Leon Botstein News

Bard Music Festival presents a Special Event, FILMING STRAVINSKY: PRESERVING POSTERITY'S IMAGE, Friday, August 16, 2013 at 5 pm: Commentary by Charles M. Joseph.

'Stravinsky Re-invented: From Paris to Los Angeles,' the second and final weekend of the 24th annual Bard Music Festival in New York'sAnnandale-on-Hudson, follows Igor Stravinsky from Europe to post-war Hollywood, investigating his subsequent shift in style from neoclassicism to serialism. The weekend opens tonight, August 16, with a screening of film clips that document the great Russian innovator, with commentary by Professor Charles M. Joseph, author of Stravinsky Inside Out. This special session is followed by the weekend's first concert, 'Against Interpretation and Expression: The Aesthetics of Mechanization,' a program of postmodernist ensemble classics by Stravinsky, Bartók, Varèse, Hindemith, and Messiaen; soloists include Grammy-nominated pianist Peter Serkin and So Percussion's Eric Beach.

'Stravinsky Re-invented: From Paris to Los Angeles,' the second and final weekend of the 24th annual Bard Music Festival in New York's Annandale-on-Hudson, follows Igor Stravinsky from Europe to post-war Hollywood, investigating his subsequent shift in style from neoclassicism to serialism. The weekend opens on Friday, August 16, with a screening of film clips that document the great Russian innovator, with commentary by Professor Charles M. Joseph, author of Stravinsky Inside Out. This special session is followed by the weekend's first concert, 'Against Interpretation and Expression: The Aesthetics of Mechanization,' a program of postmodernist ensemble classics by Stravinsky, Bartók, Varèse, Hindemith, and Messiaen; soloists include Grammy-nominated pianist Peter Serkin and So Percussion's Eric Beach.

The Knights resume their annual two-concert summer collaboration with Central Park's Naumburg Orchestral Concerts, now in their fifth consecutive season, with a program led by co-founder and artistic director Eric Jacobsen on July 30, featuring the world premiere of the innovative orchestra's own group composition Chaconne, and a collaboration with tenor Nicholas Phan. Recently hailed as a "major new Britten interpreter" by the New York Times, Phan joins The Knights and hornist Michael P. Atkinson to honor the Britten centennial with a rendition of the English composer's Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings, which they will then reprise at Chicago's Ravinia Festival on September 3. This second collaboration is part of an extended Chicago-based Britten residency for Phan, beginning with the starring role in a Britten church parable, performed with soloists from the Chicago Symphony (Aug 17), then as Artistic Director of Collaborative Arts Institute of Chicago's Britten-centenary themed 2013 Collaborative Works Festival(Sept 11-15), and culminating in a solo Britten recital with The University of Chicago Presents (Oct 18).

As “a major new Britten interpreter” (New York Times) with two hit Britten albums to his name, tenor Nicholas Phan is set to be a prime mover in this year's celebrations of the English composer's centennial.Summer sees Phan undertake the SERENADE FOR TENOR, HORNS AND STRINGS at Portland's Chamber Music Northwest (July 22 & 23) and, with Eric Jacobsen and The Knights, at a Naumburg Orchestral Concert in New York's Central Park (July 30) and the Ravinia Festival (Sep 3).

Reviving important but neglected operas is one of the ways the Bard SummerScape festival in New York's Annandale-on-Hudson has established itself as "a hotbed of intellectual and aesthetic adventure" (New York Times).

Renowned soprano Renee Fleming completes her Carnegie Hall Perspectives series with two concerts in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage, tonight, April 26 and May 4.

Renowned soprano Renee Fleming completes her Carnegie Hall Perspectives series with two concerts in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage, April 26 and May 4. Appearing on Friday, April 26 at 8:00 p.m. with the New York Philharmonic and Music Director Alan Gilbert, Ms. Fleming performs the world premiere of a song cycle The Strand Settings by Swedish composer Anders Hillborg, commissioned by Carnegie Hall and the New York Philharmonic.

I've always been a sucker for a good vampire story--and Heinrich Marscher's opera DER VAMPYR fits the bill, though I don't expect it to turn up at the Metropolitan Opera any time soon. The American Symphony Orchestra under Leon Botstein, at Carnegie Hall this past Sunday, provided an exhilarating introduction to this 1827 singspiel, sung in German with dialogue in English.

Russia's profound and far-reaching impact on 20th-century culture will be explored at the 2013 annual Bard SummerScape festival, which once again offers an extraordinary summer of music, opera, theater, dance, film, and cabaret, keyed to the theme of the 24th annual Bard Music Festival, Stravinsky and His World. Presented in the striking Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts and other venues on Bard College's bucolic Hudson River campus, the seven-week festival opens on July 6 with the first of two performances of A Rite (2013) by the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company and SITI Company, and closes on August 18 with a party in Bard's beloved Spiegeltent, which returns for the full seven weeks. Complementing the Bard Music Festival's exploration of “Stravinsky and His World,” some of the great Russian-born composer's most captivating compatriots provide key SummerScape highlights. These include the first fully-staged American production of Sergey Taneyev's opera Oresteia; the world premiere of an original stage adaptation of Mikhail Bulgakov's seminal novel The Master and Margarita; and a film festival titled “Between Traditions: Stravinsky's Legacy and Russian Emigré Cinema.” Together, SummerScape's offerings will continue Bard's yearlong tenth-anniversary celebrations for the Frank Gehry-designed Fisher Center, which commence with a month of special performances in April.

The Los Angeles Philharmonic Association today announced the Hollywood Bowl summer 2013 subscription series and single events for its 92nd season at the historic venue. The Hollywood Bowl is one of the most renowned summer cultural venues in the world and has been the summer home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic since 1922.

After nearly 40 performances at Carnegie Hall, renowned soprano Renée Fleming curates a four-event Perspectives series, showcasing her multifaceted talents and collaborating with some of her favorite fellow artists beginning on Sunday, January 27 at 8:00 p.m. when she appears in recital in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage with her frequent operatic co-star and close friend mezzo-soprano Susan Graham.

Featuring a concert version of King's Bessie-nominated piece Astral Epitaphs that was commissioned by the Merce Cunningham Dance Company for its final shows at the Park Avenue Armory in Dec. 2011, the music of New York composer John King (www.johnkingmusic.com) will be presented at Brooklyn's Roulette tonight, December 7 at 8pm.

The New Amsterdam Singers, led by Clara Longstreth, will open its 45th season with a program entitled Comfort and Joy, featuring James MacMillan's Missa Brevis, the New York premieres of Judith Shatin's The God of Glory and Sheena Phillips's Two Carols, and works by Bach, Brahms, Victoria, Schutz, Randall Thompson, Abbie Betinis, and others. The concerts will take place tonight, December 7, 2012, at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday, December 9, at 4:00 p.m. at Immanuel Lutheran Church, 122 East 88th Street (at Lexington Avenue).

Featuring a concert version of King's Bessie-nominated piece Astral Epitaphs that was commissioned by the Merce Cunningham Dance Company for its final shows at the Park Avenue Armory in Dec. 2011, the music of New York composer John King (www.johnkingmusic.com) will be presented at Brooklyn's Roulette on Friday, December 7 at 8pm.

The New Amsterdam Singers, led by Clara Longstreth, will open its 45th season with a program entitled Comfort and Joy,featuring James MacMillan's Missa Brevis, the New York premieres of Judith Shatin's The God of Glory and Sheena Phillips's Two Carols, and works by Bach, Brahms, Victoria, Schutz, Randall Thompson, Abbie Betinis, and others. The concerts will take place Friday, December 7, 2012, at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday, December 9, at 4:00 p.m. at Immanuel Lutheran Church, 122 East 88th Street (at Lexington Avenue).

Featuring a concert version of King's Bessie-nominated piece Astral Epitaphs that was commissioned by the Merce Cunningham Dance Company for its final shows at the Park Avenue Armory in Dec. 2011, the music of New York composer John King (www.johnkingmusic.com) will be presented at Brooklyn's Roulette on Friday, December 7 at 8pm.

The New Amsterdam Singers, led by Clara Longstreth, will open its 45th season with a program entitled Comfort and Joy, featuring James MacMillan's Missa Brevis, the New York premieres of Judith Shatin's The God of Glory and Sheena Phillips's Two Carols, and works by Bach, Brahms, Victoria, Schutz, Randall Thompson, Abbie Betinis, and others. The concerts will take place Friday, December 7, 2012, at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday, December 9, at 4:00 p.m. at Immanuel Lutheran Church, 122 East 88th Street (at Lexington Avenue).

The Collegiate Chorale announces its encore performance with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra of Arnold Schoenberg's Kol Nidre and Israeli composer Noam Sheriff's Mechaye Hametim (Revival of the Dead), which they performed this summer at the Salzburg Festival. Tonight's October 25 performance will be the New York premiere of Mechaye Hametim.

The Collegiate Chorale announces its encore performance with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra of Arnold Schoenberg's Kol Nidre and Israeli composer Noam Sheriff's Mechaye Hametim (Revival of the Dead), which they performed this summer at the Salzburg Festival. The October 25 performance will be the New York premiere of Mechaye Hametim.