Program Videos

Join Frank Trujillo, Drue Heinz Book Conservator, and Roger S. Wieck, Melvin R. Seiden Curator of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts, for a discussion of the Morgan's Black Hours. Held Wednesday, June 17, 2020.

Join Robinson McClellan, Assistant Curator of Music, to explore Beethoven’s creative choices, hear transcriptions of passages he discarded, and probe what E.T.A. Hoffmann meant when he wrote, of Beethoven, “His kingdom is not of this world.”

Take part in a virtual walk-through of the Morgan's exhibition devoted to the sensuous and humorous drawings of Al Taylor (1948–1999). Isabelle Dervaux, Acquavella Curator of Modern & Contemporary Drawings, and Lindsey Tyne, Associate Paper Conservator, will guide viewers through the installation.

The Gutenberg Bible is the first monument to the invention of the printing press in western culture. The Morgan is the only institution in the world to have three significant copies, all purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan. Join John McQuillen, Associate Curator of Printed Books & Bindings, to learn about this treasure and why the Morgan has three copies.

Join Philip S. Palmer, Robert H. Taylor Curator of Literary and Historical Manuscripts, for a closer look at Sir Isaac Newton's notebook, which comprises a diverse range of recipes, astronomical tables, mathematical problems, and linguistic observations.  Held Wednesday, April 15, 2020.

Join Roger Wieck, Melvin R. Seiden Curator and Department Head of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts, and artist and illuminator Barbara Wolff as they discuss both Wolff's contemporary work and the ancient historic traditions. Held Tuesday, March 10, 2020.

The innovative Danish-Latvian wind ensemble performs works by composers from Liszt to Ligeti. Held Tuesday, February 25, 2020.

The George London Foundation for Singers offers substantial awards to outstanding young North American opera singers. Watch the George London Award-winning performances by 2020 honorees Katherine Beck, Lindsay Kate Brown, Jessica Fasolt, Anne Maguire, and Jana McIntyre. Lydia Brown, pianist. Held Friday, February 21, 2020.

Join Basile C. Baudez, Assistant Professor at Princeton University, for a presentation contextualizing Lequeu’s production in the history of architectural draftsmanship and to uncover the reasons why he remains one of the most fascinating artists of his time. Held Friday, January 31, 2020.

Sir David Cannadine, Dodge Professor of History at Princeton University, President of the British Academy, and Editor of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, explores the interconnected, transatlantic worlds of the traditional and titled British wealth elite and the new American multimillionaires—the former on the defensive, the latter on the rise—during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Held Wednesday, December 11, 2019.

Internationally acclaimed flutist Carol Wincenc launches a season-long celebration of her five-decade performing career with a concert that features the world premieres of two new works commissioned for the occasion by Jake Heggie and Pierre Jalbert. Carol Wincenc, flute; Jake Heggie, piano; Brook Speltz, cello; Escher String Quartet. Held Tuesday, November 12, 2019.

In this conversation, Pierluigi Ledda, Managing Director of the Ricordi Archive, and Gabriele Dotto, Ricordi Archive Scientific Director and exhibition curator, discuss the history and resources of the Archive in general, and specifically the creation of Verdi’s operas Otello and Falstaff. Held Wednesday, October 2, 2019.

Laurel Peterson, Moore Curatorial Fellow in the Department of Drawings and Prints, will offer new insights into Hogarth’s practice as a draftsman, shedding light on the evolution of his drawing style and the role played by drawings in the development of his most iconic satirical prints. Held Tuesday, June 18, 2019.

In this lecture, Rhoda Eitel-Porter, Editor of Print Quarterly and former Charles W. Engelhard Curator of Drawings at the Morgan, discusses Early Italian drawings at the Morgan. Held Friday, February 15, 2019.

Join Davide Gasparotto, Senior Curator of Paintings, J. Paul Getty Museum, for a discussion on works by Jacopo da Pontormo (1494–1557), executed between 1528 and 1530.

Celebrating the opening of Drawing in Tintoretto’s Venice, John Marciari, Charles W. Engelhard Curator of Drawings and Prints—and the curator of the exhibition—presents a new overview of Tintoretto’s work as a draftsman.

Co-curators of the exhibition Medieval Monsters: Terrors, Aliens, Wonders, Sherry C.M. Lindquist, Associate Professor, Western Illinois University and Asa Simon Mittman, Professor, California State University, Chico, will discuss the ways that medieval artists and writers demonized cultural outsiders, transforming religious and racial others into monsters, framing poverty and impairment as sin, and characterizing women as inherently deviant and dangerous. Held Friday, June 8, 2018.

Martin Puchner, Byron and Anita Wien Professor of Drama and of English and Comparative Literature at Harvard University (author of The Written World), leads us on a journey through time and around the globe to reveal the powerful role stories and literature have played in creating the world we have today. Held Tuesday, May 22, 2018.

In conjunction with the exhibition Wayne Thiebaud, Draftsman, the artist discusses the role of drawing in his practice, his beginnings as a cartoonist, his sketching habits, his love of the Old Masters, and his fondness for classic American food. Held Friday, May 18, 2018.

In this lecture, Marco Simone Bolzoni, Moore Curatorial Fellow and curator of the exhibition Thomas Gainsborough: Experiments in Drawing, will investigate the unorthodox means and materials used by the artist in his quest to capture the beauty of the English countryside.
Held on Wednesday, May 16, 2018.

Corrêa do Lago joins Christine Nelson, Drue Heinz Curator of Literary and Historical Manuscripts, for a lively discussion about the lure of handwriting and the joy of collecting.

Join us for a conversation about the letters compiled for a new publication The Luck of Friendship: The Letters of Tennessee Williams and James Laughlin.
Held on Wednesday, April 11, 2018.

The ancient Mesopotamian cylinder seals in the collection of the Morgan are amongst the finest in the world. Sidney Babcock, Jeannette and Jonathan Rosen Curator and Department Head, discusses cylinder seals. Held Monday, April 9, 2018.

In this lecture, David Freedberg, Pierre Matisse Professor of the History of Art at Columbia University and Director of the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America, will demonstrate how the drawings in the exhibition Power and Grace: Drawings by Rubens, Van Dyck, and Jordaens reveal not just his artistic virtuosity, but his efforts to seek peace in his time.
Held on Wednesday, April 11, 2018.

Fran Lebowitz speaks with Joel Smith, Richard L. Menschel Curator and Department Head of Photography. Held on Thursday, February 8, 2018.

Roger S. Wieck, Melvin R. Seiden Curator and Department Head of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts and curator of Now and Forever: The Art of Medieval Time, and Alexander Jones, Leon Levy Director of the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, discuss and illustrate Roman time and how it evolved in the medieval era. Held on Thursday, March 29, 2018.

Rush Hour Concert, Tuesday, February 27, 2018

Celebrated artists perform chamber music from Baroque to contemporary in the intimate and sumptuous surroundings of J. Pierpont Morgan's Library.

Join Ilona van Tuinen, curator of the exhibition Power and Grace: Drawings by Rubens, Van Dyck, and Jordaens, for a discussion of the spectacular works on display and the story behind the show. Held on Friday, January 19, 2018.

Join music director Salvatore Di Vittorio and the Chamber Orchestra of New York for a Christmas inspired concert of Baroque works to coincide with the exhibition Charles Dickens and the Spirit of Christmas. Featuring Davide Alogna, violin. 
Held Friday, November 17, 2017.

Join Laura Dassow Walls, author of the forthcoming Henry David Thoreau: A Life, for an illustrated presentation on the profound, inspiring complexity of Henry David Thoreau.