From Saint-Saëns to St. John, 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:
New York City Ballet has its Fall Fashion Gala October 9. The gala performance features a world premiere ballet by Caili Quan, making her debut work for the company, set to Saint-Saëns’ Cello Concerto No. 1. The program will also include the company premiere of Gianna Reisen’s Signs, set to music by Philip Glass, which was originally created for the School of American Ballet Workshop in 2022. Signs will feature costumes by fashion designer Zac Posen. Posen’s designs will also be seen in the third ballet on the program, Tiler Peck’s Concerto for Two Pianos, which had its world premiere in the 2024 winter season. There will be additional performances of this program October 11 and 12. NYCB’s fall season concludes this week with these performances, as well as additional performances of programs featuring the work of Justin Peck, George Balanchine, and Alexei Ratmansky.
Death of Classical presents The Light After, a three-concert series in the Crypt beneath the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, October 11, 12, and 16. The first concert will be led by composer and cellist Andrew Yee, and will feature contemporary works by Yee, Caroline Shaw, Juhi Bansal, David Lang, and Osvaldo Golijov. The second concert will feature Antonín Dvořák’s “American” Quartet, along with three works by American composers: Michi Wiancko’s Lullaby for the Transient, Carlos Simon’s An Elegy: A Cry from the Grave, and Jessie Montgomery’s Source Code. The final concert, titled Vis Aeternitatis, will range nearly a full millennium, with works by medieval composer Hildegard von Bingen; Baroque composers Heinrich Biber, Henry Purcell, and Barbara Strozzi; and contemporary composers Caroline Shaw, and Gelsey Bell.
Musicians from the New York Philharmonic and the Juilliard School join forces October 9 at Symphony Space’s Peter Jay Sharp Theater, to celebrate the centennial of Pierre Boulez, composer, conductor, and former NY Philharmonic music director, as well as the 150th birthday of composer Arnold Schoenberg. David Robertson will lead the ensemble in a performance of Boulez’s Sur Incises, and Schoenberg’s Suite, Op. 29.
Schoenberg will also be featured on the second New York Philharmonic program this week, as conductor Matthias Pintscher will lead the orchestra in the symphonic poem Pelleas and Melisande – not to be confused with Debussy’s opera of the same name. The program, which will be performed October 10 and 13 at David Geffen Hall, will also include the U.S. premiere of Pintscher’s Neharot, as well as Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor, with soloist Gil Shaham.
Carnegie Hall’s season officially opens October 8 with an opening night gala featuring the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Conductor Gustavo Dudamel will lead the concert, which includes Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with soloist Lang Lang, and Ginastera’s Estancia, with baritone Gustavo Castillo. Dudamel and the LA Philharmonic will also perform two additional Carnegie Hall concerts on October 9 and 10, featuring between them cellist Alisa Weilerstein, soprano Jana McIntyre, mezzo-soprano Deepa Johnny, actress María Valverde narrating Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Grammy winner Natalia Lafourcade.
London-based dance company Far From The Norm makes its Joyce Theater debut this week, with choreographer Botis Seva leading BLKDOG, a Hip-Hop dance performance with original music and text by composer Torben Sylvest. Performances run October 9-13.
Vocal ensemble Fourth Wall Ensemble comes to the Kaufman Music Center October 7 for a concert of Monteverdi madrigals. October 8, composer Marcos Balter will curate a program of chamber music featuring pianist Conor Hanick, and cellist Jay Campbell. Hanick and Campbell will play movements from Balter’s Three Enigmas, followed by a live improvisational remix of the same piece by electronic musicians Ikue Mori, Maria Chavez, Gladstone Butler, and Senem Pirler.
Performances continue at the Metropolitan Opera this week of Jeanine Tesori’s Grounded, which opened the season, as well as Puccini’s Tosca, Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann, and Verdi’s Rigoletto, the latter two productions directed by Bartlett Sher.
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