Lincoln Center Announces 2013 White Light Festival Lineup, 10/24-11/23

Ehrenkranz Artistic Director Jane Moss today announced the roster for Lincoln Center's fourth multidisciplinary White Light Festival, October 24 through November 23, 2013. The Festival's focus is music's capacity to illuminate the many dimensions of our interior lives, with a particular emphasis this year on the power of the voice. Spanning numerous musical traditions, genres, and disciplines, the Festival will offer 23 performances, films, and events featuring seven premieres and debuts by artists and companies from more than a dozen countries, including France, India, the Netherlands, Spain, Germany, the U.K., Mali, Estonia, Italy, Austria, Canada and the U.S. New to this edition of the Festival is White Light on Film, film screenings followed by discussions with their directors. Other Festival components include: a panel discussion focused on the subject of time, pre- and post-performance artist discussions, and the popular post-performance White Light Lounges.

Said Ms. Moss, "The White Light Festival's focus on our interior life seems especially crucial as an antidote to our increasingly outer directed and frenetic culture. The unique nourishment and illumination provided by art is only revealed in the stillness offered by our complete attention. For all of us, such moments of stillness are very special indeed, and we hope the artistic sanctuary of the White Light Festival offers many avenues of discovery and engagement."

The White Light Festival opens on October 24 with a free concert by sacred steel gospel group The Campbell Brothers in the David Rubenstein Atrium. The Festival comes to a close November 21-23 with performances of one of the most transporting and acclaimed works of modern dance, Mark Morris' L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato. In between, artistry of the highest caliber-represented by a range of International Artists and ensembles, from across a spectrum of Western and Eastern traditions-will unfold over one month, in venues on and off the Lincoln Center campus.

Tickets for White Light Festival are available online at WhiteLightFestival.org by calling CenterCharge, 212-721-6500, or at the Avery Fisher or Alice Tully Hall box offices, Broadway and 65th Street.

Programs, artists, and ticket prices are subject to change.

White Light Festival 2013 Presentations
Artists and Programs in Chronological Order

FREE OPENING EVENT

Thursday, October 24, 2013 at 7:30 pm

David Rubenstein Atrium, Broadway between 62nd and 63rd Streets

The Campbell Brothers

The vocal and sacred steel gospel group The Campbell Brothers have been bringing the deep gospel-blues sounds of Sacred Steel out of the church sanctuary and into concert halls and clubs for more than two decades, thrilling audiences from Lincoln Center Out of Doors to the Hollywood Bowl. They bring their powerful sound to the David Rubenstein Atrium for a Target Free Thursdays performance that also opens this year's White Light Festival.

The group-pedal steel guitarist Chuck Campbell, his brother lap steel guitarist Darrick Campbell, brother Philip Campbell, electric guitar, Philip's son Carlton on drums, and guest vocalists perform in a tradition that has been an integral, but little-known part of worship in the African-American Holiness-Pentecostal church repertoire (founded in 1903 by a Tennessee street preacher), that combines gospel with the growling, wailing, shouting and singing and swinging voice of the steel guitar.Jambase.com wrote, "The Campbells have struck the best balance between honoring the intent and roots of the music while stretching their arms out wide enough to reach a decidedly secular audience....whirling solos and weaving the gospel, daring you not to clap our hands, wave your arms, shake your butt and stomp your feet."

Chuck Campbell began playing lap steel guitar at the age of 11 and was one of the first musicians to utilize the pedal steel guitar in the House of God Church, Keith Dominion, where his father was a bishop. He is a renowned innovator, using techniques to emulate the human voice in an uncanny fashion, evoking soulful gospel and field songs and developing a unique tuning and set-up for the pedal steel guitar that has been used by new generations of musicians.

Saturday, October 26, 2013 at 7:30 pm

Alice Tully Hall, Broadway at 65th Street

Le Concert d'Astrée

Emmanuelle Haïm, conductor

Sonya Yoncheva, Aci

Delphine Galou, Galatea, U.S. debut

Laurent Naouri, Polifemo

Handel: Aci, Galatea e Polifemo

Emmanuelle Haïm and Le Concert d'Astrée made their U.S. debut at the Mostly Mozart Festival in 2005. She and the ensemble return with a rare performance of Handel's early oratorio Aci, Galatea e Polifemo, the work that launched Ms. Haïm's conducting career. The CD of Aci was the second recording released by Le Concert d'Astrée (2003) and featured in the role of the giant Polifemo renowned bass Laurent Naouri who will reprise the part here. Making her U.S. debut as Galatea is French contralto Delphine Galou. The Daily Telegraph described the work as, "Ninety minutes of pure Arcadian delight."

Aci, Galatea e Polifemo, a dramatic cantata composed and performed in Naples in 1708, is the Italian-language predecessor to Handel's most renownEd English opera, Acis and Galatea. Based on a story from Ovid's Metamorphosis, it tells how the shepherd Aci, in love with the divine sea nymph Galatea, is killed by the jealous giant Polifemo. Aci is transformed into a stream that flows forever into the ocean.

French-born Emmanuelle Haïm studied harpsichord with Kenneth Gilbert and Christophe Rousset, and vocal music conducting at the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles, and at the Paris Conservatoire where she subsequently taught from 1990 to 2002. In demand as a continuo player, she spent a number of years with William Christie and Les Arts Florissants. She came to international attention leading the Glyndebourne Touring Opera production of Handel's Rodelinda in 2001. Further Glyndebourne conducting triumphs came in 2003 with Handel's Theodora and Giulio Cesare in 2006. Ms. Haïm is a regular guest conductor with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. She made her debut with the Berlin Philharmonic in 2008 and returned in 2011 for a program of works by Handel and Rameau. She made her U.S. symphony orchestra conducting debut in fall 2011 with the Los Angeles Philharmonic also conducting works of Handel.

Le Concert d'Astrée was founded in 2000 by Emmanuelle Haïm and has claimed a place alongside today's leading Baroque ensembles. In addition to its residency at Opéra de Lille (established in 2004), the ensemble performs in opera houses and leading concert halls throughout France and worldwide, among them the Concertgebouw, Barbican, and Vienna Konzerthaus, and regularly at international festivals such as Salzburg. Among the notable productions it has collaborated on are Bach's St. John Passion directed by Robert Wilson at the Théâtre du Châtelet and Handel's Giulio Cesare directed by David McVicar at Opéra de Lille. Le Concert d'Astrée has had an exclusive recording contract with Virgin Classics since 2001 and its releases have garnered numerous prizes. Its most recent release, Un Fête Baroque, a recording of the ensemble's 2011 gala tenth-anniversary concert, was nominated for a 2013 Grammy Award. The 2012-2013 season for Le Concert d'Astrée and Emmanuelle Haïm opened with the premiere of a new production of Charpentier's Médée at Paris' Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in October. This May and June is the premiere of a new Laurent Pelly production of Handel's Giulio Cesare with Opéra National de Paris at the Palais Garnier. Visit: leconcertdastree.fr/

Le Concert d'Astrée is made possible in part by endowment support provided by the American Express Cultural Preservation Fund.

White Light Lounge: Audience members are invited to mingle and enjoy a glass of wine in the Alice Tully Hall outer lobby immediately following the performance.

Monday, October 28, 2013 at 7:30 pm

Manhattan Center's Grand Ballroom, 311 West 34th Street

Up-close

Kaori Yamagami, cello

Orpheus Chamber Orchestra

Musicians from the International Contemporary Ensemble:

David Bowlin, violin; Michael Nicolas, cello; Jacob Greenberg, piano

All Michel van der Aa Program: Memo; Oog; Transit; Up-close (U.S. premiere)

The work Up-close is performed by special arrangement with the Los Angeles Philharmonic

Virtual reality and our relationship to technology pervade in the innovative multimedia works of Dutch composer and filmmaker Michel van der Aa. Four works are performed in a special portrait concert featuring the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and musicians from ICE for the White Light Festival, traversing the composer's early and recent works. The works present themes of identity, memory, loss, illusion and existence; they are: Memo (2003) for violin and portable cassette recorder, Oog (1995) for cello and soundtrack, Transit (2007) for piano and video projection, and Up-close (2010) for cello, string ensemble and film with soloist Kaori Yamagami which will be heard in its U.S. premiere. The composer was awarded the prestigious Grawemeyer Award in 2012 for the innovative cello concerto Up-close, which offers a mysterious interplay between the musicians, the soloist and the accompanying film. The composer has noted that by the end of the work and its hall of mirrors within the story: "If anything we are left with more mystery, not less." The Guardian (London) noted of Up-close: "Being 'up-close' can never give us the bigger picture, and we are left with a mystery that continues to resonate after the music has faded."

Michel van der Aa is one of the most outstanding Dutch composers of his generation, known for music of expressive power and an idiomatic sense for the stage, combining sounds and scenic images in a play of changing perspectives. He has studied with Diderik Wagenaar, Gilius van Bergeijk and Louis Andriessen, and has collaborated with filmmakers Peter Greenaway and Hal Hartley and choreographer Philippe Blanchard. Van der Aa's music is regularly performed in leading international festivals for contemporary music in London, Berlin, Paris, Warsaw, Los Angeles, Lucerne and Amsterdam, among others. Champions of his music include Peter Eötvös, Reinbert de Leeuw, the Schönberg and Asko Ensemble, Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, musikFabrik and the Netherlands Opera. In addition to the Grawemeyer Award, van der Aa also received the Mauricio Kagel Prize for excellence in composition. Earlier this year, the English National Opera premiered his 3-D opera, Sunken Garden at London's Barbican Centre. http://www.vanderaa.net/

Principal cellist of the Amsterdam Sinfonietta, Kaori Yamagami has appeared as soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, L'Orchestre de Paris, CBC Radio Orchestra, Toronto, Montreal and Sapporo Symphony Orchestras, among others. She has also performed at the Ravinia and Verbier Festivals, and has collaborated in chamber music performances with Gidon Kremer, Yuri Bashmet and Markus Groh.

Orpheus Chamber Orchestra celebrated its 40th anniversary in the 2012-2013 season. The orchestra has released more than 70 albums, including the Grammy Award-winning Shadow Dances: Stravinsky Miniatures, and has commissioned some 35 works, including four this past season The season featured collaborations with leading contemporary soloists, including mezzo soprano Sasha Cooke, baritone Nathan Gunn, violinist Anne Akiko Meyers, Wayne Shorter Quartet, Richard Goode, and its first ever composer-in-residence, Gabriel Kahane. The Orpheus Process, an original method that places democracy at the center of artistic execution, has been the focus of studies at Harvard and Stanford.

There will be a post-concert discussion with Michael van der Aa and WNYC's John Schaefer in the Grand Ballroom immediately following the concert.

White Light Lounge: Audience members are invited to mingle and enjoy a glass of wine in Manhattan Center's Grand Ballroom immediately following the performance.

Thursday, October 31, 2013 at 7:30 pm

Friday, November 1, 2013 at 7:30 pm

Saturday, November 2, 2013 at 7:30 pm

Rose Theater, Frederick P. Rose Hall, Broadway at 60th Street

The Manganiyar Seduction

Roysten Abel, concept and director

Daevo Khan, conductor

Manganiyar musicians

Returning to the White Light Festival is The Manganiyar Seduction, the acclaimed music-theater work by Indian director Roysten Abel that features a dazzling stage set that displays four levels of boxes outlined in lights, each box faced with red velvet curtains covering a musician. The design was inspired by the women's quarters of Hawa Mahal (a royal palace in Jaipur) and the red light district of Amsterdam. Breaking with Indian music's "no conductor" tradition, The Manganiyar Seduction's more than 40 musicians are led by Daevo Khan-who also plays the traditional wooden block instruments known as kartal. ConcertoNet described the effect as "A Wall of Sound which Phil Spector would have gasped at."

The Manganiyars are a caste of Muslim musicians from Northern India who originally performed for The Kings Of Rajasthan, and have incorporated the worship of Hindu deities into their Muslim faith. They play a mix of folk and classical Indian music ranging from Sufi mystic songs and ballads about kings, to Hindu music for births, marriages, and other celebrations. "They have their Muslim saints and worship Allah," said Abel in an NPR interview, "and they also have their Hindu goddesses. They sing to both."

The Manganiyar Seduction had its U.S. premiere at the inaugurAl White Light Festival in 2010, receiving a rapturous reception. The New York Times described the "tumultuous...instantaneous ovation" that greeted the performers at the end of the show.

Roysten Abel was classically trained in Delhi's National School of Drama and Britain's Royal Shakespeare Company. He founded the Indian Shakespeare Company in 1995, and directed his first original production in 1999, Othello: A Play in Black and White, which won a Fringe First Award at Edinburgh before touring internationally. Abel's subsequent work with such street performers as magicians, jugglers, snake charmers, and acrobats led to an invitation to develop and direct a play about Fellini in Rimini, Fellini's hometown, and in 2003, he directed his first feature film, In Othello. Abel's work with musicians in a theatrical context has resulted in two major productions: The Manganiyar Seduction and A Hundred Charmers (with 100 snake charmers), both of which have toured the world. Mr. Abel is currently working on a new work titled The Soul Kitchen, and is also creating an International Center for Contemporary Folk Performances in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, scheduled to open in 2015.www.roystenabel.com

A post-performance discussion with director Roysten Abel and WNYC's John Schaefer will take place on Friday, November 1 in the Rose Theater.

White Light Lounge: Audience members are invited to mingle and enjoy a glass of wine immediately following the performances.

This presentation of The Manganiyar Seduction is made possible in part by The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Inc.

Sunday, November 3, 2013 at 5 pm

Alice Tully Hall, Broadway at 65th Street

The Cycles of Life: A Musical Exploration of the Balkans (New York premiere)

Jordi Savall, vielle, rebec, and music director

Hespèrion XXI

Acclaimed musician, historian, educator, and viola da gamba virtuoso Jordi Savall returns to Lincoln Center with Hespèrion XXI for his newest musical journey: The Cycles of Life: A Musical Exploration of the Balkans, surveying the mosaic of Christian, Sephardic Jewish, and Muslim cultural influences on sacred and secular music of the region. "Early music has its purists and pedants, its scholars and heretics. Jordi Savall is one of its great souls. A gentle, unassuming, and learned presence [he] has for decades been taking listeners on vibrant, thematically cohesive journeys" (The Boston Globe). One of those journeys, Jerusalem: City of Heavenly and Earthly Peace, a series of concerts and discussions was a highlight of theGreat Performers 2009-2010 season. As Savall explained in interview in the Fall 2012 issue of Listen magazine, "What interests me is the power of music to make dialogue possible and the power of music to change our lives. It's these two elements that move me to develop certain repertories, related to certain historical moments."

For his latest musical journey Savall focuses on the Balkans, the region of southeastern Europe with a fraught history of ethnic and religious conflicts going back centuries. But it is also an area where diverse groups were unified under Turkish Ottoman rule for 400 years, during which a level of tolerance existed that allowed non-Muslims to retain their customs, languages and traditions. An exchange of musical traditions also flourished. And it is that vast "musical fresco" that Savall, Hespèrion XXI celebrate with this program.

Beginning with the kabbalah creation story, The Cycles of Life travels through birth, youth, love, marriage, maturity, and death with a mosaic of Sephardic lullabies, Greek dances, Hebrew songs, Christian Orthodox chants and Sufi devotional music that explore time and transformation. A companion album-featuring songs and instrumental music from Hungary, Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia, Macedonia, Greece, Romania, and Turkey-is scheduled for release soon on Savall's record label, Alia-Vox.

For more than 30 years, Jordi Savall has been devoted to the rediscovery and performance of neglected musical treasures through live performance and an enormous body of recordings with Hespèrion XXI, La Capella Reial de Catalunya, and Le Concert des Nations ensembles-all founded with his late wife, singer Montserrat Figueras. Savall's 2011 recording Dinastía Borja ("The Borgia Dynasty"), one of the last CDs made with Figueras, received a 2011 Grammy for "Best Small Ensemble Performance." This past April, Savall was named Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur-France's highest honor-in recognition of his prolific career in the recovery and reappraisal of early music, as well as his role in making music an instrument of mediation at the service of understanding and peace. alia-vox.com/

There will be a post-performance discussion with Jordi Savall and Ara Guzelimian in Alice Tully Hall.

White Light Lounge: Audience members are invited to mingle and enjoy a glass of wine immediately following the performances.

Monday, November 4, 2013 at 8 pm

Avery Fisher Hall, Broadway at 65th Street

The Cleveland Orchestra

Franz Welser-Möst, conductor

Joela Jones, piano

Cynthia Millar, ondes martenot

Luba Orgonášová, soprano

Kelley O'Connor, mezzo-soprano

Herbert Lippert, tenor

Ruben Drole, bass-baritone

Cleveland Orchestra Chorus

Robert Porco, director

Beethoven: Grosse Fuge in B-flat major for string orchestra, Op. 133

Messiaen: Trois petites liturgies de la Présence Divine

Beethoven: Mass in C major, Op. 86

"The sheer splendor of the orchestra's playing made you sit upright in awestruck appreciation," said a recent review of The Cleveland Orchestra in the San Francisco Chronicle.

The acclaimed orchestra, led by Artistic Director and conductor Franz Welser-Möst, pairs two glorious works from the sacred repertoire, one from the 19th century, the other, the 20th, Beethoven's Mass in C major and Messiaen's Trois petites liturgies de la Présence Divine, composed during World War II, alongside Beethoven's late, technically-brilliant Grosse Fuge.

The Cleveland Orchestra celebrated its 95th anniversary this past season. Under the leadership of Music Director Franz Welser-Möst for the past eleven seasons, the orchestra has flourished at its home in Severance Hall, in appearances in the U.S. and abroad, and with innovative residencies, including one at Miami's Adrienne Arsht Center. During Welser-Möst's tenure, the orchestra has presented thirteen world and fifteen U.S. premieres. Music education has been a cornerstone of the orchestra's mission since the launch of the first formal program in 1921, and it has introduced more than 4 million Cleveland-area young people to symphonic music. Recent initiatives, through the Center for Future Audiences, have resulted in impressive increases in the number of students (high school through grad school) regularly attending concerts, it was reported in a just-published article in The Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Highlights of The Cleveland Orchestra's 2012-2013 season included premieres of works by Matthias Pintscher, Stephen Paulus, and Young Composer Fellow Sean Shepherd; concerts led by Artist-in-Residence Ton Koopman; and conducting debuts by Manfred Honeck, Gianandrea Noseda and Robin Ticciati, among others. "Near-flawless playing" is what The New York Times wrote about the orchestra's performance this past November at Carnegie Hall, reviewing a program that included works of Beethoven and the N.Y. premiere of the Pintscher work Chute d'Étoiles. For the 2013-2014 season, Music Director Franz Welser-Möst will introduce a Fall Festival, pairing symphonies by Beethoven and Shostakovich, and an all-Brahms weekend with two programs featuring Brahms's Violin Concerto and his Second and Fourth Symphonies. Mr. Welser-Möst brings opera back to Severance Hall, with a semi-staged production of Janácek's The Cunning Little Vixen. Guest artists returning to Severance Hall include Leon Fleisher, Mitsuko Uchida, Radu Lupu, and conductors Christoph von Dohnányi, Pierre Boulez, and Herbert Blomstedt. The Orchestra celebrates the 100th anniversary of the birth of Benjamin Britten with performances of his Spring Symphony, Violin Concerto, and Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings. For more information visit:clevelandorchestra.com

In addition to his directorship of The Cleveland Orchestra, Franz Welser-Möst has served as General Music Director of the Vienna Staatsoper since 2010. He appears regularly as guest conductor with the Vienna Philharmonic at both the Musikverein, and on tour to the Salzburg and Lucerne Festivals, the BBC Proms and Suntory Hall, Tokyo. Mr. Welser-Möst has been guest conductor with most of the leading European and U.S. orchestras. His recordings and DVDs have won numerous awards including the Gramophone Award and the Diapason d'Or. Recent recordings with The Cleveland Orchestra include DVDs of Bruckner Symphonies Nos. 5, 7, 8 and 9, and CDs on Deutsche Grammophon of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 and Wagner excerpts.

Founded in 1952, the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus celebrated its 60th anniversary this season. It is one of the few professionally trained, all-volunteer choruses sponsored by a major American orchestra. Director Robert Porco is in his 15th season leading the chorus.

Wednesday, November 6, 2013 at 7:30 pm

Thursday, November 7, 2013 at 7:30 pm

Rose Theater, Frederick P. Rose Hall, Broadway at 60th Street

DESH (U.S. premiere)

Akram Khan, director, choreographer, and performer

Tim Yip, visual design

Jocelyn Pook, composer

Michael Hulls, lighting

Celebrated choreographer Akram Khan revisits Lincoln Center with the U.S. premiere of DESH, winner of the U.K.'s 2012 Olivier Award for Best Dance Work. Called "The most beautiful and confident work of his career" (The Guardian, London) when it premiered at Sadler's Wells in 2011, DESH was inspired by Khan's parents' homeland of Bangladesh. It is the London-based choreographer's first full-length solo piece and stands as a very personal exploration. To research the work, he took his talented creative team-including composer Jocelyn Pook (Eyes Wide Shut film score) and Tim Yip (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon production design)-to Bangladesh to "live, smell, eat, drink, and sleep Bangladesh," said Khan in a Sadler's Wells program interview. "Bangladesh is, for me, man against nature. Constantly under threat with water, the cyclones and flooding. And yet they find new ways to live amongst the monster...that's something that really inspired me." With DESH, Khan also confronts our collective, universal frailty in the face of forces beyond our control, mining the dreams and stories that help us to survive and grow.

Akram Khan combines elements of modern and kathak dance to create boundary-crossing works that challenge conventional ideas of traditional dance. In addition to company works that have featured collaborations with the National Ballet of China and the London Sinfonietta, he has also created pieces for the Oscar-winning actress Juliette Binoche, the internationally-acclaimed ballerina Sylvie Guillem, and was chosen to choreograph and perform a section of the London 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the International Society for the Performing Arts Distinguished Artists Award and The Age Critics' Award. Khan first brought his company to White Light Festival 2012 for the N.Y. premiere of Vertical Road, a work that won the UK's 12th Critic's National Dance Award for Best Modern Choreography.www.akramkhancompany.net

There will be a post-performance discussion with Akram Khan on November 6 in the Rose Theater.

White Light Lounge: Audience members are invited to mingle and enjoy a glass of wine immediately following the performances.

DESH is sponsored by COLAS. Co-produced by MC2: Grenoble, Curve Leicester, Sadler's Wells London, Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg, and Concertgebouw Brugge.

This presentation of DESH is made possible in part by The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Inc.

White Light on Film

Presented in association with the Film Society of Lincoln Center

Walter Reade Theater, 165 West 65th Street

White Light Lounges: Audience members are invited to mingle and enjoy a glass of wine immediately following both film screenings, Furman Gallery, Walter Reade Theater.

Saturday, November 9, 2013 at 6:30 pm

The End of Time; Peter Mettler, director; 2012; 109 minutes (New York premiere)

Time as an abstract concept, as a metaphysical construct, and as a physical reality is the subject of Canadian filmmaker Peter Mettler's latest film, The End of Time. Peter Mettler's films have been deemed impossible to make and they elude categorization. They include Pictures of Light (1994), which captured the wonder of the Northern Lights on celluloid, andGambling, Gods, and LSD (2002), an exploration of the notions of transcendence and belief. Mettler's new movie is a non-fiction film that examines "time" with sequences that range from the world's largest particle physics laboratory, to the slow-moving wall of volcanic lava encroaching upon a single plant, to a skydiver hurtling towards earth from a height of 102,000 feet, to the city of Detroit in the death throes of urban decay. In addition to its narrative sections, the film has passages of purely visual and aural expression, giving it a more experimental, as well as poetic, quality. "I think it is the most difficult film that I have made," says Mettler. "And also my most personal."

There will be a discussion with director Peter Mettler and Kent Jones following the screening.

Sunday, November 10, 2013 at 1:30 pm

Into Great Silence; Philip Gröning, director; 2005; 160 minutes

The second film screened for the Festival, Into Great Silence, also is about time, specifically, how the passage of time predominates in German director Philip Gröning's documentary about a group of monks from the Carthusian order. Gröning waited sixteen years to make this film about the Carthusians-founded in the year 1084 and considered one of the Catholic Church's strictest order-and then spent six months living in the monks' quarters in the French Alps filming their daily rituals of prayers, chores, and rare outdoor excursions. What resulted is a film that embodies real life in a monastery rather than simply depicts one. The viewer is totally immersed in monastic life, in all its silence and asceticism. With no voiceover and no score, what remains is a chronicle of spirituality, mesmerizing in its silence. As for the connection between silence and time, Gröning explains, "I think the most profound experience a viewer can make when watching a film is to get a feel for time. Usually this is masked by a story. In a film about silence, this experience of time is swept up to the surface. Nothing detracts from it."

There will be a discussion with director Philip Gröning and Kent Jones following the screening.

Sunday, November 10, 2013 at 5 pm

Avery Fisher Hall, Broadway at 65th Street

Estonian National Symphony Orchestra

Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir

Neeme Järvi, conductor

Veljo Tormis: Overture No. 2

Arvo Pärt: In principio (New York premiere)

Arvo Pärt: Da pacem Domine

Mozart: Ave verum corpus, K. 618

Sibelius: Symphony No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 82

With distinguished conductor Neeme Järvi at the helm, the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra and Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir offer works by Arvo Pärt: In principio, set to the first 14 verses of the Gospel of St. John, in its New York premiere, and Da pacem Domine, which commemorates the 2004 terrorist bombings in Madrid. Also on the program are works by Finnish composer Veljo Tormis, Mozart's deeply moving Ave verum corpus, and Sibelius' Symphony No. 5.

The Estonian National Symphony Orchestra (ERSO, from its name in Estonian) is the country's oldest professional orchestra, with roots dating back to 1926. Neeme Järvi has been Principal Conductor/Artistic Director since 2010. ERSO's repertory ranges from Baroque to contemporary music and it has performed numerous world premieres by Estonian composers including Arvo Pärt, Erkki-Sven Tüür, Eduard Tubin, Eino Tamberg, Helena Tulve and Veljo Tormis, among others. ERSO received a 2004 Grammy Award for its Virgin Classics recording of Sibelius cantatas and a 2010 Grammy nomination for its CD of Frank Martin's oratorio Golgotha, which featured the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir. Writing about that Harmonia Mundi recording with Daniel Reuss leading both Estonian ensembles along with the Capella Amsterdam, The New York Times said, "It is hard to imagine a better performance than this sensitive and elegant account." Visit: www.erso.ee/

The Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir was founded in 1981 by Tõnu Kaljuste who was its Artistic Director and Conductor until 2001. He was followed by Paul Hillier (2001-2007). Since 2008, the Choir has been directed by Dutch conductor Daniel Reuss. The Choir's repertoire ranges from Gregorian Chant to music of the 21st century. It performs approximately 70 concerts annually in Estonia and abroad. Among its CDs is the 2006 Grammy Award-winning recording (HG) Arvo Pärt: Da Pacem with Paul Hillier. Visit: www.epcc.ee/

After studying at conservatory in Tallinn and St. Petersburg, Neeme Järvi began his professional career as a percussionist and then had regular conducting assignments with the Estonian State Symphony (as the orchestra was known during the Soviet era) starting in 1960. He was the orchestra's principal conductor from 1963-1979. He also held the post of music director of the Tallinn Opera from 1966-1979. After emigrating in 1980, Mr. Järvi established a flourishing career in Europe and the U.S. (taking U.S. citizenship) and forging close relationships with the Detroit and Boston Symphony Orchestras, Sweden's Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.

A pre-concert lecture will take place at 3:45 pm in the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse, Rose Building, 165 W. 65th Street, 10th Floor, featuring scholar, prize-winning author, performer and educator Andrew Shenton.

Tuesday, November 12, 2013 at 7:30 pm

Church of St. Mary the Virgin, 145 W. 46th Street

St. Thomas Boys Choir of Leipzig

Georg Christoph Biller, Thomaskantor and conductor

Leipzig Baroque Orchestra

Bach: Der Herr denket an uns, Cantata BWV 196

Bach: Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich, Cantata BWV 150

Vivaldi: Gloria in D major, RV 589

Vivaldi: Magnificat in G minor, RV 610

The historic St. Thomas Boys Choir of Leipzig makes its White Light Festival debut with the Leipzig Baroque Orchestra in a program of works by Vivaldi and Johann Sebastian Bach who was Thomaskantor (leader) of the choir from 1723 until his death in 1750. The composer's immense body of work has become a special legacy celebrated and sustained over generations by the Choir. The Choir celebrated its 800th anniversary in 2012. The milestone was the subject of the 2011 documentary Die Thomaner: A Year in the Life of the St. Thomas Boys Choir Leipzig.

The acclaimed St. Thomas Boys Choir of Leipzig comprises nearly 100 members, selected through annual auditions to receive a rigorous academic and musical education (kindergarten through high school) while performing as part of regular church services throughout the year and in concerts in various settings. Since the 1920s, St. Thomas Boys Choir has toured internationally and made numerous recordings. The Choir appears regularly with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. Among its notable alumni are conductor Christoph von Dohnányi, singers Christoph Genz and Martin Petzold, the Armacord and Calmus vocal ensembles and the organist and pianist David Timm. thomaskirche.org/r-st-thomas-boys-choir.html

Georg Christoph Biller, a former choir member (from 1964-1974), composer and teacher has led the Choir since 1992 as the sixteenth Thomaskantor since J.S. Bach. He studied at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Leipzig from 1976 until 1981; orchestral conducting with Rolf Reuter and Kurt Masur, and voice.

The Leipzig Baroque Orchestra, a period instrument ensemble, was formed in 1995. It specializes in the performance of 17th and 18th century music. In addition to collaborating with the St. Thomas Boys Choir, the LBO participates in the final rounds of the biennial International Bach Competition held in Leipzig. The LBO tours regularly in Europe. Konstanze Beyer has been its director since 1998.

White Light Lounge: Audience members are invited to mingle and enjoy a glass of wine in the Church hall immediately following the performance.

Wednesday, November 13, 2013 at 7:30 pm

Thursday, November 14, 2013 at 7:30 pm

Rose Theater, Frederick P. Rose Hall, Columbus Avenue at 60th Street

Era la Notte (U.S. premiere)

Anna Caterina Antonacci, soprano

Soloists of the orchestra Les Siècles

Juliette Deschamps, concept and director

Dominique Bruguière, lighting design

Cécile Degos, set design

Christian Lacroix, costume design

Marini: Passacalio a terzo e a quattro, Op. 22

Giramo: Chi non mi conosce dirà

Marini: Sinfonia sesto tuono, Op. 22

Monteverdi: Lamento d'Arianna: Lasciatemi morire, SV 22

Marini: Sinfonia primo tuono, Op. 22

Strozzi: Lagrime mie, a che vi trattenete, from Diporti di Euterpe, overo Cantate e ariette a voce sola, Op. 7

Marini: Sinfonia terzo tuono, Op. 22

Marini: Balletto secondo a terzo e a quattro, Op. 22

Monteverdi: Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda, SV 153

Marini: Zarabanda terza, Op. 22

Originally produced by Instant Pluriel

Soprano Anna Caterina Antonacci made her New York recital debut on Lincoln Center's "Art of the Song" series in February 2012. The New York Times called it "triumphant" and "riveting." Now the Italian-born, Paris-based singer returns to the White Light Festival with the U.S. premiere of Era la Notte, the acclaimed one-woman staged concert in which she portrays passionate female characters from four works by four 17th-century Italian composers: Biagio Marini, Pietro Antonio Giramo, Barbara Strozzi and Claudio Monteverdi. The Sunday Times (London), reviewing the CD of the program, wrote, "She brings her characters vividly to life...in portraits of women in extremes of passionate despair and struggle." Describing a 2009 Wigmore Hall tour-de-force performance of Monteverdi's Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda, which is the centerpiece ofEra la Notte, The Independent, London said she "claimed it as her own, narrating the story and singing the roles of both combatants."

Era la Notte premiered in 2006 at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées-the first work directed by the then 29-year-old Juliette Deschamps, the youngest director ever engaged by the theater. In 2008, she directed another staged concert work for Anna Caterina Antonacci, Altre Stelle. Both were met with wide acclaim and toured throughout Europe. These successes led to opera engagements for Deschamps at Vienna's Theater an der Wien and Het Musiektheater, Amsterdam, among others. She workshopped a production of Handel's Agrippina with Fabio Biondi which was subsequently performed at Venice's Teatro La Fenice. Opera commissions with Théâtre des Champs-Élysées include the 2009 productions of Kurt Weil's Mahagonny Songspiel and Seven Deadly Sins. Deschamps' career began at age 17 when she was engaged as an apprentice in stage direction by Werner Herzog at the Paris Opera.

"The heroine of one's dreams" is how Opera News described Anna Caterina Antonacci, whose exceptional vocal timbre and charismatic acting skills have established her as a major artist in Europe. Among her most notable roles are Cassandre (Les Troyens), and the title roles in Incoronazione di Poppea, and Medea. She made her critically-acclaimed debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in Carmen. She appears regularly with the world's leading orchestras and conductors including Riccardo Muti, John Eliot Gardner, Andrew Davis, Antonio Pappano, and Yannick Nézét-Seguin. Represented in a number of notable opera recordings, Antonacci's second solo recording, L'Alba epara dalla luce l'ombra, featuring songs by Tosti, Cilea, Hahn and others with pianist Donald Sulzen, was released on the Wigmore Live label in 2012. In September 2012 she was named a Chevalier de l'Ordre de la Legion d'honneur by the French government.

Parisian-born conductor François-Xavier Roth founded Les Siècles in France in 2003. The ensemble, made up of period-performance instrumentalists, also specializes in performances of contemporary music on both period and modern instruments. They have performed in Italy, Germany, England and Japan and released a number of critically-acclaimed recordings.

White Light Lounge: Audience members are invited to mingle and enjoy a glass of wine immediately following the performances.

This presentation of Era la Notte is made possible in part by The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Inc.

Friday, November 15, 2013 at 7:30 pm

Rose Theater, Frederick P. Rose Hall, Columbus Avenue at 60th Street

Rokia Traoré

Malian singer-songwriter, Rokia Traoré, "Africa's most interesting and genuinely experimental contemporary musician" (Daily Telegraph-London), returns to the White Light Festival performing work from her latest, critically-acclaimed, and most rock-influenced album to date, Beautiful Africa.

Beautiful Africa, received perfect five-star reviews from The Guardian, Observer, Daily Telegraph, and Financial Times upon its UK release in April. Pitchfork wrote, "Traoré's past albums established her as a fine singer, but here, she feels more accomplished than ever, her voice bending around her words...with flourishes of subtle vibrato." The songs, sung in Bambara, French, and English, are Traoré's attempt to wrestle with the recent political and social strife in her homeland. The Chicago-Reader said the album "marks a major transformation and a huge step forward artistically" for the singer/songwriter whose career has carved a distinctive path joining traditional African sounds with the jazz, blues, rock and French chanson she grew up with.

The album's release follows a very productive year for the singer who wrote and performed three new programs produced by the Barbican Centre: the acoustic Damou (Dream), bluesy Donguili (Sing) and rock-influenced Donke (Dance) to show, she says, "three different aspects of Malian culture and my own personality." All three were performed at different London venues in one week last summer and at this year's Sydney Festival, Australia. She also toured and collaborated with Damon Albarn, Paul McCartney and John Paul Jones as part of the Africa Express train project, and appeared in British and European presentations of Desdemona.

The daughter of a Malian diplomat, Rokia Traoré studied in Brussels. In 1997, she won the Radio France International prize for African Discovery of the Year before releasing her 1998 debut album Mouineïssa to overwhelming praise. Traoré's 2003 recording Bowmboï was her breakthrough release. Time Out London said that her live shows are "arguably the most exciting, most thrilling live African music show around." Known for her outspoken lyrics, Traoré covers a variety of topics, including poverty and social justice on her recording, Tchamantché, which was awarded France's prestigious Victoires de la Musique for World Music Album in 2009. Peter Sellars commissioned Traoré to create a work for Vienna's New Crowned Hope Festival in 2006 celebrating the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth. The result was a triumphant, "quasi-opera," Wati, about the final year of Mozart's life. In Wati, Traoré re-imagines a dying Mozart as a griot in ancient West Africa, heir to a long line of hereditary musicians. Desdemona, the staged work that featured Traoré presented at White Light Festival 2011 was a collaboration with director Peter Sellars and Nobel Prize-winning author, Toni Morrison. It brought an African dimension to the tragic Shakespeare heroine from Othello, with Traoré at its center as singer/actress. www.rokiatraore.net

A pre-concert lecture by Banning Eyre will take place at 6:15 pm in the Irene Diamond Education Center, Frederick P. Rose Hall.

White Light Lounge: Audience members are invited to mingle and enjoy a glass of wine immediately following the performances.

Saturday, November 16, 2013 at 7:30

Alice Tully Hall, Broadway at 65th Street

Tallis Scholars

Peter Phillips, director

Taverner: Kyrie "Leroy"

Taverner: Gloria, from Missa "Gloria tibi Trinitas"

Tallis: Audivi vocem

Taverner: Credo, from Missa "Gloria tibi Trinitas"

Taverner: Sanctus, from Missa "Gloria tibi Trinitas"

Nico Muhly: New Work (New York premiere)

Arvo Pärt: ...which was the son of...

Taverner: Agnus Dei, from Missa "Gloria tibi Trinitas"

The renowned sacred vocal music group the Tallis Scholars, celebrating its 40th anniversary, performs a program displaying the wide range of their unique repertoire with old and new works by Taverner, Tallis, Nico Muhly and Arvo Pärt. The Tallis Scholars' program at White Light will include sections of Renaissance composer John Taverner's Missa "Gloria tibi Trinitas," an elaborate and beautiful sacred choral work dating back to around 1500, widely considered a unique achievement in English sacred music. Sections of Taverner's Missa are performed between works by the other featured composers, including "Audivi vocem" by Thomas Tallis, and a new vocal work, commissioned by Lincoln Center and heard in its N.Y. premiere, by Nico Muhly, who has written extensively for a capella vocal groups. Additionally, the Tallis Scholars will sing "...which was the son of..." a work from 2000 by Arvo Pärt, the esteemed Estonian composer, and inspiration for the name of this Lincoln Center Festival. The ensemble performed in the inaugurAl White Light Festival in 2010, in a program that paired works of Pärt alongside 16th-century works by Palestrina, Byrd, Tallis, Allegri and Praetorius.

Peter Phillips founded the Tallis Scholars in 1973. Then have now appeared in over 1,750 concerts and made more than 50 recordings. In addition to the Tallis Scholars, Phillips has appeared with the Collegium Vocale Gent and the Netherlands Chamber Choir, and has undertaken recent projects with Choeur de Chambre de Namur, Intrada of Moscow, Musica Reservata of Barcelona and the Tudor Choir of Seattle.

The Tallis Scholars, under Peter Phillips' direction, is among the most celebrated choirs in the world, hailed by The New York Times as "rock stars of Renaissance vocal music." They have done more than any active group to establish sacred vocal music of the Renaissance as one of the great repertoires of Western classical music, while also providing fresh interpretations of modern composers. The group received a 2012 Diapason d'Or in the category of Ancient Music for its recording of Josquin des Prez' Missa De beata virgine and Missa Ave maris stella. This June, the Tallis Scholars were elevated to the Gramophone Hall of Fame, marking their inclusion among the 100 most significant classical music soloists, conductors and ensembles over the last 100 years. http://www.thetallisscholars.co.uk/

Nico Muhly's new work is commissioned by the Tallis Scholars, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and Lafayette College.

White Light Lounge: Audience members are invited to mingle and enjoy a glass of wine in the Alice Tully Hall outer lobby immediately following the performance.

Tuesday, November 19, 2013 at 7:30

Clark Studio Theater, Rose Building, 165 W. 65th Street, 7th Floor

JACK Quartet

Georg Friedrich Haas: In iij. Noct, String Quartet No. 3

The acclaimed JACK Quartet makes its first White Light Festival appearance with a unique work by Austrian-born composer Georg Friedrich Haas, his String Quartet No. 3. This work is subtitled In iij. Noct and references the Roman Catholic Tenebrae service for Holy Week, as well as music by Renaissance composer Gesualdo. Haas's String Quartet No. 3 is performed in complete darkness-the musicians can't see each other, and are seated as far apart from one another as possible.

The score for the Third String Quartet leaves many details and decisions to the performers. They communicate solely through the sounds produced by their instruments, inviting one another into musical processes, accepting these invitations or responding with an invitation of their own-and always deciding how far they choose to go down each path together, before turning back. The exact duration of the piece is only decided during the performance (it will be approximately 1 hour in length). This radical performance approach creates a unique environment, allowing the audience to focus on the shifting motifs and textures coming from the four corners of the theater. The JACK Quartet's performance of Haas's String Quartet No. 3 has been called "mind-blowingly good" (Los Angeles Times), and was hailed for its "otherworldly beauty" (The New Yorker).

Celebrated for its work in championing contemporary music, the JACK Quartet has electrified audiences with its "explosive virtuosity" (Boston Globe). The Washington Post commented, "The string quartet may be a 250-year-old contraption, but young, brilliant groups like the JACK Quartet are keeping it thrillingly vital." The members (Christopher Otto and Ari Streisfeld, violin; John Richards, viola; and Kevin McFarland, cello) are focused on commissioning and performance of new works, leading them to work closely with composers such as Helmut Lachenmann, György Kurtág, Georg Friedrich Haas, James Dillon, Toshio Hosokawa, and Wolfgang Rihm, among others. They have performed in venues ranging from London's Wigmore Hall, and New York's Carnegie Hall to the Darmstadt Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik in Germany. They actively lead workshops with young composers and work with educational presenters to broaden and diversify new audiences.http://www.jackquartet.com/

A post-performance discussion with Georg Friedrich Haas, the JACK Quartet ,and WNYC's John Schaefer will take place in the Clark Studio Theater.

White Light Lounge: Audience members are invited to mingle and enjoy a glass of wine in the Samuels Studio, Rose Building, 7th Floor immediately following the performance.

Thursday, November 21, 2013 at 7:30 pm

Friday, November 22, 2013 at 7:30 pm

Saturday, November 23, 2013 at 7:30 pm

David H. Koch Theater, Broadway at 63rd Street

Mark Morris Dance Group

Mark Morris, choreographer

MMDG Music Ensemble

Nicholas McGegan, conductor

Dominique Labelle, soprano

Yulia Van Doren, soprano

John McVeigh, tenor

Douglas Williams, bass-baritone

Riverside Choral Society Chamber Singers

PatRick Gardner, director

Adrianne Lobel, set design

Christine Van Loon, costume design

James F. Ingalls, lighting design

Handel: L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato

Mark Morris Dance Group, one of America's most beloved modern dance companies, has made frequent appearances at theMostly Mozart Festival in recent years. Now the company returns for its first White Light Festival appearance with choreographer Mark Morris' landmark work, Handel's pastoral ode L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato ("The Merry Man, the Thoughtful Man, and the Moderate Man"). Nicholas McGegan will lead the MMDG Music Ensemble and soloists.

Since L'Allegro's 1988 premiere in Brussels, "reams of paper and buckets of ink have been spent describing its manifest wonders" (The New York Times), and the Boston Herald dubbed it, "One of the very greatest dances of the late 20th century." Morris' dance/oratorio masterpiece uses the music Handel wrote in 1740 for two poems by John Milton, and was further inspired by an 1816 watercolor series by William Blake reflecting Milton's poetry. The resulting evening-long work for dancers, soloists, choir, and an ensemble remains a colorful, joyful exploration of harmony between nature and civilized man. L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato was performed at the Mostly Mozart Festival in 2002, 2005 and 2010.

Mark Morris has created nearly 100 dances for the Mark Morris Dance Group (MMDG) and more than two dozen commissions for major ballet and opera companies around the globe. The MMDG was formed in 1980, and soon developed a steadily expanding touring schedule and a national television program for the PBS series Dance in America. In 1988, MMDG was invited to become the national Dance Company of Belgium, and spent three years in residence at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels. The Company returned to the U.S. in 1991 as one of the world's leading dance companies, performing across the U.S. and at major international festivals. It has maintained ties to several cities around the world, most notably its West Coast home, Cal Performances in Berkeley, CA. It appears regularly in Boston, MA; Urbana, IL; Fairfax, VA; Seattle, WA; and at the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival in Becket, MA. MMDG debuted at the Mostly Mozart Festival in 2002 and the Tanglewood Music Festival in 2003 and has since appeared at both festivals many times. markmorrisdancegroup.org/

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