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Ballet in NYC: Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake at New York City Center

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Ballet in NYC: Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake at New York City Center

Tchaikovsky’s celebrated music combined with the reimagined dark fairy-tale in the powerful performance by Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures company is playing until February 9, 2020 at New York City Center 

Tchaikovsky, Swan Lake, Act II by Bourne New Adventures company
SWAN LAKE by Bourne, 2018, Plymouth, Royal Theatre Plymouth/ Photo Credit: Johan Persson

Director Matthew Bourne’s reimagined centuries-old fairy-tale set to the timeless music by Tchaikovsky dazzles, entertains, and shocks with the audience eagerly responding to each cue extended by the dancers. Created for the New Adventure company in 1995, Bourne’s libretto combines recognizable classical themes with not so subtle references to the public obsession with Windsor royals and the old-society members’ struggle with finding their place in the modern life. From the vantage point of 2020 viewer, the story turns from an entertaining account into a complex psychological drama of mother/son relations, suppressed self-realization, and the burden of traditions.

However, there is an interesting twist to the narrative. The original tale put to music by Tchaikovsky and Swan Lake ballet’s first choreographer J. Reisigner believed to reference the life of Bavarian King Ludwig II. When visiting Schwansee in his childhood, Ludwig II was preoccupied with the swans, was emotionally weak and deemed insane later in life. He was renowned for building bigger than life castles such as Neuschwanstein. It is conceivable that King’s life inspired Prince Siegfried’s character in Swan Lake. Watching Bourne’s interpretation, it is easy to find several parallels to Ludwig’s story in the libretto.

The production is universally known for its replacement of the gentle and tense female swan ensemble with the muscular, forceful, and vindictive flock of all-male dancers. Accentuated by the strong wings and loud hissing sound, their power and domination over feeble and thickly prince is in full swing in Act II and III. Yet, with all their wild freedom, even the swans are unable to accept and accommodate the outsider in their ranks. It’s a grim reminder of the stronghold of prejudice and a drive to preserve the homogeny.

The ballet has everything from puns and jokes to the touching despair and frightening indifference of those around us. For this run, the production was skillfully updated with a rather streamlined soundtrack in place of the live orchestra among other changes. Recognized as the longest-running dance show, the plot still has its potency and bitterness. The cast delivers its lines with the grace and power expected from the renown company. The thought-provoking spectacle is playing at New York City Center until February 9, 2020.

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Art in NYC: Felix Vallotton Exhibition at the Met Museum

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Art in NYC: Felix Vallotton Exhibition at the Met Museum

The Met Museum presents Felix Vallotton: Painter of Disquiet, a retrospective of the most notable paintings and art prints depicting the fin-de-siècle Paris

On view from October 29, 2019 – January 26, 2020

Felix Vallotton, Five O’Clock, 1898
Five O’Clock, 1898, Distemper on cardboard, Private collection / Photo © Fondation Félix Vallotton, Lausanne

A fascinating exhibition of major works by Felix Vallotton tells a provocative story about life in Paris at the turn of the 20th century. Covering all the major phases of Vallotton’s oeurvre, the exhibition starts with his early prints and woodcuts. These early works were made at the beginning of artist’s career when he experimented with steep perspectives and flat images of the Nabis circle principles. The exhibition also showcases powerful oil paintings of the genre scenes, nudes, and landscapes of his mature period.

Well-known to art historians but not widely recognized by the public, Vallotton’s works are a mix of keen observation, wry wit, and subtle yet potent critique of the hypocrisy of bourgeoisie and the sinful pleasures of Belle Epoch France. His early prints and woodcuts made on a gamut of topics from the docile scene with music instruments to observations of everyday life to the street riots are examples of a mastery of detail and minimalist touch. While clearly demonstrating the strength of the technique, his works seemed to fall in-between the styles and artistic movements of his time. This leaves the impression that he either came too late for the expressive art of such painters like Ingre who was a strong influence for Vallotton or too early for the New Objectivity style of the 1920s.

Emphasizing his upbringing in a strict Protestant family in quiet Switzerland, the exhibition conveys Vallotton’s point of view as an outsider to the fast-moving city life.  He immediately sees the dissonance between the newly established canons and their twisted morality, but is restrained in his critique. While executed with very fine detail that at times allude to the influence of the Old Masters in the use of reflections and light, the ambiguity of the scenes leave many questions unanswered. The openness to interpretation is what makes Vallotton’s art so potent. After all, this probably was the artist’s goal and he achieved it with the utmost elegance.

In addition to Vallotton’s famous woodcut cycles, there are expansive paintings of landscapes, nudes, and discrete encounters with a multitude of subtleties, mysterious perspectives, and odd angles.

Coming to New York after a triumphant show at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, this is the first retrospective of Vallotton’s work in New York in 30 years. It is organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the Royal Academy of Arts, London, in collaboration with Fondation Félix Vallotton, Lausanne.

Discover this amazing artist while sampling the thrilling artworks on view at The Met. Felix Vallotton: Painter of Disquiet is on view form October 29, 2019 – January 26, 2020.

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Music in NYC: Pianist Daumants Liepins in a Solo Recital at Opera America

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Music in NYC: Pianist Daumants Liepins in a Solo Recital at Opera America

GetClassical presents pianist Daumants Liepins, the 2019 Vendome Prize winner at the Verbier Festival in a solo recital on Monday, January 20, 2020 at 7 pm at Opera America; an interview with the musician, industry roundtable, and a champagne reception to follow

Pianist Daumants Liepins
Pianist Daumants Liepins / Image courtesy of the musician

Selected as “the pianist to look out for in 2020” by the pianomagazine.com, Daumants Liepins gives his first piano recital in New York City on January 20, 2020. An interview of the musician with Zsolt Bognar, host of “Living the Classical Life” and an industry roundtable “Piano Competitions in the Digital Age” will immediately follow the concert. A champagne reception will make a natural conclusion for the evening. The event is presented by Ilona Oltuski at GetClassical.

A student of Julia Mustonen-Dahlkquist of Ingesund School of Music/Karlstad University in Sweden, Liepins is garnering the attention of the classical music connoisseurs for his sound and sensitive interpretations of the piano repertoire. In addition to his triumphant performance at the 2019 Verbier Festival, he’s the first prize winner of Maria Canals International Piano Competition and Nordic Piano Competition. He is also the laureate of the top prizes of George Enescu, James Mottram piano competitions, and Tbilisi International Piano Competition, where he also received the Special Prize for Artistry. 

Born in Riga, Latvia, Liepins established himself as the most recognized pianist in his country after winning the Grand Prix of the Lielā Mūzikas Balva (Latvian National Grand Music Award) in the Young Artist of the Year category in 2017, which is the most prestigious award for a classical musician in Latvia. Besides his regular appearances with the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra, he performs with Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Helsingborg Symphony orchestra, Romanian National Symphony Orchestra, Georgian National Symphony Orchestra, and Kaunas Symphony orchestra. He is based at Ingesund School of Music/Karlstad University in Sweden.

 

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Program: 

Schumann,  Sonata No. 1 in F-sharp minor, Op. 11, “Pianoforte Sonata, dedicated to Clara by Florestan and Eusebius”

Brahms, Sonata No. 3 in F minor, Op. 5

 

Industry roundtable Piano Competitions in the Digital Age
GetClassical Industry Roundtable Panel

The timely roundtable discussion titled “Piano Competitions in the Digital Age” will include the “who is who” in the music sphere from the leading music school educators to the recording executives to professional musicians. On the panel are:

Zsolts Bognar, Host of “Living the Classical Life”,

Daumants Liepins, Pianist, winner of the 2019 Vendome Prize

Joe Patrick, Sound Engineer, Producer, Pianist

Sean Hickey, Senior Vice President , Naxos USA

Paulina Dokovska, Chair of Piano Dept. at Mannes College of Music

Julia Mustonen-Dahlquist, Chair of Piano Dept. Ingesund College of Music at Carlsbad University

 

Delight your musical sensibilities with the exciting recital by this promising young artist and a fruitful conversation with the music professionals!  ARTS-NY is a PR partner with GetClassical.
The tickets for the event can be reserved online only.                              BUY TICKETS
Date: Monday, January 20, 2020 at 7 pm

Art in NYC: The Renaissance of Etching at the Met Museum

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Art in NYC: The Renaissance of Etching at the Met Museum

The Met Museum presents The Renaissance of Etching exhibition with works by Durer, Parmigianino, and Pieter Bruegel the Elder.

The exhibition is on view from October 23, 2019 – January 20, 2020

Etching by Cornelis Anthonisz (Netherlandish, 1507–1553). The Tower of Babel
Cornelis Anthonisz (Netherlandish, 1507–1553). The Tower of Babel, 1547. Etching. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Image courtesy of Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Organized by The Metropolitan Museum in New York City and The Albertina Museum in Vienna, Austria, The Renaissance of Etching exhibit delves into the discovery of the medium by an armor etcher in the late 15th century in Germany to its wide appropriation by the Renaissance artists all over Europe by the mid-16th century. An innovative approach to image printing flipped the old process of etching on its head. Before it was an expensive decoration on the metal armor worn by a few wealthy patrons, now the metal plate became a tool to produce print on paper. Once the process was fully developed, the medium got widely embraced by the artists as it made possible to produce large quantities of artwork relatively cheaply. Every artist working at that time period got involved in making the prints varying the colors and adding nuanced characteristics of the art schools and worldview.

The exhibition curators organized the works in chronological order starting from the German printmaker and armor decorator Daniel Hopfer who is credited with inventing the medium. He influenced Durer to start experimenting with the technique. Several of Durer’s phenomenal prints from The Albertina and other museums are included in the exhibition. Rapidly spreading across the continent, the art of etching was mastered in Italy by Parmigianino, the Renaissance artists in France, and later flourishing in the Netherlands where the printing shops employed the professional etchers to mass-produce the original drawings done by such masters as Lucas van Leyden, Peter Bruegel the Elder among many others. 

There are about 125 artworks in the exhibition including the armor, etchings, drawings, metal plates, and engravings. It captures a fascinating time of rapid change in everything from the climate and weather patterns to technology, religious believes and a new societal order that swept the European continent from the mid-15th to mid-16th century. As the curators note, it may require a return visit to The Met to fully appreciate a vast gamut of visual information offered by the assembled collection.

Following its presentation at The Met until January 20, 2020, the exhibition will travel to the Albertina Museum on February 12 – May 10, 2020.

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Art in NYC: The Colmar Treasure at the Met Cloisters

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Art in NYC: The Colmar Treasure at the Met Cloisters

A Medieval Jewish Legacy, the Colmar Treasure exhibition highlights the tragedy of persecution by featuring the art and jewels hidden away around 1349 by a Jewish family from Colmar in Alsace (France)

Jewish ceremonial wedding ring from the Colmar Treasure at the Met Cloisters
Jewish ceremonial wedding ring, from the Colmar Treasure, ca. 1300– before 1348. Musée de Cluny – Musée national du Moyen Âge, RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY

The Met Cloisters presents the precious objects of Colmar Treasure from Musee de Cluny in Paris alongside the Judaica from its collection and the private funds. The Cloisters are situated in a picturesque medieval castle surrounded by the lush greenery of Fort Tryon Park, which overlooks the sprawling Hudson River. The exhibition is curated by Barbara Drake Boehm, the Paul and Jill Ruddock Senior Curator, Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters.

Colmar, a town in the modern-day Alsace region of France, was part of the Holy Roman Empire in the 14-century and traded hands between Germany and France up until World War I. A fast-growing and wealthy wine region, the town was a home for a thriving Jewish community that built a synagogue, a mikveh, and a school there.

The Colmar Treasure was accidentally discovered on Rue de Jiefs in 1863 during the construction of a confectionary shop. First kept in the private hands, in 1923 it was acquired by Musee de Cluny in Paris. While personal and small in its size, the stash of rings, coins, delicate silver belt, and appliqué, and the rest of the decorative objects discovered in Colmar presents a cautionary tale of hope, intolerance, tragedy, and societal betrayal in medieval Europe. The collection serves as a cautionary reminder of the past tragic mistakes driven by intolerance and mistrust.

Visit the exhibition, stroll the Cloisters, and admire the art that celebrates piety, devotion, sacrifice, and mercy. The Colmar Treasure occupies only one small hall of the museum but it tells a profound story. On view from July 22, 2019 – January 12, 2020.

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