Lincoln Center Festival to 'Cross Borders' with 2017 Lineup

Nigel Redden, Lincoln Center Festival Director, today announced the lineup for the 2017 Festival, which runs from July 10 to 30. This summer, in its 22nd season, the Festival continues to accentuate its mission of globalism by inviting to Lincoln Center artists and companies from many parts of the world who are creating audacious, original, and relevant work. Musicians, actors, writers, directors, filmmakers and dancers from a dozen countries and five continents will animate Lincoln Center's campus venues with bold creations-43 performances packed in a span of three weeks.

Redden notes: "One thing that has emerged as a theme this year-because the world has certainly changed since the 2016 Festival-is that our international festival has become about borders and specifically about crossing them." Two theatrical productions from Israel and one from Syria offer powerful commentary on the links between place and identity, love and family, hope and despair; a global miniseries, Nomadic Nights, sheds light on an eclectic array of musicians whose art knows no boundaries; and several cross-cultural collaborations create rich dialogues between East and West.

"The point of the Festival has always been to provide perspectives that we wouldn't have had otherwise," remarks Redden. Thought-provoking plays such as David Grossman's To the End of the Land, Amos Gitai's Yitzhak Rabin: Chronicle of an Assassination and Omar Abusaada and Mohammad Al Attar's While I Was Waiting force the audience to think about how it would deal with the unimaginable, the things life throws at us. A more scientific and psychological quest for understanding what it means to be human reveals startling insight in Opening Skinner's Box, an Improbable Theatre London import.

"American Express is pleased to support the Lincoln Center Festival and help New Yorkers and visitors alike have access to innovative, pioneering productions from across the world," said Timothy J. McClimon, president, American Express Foundation. "Our long-term commitment to the festival reflects our passion for ensuring arts and culture continue to thrive in our hometown, New York City."

A much-anticipated highlight of this year's Festival is the 50th anniversary presentation of George Balanchine's 1967 masterpiece, Jewels, featuring the Bolshoi Ballet, New York City Ballet, and Paris Opera Ballet on a single stage. "We are celebrating Balanchine, one of the singular creative artists who founded Lincoln Center, in a way that reveals the roots of his ideas and training in Russia, France, and America," says Redden. Lincoln Center Festival will also offer a special lottery for Jewels with $20 orchestra seats available for each performance (lottery details will be announced at a later date).

A very different 50th anniversary is celebrated on the same day that Jewels kicks off: American electronic music pioneer Morton Subotnick's iconic early techno album Silver Apples of the Moon, which was released by Nonesuch in 1967 and will be reimagined in a landmark live performance by the composer, alongside a world premiere entitled Crowds and Power.

These events reveal yet another thread in this summer's offerings: artist-heroes who forge their own paths. In addition to Balanchine and Subotnick, there is the Japanese Paris-based choreographer Saburo Teshigawara, an extremely rare appearance by China's superstar Gong Linna, Brazil's larger-than-life musician/activist Carlinhos Brown, Poland's musical archaeologist Maria Pomianowska, and a wide-ranging miniseries devoted to jazz radical and prime innovator Ornette Coleman-organized by his son, Denardo Coleman.

Watch a preview for the 2017 festival below!

Lincoln Center Festival goes on sale to Friends of Lincoln Center beginning March 22 and to the general public starting March 29. For more information and to buy tickets, visit LincolnCenterFestival.org or the David Geffen Hall Box Office or call CenterCharge at 212.721.6500.

Lincoln Center Festival will offer a special lottery for Jewels: $20 tickets for orchestra seats for each performance of Jewels. Details to be announced later.

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