From Puccini to Pärt, 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:
La Bohème returns to the stage of the Metropolitan Opera November 13. The Franco Zeffirelli production of Puccini’s most popular opera is an annual tradition at the Met. Tenor Dmytro Popov returns to the role of the poet Rodolfo, in which he made his Met debut in 2016, alongside soprano Ailyn Pérez as the sickly seamstress Mimi. A trio of Met debuts—baritones Boris Pinkhasovich and Gihoon Kim, and bass Bogdan Talos—complete the quartet of bohemian artists as Marcello, Schaunard, and Colline respectively. Soprano Emily Pogorelc as Musetta, and baritone Donald Maxwell as both Benoit and Alcindoro round out the cast. Kensho Watanabe conducts Puccini’s rhapsodic score.
Tosca, another Puccini favorite, also comes back to the Met this week, welcoming a new cast led by soprano Lise Davidsen starting November 12. The November 12 performance will accompany a gala honoring the centenary of the composer’s death. Davidsen, one of the world’s most in-demand dramatic sopranos, sings her first Tosca at the Met, alongside tenor Freddie De Tommaso making his Met debut as Cavaradossi. Baritone Quinn Kelsey, directly off of concluding a run of Rigoletto, completes the leading trio as the villainous police chief Baron Scarpia. Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts the all-star cast in Puccini’s verismo thriller.
Composer John Adams joins the New York Philharmonic as a conductor this week, taking up the baton to conduct his own City Noir November 14 and 16. Cellist Gabriel Cabezas, English Horn player Ryan Roberts, and trumpeter Christopher Martin will feature as soloists in the program, which also includes Arvo Pärt’s Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten, Copland’s Quiet City, and the New York premiere of Gabriella Smith’s Lost Coast.
On Site Opera presents the world premiere of Lucidity, a new opera by composer Laura Kaminsky and librettist David Cote. The work, which will be presented at the Abrons Arts Center, November 14-16, concerns a retired singer with dementia being cared for by her son. The world premiere stars sopranos Cristina María Castro and Lucy Shelton, mezzo-soprano Blythe Gaissert, and baritone Eric McKeever. Yasmina Speigelberg and Kyle Walker appear as featured clarinettist and pianist. Sarah Meyers directs the production at Abrons Arts Center, with Geoffrey McDonald conducting.
Violinist Hilary Hahn returns to Carnegie Hall November 17, joining the Berliner Philharmoniker for Korngold’s Violin Concerto. Kirill Petrenko will conduct the concert, which also includes Rachmaninoff’s Isle of the Dead and Dvořák’s Seventh Symphony. A second performance of this program will take place November 19. Carnegie Hall will also host performances this week from pianist Mitsuko Uchida (November 12); soprano Elena Villalón with pianist Craig Terry (November 13); cellist Sterling Elliott with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s (November 14); and the combined forces of the Belcea Quartet and Quatuor Ébène to play Mendelssohn’s famous String Octet, as well as the one by Enescu (November 14).
Death of Classical presents cellist and composer Joshua Roman’s Immunity November 15 in the Crypt chapel under the Church of the Intercession in Harlem. Roman will perform his solo debut album, featuring works by J.S. Bach, Allison Loggins-Hull, Krzysztof Penderecki, Caroline Shaw, Leonard Cohen, and Roman himself. The album explores Roman’s experience of ongoing Long COVID.
The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center presents a program of contemporary music November 14 at the Rose Studio. The program will include Guillaume Connesson’s Techno-Parade, Chan Ka Nin Among Friends, Shulamit Ran’s Mirage, Paul Dean’s Suite for Clarinet and Cello, and George Crumb’s Eleven Echoes of Autumn (Echoes I).
The Haiyun Chorus presents The Joy of Music November 17 at the Kaufman Music Center’s Merkin Hall, celebrating the ensemble’s 40th anniversary. The concert, led by conductor Shuang Guo, will feature repertoire ranging from Chinese folk songs to Kander and Ebb’s “Theme from New York, New York.”
Andrea Miller’s dance company GALLIM returns to the Joyce Theater November 13-17 to present the New York premiere of Miller’s Wonderland, inspired by Cai Guo-Qiang’s installation Head On, which depicts a pack of wolves charging and crashing into a glass wall. The work examines pack mentality.
The Pacifica Quartet presents “American Snapshots: JFK, Vietnam, and Ellis Island” at the 92nd Street Y November 13. The program includes Samuel Barber’s String Quartet, the second movement of which gained popularity as the Adagio for Strings, George Crumb’s Black Angels, and Dvořák’s “American” Quartet.
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