MUSIC

DEBATING GREATNESS A composer, conductor, and commentator for National Public Radio, Ron Kapilow, right, leads a discussion about the work of composer John Adams (who is not to be confused with America’s second president), as part of the “What Makes It Great?” series at Lincoln Center. Mr. Kapilow discusses Mr. Adams’s “Shaker Loops,” written in 1983. Mr. Adams is known for his many minimalist works, and was the winner of the Pulitzer Prize in music in 2003. The Flux Quartet accompanies Mr. Kapilow for this discussion and performance. Tonight, 7:30 p.m., Lincoln Center, Avery Fisher Hall, 20 W. 63rd St. at Broadway, 212-721-6500, $35.

JAZZ

A NEW FRONTIER A pianist and composer of the musical “Hair,” Galt MacDermot, performs with his New Pulse Jazz Band at the West Bank Café. Mr. MacDermot has composed on the frontiers of jazz for more than four decades, accompanied by New Pulse since 1979. The music is new, but the players are old pros who have accompanied the likes of B.B. King, James Brown, and Aretha Franklin. They include Bernard “Pretty” Purdie on drums, Wilbur “Bad” Bascomb on bass, Allen “Wing” Won on reeds, and John Frosk on trumpet. Tonight’s performance offers a preview of selections from Mr. MacDermot’s forthcoming album, “Leap of Faith.” Tonight, 8 p.m., West Bank Café, 407 W. 42nd St. at Ninth Avenue, 212-695-6909, $20 general, $15 minimum for food and drink.

MUSIC

RISING STAR Violinist Viviane Hagner gives a recital at the 92nd Street Y. The performance comes on the heels of Ms. Hagner debut with the New York Philharmonic earlier this month. Russian pianist Tatiana Goncharova joins the Munich-born Ms. Hagner. She performs three selections by Brahms — Scherzo in C minor, “Hungarian Dances,” and a world premiere of Detlev Glanert’s arrangement of waltzes, Op.39—as well as Bartok’s Sonata for Solo Violin and Bach’s Chaconne in D minor. Thursday, 8 p.m., 92nd Street Y, 1395 Lexington Ave. at 92nd Street, 212-415-5500, $40 general, $25 for ages 35 and under.

MENDELSSOHN AND MORE The chamber music ensemble Lautreamont Concerts performs a program of Mendelssohn at the Chelsea Art Museum. The program features two works written before the composer had reached the age of 30: Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor and String Quartet No. 3. Pianist Steven Graff also performs a musical intermission of works by Fauré and Satie. Other members of the ensemble — all international soloists from the Juilliard School and the Paris and Moscow conservatories — include violinists Steven Zynszajn and Francisco Salazar, cellist Alistair MacRae, and violist Whitney LaGrange. Thursday, 7 p.m., Chelsea Art Museum, 556 W. 22nd St., between Tenth and Eleventh avenues, 212-255-0719, $15 general, $10 students and seniors.

TICKLING THE STRINGS Harpist and singer-songwriter Joanna Newsom plays an additional concert at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. The show has been added to her sold-out engagement with the Brooklyn Philharmonic under the direction of Michael Christie. Ms. Newsom performs songs from her 2006 album “Ys” with the orchestra, and a second set with her band. With her 2004 debut album, “The Milk-Eyed Mender,” Ms. Newsom gave a new voice to the harp and demonstrated the possibilities of blending distinctly different styles — from Appalachian folk to African rhythms — to create new sounds. Ms. Newsom’s performance in Brooklyn is part of “BP Presents,” Mr. Christie’s pet project to lend his orchestra to groundbreaking young artists.

Thursday, 8 p.m., BAM, Howard Gilman Opera House, Peter Jay Sharp Building, 30 Lafayette Ave., between Ashland Place and St. Felix Street, 718-636-4100, $25–$55.

PAINTINGS

YOUNG AT HEART Khalif Kelly makes his New York debut with his first solo exhibit, “Recess.” The images recall the artist’s early childhood interactions and the rituals that make those experiences memorable, if a bit awkward. Through Sunday, February 10, Wednesday–Sunday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m., Thierry Goldberg Projects, 5 Rivington St., between Chrystie Street and the Bowery, 212-967-2260, free.

READINGS

CIRCLE OF VERSES Three breakout poets read and reflect on their influences at “Our Life in Poetry: New Poets/New Poetics” at the Philoctetes Center. Gabrielle Calvocoressi is the recipient of the Paris Review’s Bernard F. Connors Prize for her poem, “Circus Fire, 1944.” A. Van Jordan is a Guggenheim Fellow; his second collection, “M-A-C-N-O-L-I-A” (Norton), was named one of the best books of 2005 by the London Times. Patrick Rosal has published poems and essays in several anthologies. Together with the publisher of Persea Books, Michael Braziller, the poets discuss the aesthetic ideas they have adopted and abandoned and the influences found across artistic mediums. Tomorrow, 7 p.m., Philoctetes Center, 247 E. 82nd St., between Second and Third avenues, 646-422-0645, free.

TALKS

LIFETIME IN LIBRETTOS A nonprofit for young opera performers, the George London Foundation, continues its annual conversations series. German-born soprano Anja Silja is joined by the great-granddaughter of composer Richard Wagner, director Eva Wagner-Pasquier. Ms. Silja, a protégée of Wagner’s grandson, discusses her more than 40-year career. A former DJ on the classical music station WQXR, Nimet Habachy, is moderator. Tomorrow, 5 p.m., New York Public Library for the Performing Arts Dorothy B. Cullman Center/ Bruno Walter Auditorium, 111 Amsterdam Ave. at 65th Street, 212-956-2809, $20.

LEGISLATIVE REVIEW The Italian Academy at Columbia University marks Holocaust Remembrance Day with a symposium on Fascist race laws. The Leggi Razziali, enumerated in the Manifesto della Razza, were enacted 70 years ago. Four scholars examine the legacy of the legislation and the Holocaust in Italy: the director of the Italian Academy at Columbia, David Freedberg; two professors at New York University, Ruth Ben-Ghiat and Lidia Santarelli, and a professor at Columbia, Alexander Stille. Tomorrow, 5:30 p.m., Casa Italiana, 1161 Amsterdam Ave. at 117th Street, 212-854-2306, free, RSVP to wb2149@columbia.edu.

ART

NOT QUITE A REFLECTION Richard Tinkler’s first solo show in New York, “Drawings and Paintings,” is on view at Sunday L.E.S., and features works that he created using an intuitive rule system of his own design. Every stroke Mr. Tinkler makes is followed by an opposing stroke, creating an apparently symmetrical piece of art that does not in fact follow the science of symmetry. Selections from the exhibit include “II42D” (2006), above. Through Sunday, March 15, Wednesday–Saturday, noon–6 p.m., Sunday, 1–6 p.m., Sunday L.E.S., 237 Eldridge St., between Houston and Stanton streets, 212-253-0700, free.

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