From masses to monodramas, 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.
New York City Ballet’s spring season kicks off April 21 with an all-Balanchine program celebrating the company’s co-founding choreographer. The program will include Symphony in C, set to the symphony by Georges Bizet; Agon, set to a custom score by Igor Stravinsky; and Firebird, Stravinsky’s iconic ballet, with designs by Marc Chagall. NYCB will also present an Innovators and Icons program this week, featuring Voices by Alexei Ratmansky; In Memory Of… by Jerome Robbins; and Diamonds by Balanchine.
Barbara Hannigan will join the New York Philharmonic April 23-25, both conducting and singing Poulenc’s monodrama opera La Voix humaine, which depicts one side of a telephone conversation between a woman and her ex-lover. The production will include sound design by Etienne Démoulin, and video by Clemens Malinowski. The program will also feature Richard Strauss‘ Metamorphosen.
Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin returns to the Metropolitan Opera starting April 20. The romantic drama, based on the novel by Pushkin, will star soprano Asmik Grigorian as Tatiana, mezzo-soprano Maria Barakova as her sister Olga, tenor Stanislas de Barbeyrac as Olga’s fiance Lenski, and baritone Iurii Samoilov as Lenski’s friend, Eugene Onegin. Timur Zangiev makes his Met debut conducting the revival of the production by Deborah Warner.
While performances also continue at the Met of Kaija Saariaho’s final opera Innocence, the Met Orchestra Chamber Ensemble will give a concert April 20, featuring two of the composer’s chamber works: Cloud Trio and Ciel étoilé. The program will also include Paul Frucht’s Dawn, and Brahms’ String Sextet No. 2.
Ballet Hispánico returns to New York City Center April 23-26 with MUJERES: Women in Motion, two programs featuring four female chorographers: Cassi Abranches’ Trança; Marianela Boán’s Reactor AntÃgona; Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s LÃnea Recta; and Stephanie Martinez’s Otra Vez, Otra Vez, Otra Vez. The latter two works will be company premiere, and the former two world premieres.
The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center presents Invitation to the Dance at Alice Tully Hall April 25. The program features dance music across the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, including works by Mozart, Schubert, Shostakovich, Stravinsky, and Johann Strauss, Jr.
The Kaufman Music Center presents the Grammy-winning vocal ensemble Chanticleer in two concerts this week, at the Merkin Concert Hall on April 21, and at Trinity Church on April 22. The April 21 program will celebrate the United States of America’s 250th anniversary with songs from the American choral tradition from William Billings to Randall Thompson. The April 22 concert will feature Guillaume de Machaut’s Messe de Notre Dame, one of the first multi-movement large-scale notated compositions to exist.
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