- Alex Ross: Louis Andriessen’s “La Commedia,” at Carnegie, and other premières.
In November, 1969, a group of radical young Dutch musicians ran amok at the Concertgebouw, the fabled Amsterdam concert hall. At the start of a performance by the Concertgebouw Orchestra, the troublemakers, who included the composers Louis Andriessen and Reinbert de Leeuw, began making noise with nutcrackers, rattles, bicycle horns . . ....
- “Yale in New York” Series: “Voices of American Music” @ Zankel Hall—Carnegie Hall
For forty years, Vivian Perlis has been protecting America’s artistic legacy by recording interviews with dozens of major musical figures for Yale’s invaluable Oral History of American Music project. A group of Yale faculty, students, and guest artists (including the clarinettist Richard Stoltzman) come to Zankel Hall to perform a celebratory concert that features works by such...
- Dorothea Röschmann: Songs by Schumann, Mahler, and Wolf @ Zankel Hall—Carnegie Hall
Songs by Schumann—“Frauenliebe und -leben” and the Mary Stuart songs, Op. 135—anchor a program by the rich-voiced and communicative soprano that also features lieder by Mahler and Wolf. (Zankel Hall. 212-247-7800. April 12 at 7:30.) April 12 Seventh Ave. at 57th St., New York, N.Y. 212-247-7800 . . ....
- Philadelphia Orchestra and Piotr Anderszewski @ Stern Auditorium—Carnegie Hall
A typical Franco-Slavic program under Charles Dutoit—which includes “La Mer” and “The Rite of Spring”—also contains a genuine surprise: the Symphony No. 4 of the early-twentieth-century Romantic modernist Karol Szymanowski, a “symphonie concertante” that features an extensive piano part, which is played here by an extraordinarily sympathetic...
- Goings On About Town: Venues: Zankel Hall—Carnegie Hall
Seventh Ave. at 57th St., New York, N.Y. 10019212-247-7800...
- Yefim Bronfman @ Stern Auditorium—Carnegie Hall
The commanding pianist comes to Carnegie Hall to play works by Beethoven, Schumann (“Faschingsschwank aus Wien”), and Tchaikovsky (the Grand Sonata in G Major), along with some recent music by Jörg Widmann. (212-247-7800. April 12 at 8.) April 12 Seventh Ave. at 57th St., New York, N.Y. 212-247-7800 . . ....
- Goings on About Town: Dance
AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE
The company’s fall season may be short on performance dates and orchestra space—Avery Fisher Hall has no pit—but it certainly does not lack new works. The young Canadian Aszure Barton has made an ensemble piece, “One of Three,” punctuated . . ....
- American Symphony Orchestra: “Apollo and Dionysus” @ Avery Fisher Hall
In its final concert of the season, Leon Botstein leads the orchestra in a typically daring twentieth-century concert, exploring the extremes of ancient myth and the human mind in works by Roussel (the “Bacchus and Ariane” Suites), Dallapiccola, Bliss, and Henze (the restless Third Symphony). (Avery Fisher Hall. 212-721-6500. May 9 at 3.) May 9 Lincoln Center, New York, N.Y....
- “Musicians for Harmony” @ Merkin Concert Hall
The concert event that began as an act of healing in the wake of 9/11 has endured as an annual testament to peace. In this program, which brings Arab and Jewish composers together, the Borromeo Quartet, the Imani Winds, and the baritone Randall Scarlata gather to perform works by (among others) Richard Danielpour, Tobias Picker, and the Palestinian composer Mohammed Fairouz (the world première...
- Maurizio Pollini: Music by Chopin @ Stern Auditorium—Carnegie Hall
In the last of three programs, the magisterial pianist brings his propulsive and chastely lyrical style to a host of masterworks, including two sets of Nocturnes (Op. 55 and Op. 62), the Berceuse, and the Sonata in B Minor. (Carnegie Hall. 212-247-7800. May 9 at 3.) May 9 Seventh Ave. at 57th St., New York, N.Y. 212-247-7800 . . ....
- Alex Ross: Björk teaches “Biophilia,” at the New York Hall of Science.
8220;I want the kids to feel like they’re superheroes of sound,” Björk said the other day, at the New York Hall of Science, in Queens. The Icelandic singer and composer, restlessly youthful at the age of forty-six, was rehearsing for a monthlong series . . . (Subscription required.)...
- Thomas Hampson @ Alice Tully Hall
The ardent American baritone honors the anniversaries of two great song composers, performing Schumann’s “Dichterliebe” (in the manuscript version of twenty songs) and Barber’s James Joyce songs, Op. 10, and “Three Songs,” Op. 45, in a concert sponsored by the New York Philharmonic. (Alice Tully Hall. 212-875-5656. April 11 at 5.) April 11 Broadway at...
- Alex Ross: Spring for Music, at Carnegie Hall.
Spring for Music, a freewheeling new festival of North American orchestras, which unfolded in early May at Carnegie Hall, is premised on the idea that the programming of classical concerts isn’t nearly as lively as it could be. The average orchestral program presents a familiar configuration of familiar . . . (Subscription required.)...
- David Denby: “Hall Pass,” “Take Me Home Tonight,” and “Jane Eyre.”
In “Hall Pass,” two fortyish husbands (Owen Wilson and Jason Sudeikis) are given a week of liberty by their wives (Jenna Fischer and Christina Applegate). Go for it, the women tell them. You stare at every shapely young female body you see, so get it out of your . . . (Subscription required.)...
- Sasha Frere-Jones: Jay-Z, at Carnegie Hall.
On Feb. 6-7, Jay-Z will play Carnegie Hall, becoming the first hip-hop solo headliner. Ticket prices range from five hundred to twenty-five hundred dollars, though profits will go to the United Way of New York City and a scholarship fund Jay-Z created. I do, though, have . . . (Subscription required.)...
- Alex Ross: The orchestral Olympics at Carnegie Hall.
In the space of thirty-one days, from the end of January to the beginning of March, Carnegie Hall held an unofficial orchestral Olympics, presenting thirteen concerts by symphonic ensembles from six states and three foreign countries. Night after night, moving trucks pulled up to Carnegie’s stage door . . ....
- Lincoln Center Festival: “Varèse: (R)evolution II” @ Avery Fisher Hall
July 20 at 8: Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic—who, in the wake of “Le Grand Macabre,” have acquired some modernist street cred—take up several of the bigger works, including “Ionisation,” “Nocturnal,” and the thrilling, extravagant “Amériques.” (Avery Fisher Hall.) (212-721-6500.) July 20 Lincoln Center, New York,...
- Lincoln Center Festival: “Varèse: (R)evolution I” @ Alice Tully Hall
July 19 at 8: Edgard Varèse—who did as much as Schoenberg or Stravinsky to create the musical fabric of the twentieth century—finally gets some serious respect in the city where he spent most of his professional career. His burly, brilliant, and confrontational music is featured in two concerts; the first comes courtesy of the invincible International Contemporary Ensemble...
- Art: Spring Preview.
goatTitle-->STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY
Like the streets of New York, minimalist sculptures are often laid out in a grid. So what better art to install in City Hall Park than the geometrically inclined works of Sol LeWitt? Organized by the Public Art Fund, “The Structures”—the word . . ....
- Nick Paumgarten: Michael Dorf honors the Rolling Stones.
Eight years ago, Michael Dorf, who founded the Knitting Factory and now owns City Winery, staged the first of his perennial charitable tribute concerts at Carnegie Hall. The honoree was Joni Mitchell. Offering up a token payment, a chance to play Carnegie Hall, and the Karmic benefits of raising money . . . (Subscription required.)...
- Goings on About Town: Classical Music
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CONCERTS IN TOWN
NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC
In two programs at Carnegie Hall, the orchestra goes “pops” like never before. Sept. 9 and Sept. 11 at 8: Andrea Bocelli, the superstar crossover tenor, joins the Philharmonic in two concerts that will offer vocal and instrumental music by Bach . . ....
- Bard College Conservatory Orchestra @ Alice Tully Hall
Leon Botstein has another gig this week: conducting the New York début of the orchestra of Bard, the college he serves as president. Two star soloists add lustre to the concert: Melvin Chen, who is out front in a rare performance of the Piano Concerto No. 1 by George Perle, and Dawn Upshaw, who takes the solo soprano part in Mahler’s Fourth Symphony. Elgar’s “In the...
- Goings on About Town: Classical Music
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CONCERTS IN TOWN
NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC: “THE CUNNING LITTLE VIXEN”
In the spring of 2010, Alan Gilbert and his orchestra created a sensation when they offered staged opera—for the first time ever—in Avery Fisher Hall. Back then it was . . ....
- New York Phil “Summertime Classics”: “From the Danube to the Rhine” @ Avery Fisher Hall—New York Philharmonic
July 8 at 7:30 and July 9-10 at 8: “From the Danube to the Rhine,” overtures and sundry pieces by Brahms, Liszt (the diverting First Piano Concerto, with Alexander Gavrylyuk, making his début), Suppé, Enescu, Léhar, and Johann Strauss II. (Avery Fisher Hall. 212-875-5656.) July 8 Lincoln Center, New York, N.Y. 212-875-5656 . . ....
- American Symphony Orchestra: “Scenes from Goethe’s ‘Faust’” @ Avery Fisher Hall
Of all the great musical adaptations of Goethe’s play (the efforts of Berlioz, Gounod, Liszt, and Mahler among them), Schumann’s is the least often performed and least well understood. (In the nineteen-seventies, Benjamin Britten was a lonely champion.) Leon Botstein undertakes yet another of his rescue missions by bringing it to Avery Fisher Hall, conducting a performance that...
- New York Philarmonic Stravinsky Festival: Program VII @ Avery Fisher Hall—New York Philharmonic
The last week of Valery Gergiev’s essential survey of the composer’s music mixes four lean and elegant neoclassical works with two ballet bombshells from before the First World War. The guest artist for the first program is the débutant Denis Matsuev, every inch the powerhouse Russian pianist, who performs the charming Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra, a sly evocation...
- Goings on About Town: Classical Music
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HOLIDAY MUSIC
“MESSIAH”
Handel’s grand “entertainment” on Christian themes gets a great workout in Gotham this year. Carnegie Hall offers what should be a sterling performance of the work by the renowned Les Violons du Roy ensemble (with the choir La Chapelle . . ....
- Nancy Franklin: Louis C.K.’s tribute to truth.
Creating the half-hour FX comedy “Louie,” which débuted last summer and begins its second season on June 23rd, was an act that called for some bravery on the part of the comedian Louis C.K.: he put out a show that, in some ways, clearly imitated . . . (Subscription required.)...
