Works & Process at the Guggenheim Presents New York City Ballet: Music at the Ballet with Andrew Litton, 4/23
By: Christina Mancuso Mar. 17, 2017
On Sunday, April 23, 2017 at 7:30pm, Works & Process at the Guggenheim presents New York City Ballet's Music Director Andrew Litton, a longtime conductor of symphony orchestras around the world who recently added ballet orchestra maestro to his achievements with his appointment at NYCB. Litton will share his unique perspective on the similarities and differences between these two experiences, and will illuminate the intricacies of NYCB's vast musical repertory prior to the Company's upcoming Here/Now Festival, featuring 43 ballets created for NYCB since 1988, which will take place from April 25 through May 21 at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center.
Other participants will include Moderator Ted Wiprud, the Vice President of Education at the New York Philharmonic, NYCB Orchestra Co-Concertmaster Kurt Nikkanen, NYCB Solo Pianist Susan Walters, and dancers of the New York City Ballet.
Tickets & Venue
$40, $35 Guggenheim members and Friends of Works & Process. $10 Student Rush Tickets available one hour prior to each performance if space allows (for students under 25 with valid ID).
Box Office (212) 423-3575, (M-F, 1-5pm) or online at worksandprocess.org
Peter B. Lewis Theater
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
1071 Fifth Avenue, New York
This Works & Process program is made possible by Stephen Kroll Reidy.
Andrew Litton, Music Director of the New York City Ballet holds several additional posts. He is Artistic Director of Minnesota Orchestra's Sommerfest, Principal Guest Conductor of the Colorado Symphony, Conductor Laureate of Britain's Bournemouth Symphony and Music Director Laureate of Norway's Bergen Philharmonic, where he recently concluded a 12-year tenure as music director. Litton led the Dallas Symphony as Music Director from 1994 to 2006. Each season, he guest conducts leading orchestras and opera companies around the globe and adds to his discography of almost 130 recordings, which have garnered America's Grammy Award, France's Diapason d'Or and other honors.
Litton concluded his tenure in Bergen in grand style in 2015, leading a gala celebration of the Orchestra's 250th Anniversary. Under his leadership, the Bergen Philharmonic gained international recognition through touring, including debuts at London's BBC Proms and Amsterdam's Concertgebouw, as well as appearances at Vienna's Musikverein, the Philharmonie in Berlin, and Carnegie Hall in New York. His work in Bergen brought many tributes, including a knighthood in the Norwegian Royal Order of Merit.
Litton began his NYCB appointment in 2015 conducting performances of George Balanchine's The Nutcracker and subsequently opened the Company's 2016 Winter Season with a special performance of ballets he selected. In June he conducted the company on tour at the Chatelet in Paris. Litton's work in ballet began while he was still a Juilliard student, performing as on-stage pianist for Rudolf Nureyev, Natalia Makarova, and Cynthia Gregory.
Highlights of his 2016-17 performances besides his regular appearances with the Bergen Philharmonic, the Minnesota Orchestra, and the Colorado Symphony, include return engagements with the Netherlands Philharmonic at the Concertgebouw, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and the Symphony Orchestras of Melbourne, Singapore, and Bournemouth.
An accomplished pianist, Litton often conducts from the keyboard and performs chamber music with colleagues. He is an acknowledged expert on George Gershwin and has performed and recorded Gershwin widely as both pianist and conductor. After leading the Covent Garden debut of Porgy and Bess, he arranged his own concert suite of that work, which is now performed around the world. In 2014 he released his first solo piano album, A Tribute to Oscar Peterson, For more information visit andrewlitton.com.
New York City Ballet is one of the foremost dance companies in the world, with an unparalleled repertory of ballets-most of them created for NYCB-many of which are considered modern masterpieces. The Company was founded in 1948 by arts patron Lincoln Kirstein and the legendary choreographer George Balanchine, who served as Ballet Master of NYCB from its inception until his death, in 1983, and created a company of dancers known for their speed and musicality. In 1949, Jerome Robbins joined the Company as associate artistic director. NYCB moved to its current home at Lincoln Center's New York State Theater (now the David H. Koch Theater), built especially for Balanchine and the Company, in 1964. Now under the direction of Ballet Master in Chief Peter Martins and Executive Director Katherine Brown, the company has more than 90 dancers, a 62-member orchestra, an official school (the School of American Ballet), an institute for choreography (the New York Choreographic Institute), and an annual 21-week season in New York City. Widely acknowledged for its enduring contributions to dance, NYCB is committed to promoting creative excellence and nurturing a new generation of dancers and choreographers. For more information visit www.nycballet.com.
Works & Process at the Guggenheim
For over 31 years and in over 400 productions, New Yorkers have been able to see, hear, and meet the most acclaimed artists in the world, in an intimate setting unlike any other. Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, has championed new works and offered audiences unprecedented access to generations of leading creators and performers. Each performance takes place in the Guggenheim's intimate Frank Lloyd Wright-designed 285-seat Peter B. Lewis Theater. Described bythe New York Times as "an exceptional opportunity to understand something of the creative process," Works & Process is produced by founder Mary Sharp Cronson. worksandprocess.org.
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