery at encapsulating each bird’s personality. Opens Friday, exhibit through Sunday, May 20, Tuesday–Sunday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., free admission, open until 8 p.m. on Friday, NYHS, 170 Central Park West at 77th Street, 212-868-4444, $10 general, $7 educators and seniors, $6 students, free for NYHS members and children under 12. For complete information, go to nyhistory.org.

A TOUCH OF NIRVANA The Japan Society presents the opening of “Awakenings: Zen Figure Painting in Medieval Japan,” an exhibit of 47 Japanese and Chinese works painted between the 13th and the 16th centuries. The exhibit explores the origins and traditions of painting associated with Zen Buddhist communities during an era of singular artistic merit. In many of the works, Buddhist monks are depicted in spirit-infused states, whether sleeping, dreaming, walking, or reaching enlightenment. Since World War II, there have been only two large-scale shows mounted on this subject outside Japan. Through Sunday, June 17, Tuesday–Thursday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m., Friday, 11 a.m.–9 p.m., Saturday-Sunday, 11 a.m.–5 p.m., Japan Society, 333 E. 47th St., between First and Second avenues, 212-832-1155, $10 general, $8 students and seniors, free to members and children under 16.

DANCE

SCHOOL STAGE The Hunter College Dance Company performs a new work by choreographer Ronald Brown, who is a resident at the college this year. Mr. Brown, a Brooklyn native, combines modern dance with hip-hop and ballet styles. The company also performs works by choreographers-in-residence Larry Keigwin and Keely Garfield, and a reconstruction of Twyla Tharp’s “Country Dances.” Friday and Saturday, 8 p.m., Hunter College, Kaye Playhouse, Lexington Avenue, between 68th and 69th streets, 212-772-4448, $15 general, $10 students.

DRAWINGS

SOUTH ASIAN SENSATION Nataraj Sharma’s new exhibit of works on paper, “Stretch,” is a collection he completed during a residency at the Singapore Tyler Print Institute last year, where he studied with master printmaker Eitaro Ogawa and master papermaker Richard Hungerford. The exhibit includes drawings of buildings, studies of human forms and crowds, and abstract interpretations of maps. Selections from the exhibit include “Above Detroit (Winter) 4” (2006), above. Through Saturday, May 5, Tuesday–Saturday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m., Bodhi Art, 535 W. 24th St., between Tenth and Eleventh avenues, 212-352-2644, free.

MUSIC

LOCKED UP American Opera Projects presents concert readings of two new operas. “The Walled-Up Wife” is a one-act opera by composer Gilda Lyons that retells an ancient folktale of young brides tricked into being buried alive in the foundations of royal construction projects to bring the sites good luck. Mez zo-soprano Elaine Valby and so prano Ruth Cunningham are fea tured performers. In Daniel So nenberg’s “The Summer King,” the life of Negro Baseball League player, Josh Gibson, is retold Gibson, who was rumored to have hit the only fair ball out of “the house that Ruth built,” died tragically at 35 years old, in 1947 just three months before Jackie Robinson broke through the col or barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Featured cast members are Lori-Kaye Miller, Robert Hoyt, and Leon Browne. Steven Osgood is musical director of the productions. A post-performance discussion with the creators follows. Friday and Saturday, 8 p.m., South Oxford Space 138 S. Oxford St, between Atlantic Avenue and Hanson Place Fort Greene, Brooklyn, 718-398 4024, $15 general, $12 students and seniors.

TRANSFIGURED NIGHT The Manhattan School of Music presents a performance by its artists-in-residence, the American String Quar tet, who perform works by Beethoven, Strauss, and Schoen berg. Among the program selec tions are Schoenberg’s “Verklärte Nacht,” and Beethoven’s Quartet in E minor, Op. 59, No. 2 Beethoven’s Quartet in E Minor is one of three quartets the composer wrote for his patron, the Russian ambassador Count Razumovsky, and it reflected a radical new style that bewildered contemporary critics in 1806. Featured performers include violinists Peter Winograd and Laurie Carney and cellist Wolfram Koes sel. Sunday, 3 p.m., MSM, John C Borden Auditorium, 120 Clare mont Ave. at 122nd Street, 917-493 4428, $15 general, $7 for students and seniors.

TALKS

INDUSTRY RULE NO. 4,080 As part of its “CEOs in the Arts Speak er Series,” New York University hosts a talk with the executive editor and associate publisher of Bill board magazine, Tamara Conniff The lead singer and founder of the new wave-punk band Blondie Deborah Harry, leads the interview Ms. Conniff is the first female and youngest editor of the music industry trade publication and was at the helm of the first major redesign of the magazine in almost 50 years. Friday, 6 p.m., NYU, Einstein Auditorium, Barney Building, 34 Stuyvesant St., between East 9th Street and Third Avenue, 212-998 5427, free.

ROCK ON, FRIENDS Housing Works Bookstore Café presents an evening of discussion and music about contemporary rock ‘n’ roll with George Saunders, author of the short story collection “In Persuasion Nation” (Penguin Group), and Jonathan Lethem, author of the novel “You Don’t Love Me Yet” (Doubleday) The Brooklyn band the Night Time also performs. Friday, 7 p.m., Hous ing Works, 126 Crosby St., between Houston and Prince streets, 212-334 3324, $5 general, donations of used books suggested.

THEATER

THE GLASS SLIPPER The Dra ma, Theatre, and Dance Department and the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College present a staging of Rogers and Hammerstein’s “Cinderella.” A cast of 42 actors, including three local children, dance and sing the production about a pair of ugly stepsisters, a fairy godmother, and a princess who finds her Prince Charming with the aid of a magical pair of glass heels. Friday, 8 p.m., Saturday, 2 and 8 p.m., Sunday, 3 p.m., City University of New York, Queens College, Susan Wallack Goldstein Theatre, 65-30 Kissena Blvd. at the Long Island Ex pressway overpass, Flushing Queens, 718-793-8080, $15 general, $13 for seniors all times except Saturday night, $18 Saturday evening performance, $15 for seniors.

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.