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Beyond NY: Opera Dimitrij at Bard SummerScape in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY

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Beyond NY: Opera Dimitrij at Bard SummerScape in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY

Antonin Dvorak’s Rarely Performed Masterwork 

Dvorak Opera Dimitrij at Bard SummerScape in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY
Scene from Dimitrij; photo by Todd Norwood

This year Bard SummerScape is dedicated to the Romanticism in music and is celebrating Chopin. Adding  Antonin Dvorak’s rarely staged operatic jewel Dimitrij  to the program makes a lot of sense as Dvorak is rightly considered to carry on Chopin’s Romantic tradition, and this complicated drama is well placed in the lineup celebrating Slavic roots and historic influences.

The opera brings back a murky history of Russian Tsars at the “time of troubles” at the beginning of 17th century. The story starts at exactly where Mussorgsky’s “Boris Godunov” leaves off with the death of Tsar Boris and the dark times of uncertainty approaching. The plot of Dimitrij is centered around a young pretender to the throne who appears in Moscow surrounded by Polish nobles and claims to be Dimitrij. His quest to rule is validated when the widow of Ivan, The Terrible recognizes him as her long lost son attempting to avenge her own grievances with the rulers. But the secret is bound to be revealed with all the ambitions at play. The intrigues of the power struggle, society division in pledging loyalty to competing clans, conspiracy theories and treacherous deceptions are only amplified by gorgeous music and powerful choral renditions. Sounds too familiar? It might be because a drive for power is as universal as love and death. The director of this Dimitrij production Anne Bogart thinks that the subject is particularly relevant today.

In the words of the Boston Globe “Shakespeare could hardly have bettered” this tragic story. In fact the story was developed by a librettist Marie Cervikova-Riegrova who based it on an unfinished plot by F. Schiller’s Demetrius. It is also worth noting that apparently Dvorak, working on the opera in 1881-1882, was not familiar with Mussorgsky’s “Boris Godunov” which was completed between 1868-1873 to A. Pushkin’s drama with the same title.

Beyond NY: Opera Dimitrij at Bard SummerScape in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY
Fischer Center; Photo: Peter Aaron ’68/Esto

Bard SummerScape opera performance takes place at the Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Art which is located on the campus of a picturesque Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY. Bard College is well known for its rigorous and diverse art education program and the best in class roster of summer performances in upstate NY. Only two hours away from hustle and bustle of New York City, the campus is sufficiently insulated for full concentration and study, yet affords a convenience of being accessible via train connection to the city.

The Richard B. Fisher Center is an architectural jewel in itself being designed by Frank Gehry and hosting a multitude of adventurous programs at the world class facilities.

Book the tickets for Dimitrij  here.

 

Venue: Richard B. Fisher Center, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY

Dates: July 28 & 30, August 2,4 & 6, 2017 

Places to eat around Bard College.

 

Beyond NYC: Jason Vieaux, Guitar with Julien Labro, Bandoneon and Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Caramoor at Katonah, NY

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Beyond NYC: Jason Vieaux, Guitar with Julien Labro, Bandoneon and Orchestra of St. Luke’s at Caramoor at Katonah, NY

Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and Piazzolla on July 16, 2017

Jason Vieaux, Guitar with Julien Labro, Bandoneon and Orchestra of St. Luke's at Caramoor at Katonah, NY
Jason Vieaux, photo by Tyler Boye; image source jasonvieaux.com

With a program of chamber music heavily influenced by the genius of Vivaldi, this concert on July Sunday afternoon is promising to be a meditation on the past with classical guitar, bandoneon, violin and a chamber orchestra serenading the summer.

Jason Vieaux, a winner of 2015 Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Solo, is returning to Caramoor with Julien Labro on bandoneon and Krista Benin Fenney on violin. Vieaux’s impeccable technique and musicality “makes the guitar sing” in the words of Tom Huizenga, NPR host. From the beginning of Vieaux’s engagement with the NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert series when he was young-artist-in-residence, his mastery have flourished adding on a diverse sound palette of West-African rhythms, Argentinian tangos and classical preludes. On his return to the Tiny Desk Concert studio as a renown international musician seven years later, his music had transformed the studio into “a quiet, jasmine-scented garden in Andalusia” as described by Huizenga.

Jason Vieaux, Guitar with Julien Labro, Bandoneon and Orchestra of St. Luke's at Caramoor at Katonah, NY
Julien Labro photo by Anna Webber / image source julienlabro.com

Julien Labro is a well-known accordionist whose music blends folk and classical melodies into an eclectic and rich mix. In the course of his career Labro’s main influence was the music of an Argentinian composer Astor Piazzolla. According to Labro’s autobiography, Piazzolla was the reason for Labro to pick up a bandoneon. Sharing this affection, Vieaux and Labro had already recorded 7 albums on the music by Piazzolla with the most recent one Infusion by Azica produced in 2016.

The combination of top quality music performance and spectacular Caramoor gardens and grounds makes it an ideal place for a summer night out. At Caramoor the visitors can enjoy architecture, history, art, horticulture and music all in one place. Arrive early to have a chance to explore them all.

Click here to book your tickets.

Venue: Caramoor Center for Music and Arts, Katonah, NY                                       Date: July 16, 4pm

Art in NYC: Cindy Sherman at Mnuchin Gallery till June 10, 2017

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Art in NYC: Cindy Sherman at Mnuchin Gallery till June 10, 2017

Cindy Sherman: Once Upon a Time, 1981 – 2011

Art event in NYC: Cindy Sherman at Mnuchin Gallery till June 10, 2017
From Centerfolds series

As the title of this exhibition suggests, there is a tale behind each picture. The collection the photographs by the greatest portrait artist of our time on view at Mnuchin Gallery presents the works from three distinct periods in chronological order. In each of her works Sherman as always plays a dual role of the sole subject and the artist. In the words of R. Smith from the New York Times review of Cindy Sherman’s retrospective at MoMA in 2012, the artist can be seen as “consummate manipulator of space, scale, color and pattern textiles”.

The earliest images on view this time at Mnuchin Gallery are from Centerfolds series that had brought Sherman to fame in 1981. The theme of these pictures is in capturing pensive moments positioning the image of young woman as an erotic close up similar to what can be found in mens’ magazines.

Art in NYC: Cindy Sherman at Mnuchin Gallery till June 10, 2017
From Historical Portraits series

The History Portraits series , created from 1988 to 1990,  are staged images from the past. From afar they can be taken for the paintings belonging to the Renaissance or Neoclassical  periods hang at a provincial museum.  Sherman transforms herself into historical sitters, females and males, using elaborate props, costumes and framing.

The last period in the exhibition is from the Society Portraits series made from 2008. It tells the sorry tale of a desperate search of eternal youth so celebrated by today’s popular culture yet hard to shake off. Posed as society dames of our time, Sherman portraits mix the glamour with the excess of effort set against the backdrop of grand sites of  New York City. The New Yorker points to the fact that this exhibition at Mnuchin Gallery is spot on in terms of its location where the subjects of the Society Portraits “look right at home on the Upper East Side, amid the ladies who lunch”.

Art in NYC: Cindy Sherman at Mnuchin Gallery till June 10, 2017
From Society Portraits series

 

 

Venue: Mnuhcin Gallery, 45 East 78 Street, NY               

Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 10am – 6pm 

Dates: till June 10, 2017

 

May 2017 Jazz Concert: Vijay Iyer at Village Vanguard

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May 2017 Jazz Concert: Vijay Iyer Trio at Village Vanguard

May 2017 Jazz Concert: Vijay Iyer Trio at Village Vanguard
Vijay Iyer; credit Jimmy Katz

Listening to jazz music at Village Vanguard, a celebrated New York jazz spot, is part of a sacred ritual for music fans. This week the club is hosting Vijay Iyer Trio from May 9 to May 14.  Iyer’s trio (Iyer, piano; Marcus Gilmore, drums; Stephan Crump, bass) is particularly famous for its albums Accelerando(2012) and Historicity (2009). Accelerando was voted #1 Jazz Album of the Year for 2012 by three separate critics polls at DownBeat, Jazz Times, and Rhapsody.

The concert at the Village Vanguard starts with simple introduction of the musicians by Iyer with a compulsory explanation of the pronunciation of Iyer’s name. It then gets into continuous musical journey seemingly uninterrupted and fluid. It feels that one tune smoothly leads to the next like sea waves so the audience is getting deep into the sound. The musicians’ high calibre is in full view. There is no solos per se as the band improvises together.

Iyer was interested in music from his childhood playing in school orchestra and continuing performing when studying at Yale University which he graduated with a degree in Physics and Mathematics. He then pursued his scientific and musical exploration at the University of California at Berkeley getting a Ph. D. in the cognitive science of music. In addition to performing and writing his own compositions, he is the Franklin D. and Florence Rosenblatt Professor of the Arts at Harvard University. Before Harvard University he was teaching at Manhattan School of Music, NYU and The New School. Iyer started playing professionally with Steve Coleman, a bandleader and a saxophone player back when he was still at Berkeley.

In talking to Oberlin Review at the time of a Master program there at Oberlin Conservatory in April 2017, he stressed the importance of keeping the music within “the living context” and for the artists to think broadly about the world and their responsibility in serving it.

Vijay Iyer, a 2013 McArthur Fellow, had been “the most lauded piano player in jazz” according to The New Yorker profile in February 1, 2016 issue. It is quite interesting that in that same profile the fact that Iyer until then was not invited to play at Village Vanguard was brought up. The record is corrected now.

Tickets can be booked here.

Venue: Village Vanguard, 178 Seventh Avenue, NY                           Dates: May 9 – 14, 2017 at 8.30pm and 10.30pm

 

2017 Lincoln Center Festival: Taming of the Shrew by Bolshoi Ballet

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2017 Lincoln Center Festival: Taming of the Shrew by Bolshoi Ballet

Ballet in two acts by Jean-Christophe Maillot

2017 Lincoln Center Festival: Taming of the Shrew by Bolshoi Ballet
Image source: lincolncenter.org

Elegant and witty choreography, superb technique, a swirl of energy  – what else can one wish to see at the ballet performance? The fans of this colorful art genre will be absolutely delighted to see this smart staging of the classic tale of the battle of the sexes. Ballet de Monte-Carlo director-choreographer Jean-Christophe Maillot masterly production of  W. Shakespeare play for the Bolshoi to the selected compositions by D. Shostakovich had won a strong acclaim from the time of its opening in 2014. The Telegraph review praised Maillot choreographic style as “an eclectic, high-octane and often witty fusion of classical and modern”.

Bolshoi Ballet dancers bring their well-known mastery to the high-speed love story. The Guardian review points to “mesmerizing” rendering of Katarina’s role by Ekaterina Krysanova and “hypnotic energy” of Vladislav Lantratov as Petruchio. The rest of the main characters and ballet cast are as articulate and infectious in telling the story as the principals. In the critics’ opinion the high-speed of the production is the only comment that can be made. The rest is just a sheer joy!

Tickets can be booked here.

 

Venue: David H. Koch Theater, Lincoln Center, NY                             Dates: July 26 – July 30, 2017