Music in NYC: Andrea Bocelli at Madison Square Garden

October 17, 2017August 22, 2018 arts-NY 1 Comment

Music in NYC: Andrea Bocelli at Madison Square Garden

Discounted Tickets to the Christmas-themed concerts on December 13 and December 14, 2017

Andrea Bocelli, an Italian classical and pop music singer returns to Madison Square Garden in New York City to celebrate the holidays with his fans and followers. Bocelli will be sharing a stage with the conductor Eugene Kohn, soprano Larisa Martinez, and guest artist Heather Headley.

Bocelli grew up in the village La Sterza in Tuscany, Italy just south of Pisa where his family had a farm. Andrea started playing music from age 6. He took piano lessons and later learned to play a flute, saxophone, drums among other instruments. At about the same age after listening to a record of Franco Corelli, he showed an interest in opera music. Starting from age 14 he began participating in the singing competitions which came to establish his fame and followers. A connection to Corelli continued with Andrea attending Corelli’s master class in Turin in 1986 and later taking private voice lessons with him.

While studying and graduating with Law degree from the University of Pisa, he continued to sing performing at the bars and making tape recordings. One such tape got the attention of Italian rock star Zucchero who in 1992 was holding a tape competition among tenors for the recording of his song Miserere. Bocelli’s tape recoding of Miserere was shared with the best known Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti, who got very impressed with Bocelli’s singing. Bocelli was invited to perform in duets at Zucchero’s European tours. The duets from that tour including Miserere were released in 1994. That year the young singer became a sensation after winning a newcomer prize at Sanremo Music Festival. Pavarotti took a deep interest in Bocelli’s career and since then they sang in duets at multiple charity concerts around the world.
Bocelli is recording prolifically. His discography already includes 16 operas, numerous collections of arias and songs and music videos. His latest opera recording, Aida, was released in 2016 after Turandot in 2015. It is interesting that the role of prince Calaf from Turandot was among Bocelli’s initial solo selections back in the early 1990s.

The album Andrea Bocelli 2012 recording Opera: The Ultimate Collection includes the best arias by Verdi, Puccini, Bizet and others operatic masters.

The concert at Madison Square Garden will raise everyone’s holiday spirit and will surely include many Christmas classics and popular arias sang with utmost elegance and grace. With the NewYorkPass your can enjoy a free tour of the legendary MSG arena and more!

Dates and Discounted Tickets with the code TICKETS3:

December 13, 2017, 8pm

December 14, 2017, 8pm

Venue: Madison Square Garden, NY

Opera in NYC: Thaïs at the Metropolitan Opera

October 23, 2017January 18, 2018 arts-NY

Opera in NYC: Thaïs at the Metropolitan Opera

An eternal tale of seduction and religious devotion

Metropolitan Opera NYC November Thais faith seduction — By Manuel Orazi – Gallica, Public Domain

MetOpera revival of Thaïs production from 2008 is a passionate story about love and faith aptly delivered by Ailyn Perez in the title role and Gerald Finley as Athanaël, the holy monk. It is centered on a timeless struggle between the allure of the flesh and the piety of the spirit. The narrative and the score are charged with high emotions and endless desperation in search of harmony and salvation accentuated by Massenet’s highly recognized Meditation, the entr’acte for violin and orchestra.

Jules Massenet (1842-1912) wrote his wildly popular opera Thaïs, a comédie lyrique when his career as the most prolific French operatic composer was already well established. Thaïs has premiered at Opera Garnier in Paris in 1894 and gained widespread recognition shortly after at its first revival four years later. A libretto by Louis Gallet was based on the novel of the same title by Anatole France (1844-1924), a French poet, journalist and novelist. While Massenet’s other operas, Manon and Werther, are among the most performed, Thaïs holds its place for its exotic musical renditions, curious historical elements and the depth of emotions.

Anatole France’s story of the rich courtesan living in Alexandria, Egypt in around 4th century AD followed a legend known in Christian literature as the life of Saint Thaïs of Egypt. A servant of goddess Venus, she used her sensuality to seduce an ascetic Cenobite monk who was persuading Thaïs in his own efforts to convert her to Christianity. The plot is revolving around a power play between the earthy pleasures and a blind faith. And while in France’s story the Christian devotion takes a firm hold on the volatile spirit of a former sinner ultimately leading to her repentance and a vision of heaven, it could be interpreted as a dead-end in itself. On the other hand, the very earthy feelings awaken in the heart of a former monk, are showing a passage to real experiences and with that a possibility of reawakening. Some of the former productions of the opera led to a controversy around religious eroticism and irreversible tenets of belief. The role of Thaïs, which is notoriously difficult to sing, was written by Massenet for an American soprano Sibyl Sanderson.

To get in the spirit of this opera consider a majestic rendition of Massenet’s Meditation by Yo-Yo Ma and Kathryn Stott.

A memorable performance of Thaïs on the MetOpera stage in 2008 season with Renee Fleming in the title role and Thomas Hampson as the desperate Athanaël, is released by Decca records.

Date and Discounted Tickets with the code TICKETS3:

Saturday, November 11, 2017

Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Saturday, November 18, 2017

Wednesday, November 22, 2017

Saturday, November 25, 2017

Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Saturday, December 02, 2017

Venue: Met Opera, Lincoln Center, NY

With the NewYorkPass your can enjoy a free tour of the historic Lincoln Center and much more!

Meditation Art in NYC: The Lost Art of Good Conversation

October 30, 2017January 18, 2018 arts-NY 1 Comment

Meditation Art in NYC: The Lost Art of Good Conversation

Meditation Retreat at New York Society for Ethical Culture on Nov 3-4, 2017

Contributed by Vegan Aharonian

Meditation Art NYC Shambhala Center retreat — Great Eastern Sun

In the age of virtual communication and instant response, it feels that people have less and less time to listen to each other and have a deeper conversation. We consume an unthinkable number of snippets of information and are expected to react in a split of a second. As the organizers of this New York Retreat focused on the art of conversation note, “we are often communicating in sound bites and photo captions that do not create a sense of real connection with the people we care about. In fact, some feel we have lost the art of communication”. Sakyong Mipham will join the hosts and other special guests for this weekend-long retreat.

Sakyong Mipham, who just published his new book “The Lost Art of Good Conversation”, shows a way to do better. He is the head of the Shambhala lineage and the global network of more than 200 Shambhala Meditation Centers. With a unique blend of Eastern and Western perspectives, his teachings focus on living a courageous life based on wisdom, kindness, and compassion. He also holds the Kagyü and Nyingma lineages of Tibetan Buddhism.

Sakyong Mipham is the author of such bestsellers as “Turning the Mind Into an Ally” (2004), “Ruling Your World” (2006), and “Running with a Mind of Meditation” (2013) among many others. He is a husband, father of three daughters, and an avid runner.

The retreat at the New York Ethical Society is organized by NY Shambhala Meditation Center. In addition to the retreats NY Shamhala Center also hosts hourly Learn to Meditate program and other events.

Your can book your tickets for the retreat here.

Venue: New York Society for Ethical Culture, 2 West 64th Street, NY

Dates: November 3 – 4 , 2017

Music in NYC: Marc-Andre Hamelin at Carnegie Hall

September 6, 2017January 18, 2018 arts-NY

Music in NYC: Marc-Andre Hamelin at Carnegie Hall

Keyboard Virtuoso Exploring the Music of Romantic Masters

Piano recital Marc-Andre Hamelin Carnegie Hall November 2017 — Marc-André Hamelin; Photo credit Sim Canetti-Clarke / Image courtesy of Carnegie Hall

Marc-Andre Hamelin returns to Carnegie Hall this Fall with an exciting and evocative program of Liszt, Feinberg, Debussy and Godowsky. The recital on November 1, 2017 at Carnegie Hall Stern Auditorium will feature the compositions by the well-known and lesser so yet equally formidable composers. That music has to be brought to the wide public and Hamelin is in the best position for the task.

By now the music fans are already expecting an exploration of the treasure trove of half-forgotten compositions at Hamelin’s performances. As a WBUR.org review notes “he unearths, polishes and returns forgotten talent to prominence”. And the program on November 1 will not disappoint. Knowing the musician’s sensible touch and technical virtuosity, the music will surprise and delight at the same time.

Marc-Andre Hamelin whose fame grows with each performance, is not only a brilliant pianist, but is a well-known composer. It’s extremely fascinating to hear music by the composer himself, which Mr. Hamelin sometimes includes in the encores at his concerts. In an interview with the Chicago Tribune the musician shared his believe that composing brings one closer to understanding how “each composer translated his thoughts into that notation”.

Hamelin records with Hyperion label and his discography by now counts more than 70 albums. His latest album Feldman: For Bunita Markus was released in July, 2017. For his superior recordings he was inducted into the Gramophone Hall of Fame in June 2015.

His appearance at Carnegie Hall last year at the Two Pianos concert with Leif Ove Andsnes was given rave reviews.

With the NewYorkPass your can enjoy a free tour of the historic Carnegie Hall and much more.

Book your tickets with discount code TICKETS3 here.

Date: November 1, 2017

Venue: Carnegie Hall, 57th Street, NY Directions to Carnegie Hall

Dance in NYC: Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater at White Light Festival

September 27, 2017January 18, 2018 arts-NY 1 Comment

Dance in NYC: Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater at White Light Festival

Jessica Lang Dance with Orchestra of St. Luke’s in Stabat Mater on November 1-2, 2017

Pergolesi's Stabat Mater at Lincoln Center White Light Festival in NY — Jessica Lang’s production of Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater / Photo credit: Karli Cadel / Image courtesy of Glimmerglass Festival

White Light Festival presents a New York premiere of Jessica Lang Dance company production of Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater on November 1-2, 2017. This year the festival is focusing on faith and its humanistic inspirations. Sacred music of Psalms is a perfect medium to highlight the sorrow, compassion, and hope for redemption and peace. Pergolesi’s delicate and sensitive music in Stabat Mater is being masterfully combined with the fluidity and lightness of movements by Jessica Lang’s dancers.

Pergolesi was born Giovanni Battista Draghi in Jesi, Italy which at the time was part of Papal States. Because his family was originally from Pergola, he was given a nickname of Pergolesi which was a common practice at the time.

Pergolesi is best known for his sacred opus Stabat Mater which was finished in 1736 right before the composer’s death from tuberculosis at age 26. The piece was written for an annual meditation on Good Friday in honor of the Virgin Mary. Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater had replaced the score by A. Scarlatti. Sacred psalms were not the only musical genre favored by the composer. Pergolesi’s operatic works made strong influence on his contemporaries and helped to establish the wide popularity of opera buffa. His operas were performed in Naples, Rome as well as Paris where they resulted in some tensions between those who preferred a more serious style over the new winds of theatrical productions.

The original music score for Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater was composed for soprano and alto soloists, violin I and II, viola and basso continuo (cello and organ). The recoding by London Symphony Orchestra with Claudio Abbado conducting is considered a staple of the sacred music genre.

So powerful is the music of Pergolesi that it made a place for itself in the modern world of movies and films. One of them, Farinelli (1994), a highly acclaimed Italian/French movie, was awarded the best foreign language film at the Golden Globe in 1995 and was nominated for an Academy Award in the same category.

Jessica Lang and her dance company had premiered this production of Stabat Mater at the Glimmerglass Opera Festival in 2013. The lightness of the company dancers’ movements and the melting of gestures to the music are the hallmarks of this company style. They blend incredibly well with the delicate voices carrying the melody making a natural extension of the music projecting it into space.

White Light Festival is being presented by the Lincoln Center. With the NewYorkPass your can enjoy a free tour of the historic Lincoln Center and much more. The New York Times calls the White Light Festival “the psalms bonanza” presenting “a dozen concerts featuring 1,000 years of music by composers including Bach, Handel, Telemann and Arvo Pärt”.

Book your tickets here.

Venue: Rose Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall, NY

Dates: November 1-2, 2017

Category: Past event