MUSIC

BEETHOVEN IN DAYLIGHT The Pacifica Quartet has made a name for itself with a singular take on chamber music classics, but also because of the relative youth of its members. Three of the ensemble’s musicians, first violinist Simin Ganatra, cellist Brandon Vamos, and violinist Sibbi Bernhardsson first began performing together as teenagers in Southern California. This week, the quartet performs a Beethoven cycle during the course of three lunchtime sessions. Today, the group performs Op. 18; tomorrow, Op. 95 is performed, and on Wednesday, the cycle concludes with Op. 132. Today – Wednesday, 12:30 p.m., Columbia University, Philosophy Hall, 116th Street at Broadway, 212-851-1633, free.

ART

CUT AND PASTE An artist who was trained originally as a painter, Erma Martin Yost turned her attention to crafts after making a series of artworks from felt material that she made and dyed herself. The collages on view in her exhibit “Feltworks” feature interpretations of landscapes and seascapes. Ms. Yost uses stitching, monoprinting, and appliqué techniques to construct the works. Tomorrow through Saturday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m., NoHo Gallery, 530 W. 25th St., between Tenth and Eleventh avenues, 212-367-7063, free.

FRAGILE HISTORY The Asia Society and Museum presents “First Under Heaven: Korean Ceramics from the Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection,” an exhibit of celadon-glazed stoneware of the Korean Goryeo Dynasty (918–1392 CE). Koreans of the period prized the ceramic pieces for use in both royal and Buddhist contexts. The show features bowl-and-saucer sets, vases, and other items. Through Sunday, May 4, Tuesday–Sunday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m., Friday, 11 a.m.–9 p.m., Asia Society and Museum, Aron Gallery, third floor, 725 Park Ave. at 70th Street, 212-517-2742, $10, $7 seniors, $5 students, free for members and children under 16.

RENAISSANCE MEN Before they painted the ceilings of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, there were sketches and planning to be done. “Michelangelo, Vasari, and Their Contemporaries: Drawings from the Uffizi” gathers drawings by Ponteromo, Andrea del Sarto, and Bronzino. All of them were involved in creating the artworks that decorated the various apartments at the Florentine palace, which served as the home of the Medici dukes in the 16th century. Cosimo I de’ Medici commissioned artist Georgio Vasari to preside over the artistic expansion and direction at the palace. The show comprises nearly 80 sketches. “[N]ot since the Met’s Leonardo drawing show have so many remarkable and illuminating Florentine drawings been available in New York under one roof,” Lance Esplund wrote in the January 24 New York Sun.

Through Sunday, April 20, Tuesday–Thursday, 10:30 a.m.–5 p.m., Friday, 10:30 a.m.–9 p.m, Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m., Sunday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m., Morgan Library and Museum, 225 Madison Ave. at 36th Street, 212-685-0008, $12.

FILM

‘FRIDAY’ ON THURSDAY A classic Hollywood screwball romance directed by Howard Hawks, “His Girl Friday” (1940) stars Cary Grant as a hard-nosed newspaper editor who goes out of his way to keep his ace reporter ex-wife, played by Rosalind Russell, from remarrying. The screening is featured as part of a Valentine’s Day “Dinner and a Movie” package at the Brooklyn Academy of Music; a four-course dinner and complimentary Champagne are served at BAMcafé. (The romantic dessert is a warm chocolate fondant cake with espresso gelato, whipped cream, cherries, and vanilla crème anglaise.) Thursday, 6:30 p.m. screening with 8:30 p.m. dinner, or 6:45 p.m. dinner with 8:30 p.m. screening, BAMcafé, 30 Lafayette Ave., between Ashland Place and St. Felix Street, Brooklyn, 718-623-7811, $63.

SCENT OF A WOMAN The Beaux Arts Alliance presents a screening of Ernst Lubitsch’s “Trouble in Paradise” (1932), a romantic comedy starring Miriam Hopkins, Kay Francis, and Herbert Marshall. The film follows a pair of sophisticated thieves who travel to Paris from Venice, where they competitively target the wealthy, female owner of a perfume business for their next heist by taking positions in her employ. But romantic entanglements soon thwart their plans. The Parisian romp is equally memorable for lush Art Deco sets, designed by Hans Dreier. (The feature presentation is co-sponsored by the Art Deco Society of New York.) A reception follows the screening; reservations are recommended. Tonight, 6:30 p.m., Beaux Arts Alliance, 115 E. 74th St., between Lexington and Park avenues, 212-639-9120, $25 general, $20 members.

MUSIC

A FUNNY VALENTINE Singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright performs with his band on Valentine’s Day. Mr. Wainwright, whose confessional style has made him a favorite among fans, once compared his lover in song to cravings for chocolate milk and cigarettes. He performs selections from his new album, “Release the Stars.” The son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Sean Lennon, opens the show.

Thursday, 8 p.m., Radio City Music Hall, 1260 Sixth Ave. at 50th Street, 212-307-1000, $39–$55.

READING

POETIC JUSTICE The McNally Robinson Bookstore hosts a reading by some of the emerging poets whose work is included in “The Best New Poets of 2007.” The annual publication is produced by Meridian, the University of Virginia’s literary journal. The 50 writers who made the cut were chosen from more than 200 entrants. Featured poets include Robert Sawyer; Jee Leong Koh; Cecily Parks, whose work has appeared in the Paris Review and theYale Review, and Robin Beth Schaer, who has taught poetry at Columbia University and Cooper Union. Tomorrow, 7 p.m., McNally Robinson, 50 Prince St. at Lafayette Street, 212-274-1160, free.

TALK

THE NEW SOCCER MOMS Author Mark Penn discusses his most recent book, “Microtrends: The Small Forces Behind Tomorrow’s Big Changes” (Twelve), in which he argues that it is the smallest of social subsets that often become the catalyst for major political change. Among those groups to watch are “late-breaking gays” such as former New Jersey Governor McGreevey, and “extreme commuters,” American workers who travel more than 90 minutes each way to work. Mr. Penn, currently serving as a campaign adviser to Senator Clinton, is credited with coining the term “soccer moms” and predicting in the 1990s that they would wield power in future elections. Tonight, 7 p.m., Strand Bookstore, 828 Broadway at 12th Street, 212-473-1452, free.

THEATER

VONNEGUT ONSTAGE The Godlight Theatre Company stages “Slaughterhouse-Five or: The Children’s Crusade” at 59E59 Theaters. The play is adapted from Kurt Vonnegut’s novel by Eric Simonson and directed by Godlight’s artistic director, Joe Tantalo. In this anti-war, science-fiction tale, a former American prisoner of war and alien abductee time-travels through various stages of his life, including a tragic childhood and the bombing of Dresden during World War II. Through Monday, February 17, Tuesday–Friday, 8:30 p.m., Saturday, 2:30 and 8:30 p.m., Sunday, 3:30 p.m., 59E59 Theaters, 59 E. 59th St., between Madison and Park avenues, 212-753-5959, $25, $17.50 members.

REVIVING INGE William Inge’s “Come Back, Little Sheba” returns to Broadway, this time under the direction of Michael Pressman. Veteran television actress S. Epatha Merkerson plays Lola Delaney, who once traded on her looks and has now grown slovenly, trapped in an oppressive marriage to an alcoholic chiropractor, Doc, played by Kevin Anderson. When the couple invites a young boarder, Marie (Zoe Kazan), into their cramped home, her assured sexuality sets off a tense dynamic between the married couple. Tuesday–Saturday, 8 p.m., Wednesday and Saturday, 2 and 8 p.m., Sunday, 2 p.m., through Sunday, March 16, Biltmore Theater, 261 W. 47th St., between Broadway and Eighth Avenue, 212-239-6200, $46.50–$91.50.

DRAWING

PENCIL AND PEN “Narrations,” one of the first group exhibits mounted this year at Nancy Margolis Gallery, features seven artists whose work reflects the spontaneity of the drawing medium. Some of the pieces are created on materials such as graphite, while others, including Norma Minkowitz’s “Fiends and Fences” (2007), implement the collage format. Selections from the exhibit include Susan Jamison’s “Beloved” (2007), left, and Marie Sivak’s “Semantic Snare” (2006), above. Through Saturday, March 1, Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Nancy Margolis Gallery, 523 W. 25th St., between Tenth and Eleventh avenues, 212-242-3013, free.

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