From Bryant Park to Battery Park, the classic arts scene in New York is never quiet. Here is just a sampling of some of the classic arts events happening this week:
The Joyce Theater's Ballet Festival returns August 13-18 with Unite, a festival curated and directed by Calvin Royal III, principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre. This year’s festival will feature dancers from nine different companies performing two programs comprising 19 works by 17 different choreographers, including George Balanchine, Alonzo King, Adriana Pierce, and Sir Kenneth MacMillan.
The 43rd annual Battery Dance Festival runs August 11-17 in Rockefeller Park, featuring works by 40 different companies and choreographers. The week will include in-person and live-streamed performances by dance companies from around the world, as well as both free and $1 workshops.
Pianist Christopher O’Riley will give a complete performance of the first book of Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier at BargeMusic August 18. The collection of preludes and fugues in all 24 major and minor keys was written to showcase a tuning system in which all keys would sound in tune. It is mathematically impossible to tune a keyboard instrument such that all intervals have perfect just intonation, and so most keyboard tuning systems in Bach’s day would sacrifice certain rarely-used intervals in order to keep the rest of the keys as in-tune as possible, meaning that keyboard instruments would sound more in-tune in some keys than others. Although the exact tuning system which Bach used is unknown today, his collections of preludes and fugues remain popular, especially the famous Prelude in C Major.
Bryant Park’s Live After Dark series will feature the Nebulous Quartet August 13 and AJOYO August 14. Nebulous Quartet is a traditional string quartet in its instrumentation but with a sound far from traditional. They embody the music they play and take pride in the creative journey, often creating arrangements and compositions from an improvisational and nebulous state. AJOYO is the vision of multi-reed player Yacine Boularès, a mystic brew blending African tradition, jazz, and soul. Both concerts will be free to attend at the Porch in Bryant Park.
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