Calendar of Events

Programs take place in the museum unless otherwise specified. Click here for public tour registration.
Highlights Tours | Thursdays–Sundays, 12:30 & 2pm
Family Tour: Eyes on Art | Every Second Saturday, 12:15pm

Dec
17
Sat
Music in the Galleries: Vera Meyer and the Glass Harmonica
Dec 17 @ 1:30 pm – 2:30 pm
Music in the Galleries: Vera Meyer and the Glass Harmonica

A musical instrument made of glass? Explore the contemporary glass art on view in Fired Up: Glass Today as Vera Meyer performs an informal concert on the glass harmonica, a musical instrument developed by Benjamin Franklin. Free with museum admission. 

Feb
25
Sat
Music in the Galleries with Oboe Duo Agosto
Feb 25 @ 1:30 pm – 2:30 pm
Music in the Galleries with Oboe Duo Agosto

Listen to an informal musical performance in Avery Court by the Hartford-area Oboe Duo Agosto: oboist Ling-Fei Kang and oboist/English hornist Charles Huang. Free with museum admission. 

Mar
26
Sun
Music in the Galleries with Pablo Issa and Eugenio Figueroa
Mar 26 @ 1:30 pm
Music in the Galleries with Pablo Issa and Eugenio Figueroa

Listen to an informal musical performance by members of the Hartford-area Azul String Quartet, cellist Pablo Issa and violist Eugenio Figueroa, while you explore the works on view in Morgan Great Hall. Free with museum admission.

Apr
23
Sun
Music in the Galleries: Entwyned Early Music Ensemble
Apr 23 @ 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm
Music in the Galleries: Entwyned Early Music Ensemble

Entwyned Early Music Ensemble returns to the Wadsworth for an informal program of seventeenth-century music from the Dutch Republic. Enjoy the works on view in Chasing Rembrandt and the nearby Dutch art galleries while listening to the sounds of Rembrandt’s time. Free with admission.

Presented with support from The Saunders Foundation Music Endowment at the Wadsworth Atheneum.

May
26
Fri
Music in the Galleries: Chia-Yu Joy Lu and Flora Gu
May 26 @ 1:30 pm – 2:30 pm
Music in the Galleries: Chia-Yu Joy Lu and Flora Gu

Drop in for an informal performance by Chia-Yu Joy Lu, director of the Chinese music ensembles at Wesleyan University and Smith College, and Flora Gu, Wesleyan University student musician, featuring the erhu (Chinese two-string fiddle) and guzheng (Chinese 21-string zither). As you listen, view artworks from East Asia in the Wadsworth’s collection, including a porcelain “Vault of Heaven” vase dating to the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty. Free with admission.

Presented with support from The Saunders Foundation Music Endowment at the Wadsworth Atheneum.

”Vault of Heaven” vase (tianqiu ping), Qing Dynasty, Qianlong period (1736–95). Porcelain. Bequest of Elisha E. Hilliard, 1951.321

Jul
23
Sun
Music in the Galleries: Birth of the Cool Ensemble led by Drake Smith
Jul 23 @ 1:30 pm – 2:30 pm
Music in the Galleries: Birth of the Cool Ensemble led by Drake Smith

Join trumpet player and composer Haneef Nelson, the Greater Hartford Arts Council’s 2023 Jazz Activation Fellow, for an informal performance with the Birth of the Cool Ensemble led by Drake Smith. While you listen, view Bob Thompson’s monumental painting Garden of Music (1960), which features depictions of Ornette Coleman, Don Cherry, John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, and other jazz legends that inspired Thompson’s work. Free.

Presented with support from the Greater Hartford Arts Council and the Saunders Foundation Music Endowment at the Wadsworth Atheneum

Image: Bob Thompson, Garden of Music, 1960. Oil on canvas. The Ella Gallup Sumner and Mary Catlin Sumner Collection Fund, 1987.4