Arts Foretold: A Checklist

Local artists bring new visions to various city venues ? Composer James Blachly founded the Sheep Island Ensemble with a single, beautiful goal: bringing people together through great music. Whether playing Bartok in a concert hall or Scottish songs at a loft party, Blachly and his ensemble create a community of music lovers, which you can join on February 2, with their "Contemporary Haydn" program featuring Symphony No. 92 and responses by contemporary composers. Hungarian House, 213 E. 82nd Street, 7:30pm. ? Drawing on her fieldwork in Mediterranean villages and urban immigrant communities, Judith Cohen-general editor for the Spain series of the Alan Lomax project-gives a lecture/demonstration on the Sephardic Romancero on February 27, 5:45-6:30, CUNY Graduate Center, 365 5th Ave., Skylight Room. Following a reception, Cohen joins the New York Andalus Ensemble at 8:00 pm, Elebash Recital Hall.

? Fresh on the heels of their new single "Belle Gunness," featured in BMW's "No Choice" ad, Lily and the Parlour Tricks take to Stage 2 at Rockwood Music Hall, 9:30, March 1. A luscious, idiosyncratic recasting of American musical history, Lily's tunes blend the best of this country's song into a highly original new sound.

? Carnegie Hall's neighborhood concerts bring award-winning Cuban pianist Aruán Ortiz and his quartet to the Abrons Arts Center at Henry Street Settlement, 466 Grand, March 2, 3 PM. Named Arranger of the Year (2011) by Latin Jazz Corner, Ortiz builds compositions from classical music, Afro-Cuban rhythms, and improvisation.

?Wendy Whelan is one of the world's most intriguing dancers, and at age 46, she's extending her balletic artistry.into contemporary dance. "Restless Creature," at the Joyce April 1-6, comprises four postmodern duets commissioned by Whelan, in which she performs with the choreographers. Said Whelan to the New York Times, "Being this age, I have something more interesting to say than I did when I was 25."

? Voted one of the 25 Best Books of Summer by Oprah magazine, Alice Eve Cohen's What I Thought I Knew presents an intimate, shocking, and wildly funny indictment of the health care system. This May, Cohen reenacts the book in her eponymous solo play at Judson Church, 55 Washington Square South (details TBA).

? The New York Philharmonic goes underground on June 3 at SubCulture, 55 Bleecker St., as part of their Biennial program devoted to the works of young contemporary composers. Eric Nathan's "As Above, So Below," commissioned by the philharmonic, will be premiered by principal trombonist Joseph Alessi, along with five other works.

? Savion Glover returns to the Joyce with a new world premiere on June 24?Jul 12. Glover's talent is legendary, as is the breadth of his vision, conjuring a world of rhythm and movement that stretches from Shostakovich to flamenco and always shimmers with infectious vitality.