As Lincoln Center marks its 50th Anniversary, its renowned summer programs return featuring hundreds of performances by world-class artists, ensembles, and productions both inside its storied halls and outdoors in its public spaces.
Lincoln Center Festival, JULY 7 - 26
The 14th season of the cutting-edge Lincoln Center Festival boasts 14 North American, U.S., and New York premieres and debuts and 56 performances by artists and ensembles from 14 countries. Several extraordinary productions by acclaimed European theater companies are a special focus of this year's Festival lineup.
?Les Éphémères - Opening the Festival on July 7, Les Éphémères is an intimate mosaic of ordinary life created by the members of France's Le Théâtre du Soleil and their visionary director Ariane Mnouchkine. There will be 14 performances staged at the Park Avenue Armory. (Part One on July 7, 10, and 15; Part Two on July 8, 16, and 17; and the Full Cycle on July 11, 12, 18, and 19.)
?Boris Godunov - The maneuverings of today's Russian power brokers are mirrored in Boris Godunov, the Chekhov International Theater Festival's modern-day staging of Pushkin's 1825 play, directed by one of today's most innovative directors, Declan Donnellan; there will be five performances at the Park Avenue Armory, July 22-26.
?Ivanov - This New York premiere production of Chekhov's early play about a man who faces painful truths about his life is performed by Budapest's Katona József Theatre. Directed by Tamás Ascher, Ivanov will have five performances at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College, July 7-11.
Kalkwerk - Members of Poland's fabled Narodowy Stary Teatr perform in the U.S. premiere of this adaptation of Thomas Bernhard's controversial surrealist novel, Kalkwerk, directed by the internationally renowned Krystian Lupa. There will be five performances of Kalkwerk, July 14-18, at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College.
?Peasant Opera - Hungary's award-winning Béla Pintér and Company makes its U.S. debut with Peasant Opera, devised and directed by Pintér. A darkly farcical tale of taboos in the Hungarian countryside, Peasant Opera will have seven performances, July 21-26, at the Clark Studio Theater.
?Life and Fate - Legendary director Lev Dodin adapted and directed Vasily Grossman's once-banned novel of life on the Eastern Front in the 1940s for this North American premiere production performed by members of Moscow's Maly Drama Theatre. There will be five performances of Life and Fate at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College, July 21-26.
?Trilogia della villeggiatura - Piccolo Teatro di Milano/Teatri Uniti's production of Goldoni's 18th-century comedy of manners is directed by and stars Toni Servillo. Goldoni's Arlecchino: The Servant of Two Masters was a hit for the company at Lincoln Center Festival 05. There will be five performances of Trilogia della villeggiatura at the Rose Theater, July 22-26.
?Shen Wei Dance Arts - Shen Wei reflects on his journey from China to the West and back with Re- (I, II, III), which marks the fifth festival appearance by the renowned dance company. These will be the first performances of the complete triptych in New York. There will be three performances at Alice Tully Hall's Starr Theater, July 9-11.
?Emanuel Gat Dance - The exciting contemporary dance company returns to Lincoln Center Festival for the North American premiere of a Lincoln Center co-commission, Silent Ballet, and the New York premiere of a new duet, Winter Variations, also a Lincoln Center co-commission. There will be three performances at the Rose Theater, July 14, 16, and 17.
?Two by Four with the Ruhr - This concert, presented in association with the Ruhr Piano Festival in Germany, will feature piano works for four hands and for two pianos performed by Dennis Russell Davies and Maki Namekawa. The program will include the U.S. premiere of Philip Glass's Four Movements for Two Pianos and the New York premiere of Chen Yi's China West-Suite for two pianos (commissioned by the artists). The July 25 recital will be performed at Alice Tully Hall's Starr Theater.
?A Night in the Maghreb - This extraordinary concert will introduce two world-renowned pop music artists from western North Africa to American audiences, as Algerian music icon Idir and Moroccan Chaabi singer Najat Aatabou share the Avery Fisher Hall stage on July 18.
