00:50] NARVAEZ: Song of the Emperor and Variations on a Spanish Tune
[07:20] BACH: Prelude (from Cello Suite No.1)
[10:25] D. SCARLATTI: Sonata in A Major, K.322
[13:41] WEISS: Allegretto
[17:10] SOR: Minuet in A Major, Op. 11, No. 6
[21:16] TANSMAN: “Berceuse d’Orient;” “Mazurka”
[28:29] CRESPO: “Norteña”
[31:58] TCHAIKOVSKY: “Mazurka,” from Album for the Young
[34:19] TORROBA: Sonatina
[48:10] VILLA-LOBOS: Prelude No. 1
[54:19] Encores

Recorded March 10, 1980 at 92nd Street Y.

Andrés Segovia: Solo Guitar Recital at 92Y, 1980

Recorded March 31, 1983 at 92nd Street Y.

Italo Calvino reading from Invisible Cities, Mr. Palomar and other collections | 92Y Readings

Susan Sontag: The Project of Literature

Recorded December 8, 1976 at 92nd Street Y.

Robert Lowell: Selected Poems

Pablo Neruda's First Reading in the U.S.

Christopher Hitchens sits down with Salman Rushdie to discuss Hitchens’ searing memoir, Hitch 22, that lays bare the many contradictions in his life and affirms his conviction that all personal is also political. This was recorded June 8, 2010 at 92nd Street Y.

Christopher Hitchens with Salman Rushdie: 92Y Talks Podcast Episode 3

Renowned British ethologist, Richard Dawkins, discusses science and religion with physicist and World Science Festival co-founder Brian Greene. Recorded September 24, 2013 at 92nd Street Y.

Richard Dawkins with Brian Greene: 92Y Talks Episode 4

In this episode of 92NY Talks, join legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese and Reel Pieces moderator Annette Insdorf for a discussion of his latest acclaimed movie, Killers of the Flower Moon, and much more.

The conversation was recorded on January 23, 2024 in front of a live audience at The 92nd Street Y, New York.

Martin Scorsese: Reel Pieces

Elizabeth Bowen was often in America, teaching and lecturing, in the 1950s and 1960s, and was a regular at the 92nd Street Y, where she was treated like the undoubted star she was then, a major writer on a level with George Eliot, Jane Austen, Katherine Mansfield and Virginia Woolf. For readers familiar with the edgy, dark, intense modernity of those novels, Bowen’s voice in this recording will come as a shock. She sounds old-school posh, in the Anglo-Irish tradition, with grandly archaic upper-crust intonations. The effect is compounded by a stately rate of speech, evidently a technique for controlling her pronounced stammer while lecturing. But quite often the stammer intrudes, catching her on a wildly rolling “r” or a sibilant “s.” Stylish, measured composure is drastically subverted from within, which is also what is going on in her novels, and relates to what she is saying about fiction in these talks.

This 1950 lecture, The Poetic Element in Fiction, tracks a (debatable) history of the novel from bardic, “primitive” story-telling and poetic language; to the Age of Reason, when it became “more firmly rooted to earth” and committed to facts and social realities; to the period of “psychological overflow” (for instance the Russian novelists), when it opened up to “the irrational and unregimentable elements in humanity.” Admirer though she is of James and Proust, Bowen says the novel, by their time, was dragging along too much “heaviness.” The modern short story had a good influence and brought back poetry and simplicity into fiction. Now her anxiety is about the pressure of “mass production” and “mass opinion”—the domination of  “the generalized experience.” It is hard for the individual writer not to succumb without “withdrawing” entirely to the treatment of “internal scenery.”

Elizabeth Bowen - The Poetic Element in Fiction

Elizabeth Bowen was often in America, teaching and lecturing, in the 1950s and 1960s, and was a regular at the 92nd Street Y, where she was treated like the undoubted star she was then, a major writer on a level with George Eliot, Jane Austen, Katherine Mansfield and Virginia Woolf. For readers familiar with the edgy, dark, intense modernity of those novels, Bowen’s voice in this recording will come as a shock. She sounds old-school posh, in the Anglo-Irish tradition, with grandly archaic upper-crust intonations. The effect is compounded by a stately rate of speech, evidently a technique for controlling her pronounced stammer while lecturing. But quite often the stammer intrudes, catching her on a wildly rolling “r” or a sibilant “s.” Stylish, measured composure is drastically subverted from within, which is also what is going on in her novels, and relates to what she is saying about fiction in these talks.

In this 1954 talk, The Problems of Contemporary Literature, she pursues the pressures on the contemporary writer, of whom it’s demanded that “he” (as she mostly says) must be “of  his time.” But the essential condition for creating fiction is that one should be unconscious and intuitive, like a child playing. The current demand that writers should “express” the state of the world they live in—be a “mouthpiece for their generation”—forces them to be “self-conscious.” Shakespeare, she maintains, stood in a “totally unconscious” relation to his age. Now there are thousands of people in a state of disturbed, “semi-confused” consciousness—especially in big cities like New York—not knowing how to deal with the “stupefying” advance “of technical things, of scientific things,” feeling “obliterated” as individuals. They look to the writer to express their incoherent state of mind. But the writer must be able to be free from that sense of obligation, to be “primarily original, unaccommodating,” an “advance-guard” for the unknown future.

Elizabeth Bowen - The Problems of Contemporary Literature

Amid a popular debate over whether today’s young women embrace or reject the word feminist, bestselling author and trans women’s rights activist Janet Mock, Joy Reid, host of MSNBC’s The Reid Report, and Lizz Winstead, co-creator of The Daily Show and head of Lady Parts Justice, join Mic senior editor Elizabeth Plank for a look at women, advocacy and the millennial generation. What constitutes modern feminism and how is it changing the world? Is celebrity feminism helping or hindering the cause? How has social media shaped the movement into a more equal and democratic space for young women to express themselves? Recorded December 10, 2014 at 92nd Street Y.

Pass the Mic - Millennial Feminism: 92Y Talks Episode 26

In this episode of 92NY Talks, join award-winning actress Kelly Bishop for the launch of her captivating new memoir, The Third Gilmore Girl. Full of witty insights, it is a warm, unapologetic and spirited story from a woman who has left indelible impressions on her audiences for decades — and has no plans on slowing down. She is interviewed by a surprise guest moderator, THE Lauren Graham.

The conversation was recorded on September 17, 2024 in front of a live audience at The 92nd Street Y, New York.

Kelly Bishop with Lauren Graham: The Third Gilmore Girl

In this episode of 92NY talks, join social psychologist and New York Times-bestselling author Jonathan Haidt and renowned clinical psychologist and parenting expert Dr. Becky Kennedy with Stephanie Ruhle on the epidemic of anxiety in American children and the solutions that will bring back the play-based childhood.

The conversation was recorded in front of a live audience on October 1st, 2024 at The 92nd Street Y, New York.

Jonathan Haidt and Dr. Becky Kennedy with Stephanie Ruhle: The Anxious Generation

In this episode of 92NY talks, join American astrophysicist, bestselling author, and science icon Neil deGrasse Tyson with journalist and author Fareed Zakaria as they revisit his very first book, Merlin’s Tour of the Universe. This new, updated and revised edition takes his readers on an entertaining and edifying journey, answering questions big and small with authentic science.
 
The conversation was recorded on January 5th, 2025, at The 92nd Street Y, New York.

Neil deGrasse Tyson: Merlin’s Tour of the Universe

In this episode of 92NY Talks, join Emmy Award-winning Susan Lucci as she celebrates the 55th anniversary of All My Children with cast members Kelly Ripa, Jill Larson, Eden Riegel, Jennifer Bassey, and Francesca James, plus insights from Head Writer Lorraine Broderick and Casting Director Judy Blye Wilson—all moderated by TV legend Andy Cohen.

The conversation was recorded on Jan 14, 2025 at 92nd Street Y, New York.

All My Children Cast: Susan Lucci, Kelly Ripa, Jill Larson, Eden Riegel, Jennifer Bassey, Francesca James, Lorraine Broderick and Judy Blye Wilson with Andy Cohen

 In this episode of 92NY Talks, join LinkedIn co-founder, bestselling author, and Institute of Global Politics Carnegie Distinguished Fellow, Reid Hoffman, and former U.S. Secretary of State and IGP Faculty Advisory Board Chair Hillary Rodham Clinton as they have a conversation about our AI future. Drawing from his new book Superagency, Hoffman explores how AI can amplify human potential and agency, be it through personalized education that helps every child excel; medical breakthroughs in the fight against Alzheimer’s and cancer; and much more.

Secretary Clinton brings her unique perspective on how transformative technologies can be leveraged to advance human rights and strengthen democratic institutions. Together, they’ll explore what policies and partnerships can help us realize AI’s benefits while mitigating risk, ensuring we shape an AI future that works for everyone.

The conversation was recorded on January 28th, 2025, at The 92nd Street Y, New York.

Hillary Rodham Clinton with Reid Hoffman — Superagency: What Could Possibly Go Right with Our AI Future

In this episode of 92NY Talks, join Pulitzer Prize and Emmy Award-winning journalist Trymaine Lee and Kellogg Foundation President and CEO La June Montgomery Tabron on the power of reconciliation and confronting social inequity. They'll illustrate how simple conversation can help heal our society — and ourselves.
 
The conversation was recorded on February 12th, 2025, at The 92nd Street Y, New York.

La June Montgomery Tabron and Trymaine Lee in Conversation: How We Heal

In this episode of 92NY talks, join two of Putin’s most prominent critics for a compelling and timely discussion. Vladimir Kara-Murza, twice poisoned by Kremlin operatives and recently released from imprisonment in a landmark East-West prisoner exchange, brings firsthand insights into Putin’s inner workings. A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and Senior Fellow at the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, Kara-Murza is one of the most influential voices for Russian democratic reform.

Sir Bill Browder, the CEO of Hermitage Capital Management and leader of the Global Magnitsky Justice Campaign, has been a relentless advocate for human rights and anti-corruption measures, earning him the distinction of being named Putin’s “#1 enemy” by the Russian president himself.
 
Moderating the discussion is Richard Salomon, a Senior Fellow at the Raoul Wallenberg Centre and co-founder of the Illinois Holocaust Museum, who brings a global human rights perspective to this critical conversation.

The evening concludes with a powerful recital by acclaimed pianist Mikhail Voskresensky, who fled Russia with his family in 2022 in protest of the war. Voskresensky’s artistry will underscore the enduring spirit of resistance and hope.
 
This extraordinary event combines expert analysis, personal testimony, and the power of music to illuminate one of the most urgent geopolitical crises of our time.

The conversation was recorded on February 4th, 2025, at The 92nd Street Y, New York.

The Future of Putin and Russia: A Conversation and Performance

On October 26, 2014, 92Y’s Unterberg Poetry Center celebrated Dylan Thomas’s centenary by turning Kaufmann Concert Hall into a studio for a reading of Under Milk Wood broadcast live on BBC Radio Wales. The Poetry Center presented the premiere of this “play for voices” on May 14, 1953 with Thomas himself leading the cast. Starting in 2015, May 14 will be known as Dylan Day - http://www.literaturewales.org/dylan-day/ - an annual celebration of the poet’s life and work.

Michael Sheen, who directed the centenary reading and led a cast of all Welsh actors (Kate Burton, Karl Johnson, Mark Lewis Jones, Francine Morgan and Matthew Aubrey), said “it’s a real honor and an absolute thrill to be able to perform Under Milk Wood in this very special year and on the stage that it first found its voice. The live radio broadcast is an opportunity to celebrate him and his work in both New York—a city that became so important to Dylan—and, at the same time, in Wales, his inspiration and home.”

View 92Y’s Dylan Thomas in America—A Centennial Exhibition.
http://www.92y.org/Unterberg-Poetry-Center/Events/Dylan-Thomas.aspx

Dylan Thomas’s Under Milk Wood: BBC Radio Wales Reading at 92Y

In this episode of 92NY Talks, join Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd as she discusses a captivating assortment of her most compelling style features and profiles from new book Notorious, a sly and chatty collection of some of her most notorious celebrity profile.

The conversation was recorded on March 10th, 2025, at The 92nd Street Y, New York.

Maureen Dowd with Christine Baranski: Notorious

In this episode of 92NY Talks, join Joy Behar, Susan Lucci, Sherri Shepherd, and Judy Gold for an exclusive — and jaw-dropping — look inside the new off-Broadway comedy, My First Ex-Husband. They’ll share their favorite stories — about women married to the mob, their jobs, their faith, money and, inevitably, the wrong man.
 
The conversation was recorded on March 19th, 2025, at The 92nd Street Y, New York.

Joy Behar, Susan Lucci, Sherri Shepherd and Judy Gold: My First Ex-Husband

In this episode of 92NY Talks, join Tom Hanks and writer E.A. Hanks for an evening of riveting storytelling, as father and daughter sit down to discuss The 10: A Memoir of Family and the Open Road —E.A. Hanks’ deeply personal and beautifully crafted new book.


The conversation was recorded on Apr 8, 2025 at The 92nd Street Y, New York.

Tom Hanks and E.A. Hanks

In this episode of 92NY Talks, join legendary cartoonist Robert Crumb, award-winning comics scholar and biographer Dan Nadel, and New Yorker staff writer Naomi Fry for an unforgettable conversation on the making of Crumb’s iconic works, transforming the pressures of 1950s suburban America into a distinctive style, and more.

The conversation was recorded on April 15th, 2025, at The 92nd Street Y, New York.

Robert Crumb and Dan Nadel with Naomi Fry

John Cheever reading one of his most famous stories, “The Swimmer” at 92nd Street Y on December 19, 1977. “The story was made into a film some of you may have seen,” Cheever remarked before he began to read. “It still runs on late-night television. I know because people always call me and say, ‘Hey, you’re in the movies!’ It’s usually about half past 11. . . . Here again the story has had an international success, and the various interpretations have always interested me. It’s very popular in Russia, for example, where there are almost no swimming pools and where almost nobody swims.” 

Learn more about 92Y's Virtual Poetry Center: http://www.92Y.org/VPC

John Cheever: "The Swimmer" | 92Y Readings

http://www.92Y.org/VPC - Nadine Gordimer appeared at the 92nd Street Y early in her career to read and discuss the short stories A Style of Her Own and The Bridegroom.

Recorded April 24, 1961 at 92nd Street Y


Nadine Gordimer: A Style of Her Own, The Bridegroom | 92Y Readings

http://www.92Y.org/VPC - Actor James Earl Jones reads passages from Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself."

Recorded October 21, 1973 at 92nd Street Y

James Earl Jones reads Walt Whitman | 92Y Readings

http://www.92Y.org/VPC - Poet Anne Carson and collaborators perform two works: Cassandra Float Can and a sonnet sequence.

Recorded March 26, 2008 at 92nd Street Y

Anne Carson: "Cassandra Float Can" and sonnet sequence | 92Y Readings

http://www.92Y.org/VPC - Adrienne Rich reads from An Atlas of the Difficult World. By way of introducing her reading, Ms. Rich explains, "I cannot give you a poetry of passions resolved, or of pure observation, or of self-enclosed self-exploration." She went on to say: "I believe that poetry is one of our great human resources, and often a strangely wasted resource, like so many others in the United States. At a time when extremely sophisticated tactics are being employed to disinform and demoralize us as a people, I believe that poetry speaks not from a separate sphere but in a different voice."

Recorded October 14, 1991 at 92nd Street Y

Photo credit: Lilian Kemp

Adrienne Rich: An Atlas of the Difficult World | 92Y Readings

Mary Oliver reads from A Thousand Mornings, Oct 15, 2012 at 92nd Street Y.

Mary Oliver reads from A Thousand Mornings | Oct 15, 2012 at 92nd Street Y

Lyrics & Lyricists with Stephen Sondheim

http://www.92Y.org/VPC - Wallace Stevens reads from two of his longer poems, “Credences of Summer” and “An Ordinary Evening in New Haven.” Recorded January 25, 1951 at 92nd Street Y.

Wallace Stevens | 92Y Readings

J. D. McClatchy introduces John Ashbery: “[his] poems reach for themselves and for their readers through vagrant sympathy and a kind of immediate contact. They wander back to their sources of power, then sidle up to us. We recognize their accent as our own, but hear, too, the finer accommodation of speech to that vision.”  Ashbery reads from Three Poems and A Wave.

Recorded November 21, 1983 at 92nd Street Y.

John Ashbery: Three Poems and A Wave | 92Y Readings

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