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The Juilliard String Quartet with pianist Anna Petrova
With unparalleled artistry and enduring vigor, the Juilliard String Quartet (JSQ) continues to inspire audiences around the world. Founded in 1946 and hailed by The Boston Globe as “the most important American quartet in history,” the ensemble draws on a deep and vital engagement to the classics, while embracing the mission of championing new works, a vibrant combination of the familiar and the daring.Sat. May 17, 7:30pmRiverbend Centre -
Sponsored Listing
Affordable Art Fair Austin
After a hugely successful first edition, Affordable Art Fair Austin returns May 15-18, 2025 at the Palmer Events Center, showcasing thousands of original contemporary artworks ranging between $100 to $10,000. Welcoming 55 local, national and international exhibitors, the second edition will be unmissable.May 15-18, 2025Palmer Events Center
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Visual Arts
break-up with me (hannah spector)
Local artist/poet Hannah Spector will go breaking your heart. Or you can break theirs. It’s up to you. These break-ups are public, but only happen with consent. It’s Spector’s own Valentine’s tradition, a thrilling piece of public art now in its fifth year and fourth evolution. Starting as marathon sessions in a controlled environment, Spector’s LARP (Live Action Role-Play) art is now a walk-up, public interaction at shedshows. Former versions have featured scripts and safe words, empty boxes and glasses of water. Beyond that, there’s freedom. Join Spector’s emotional exploration. – Cat McCarreyFri., Feb. 14shedshows, 100 E. 30th St. -
Arts
Dance
Boner Giallo: A Valentine’s Day Slasher
Detailed in writer Miranda Garza’s Culture Spotlight column, the delights that await Dario Argento fans in this month’s offering from local erotic variety show Boner Bizarre are simply unmatched. Obviously, the Suspiria tributes will abound – red, blue, and purple color themes, maybe even a little barbed wire, yes? – but I’m awaiting some Phenomena realness. Just speculating, but could there be a little buggy burlesque in honor of Jennifer Connelly’s character’s psychic insectoid gifts? Or, better yet, there should be a monkey with a gun! As Argento said, “You must push everything to the absolute limit or else life will be boring!” – James ScottFri., Feb. 14 -
Music
Caroline Hale
Caroline Hale is the kind of soft-spoken singer-songwriter who ropes you in with an enchanting tune like you never stood a chance. This young talent may be an old soul, judging from the way she pens and delivers country-tinged folk-pop in a rock & roll town, revealing something so compellingly natural you think it’s always been there. A tinge of Seventies sounds is comforting, but there’s something else in this San Antonio-born, Austin-based artist’s style we can’t help but come back to. Live at Stable Hall strips back excellent production from 2023 debut BFF, and what remains is just as intoxicating. – Christina GarciaFri., Feb. 14, 8:30pm. $5 cover (21+). -
Film
Special Screenings
Cruising (1980)
Either you stand with the gay organizers contemporary to this William Friedkin fever dream in calling it an affront or you love watching Al Pacino sweat his way through a leather bar while stealing piss kink valor via a misplaced back-pocket hanky. Hard to imagine anyone with a middle-of-the-gay-bar opinion on this 1980 thriller, where Pacino plays a cop undercover in New York’s leather scene chasing a killer who’s been offing homosexuals. This presentation of Seventies NYC and all its sweet sweet dank as portrayed through Friedkin’s freaky film lens comes courtesy of local VCR cleaners Double Scorpio alongside your friendly neighborhood cinema sickos Hyperreal. – James ScottFri., Feb. 14 -
Music
Die Spitz, Farmer's Wife, Pussy Gillette [outside]
Valentine’s Day brings passion, sweet treats, and special dinner plans – but how about a different kind of date night this year? Austin-based boisterous bunch Die Spitz have made their way around the city’s venues, but they’re set to bring their rawness to New York City’s Governors Ball and Tennessee’s Bonnaroo later this year. Before they make their way to those faraway stages, they’ll be bringing verve – and a film crew to shoot a live video – to Mohawk. Roster counterparts Farmer’s Wife and Pussy Gillette pack a gritty punch and complement Die Spitz’s vivacity, making for a Cupid-approved night of moshing and stage diving. – Catalina PerezFri., Feb. 14, 9pm. Sold-out. -
Community
Events
Don’t Phunk With My Heart: A Valentine’s 2000s Prom
Was there ever a shinier, sparklier era than Y2K? Break out your body glitter and revel in the pearlescence of the Aughts at this prom soundtracked by the music of a millennial youth, spun by DJ Jester. Dress to impress for awkward prom pics where the taller person has to stand behind the shorter one and touch their hips, but don’t worry if you’re dateless, because this one’s a traffic light party as well: Guests will be sporting glow sticks indicating their level of relationship availability, and it’s open to everyone, regardless of status, sexuality, or attachment style. – Kat McNevinsFri., Feb. 14 -
Qmmunity
Nightlife & Parties
Get Lucky with Glaze
Austin-based art zine Glaze invites all lovers to roll the dice at their Valentine’s extravaganza, where in addition to drag & burlesque on stage and DJ Beaujolais behind the decks there’ll be karaoke, a glam station, a photo booth, vendor market, and a real Vegas-style wedding. Woah, mama! as the King once said.Fri., Feb. 14 -
Arts
Theatre
Hamlet
Actors From the London Stage, a long-running touring company, is currently on the road with Hamlet, one of William Shakespeare’s most popular (and lengthiest) plays. The Danish prince’s pensiveness is still relatable to anyone who’s ever questioned the meaning of life – which is just about all of us. Though the play has been iterated on since the 17th century, the company puts a unique spin on things, touring only five actors who take on multiple roles. This minimalist approach prioritizes performance, bringing characters to life through the Bard’s language, crafting an intimate, invigorating atmosphere. – Mattea GallawayFeb. 13-15 -
Arts
Dance
Heart’s Desire: Three Exceptional Dances
Enjoy a little cultural date with Ballet Austin for their Valentine’s show featuring three different dances sure to set your heart a blaze. These dances include multiple styles of ballet, from Christopher Wheeldon’s Polyphonia and its contemporary interpretation of György Ligeti’s music to Stephen Mills’ Desire and its Arvo Pärt-scored pas de deux to ZigZag, Jessica Lang’s upbeat choreography designed specifically for Tony Bennett’s music. – James ScottFeb. 14-16 -
Qmmunity
Nightlife & Parties
Husky Pup & Critters Night: Puppy Love
For the fifth addition of their Puppy Love event, these critters are raising funds for their Iron Pet 25, with opportunities to bid on silent auction items as well as a mosh and Jell-O shots. Reminder to all attendees from the hosts: “[Your] headspace and body pawsitivity matter.”Fri., Feb. 14 -
Music
Kerry King, Municipal Waste, Alien Weaponry
Slayer’s 2019 retirement from touring meant that bandleading guitarist Kerry King endured an almost five-year layoff from performing onstage before reemerging last year with his solo debut, From Hell I Rise. Commensurate with his pioneering thrash metal act, the disc shrieks and thunders behind Death Angel gnasher Mark Osegueda at the mic alongside second guitar Phil Demmell (Machinehead, Vio-lence), bassist Kyle Sanders, and Slayer drummer Paul Bostaph. “A lot of my friends and people in the biz said, ‘It’s exactly what I wanted it to be,’” King said of the project last year. “If you’ve ever been a Slayer fan, you’re going to dig this.” – Raoul HernandezFri., Feb. 14, 7pm -
Community
Events
Love Bites: A Buffy Valentine’s Day Birthday Party
“Fool for Love,” “Lovers Walk,” “Passion”: There are so many great episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer about romance – or, more accurately, about how our hearts really get us in the worst situations imaginable. My favorite of this trilogy is “Fool for Love,” a Spike origin story about how he became a vampire and killed two Slayers in his day, but this line from earlier episode “Lovers Walk” might be best for this Valentine’s Day/photographer Erika Rich birthday party doubleheader: “Love isn’t brains, children. It’s blood.” Pay five bucks to reminisce on all your favorite Buffy moments; karaoke and games included. – Carys AndersonFri., Feb. 14 -
Arts
Books
Meet Cute at the Bookshop
Remember last week when I mused on falling in love with a book versus a human person? (Reader, don’t tell me you haven’t been paying CLOSE attention to my every Calendar listing?!? I’ll simply sob if you say it’s so!) Well, those lovable lit mongers at BookPeople went a step further in linking the bibliological with blooming romance by organizing this peppy little Valentine’s party. Among the bookstacks you’ll find a flash tattoo pop-up from Cherry Pop Ink, a crafting station where you can write love notes to your favorite author, and special themed drinks at ye olde CoffeePeople. Take a look, Reader, because this kind of love can only be found in a Book … People, that is. – James ScottFri., Feb. 14 -
Arts
Dance
Ventana Ballet’s Variations on a Love Theme
Ventana’s movement-for-the-masses is already a guaranteed good time. But they up the ante during Valentine’s, teaming up with their ideological counterparts, the classical chamber music group Austin Camerata, to create an enchanting and enriching experience. A live string quartet accompanies Ventana dancers as they present eight love stories in an intimate setting. It’s immersive to the max: a mood that can’t be denied. Pre-game at their jazz lounge before the show, sipping “Love Potion” cocktails to get those romantic vibes flowing. – Cat McCarreyFeb. 14-16 -
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Theatre
Jersey Boys
When making a jukebox musical out of the memorable back catalog of American pop sensations the Four Seasons, the easy choice – the lazy choice – for Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice would have been to just concentrate on Frankie Valli. After all, he was the most famous member and voice of the Garden State quartet, their success spurred by the falsetto vocals on “Big Girls Don’t Cry” through a decade of hits like “What a Night” and “Sherry.” But what makes the Tony-winning Jersey Boys really stand out from its paper-thin stage biography peers is how all four of the seasons – Tommy DeVito, Nick Massi, Nick DeVito, and Valli – get to tell their complicated and sometimes contradictory versions of the history of America’s riposte to the Beatles. – Richard WhittakerThrough March 2 -
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Community
Events
Austin International Folk Dancers
Join AIFD for an evening of dances from around the world with no experience or partner required.Fridays, 7-9:45pm. $5 (under 18, free). -
Arts
Visual Arts
“Transcendence: A Century of Black Queer Ecstasy, 1924-2024”
Across politics and pop culture, depictions of queer Black life most often emphasize pain, if not patronization. “Transcendence: A Century of Black Queer Ecstasy,” a multimedia exhibition presented by UT-Austin’s Art Galleries at Black Studies, flips the script, offering a century’s worth of works that focus instead on Black joy. Organized around seven themes – Portraiture, Beyond Figuration, Dance and Movement, Spirituality, Sex and Sensuality, Black Queer Futures, and Altered States – the works of over four dozen artists remind us that even in the face of adversity, we can achieve transcendence. – Carys AndersonThrough May 9Christian-Green Gallery, 201 E. 21st St. & Idea Lab, 210 W. 24th St. -
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