Tag: Fall 2017

Opera in NYC: Thaïs at the Metropolitan Opera

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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.

Metropolitan Opera NYC November Thais faith seduction
A scene from Act III of Massenet Tha•is, 
Photo: Ken Howard / Image courtesy of Metropolitan Opera

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. 
Metropolitan Opera NYC November Thais faith seduction

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!

Metropolitan Opera NYC November Thais faith seduction

Music in NYC: Marc-Andre Hamelin at Carnegie Hall

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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.

Piano recital Marc-Andre Hamelin Carnegie Hall November 2017
Carnegie Hall; photo credit Jeff Goldberg / Esto / Image courtesy of Carnegie Hall

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.

Piano recital Marc-Andre Hamelin Carnegie Hall November 2017With 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

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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's Stabat Mater at Lincoln Center White Light Festival in NY
Counter Tenor Anthony Roth Costanzo performing in Jessica Lang’s production of Stabat Mater / Photo credit: Karli Cadel / Image courtesy of Glimmerglass Festival

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.

Pergolesi's Stabat Mater at Lincoln Center White Light Festival in NY 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. 
New York City Pass

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

 

 

Jazz in NYC: Fred Hersch Solo Piano at Village Vanguard

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Jazz in NYC: Fred Hersch Solo Piano at Village Vanguard

Piano-jazz master and composer with solo performances at a legendary NYC club on October 31 – November 2, 2017

piano jazz NYC Village Vanguard Fred Hersch
Fred Hersch / Photo credit Jim Wilkie

It’s a well known fact that every jazz musician is dreaming about performing at the Village Vanguard, a celebrated New York jazz spot. Going there is part of a sacred ritual for music fans, and for the musicians, it’s a recognition of their mastery and acceptance in the world of jazz. Pianist and composer Fred Hersch is a regular presence on the club schedule and will be performing there October 31 – November 2, 2017.

Fred Hersch is a celebrated figure on the international jazz scene. He came to fame in 1984 when he debuted with Horizons. His very sophisticated style of introspective and emotionally rich music is gaining in its depth with each appearance and recording. Hersch plays with his highly acclaimed trio, in solo concerts and in collaboration with other musicians. One such collaboration with another remarkable pianist Sullivan Fortner has taken place early in October 2017 at Bard College organized by the Catskill Jazz Factory.
piano jazz NYC Village Vanguard Fred Hersch An established pianist and a bandleader, Hersch is also a well-known composer and jazz educator. Being nominated for ten Grammy awards, the last two in 2017, and named a 2016 Doris Duke Artist puts Hersch at the top of the list of contemporary jazz musicians. His very personal story of near-death health crisis, a remarkable come-back and an openness about his experiences all contribute to his very distinct status among the musicians. A profile in the WallStreetJournal by Ted Gioia calls this return to life “a miracle” which brought Hersch music to the level “that doesn’t get any better than this”. Hirsch’s latest album Open Book was released in September 2017.piano jazz NYC Village Vanguard Fred Hersch

While jazz remains Hersch’s passion and major preoccupation, he is also a talented storyteller, with a lot to share with his readers. His new memoir  “Good Things Happen Slowly” was released in September 2017. NPR’s Terry Gross interviewing Hersch had described the story in the book as what “it was like to be closeted in the jazz world, and then come out as gay and as having AIDS”.

Hersch talent is clearly reaching new highs with each new show, and the upcoming appearances at the Vanguard will surely be no exception.

Book your tickets here.

Venue: Village Vanguard, 178 Seventh Avenue, NY         

Dates: October 31 – November 2, 2017

Art in NYC: Robert Motherwell Exhibition at Paul Kasmin Gallery

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Art in NYC: Robert Motherwell Exhibition at Paul Kasmin Gallery

Early Paintings

Chelsea Art Gallery NYC exhibition Robert Motherwell paintings
Robert Motherwell, La Belle Mexicaine, 1941;
©Dedalus Foundation, Inc./ Licensed by VAGA / Image courtesy of Paul Kasmin Gallery

This well-researched exhibition at Paul Kasmin gallery in Chelsea presents the early works by an American abstract expressionist artist Robert Motherwell . The show includes 18 works from 1941 to 1951 when the artist was actively searching for his style and its meaning. In 1941 he started studying studio art at Columbia University after pursuing a PhD degree in philosophy at Harvard. Building up on his interest in modernist writings and poetry, he turned to the visual arts while traveling to Europe in the late 1930s. His other influences were from the exiled surrealists leaving in New York City at that time such as Max Ernst, Duchamp, Masson. In particular, an idea of letting out the unconscious through the process of “automatic” drawing made a considerable effect on Motherwell and was further developed in his later works alternating between figurative and abstract images.

Chelsea Art Gallery NYC exhibition Robert Motherwell paintings
Robert Motherwell, The Figures, 1941, ©Dedalus Foundation, Inc./Licensed by VAGA / Image courtesy of Paul Kasmin Gallery

His travels to Mexico City in 1941 brought him in contact with a Chilean painter Roberto Matta, another promoter of abstract expressionism. The works made at the time of that trip, La Belle Mexicane (Maria) and Three Figures are included in the exhibition and are on public view for the first time.

Another strong influence apparent in the selection of works on view is by Piet Mondrian, the founder of De Stijl movement who had his first exhibition in New York in 1942. The minimalism of De Stijl style adapted to convey the sorrows from the Spanish Civil War can be seen in The Sentinel (1942), Recuerdo de Coyoacán (1942) and The Spanish Prison (Window) (1943-1944). It is well documented that the Spanish Civil War made a huge impact on Motherwell. His cycle of paintings Elegy to the Spanish Republic is now at the Guggenheim museum. Robert Motherwell’s book with the same title gives more ground to the subject of the cycle.

Chelsea Art Gallery NYC exhibition Robert Motherwell paintings
Robert Motherwell, The Sentinel, ©Dedalus Foundation, Inc./ Licensed by VAGA / Image courtesy of Paul Kasmin Gallery

The works from the later years in the current show are turning more to abstract with an idea of automatic painting getting into action. At that time the artist also started experimenting with collages on paper and became known for his innovative style in the medium. An expose Robert Motherwell: Early Collages covers 60 works from that period.

The gallery is open Tue – Sat, 10am – 6pm

Venue: 293 Tenth Avenue, NY                    Dates: September 07 – October 28, 2017