From Mantua to Venice, 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:
Bartlet Sher’s production of Rigoletto returns to the stage of the Metropolitan Opera September 30. Baritone Quinn Kelsey returns to the titular role in Verdi’s tragic masterpiece of paternal love and revenge. Soprano Nadine Sierra plays Rigoletto’s daughter Gilda, whom Rigoletto will go to any lengths to protect from the villainous Duke of Mantua, played by tenor Stephen Costello. Bass Andrea Mastroni and mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges round out the cast as the brother-and-sister assassin team of Sparafucile and Maddalena.
Performances also continue at the Met this week of Jeanine Tesori’s Grounded, which kicked off the season last week, as well as Puccini’s Tosca and Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann. On Saturday, October 5, the matinee performance of Les Contes d’Hoffmann will be broadcast live to cinemas around the world, kicking off the Met’s 2024-25 Live in HD season.
As last week, fans of the poet E.T.A. Hoffmann may take the opportunity to see both an opera and ballet based on his work, as Leo Delibes’ Coppélia returns to the New York City Ballet for a second weekend of performances. Both Coppélia and the first act of Les Contes d’Hoffmann are based on the same short story about a love triangle involving a lifelike clockwork automaton. George Balanchine and Alexandra Danilova’s staging, based on that by Petipa, also incorporates music from two other ballets by Delibes, Sylvia and La Source.
New York City Ballet also continues performances this week of an “All Peck” program, celebrating Justin Peck’s 10th year as resident choreographer with the company; and “Balanchine + Ratmansky”, a program showcasing works by NYCB’s co-founding choreographer George Balanchine, and NYCB Artist in Residence Alexei Ratmansky.
Dayton Contemporary Dance Company returns to the Joyce Theater October 1-6, presenting Ray Mercer’s This I Know For Sure, Rennie Harris’ Jacob’s Ladder, and a restaging of Paul Taylor’s Esplanade, set to two Bach violin concertos.
Pianist Víkingur Ólafsson joins the New York Philharmonic October 4-8 to perform Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1. Conductor Manfred Honeck leads the orchestra in a program which also includes Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony.
Zhe Zang performs a solo recital at Carnegie Hall October 4, featuring works by Liszt, Brahms, Chopin, Beethoven, Xinghai Xian, and Fazil Say. Zang will be joined by soprano Paulina Yeung. October 5, Carnegie Hall will host a performance by violinists Chenyi Avsharian and Simon Hagopian-Rogers, with pianist Rohan De Silva.
The Kaufman Music Center presents pianist Chaeyoung Park in a recital at Merkin Hall October 1, giving a program of works ranging from Bach and Vivaldi to Stravinsky and Messiaen.
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