Art in NYC: Gerhard Richter Painting After All at the MetMuseum

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Art in NYC: Gerhard Richter Painting After All at the MetMuseum

While MetMuseum has temporarily closed, you can visit it online from anywhere

Presenting a major exhibition of works by German artist Gerhard Richter titled “Painting After All”, the exhibit spans the entire artist’s career 

Gerhard Richter, S. with Child, 1995, Oil on canvas
Gerhard Richter, S. with Child, 1995, Oil on canvas, Hamburger Kunsthalle,© Gerhard Richter 2019 / Image courtesy of The MetMuseum

Recognized as one of the greatest artists of our time, Gerhard Richter succeeds in combining the detailed pictorial approach with the haze caused by the fog of time. His celebrated blurred figurative paintings, large scale abstract compositions, and monumental glass sculptures are the treasures of the art museums all around the world. Originally scheduled to be on view at the Met Breuer from March 4 – July 5, 2020, the exhibition includes a range of artworks from the artist’s early experiments with the pictorial depictions based on the old photographs, the glass sculptures, and the most recent cycle House of Cards (5 Panes) (2020). Some of the works will be more familiar to the art lovers, while others like the cycles Cage (2009) and Birkenau (2014) are shown in the United States for the first time.

Well known for his effort to reconcile through art the historical past with personal memories, Richter is uniquely qualified to remind the viewers about the horror of war, the danger of manipulation through the isolated messages or images taken out of context, and the inconsistencies in the recollection of the past events. To accentuate the point of a fleeting chance of memory, his technique of smudging the clear image reminds us of the distortion brought on by the time.

Gerhard Richter (German, b. 1932, Dresden) Cage 4, 2006 Oil on canvas
Gerhard Richter, Cage 4, 2006, Oil on canvas, Tate: Lent from a private collection 2007,© Gerhard Richter 2019 / Image courtesy of the MetMuseum

The technique can be seen as a way to represent the perspective of time similar to the perspective of distance and space. It creates the fourth dimension (time) for otherwise ordinary snapshots. As the objects positioned far away are depicted proportionally smaller and with less visible details, the memories about the events from the past are covered in haze and come out with blurred outlines. One can still see the object, yet as years go by, the exact image loses its significance and is replaced by the vague outline.

Explore the show online by taking a virtual tour.

Virtual Tour

The exhibition at the Met Breuer is the first major expose of Richter’s art in the US in 20 years.

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Art in NYC: Dutch Masterpieces at The Met

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Art in NYC: Dutch Masterpieces at The Met

While the Metropolitan Museum of Art has temporarily closed, you can visit it online from anywhere

A magnificent exhibition of works by the 17th-century Dutch masters titled “In Praise of Painting” can be viewed online 

Aristotle with a Bust of Homer by Rembrandt at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York
Rembrandt (Rembrandt van Rijn), Aristotle with a Bust of Homer, 1653. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

The Met Museum collection of Dutch paintings is highly praised by scholars and extremely popular with the visitors. The “In Praise of Painting ” exhibition, dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the Met Museum founding, uses the occasion to showcase the treasures by Rembrandt, Vermeer, and others thematically and to highlight various aspects of the 17th-century Dutch society in all its complexity. The selection comes from the Benjamin Altman’s bequest, the Robert Lehman collection, and the Jack and Belle Linsky Collection. Thoughtfully organized by the curators around nine themes from portraiture to landscape and domestic scenes, the exhibition unites prominent works and allows for striking comparisons and keen amplification of the historical details.

The viewers are invited in for a closer look at people, their homes, land and the pastime when the Netherland was experiencing rapid changes brought in by the technological advancements and economic growth after the end of the Thirty Years war. The works by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Hals, Steen and the rest of their famous contemporaries bring us closer to people living in the distant fast-changing times not that much dissimilar to our own. Societal mores, etiquette and hierarchy were turning in response to industrial progress and diversification at the time of the Dutch Golden Age. Luckily for us, it gave the world great artworks of unprecedented depth and potency. Savor the art in all its greatness.

In Praise of Painting: Dutch Masterpieces can be explored by taking an online visit.    Online Visit

 

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Opera in HD: Turandot at the Metropolitan Opera

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Opera in HD: Turandot at the Metropolitan Opera

Giacomo Puccini’s final masterpiece in Franco Zeffirelli’s opulent production by the MetOpera

Stream from anywhere on Wednesday, July 15, 2020

Opera Turandot at Metropolitan Opera Lincoln Center NYC
Oksana Dyka in the title role of Puccini’s “Turandot.”
Photo: Marty Sohl/Metropolitan Opera

Puccini’s Turandot, a grand spectacle of timeless music, rich decorations, dramatic arias, and dazzling performers is a crown-jewel in the Metropolitan Opera repertoire.

The legendary story about the cold and proud Chinese princess claiming her superiority over every contender for her heart is lavishly staged in this historic Franco Zeffirelli‘s  production from 1987.

In its Week 18 of the free streaming, the MetOpera features the recording made on November 7, 2009. The cast includes soprano Maria Guleghina in the title role, tenor Marcello Giordani as Prince Calaf, soprano Marina Poplavskaya as Liu, and Samuel Ramey as Timur. Rich orchestration, the inclusion of the uncommon musical instruments in the score, innovative use of the chorus, and ballet are all parts of this grand spectacle of pride, revenge, and love. The free stream is available from 7.30pm for 23 hours.

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Opera in HD: Mozart’s Le Nozze Di Figaro at The MetOpera

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Opera in HD: Mozart’s Le Nozze Di Figaro at The MetOpera

Mozart’s Le Nozze Di Figaro by Mozart in the modernized setting from the Metropolitan Opera stage

Stream from anywhere on Saturday, July 18, 2020

Susanna Phillips as the Countess, Nadine Sierra as Susanna, and Luca Pisaroni as Figaro in Mozart's "Le Nozze di Figaro."
Susanna Phillips as the Countess, Nadine Sierra as Susanna, and Luca Pisaroni as Figaro in Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro.” Photo: Marty Sohl / Met Opera

A cornerstone of any opera house’s repertoire, Mozart’s Le Nozze Di Figaro is available to stream on Saturday, July 18, 2020. Sir Richard Eyre’s dynamic production had opened 2014-2015 Met Opera season. The recording from October 18, 2014 features sopranos Marlis Petersen and Amanda Majeski; Isabel Leonard sings the role of the pageboy Cherubino; Ildar Abdrazakov leads as Figaro and Peter Mattei is Count Almaviva. James Levine is conducting.

Premiered at the Met in the 2014-2015 season, the current production transposes the action from the late 18th century Spain to an elegant villa of the 1930s. It fluidly employs the rotating stage for the fast change of the decor and uninterrupted action when moving from scene to scene. The creators and the cast present a highly entertaining and instructive storyline about the virtues of love, decency, loyalty, and the vice of jealousy.

Ingeniously using a sequence of comic scenes with hidings and cross-dressings, Beaumarchais’s play denounces the feudal rules and highlights the wits and smarts of the lower classes. According to Beaumarchais’s contemporaries, the play foreshadowed the French Revolution.

The libretto for the opera was written by Mozart’s favored collaborator Lorenzo Da Ponte. Da Ponte adapted a popular play La Folle Journée, ou Le Mariage de Figaro by Beaumarcheau for his libretto which he completed even before Mozart started writing music for the opera.

At the MetOpera, Le Nozze’s magical music and catchy arias are delivered by the incredible cast with confidence and mastery. The beauty of the duets and the ensemble arias are well-matched by the orchestral work while the comic scenes and the moments of tension are skillfully calibrated and are presented with vitality and affection.

Enjoy the vibrant production of the timeless masterpiece by Mozart and Da Ponte.

The opera’s run time is 3 hours and 30 minutes with one intermission; sung in Italian with the subtitles. The stream starts at 7.30 pm and is available for 23 hours.

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Ballet in HD: Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake

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Ballet in HD: Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake

Tchaikovsky’s celebrated music combined with the reimagined dark fairy-tale in the powerful performance by Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures company; stream from anywhere 

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.

You can stream the ballet from anywhere.                     STREAM NOW

 

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