From Saint Petersburg to South Carolina, the classic arts scene in New York is never quiet. Here is just a sampling of some of the classic arts events happening this week:
American Ballet Theatre wraps up its fall season with the world premiere of Helen Pickett's Crime and Punishment, which runs October 30-November 3 at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center. The full-length ballet is based on the novel by Dostoevsky, which follows Rodion Raskolnikov, an impoverished student who struggles with complicated moral questions in the plotting and aftermath of a terrible crime. Choreographed by Pickett, and with direction and treatment by Pickett and James Bonas, the ballet features music by Isobel Waller-Bridge, sets and costumes by Soutra Gilmour, lighting by Jennifer Tipton, and video design by Tal Yarden.
American Opera Projects and Bare Opera will hold a workshop this week of One Drop, a new opera by Thomas Cabaniss, with a public presentation November 2 at A.R.T. New York’s South Oxford Space in Brooklyn. The opera is adapted from the play Brass Ankle by DuBose Heyward, which follows a segregationist in 1930s South Carolina, who finds himself on the receiving end of his own prejudice upon the birth of his second child. The workshop will be directed by David Herskovitz, who was also recently announced to be directing a reimagined version of the similarly-themed Show Boat with Target Margin Theater next year.
Susanna Mälkki conducts the New York Philharmonic October 31 - November 2 in the New York premiere of Luca Francesconi’s Duende: The Dark Notes. Violinist Leila Josefowicz is the soloist in the flamenco-inspired concerto. The concert program will also include Richard Strauss’ Metamorphosen and Ravel’s La Valse.
The American Composers Orchestra brings two world premieres to Carnegie Hall October 30. Led by conductor Mei-Ann Chen, the orchestra will perform two brand-new works: forest migrations by Paul Novak, and a Bass Concerto, titled “Nightlife” by Kebra-Seyoun Charles. The concert will also feature the New York premieres Michael Ables’ Guitar Concerto “Borders,” with soloist Mak Grgic, and Victoria Poleva’s The Bell, with cellist Inbal Segev. The program will conclude with Curtis Stewart’s Embrace.
Carnegie Hall will also host performances this week by the Met Orchestra Chamber Ensemble with overtone singer Gareth Lubbe (October 28); South African vocalists Zolani Mahola and Jesse Clegg (October 29); the Chiaroscuro Quartet (October 30); and Pink Martini (November 1).
Ainadamar continues performances this week at the Metropolitan Opera. Osvaldo Golijov and David Henry Hwang's opera about the life of playwright Federico García Lorca stars mezzo-soprano Daniela Mack as Lorca, soprano Angel Blue as actress Margarita Xirgu, soprano Elena Villalón as Xirgu's student Nuria, and flamenco singer Alfredo Tejada plays Ruiz Alonso, the Falangist who arrested Lorca. Gabriella Reyes will play the role of Xirgu at the October 30 performances. Performances also continue at the Met this week of Verdi’s Rigoletto and Il Trovatore, the latter of which also follows a poet caught in the midst of a civil war in Spain, some centuries earlier.
October 31, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center presents a concert of Johann Hummel’s Quartet in E-flat major for Clarinet, Violin, Viola, and Cello, and Prokofiev’s Quintet in G minor for Oboe, Clarinet, Violin, Viola, and Bass. The concert will feature violinist Julian Rhee, violist Yura Lee, cellist Jonathan Swensen, bass player Nina Bernat, oboist James Austin Smith, and clarinetist Tommaso Lonquich.
Vocal ensemble VOCES8 will return to the Kaufman Music Center’s Merkin Hall October 29 and 30 to celebrate the release of their new album. The first concert, titled “Nightfall” will have the a capella octet performing works ranging from the renaissance to arrangements of contemporary pop tunes. The second concert, titled “Flight of the Soul”, will feature a choral arrangement of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending, as well as works by Christopher Tin, J.S. Bach, and more.
On November 1, the New York Choral Society will present Richard Einhorn’s Voices of Light, which will be paired with the 1928 silent film The Passion of Joan of Arc. The performance at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall will feature soprano Amy Broadbent, mezzo-soprano Sylvia Leith, tenor Matthew Hill, and bass-baritone Edmund Milly.
Garth Fagan Dance returns to the Joyce Theater October 29 - November 3 to present the New York City premieres of Norwood Pennewell’s The Rite of Spring and Natalie Rogers-Cropper’s Life Receding.
Pianist Angela Hewitt returns to the 92nd Street Y October 30 with a program including Mozart’s Sonata No. 14 in C minor, Fantasia No. 4 in C minor, Bach’s Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue in D Minor, Handel’s Chaconne in G Major, and Brahms’ Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel. The Junction Trio, comprising violinist Stefan Jackiw, cellist Jay Campbell, and pianist Conrad Tao, will then come to the venue November 1, performing Shostakovich’s Piano Trio No. 2 in E Minor, Brahms Piano Trio No. 1 in B Major, and the world premiere of John Zorn’s Philosophical Investigations II.
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