The Jewish Museum
Located in the elegant Warburg Mansion on Museum Mile, the Jewish Museum is devoted to exploring the remarkable scope and diversity of Jewish culture. Currently on view is “Maira Kalman: Various Illuminations (of a Crazy World).” The exhibition features works on paper that span this writer and illustrator’s thirty-year publication history. But it also invites vistors to enter into the artist’s ecletic world. Also on view is “Collecting Matisse and Modern Masters: The Cone Sisters of Baltimore,” which brings together over 50 works from the Baltimore Museum of Art. The remarkable vision of these two Jewish sisters lead them to establish relationships with artists like Pablo Picasso, acquire paintings by Paul Gauguin and Vincent van Gogh, and eventually amass one of the world’s largest and most signficant collections of works by Henri Matisse.

The Mother with the Hat
Critics haven’t had any trouble praising this new play, but the title has left some at a loss for words. Currently being referred to simply as “The Mother with the Hat,” this dark comedy by Stephen Adly Guirgis earned six Tony nominations for Best Play, Direction, and Outstanding Performances. Newly paroled and recovering addict Jackie, played by Bobby Cannavale, is trying to keep his life on track. But the appearance of an unidentified hat in the apartment he shares with his longtime girlfriend Veronica, played by, Elizabeth Rodriguez, raises questions about the truth of their relationship. The play with the unmentionable name has been extended to July 17th.

Music Mountain
Summer is a time for road trips to festivals. But two summer staples remind us that you don’t have to go very far to enjoy great classical music and the performing arts. Head to Falls Village, Connecticut, less than 100 miles outside New York, to catch the oldest continuing summer chamber music festival, now through September 4. Today Music Mountain welcomes string quartets from around the country and the world with groups regularly returning each summer to perform at the mountain’s famed Gordon Hall. Upcoming concerts this year feature the St. Petersburg String Quartet for the 4th of July weekend, and a visit by the Cassatt String Quartet on July 10th. Highlights of the season include two all Schubert concerts and two concerts exclusively devoted to Beethoven’s quartets.

Bard College Summerscape
Escape to New York’s Hudson Valley where Bard College offers seven weeks of the arts as part of its Summerscape season. Presented at the spectacular Richard B. Fischer Center and other venues on the college’s bucolic campus, this year’s festival celebrates Scandinavia’s rich cultural heritage and the work of Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. The season opens on July 7th with dance performances by Finland’s Tero Saarinen Company. The company presents a triple bill of works that plumb the themes of friendship, love, and death. The program concludes with Saarinen himself performing the solo piece “Hunt,” his contemporary interpretation of Stravinsky’s iconic “Rite of Spring.”

North by New York: New Nordic Art
The Scandinavian-American Foundation at the Scandinavia House on park avenue presents “North by New York: New Nordic Art” — video, photography, painting and installation by artists from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. The exhibition was curated by Robert Storr, art critic and dean of the Yale School of Art. It includes established leaders like Per Kirkeby as well as mid-career and emerging artists. They represented by works that take diverse views on what it means to be Scandinavian today. Catch “North by New York: New Nordic Art” through August 19th.