THE MET’S 2026–27 LIVE ARTS SEASON BRINGS LYKKE LI, ST. VINCENT, JASON ISBELL, AND MORE INTO THE MUSEUM
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is expanding the boundaries of what a museum experience can be with the announcement of its Fall/Winter 2026–27 Met Live Arts season. Blending contemporary music, dance, performance, and site-specific commissions with some of the world’s most celebrated art collections, the new lineup transforms The Met into an immersive stage where artists and audiences engage with history in unexpected ways.
Marking the inaugural season programmed by Sarah Jones, The Met’s Lulu C. and Anthony W. Wang Head of Live Arts, the series features an ambitious roster of musicians, choreographers, composers, and performers appearing throughout the Museum’s landmark spaces—including the Temple of Dendur, the Charles Engelhard Court, the Arms and Armor Court, The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium, and The Met Cloisters.
Among the headline performances is Swedish singer-songwriter Lykke Li, who opens the season on September 16 with a live presentation of her newly released 2026 album, “The Afterparty.” The intimate performance promises to translate the album’s atmospheric sound into one of New York’s most iconic cultural venues.
Music continues to play a central role throughout the season. Grammy-winning blues guitarist Christone “Kingfish” Ingram launches the new “Guitar Icons” series this October, celebrating the opening of The Met’s forthcoming American guitar gallery with performances that connect historic instruments from the Museum’s collection to contemporary blues traditions. The series continues in 2027 with acclaimed singer-songwriter Jason Isbell and six-time Grammy winner St. Vincent, each presenting performances inspired by the instrument’s evolving cultural legacy.
Performance also intersects directly with major exhibitions across the Museum. Award-winning tap artist Ayodele Casel will premiere a newly commissioned work created in dialogue with the exhibition “Musical Bodies,” bringing together beatboxing, tap, body percussion, poetry, and live music to explore the body itself as an instrument. Later in the season, choreographers Rashaun Mitchell and Silas Riener will debut “Rooms Within Rooms,” a site-responsive dance work inside the Temple of Dendur inspired by the exhibition “Krasner and Pollock: Past Continuous.”
The season also embraces experimental music and contemporary composition. A centenary celebration honors minimalist composer Morton Feldman with performances in both the Robert Lehman Wing and The Met Cloisters, while Sandbox Percussion, pianist Conor Hanick, and mezzo-soprano Elspeth Davis present composer Christopher Cerrone’s immersive “Don’t Look Down” in the Charles Engelhard Court. Experimental ensemble JACK Quartet will premiere new work within the Museum’s European Paintings galleries, further reinforcing the dialogue between contemporary performance and historic collections.
The lineup also highlights Indigenous voices through a double bill featuring Joe Rainey and Black Belt Eagle Scout during Native American and Indigenous Heritage Month. During Black History Month, five-time Grammy-nominated musician Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah will premiere a newly commissioned work inside the Temple of Dendur exploring Black, Brown, and Maroon histories in the United States.
Holiday programming returns with performances from New Orleans institution Rebirth Brass Band alongside choral concerts by New York Polyphony and the Grammy-nominated Norwegian vocal ensemble Trio Mediæval at The Met Cloisters. The season concludes with one of its most ambitious projects: Jonny Greenwood‘s “112 Years of Reverb,” an eight-hour performance installation in the Arms and Armor Court that transforms The Met’s historic pipe organ into a meditation on sound, memory, and the Museum’s own history.
Rather than treating performance as a standalone event, Met Live Arts continues to position music, dance, and live art as an extension of the Museum itself. By placing contemporary artists inside galleries filled with centuries of artistic history, the 2026–27 season creates new conversations between past and present while inviting audiences to experience The Met in entirely new ways.
