Announcing Baryshnikov Arts Center's Fall 2017 Season
By: A.A. Cristi Jun. 27, 2017
Highlights of the music presentations include works by award-winning composers Julia Wolfe and Pauline Oliveros, and performances by violin master Gidon Kremer and the acclaimed International Contemporary Ensemble. Tickets for BAC Presents performances are on sale now, and can be purchased at bacnyc.org and 866 811 4111. Also throughout Fall 2017, BAC Residencies will provide time, space, and resources for creative experimentation and artistic freedom to artists from Chile, Cambodia, Canada, and New York City.
BAC PRESENTS: DANCE
Dorothée Munyaneza / Compagnie Kadidi (Sep 21-22)
Roy Assaf Dance (Oct 12-13)
Kota Yamazaki / Fluid hug-hug (Dec 13-15)
Opening BAC's new season is Rwanda-born, France-based artist Dorothée Munyaneza, who returns to New York City following the premiere of her first dance work, Samedi Détente (Under the Radar 2016), which evoked her childhood memories before fleeing the Rwandan genocide at age 12. In Unwanted, the choreographer/dancer explores rape as a weapon in warzones, drawing from stories of women and children victims. The work was developed in part during a Spring 2017 BAC Space Artist Residency with Munyaneza's collaborator, Portland-based experimental vocalist and instrumentalist Holland Andrews (aka Like a Villain). After the duo performs at Festival d'Avignon, Unwanted will have its New York Premiere September 21-22 in the Jerome Robbins Theater.
The following month, Roy Assaf Dance of Israel makes its New York debut with two works by the rising choreographic star on October 12-13 in the Jerome Robbins Theater. Six Years Later, a quiet, embracing duet performed by Assaf with dancer Ariel Freedman, is praised for its "beauty, nuances, and intricate, astute movements" (Jerusalem Post). The Hill, danced by three men, is inspired by experiences of war veterans, and is based on the Hebrew folk song entitled "Ammunition Hill" (Givat Hatachmoshet). This work will also be performed at BAC's Fall Fête on October 2.
The final dance event of Fall 2017 is Kota Yamazaki, the Butoh trained New York-based choreographer, originally from Japan, who presents the second in a series of dance works inspired by Butoh pioneer Tatsumi Hijikata's notion of "dance of darkness." Darkness Odyssey Part 2: I or Hallucination will have its World Premiere December 13-15 in the Howard Gilman Performance Space. The choreographer, who developed the work in part during a Fall 2016 BAC Space Artist Residency, performs with dancers Julian Barnett, Raja Feather Kelly, Joanna Kotze, and Mina Nishimura to an original score by Kenta Nagai and lighting by Thomas Dunn.
BAC PRESENTS: MUSIC
Gidon Kremer (Oct 31-Nov 1)
BAC Salon: Pauline Oliveros (Nov 28) The first concert of Fall 2017 on October 5-6 is part of BAC's signature salon series, and features an eclectic program ranging from baroque to post-minimalism, including a New York Premiere from Bang on a Can co-founder and Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer Julia Wolfe. Her duet for cello and double bass, Retrieve, was a commission by Russian composer Alexei Lubimov through BAC's inaugural Cage Cunningham Fellowship. In the studio that is also named for iconic artists John Cage and Merce Cunningham, a group of stellar musicians will perform, including James Austin Smith (oboe), Todd Palmer (clarinet), ReBecca Anderson (violin), Ayane Kozasa (viola), Joshua Roman (cello), and Lizzie Burns (double bass). (Retrieve will also be performed at BAC's Fall Fête on October 2.)
Then, Russian-trained Latvian violin virtuoso Gidon Kremer returns more than a decade after his last BAC performance in 2006, when he played at the dedication of the Howard Gilman Performance Space. On October 31 and November 1, he will give the first U.S. performance of his own transcription (from cello to violin) of Mieczyslaw Weinberg's 24 Preludes. The Polish-born Soviet composer is "the latest in a series of more or less hidden 20th-century masters. . .whose music Mr. Kremer has discovered and championed" (The New York Times). A world-class artist who has performed on the great stages around the globe, Kremer's solo concert will be held in the intimate Jerome Robbins Theater.
Finally, on November 28, New York City's International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), with writer and sound artist IONE, presents excerpts from The Nubian Word for Flowers, an opera by the late experimental American composer Pauline Oliveros that was unfinished at the time of her death in November 2016. In an evening of music and conversation, BAC Salon: Pauline Oliveros in the John Cage and Merce Cunningham Studio provides an exclusive glimpse of the posthumously completed intermedia work, inviting discussion around topics of creation and remembrance.
BAC Residencies
At the core of BAC's mission is the Residency Program, which provides time, space, and resources for creative experimentation and artistic freedom. For a seventh season, BAC hosts BAC Space, a residency format designed to encourage peer exchange, during which artists will work concurrently in all of BAC's studios. BAC Space Fall 2017 artists will be in residence for three weeks from October 30 to November 18. A series of public events will be announced by October 15.
BAC Space Fall 2017 Resident Artists include:
Compañía Bonobo (Theater; Santiago, Chile)Christina Masciotti (Theater/Multimedia; NYC)
Prumsodun Ok (Dance; Phnom Penh, Cambodia)
George Stamos (Dance; Montreal, Canada)
The Mad Ones (Theater; NYC)
Tickets for BAC Presents can be purchased online or by phone: BACNYC.ORG / 866 811 4111.
A complete schedule of BAC Fall 2017 Presentations follows:
FALL 2017 BAC PRESENTS
DANCE
Dorothée Munyaneza / Compagnie Kadidi
Unwanted (N.Y. Premiere)
September 21 and 22, Thursday and Friday at 7:30PM
Jerome Robbins Theater
Tickets: $25
Running Time: 75 Minutes
Rwanda-born Dorothée Munyaneza, currently based in France, is an artist whose works examine the scars of history. Following her powerful Samedi Détente (Under the Radar 2016), which evoked Munyaneza's personal memories and the generational wound of the Rwandan genocide, Unwanted examines rape as a weapon in warzones. Performed alongside the ethereal melodies of experimental musician Holland Andrews, Unwanted embodies and confronts the unspeakable stories of women and children survivors through a potent dialogue between movement and text.
Unwanted was developed, in part, during a BAC Artist Residency.Dorothée Munyaneza is supported by FACE Contemporary Theater, a program developed by FACE Foundation and the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States with lead funding from Florence Gould Foundation, Institut français, and the French Ministry of Culture and Communication.
Lead support of dance programming at BAC is provided by the Rudolf Nureyev Endowment.
Major support for dance programming and activities provided by the Mertz Gilmore Foundation, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and Harkness Foundation for Dance.
MUSIC
BAC Salon: Telemann, Farrin, Wolfe + Prokofiev
October 5 and 6 / Thursday and Friday at 7:30PM
John Cage & Merce Cunningham Studio
Tickets: $20
Running Time: 60 Minutes
James Austin Smith, oboe; Todd Palmer, clarinet; ReBecca Anderson, violin; Ayane Kozasa, viola; Joshua Roman, cello; Lizzie Burns, double bass
An intimate evening of music ranging from baroque to post-minimalism features the New York Premiere of a work by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Julia Wolfe, commissioned through BAC's inaugural Cage Cunningham Fellowship. The eclectic program also includes solo works by Telemann and Suzanne Farrin, and Prokofiev's playful score inspired by circus life, a masterwork of modernism.
Program:
G. P. Telemann: Selections from Fantasias for solo violin
Suzanne Farrin: l'onde della non vostra for solo oboe
Julia Wolfe: Retrieve for cello and double bass
S. Prokofiev: Quintet in G Minor, Op. 39 for oboe, clarinet, violin, viola and double bass
BAC Salon is a series of concerts performed in an intimate salon setting.
Julia Wolfe's Retrieve was commissioned through BAC's Cage Cunningham Fellowship.
Leadership support for music programming in 2017 provided by the Anne and Chris Flowers Foundation and the Thompson Family Foundation.
DANCE
Roy Assaf Dance
Six Years Later and The Hill (N.Y. Premieres)
October 12 and 13 / Thursday and Friday at 7:30PM
Jerome Robbins Theater
Tickets: $25
Running Time: 50 Minutes
Israeli company Roy Assaf Dance makes its New York debut with a program of intricate and nuanced works: Six Years Later is a duet meditating on a mysterious connection, and The Hill, a powerful all-male trio, is inspired by the experiences of war veterans. One of the most sought-after emerging choreographic voices today, Assaf has received commissions from companies across the globe, including Batsheva Dance Company, The Royal Swedish Ballet, National Dance Company Wales, and LA Dance Project.
Support for Roy Assaf is made possible in part with support from Israel's Office of Cultural Affairs in North America.Lead support of dance programming at BAC is provided by the Rudolf Nureyev Endowment.
Major support for dance programming and activities provided by the Mertz Gilmore Foundation, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and Harkness Foundation for Dance.
MUSIC
Gidon Kremer
October 31 and November 1 / Tuesday and Wednesday at 7:30PM
Jerome Robbins Theater
Tickets: $25
Running Time: 60 Minutes
Violin legend Gidon Kremer performs 24 Preludes by 20th century Polish-born Soviet composer Mieczyslaw Weinberg, whose music shares common ground with that of his friend and mentor Shostakovich, while maintaining its originality by incorporating myriad musical styles. A champion of Weinberg, Kremer gives the first U.S. performance of his transcription of the composer's technically and emotionally complex score.
Program:
Mieczyslaw Weinberg: 24 Preludes, Op. 100 (transcribed from cello to violin by Gidon Kremer)
Leadership support for music programming in 2017 provided by the Anne and Chris Flowers Foundation and the Thompson Family Foundation.
MUSIC
BAC Salon: Pauline Oliveros
Featuring IONE and International Contemporary Ensemble in an Evening of Music and Conversation
November 28 / Tuesday at 7:30PM
John Cage & Merce Cunningham Studio
Tickets: $20
Running Time: 60 Minutes
"IONE's vocals are like a bright star around which all other sounds orbit." - Pitchfork
International Contemporary Ensemble is "the new gold standard for new music." - The New Yorker
After Pauline Oliveros' death in November 2016, the experimental American composer's unfinished, collaborative intermedia opera continued to be a source of inspiration, imagination, and retrospection. Excerpts from The Nubian Word for Flowers, performed by International Contemporary Ensemble under the direction of writer and sound artist IONE, offer a glimpse into the hybrid process of posthumous creation, and invite discussion around topics of creation and remembrance.
BAC Salon is a series of concerts performed in an intimate salon setting.Leadership support for music programming in 2017 provided by the Anne and Chris Flowers Foundation and the Thompson Family Foundation.
DANCE
Kota Yamazaki / Fluid hug-hug
Darkness Odyssey Part 2: I or Hallucination (World Premiere)
December 13 -15 / Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday at 7:30PM
Howard Gilman Performance Space
Tickets: $25
Running Time: 60 Minutes
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