Shara Nova, a classically trained vocalist and self-taught multi-instrumentalist who has recorded dazzling, shapeshifting music as My Brightest Diamond. Over the course of four groundbreaking albums she resisted the conventions of genre, blending elements of rock, art pop, and chamber music into a sound totally her own. 

While fiercely independent, she like everyone else, still desires connectedness. This tension is at the core of her new projects - an album A Million And One, and Under the Snow, an opera for all ages written for puppet theater. Free with museum admission.

Navajo pianist and composer Connor Chee is known for combining his classical piano training with his Native American heritage. With an accessible, sophisticated, and groundbreaking sound, in 2020 Chee was commissioned to write a set of piano pieces for pianist Joel Schoenhals. The result was Soundpainting for Piano, now recorded and performed throughout the United States by Schoenhals. The composition reflects both the visuals of Navajo sandpainting and contains cultural references that Schoenhals will explore with the composer. Free with museum admission.

The DIA’s Friends of Asian Arts and Cultures auxiliary invites you to an enchanting afternoon of culture and flavor. In connection with the special exhibition The Art of Dining: Food Culture in the Islamic World, this program will feature musicians playing instruments related to the exhibition, presentations about coffee, tea, and cooking cultures from the Islamic world, and delicious samples of food and drink to enjoy. Experience the rich heritage and artistry of the Islamic world through a sensory journey that promises to be both educational and unforgettable.

For all ages. (60min.) This program is free with museum admission. This event will take place in the DIA’s Lecture Hall, followed by tastings in FJC Dining Rooms A/B as supplies last. Capacity is limited – seating begins 30 minutes prior to performance start.

While at the museum, be sure to visit the DIA’s special exhibition The Art of Dining: Food Culture in the Islamic World on view from September 22, 2024 through January 5, 2025.

Hosted by award-winning singer-songwriter Audra Kubat, this evening will feature some of Detroit’s finest songwriters and be fashioned after the ‘Nashville-style’ writers-in-the-round. This intimate storytelling opportunity will engage in a conversational approach, inviting the audience inside the powerful relationship between the artist, the story, and the song. Songwriters include Audra Kubat, Emily Rose, Isis Damil, Mayaeni, Michelle Held, and Marbrisa!

Pandit Debashish Bhattacharya is arguably the greatest slide guitarist in the world. He is an undisputed master of both Hindustani classical music and modern world fusion. A ‘virtuoso’s virtuoso,’ he has revolutionized a number of techniques on the instrument. He also designed and patented four types of guitar for performing Indain raga music which he named Chaturangui, Ghandharvi, Anandi, and Pushpa Veena. These guitars are played lap style, with a small steel bar and finger picks. Free with museum admission.

Join us to celebrate the MC5’s upcoming induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with two events (information below) and the release of MC5: An Oral Biography of Rock’s Most Revolutionary Band. Variety hails the book as “definitive,” and Rolling Stone calls it “worthy of the band’s legacy.” Meet the authors Brad Tolinski (Guitar World) and Jaan Uhelszki (Creem) for a book signing and a brief discussion about the band moderated by WDET host Liz Warner. The evening will be capped off with a dynamic set from the Motor City’s legendary garage rock band, The Detroit Cobras.

• MC5 Book Release hosted by Liz Warner: 6:30 p.m. 
• Friday Night Live! featuring The Detroit Cobras: 7 p.m

MC5: An Oral Biography of Rock’s Most Revolutionary Band will be available for purchase during the event at the DIA Shop. 

Event is free with museum admission.

Brooklyn based jazz and ambient trio Alaara explores the relationship between their longform improvisations and the visual worlds of renowned Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky. The trio will perform a pseudo “live score” alongside immersive, haunting visuals taken from his films. Alaara’s sounds echo the words of Tarkovsky himself: “Give a shot enough time and meaning will be formed of its own accord.” The group features Sonya Belaya on piano and synthesizers, Grey McMurray on guitar and Nicole Patrick on drums. Free with museum admission.

Created and directed by Hamid Rahmanian with an original music score by Ramin Torkian, Song of the North is a large-scale, cinematic performance combining the art of shadow puppetry with projected animation to tell the classic Persian tale of Manijeh. This performance tells of a heroine who must use all her strengths and talents to rescue her beloved from a perilous predicament (of her own making) and help prevent a war. This epic love story is adapted from The Shahnameh, an ancient collection of myths that are a historical and cultural touchstone in Iran. A cast of 500 handmade puppets and a talented ensemble of nine actors and puppeteers come together to create a spectacular live experience that advances the themes of unity, collaboration, and experimentation through performance and story.

While at the museum, be sure to visit the DIA’s special exhibition The Art of Dining: Food Culture in the Islamic World on view from September 22, 2024, through January 5, 2025, which features pages from beautiful illuminated manuscripts of The Shahnameh.

For all ages (80min.) This program is free with museum admission. Capacity is limited and seating begins 30 minutes prior to performance start.

Presented with a live piano score performed by David Drazin, this compilation of short films includes animation masterworks by prolific illustrator Winsor McCay (Gertie the Dinosaur, 1903), Lotte Reiniger (Dr. Dolittle and His Animals / 1928), Disney’s Laugh-O-Gram series (Alice’s Wonderland, 1923) and Władysław Starewicz’s amazing stop-motion films made with dried bugs (The Insects Christmas, 1911).

Early silent animation dived fast and deep into visions of fantasy worlds, and gave them uncanny life using ingenious techniques including hand-drawn cell images, shadow and 3D puppet stop-motion photography, multi-plane cameras for achieving painterly effects, and double-exposures that blended two real worlds into something unreal.

Animated Fantasy Shorts of the Silent Era is presented free to DIA audiences as a holiday gift, wrapped with a live piano score performed by David Drazin. For ages 10 and up. Free with museum admission.

Join Iraqi multimedia artist Sadik Kwaish Alfraji and Diana Abouali, Director of the Arab American National Museum, in a conversation about food, memory, and the meaning of home, in conjunction with the exhibition The Art of Dining: Food Culture in the Islamic World, opening at the DIA on September 22, 2024.

Born in Baghdad, Iraq, in 1960, Alfraji has been based in the Netherlands since the 1990s. The Art of Dining features Alfraji’s A Thread of Light Between My Mother’s Fingers and Heaven, a new commission created for this exhibition. Consisting of a large-scale animation, drawings, and photographs, the work explores the artist’s memories of his mother, her homemade bread, and family meals in Baghdad.

Abouali joined the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, in 2019. As director, she has spearheaded projects to update exhibitions, grow the museum’s artist-in-residence program, and strengthen ties to the community, among other initiatives. Born in Toronto, Canada, to Palestinian parents, she has a PhD in Middle Eastern Studies from Harvard University and has worked in the museum and cultural heritage sectors in Palestine, Jordan, and the U.S.

This program is co-sponsored by the DIA Friends of Asian Arts and Cultures and Friends of Modern and Contemporary Art.