Corriamo, fugiamo.
Director, organizer, and author Yuval Sharon on the living art of opera—plus Seth Parker Woods at the NY Phil and more select musical events for the week ahead.
I can’t think of anything more depressing than spending the stolen moments in which I write this little news brief rehashing the musical event I attended over the weekend—despite excellent performances, I must add. Since my livelihood doesn’t compel me to do so, I’ll cite a bit from one of the most inspiring things I’ve read recently, instead:
The living art of opera, as long as it’s constantly reinvented, never stays still. We need to start considering the art form less as a bulwark and more as a blueprint, suggestions for a realization based on the inspiration of the interpreters and the exegesis of the moment. That means it is an entirely open form—open to the flux of time. And therefore opera, when it reimagines the past, reveals the past’s reality as incomplete and evolving. Every opera production should strive toward being this incomplete, this temporary, this provisional.
The passage above is from pages 40-41 of A New Philosophy of Opera, an exciting, challenging, and hopeful new book by Yuval Sharon, the stage director, organizer, and Detroit Opera artistic director. Sharon made his reputation with the bold innovations undertaken by his Los Angeles-based indie company, The Industry, like Hopscotch and Sweet Land, and by iconoclastic notions elsewhere, like staging La bohème in reverse, from tragedy to transcendence, in Detroit.
As I mentioned a few weeks ago, another signature Sharon project, the Claudio Monteverdi/George E. Lewis mash-up The Comet/Poppea, will have its East Coast premiere at Philadelphia’s Curtis School of Music Nov. 1–3 (tickets here).
Sharon’s been a player in some of the bigger contemporary initiatives we’ve seen here, too. Robert O’Hara’s production of X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X, by Anthony and Thulani Davis, was mounted at the Detroit Opera before it came to the Met. Likewise, the Deborah Colker staging of Osvaldo Golijov and David Henry Hwang’s Ainadamar that opens tonight at the Met (see below) was in Detroit last season.
Those examples speak to his curatorial instincts, but if all goes as planned currently, the Met will showcase Sharon’s directorial vision with a new production of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde in the 2025–26 season. After that, he has been entrusted with that most sacred of operatic cows: the same composer’s “Ring” cycle, slated to commence in 2027–28.
All things considered, no time like now to read Sharon’s book and get a sense of what he’s about. As an added bonus, he provides a time-traipsing playlist to complement the reading, available on Spotify and Apple Music.
News to note.
Hank Shteamer on improvising saxophonist, composer, and D.I.Y. institution Tim Berne at 70, in The New York Times (gift link).
Reviews to read.
Max Keller on Grounded, by Jeanine Tesori and George Brant, on Parterre.
The Night After Night Watch.
Concerts listed in Eastern Standard Time.
NOTAFLOF = no one turned away for lack of funds.
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Ainadamar
Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center
70 Lincoln Center Plaza; Upper West Side
Tuesday, Oct. 15 at 7:30pm, Saturday, Oct. 19 at 8pm, Tuesday, Oct. 22 at 7:30pm; through Nov. 9; $35–$460
metopera.org
The brief, arresting opera by composer Osvaldo Golijov and playwright David Henry Hwang, concerning the life and work of poet-playwright Federico García Lorca, comes to the Met in a production by Deborah Colker with all-important sound design by Mark Grey. Angel Blue portrays Margarita Xirgu in most performances, Daniela Mack is García Lorca, and conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya makes his house debut.
Sacred and Profane
Leonard Nimoy Thalia, Symphony Space
2537 Broadway, Upper West Side
Tuesday, Oct. 15 at 7:30pm; $30, seniors and students $20
symphonyspace.org
Composers Sheree Clement and Robert Sirota share an eclectic bill at Symphony Space, with singers Ariadne Greif and Paul Pinto, violists Nadia and Jonah Sirota, and further musicians offering the world premiere of Clement’s Mermaid Songs, the live premiere of her comic duet Table Manners, and two works by Sirota, Broken Places and A Sinner’s Diary.
16
Chuck Johnson + Clarice Jensen
Public Records
233 Butler St., Brooklyn
Wednesday, Oct. 16 at 7pm; $25.75
dice.fm
Oakland composer, performer, and producer Chuck Johnson celebrates the release of Sun Glories—an apt name for the ravishing, light-saturated tone poems he creates with pedal steel, electric guitar, various keyboards, and a crew of collaborators including Cole Pulice, Ryan Jewell, Emily Packard, and Clarice Jensen, the last of whom opens with her own cello-induced dreamscapes.
17
New York Philharmonic
David Geffen Hall, Lincoln Center
10 Lincoln Center Plaza; Upper West Side
Thursday, Oct. 17 & Friday, Oct. 18 at 7:30pm; $39–$84
nyphil.org
Presented as part of of Afromodernism: Music of the African Diaspora, a brief yet wide-ranging series, the New York Philharmonic welcomes Thomas Wilkins to the podium for the local premiere of Had To Be, a new cello concerto by Nathalie Joachim featuring soloist Seth Parker Woods. Also featured on this significant and appealing program are Carlos Simon’s Four Black American Dances, David Baker’s Kosbro, and William Grant Still’s Symphony No. 4 (“Autochthonous”).
Just Alap Raga Ensemble
MELA Foundation Dream House
275 Church St., 3rd Floor, Tribeca
Thursday, Oct. 17 & Saturday, Oct. 19 at 7:30pm; $63, seniors and students $56
eventbrite.com
Celebrating his own 89th birthday (formally Oct. 14), minimalist mastermind La Monte Young and his Just Alap Raga Ensemble – Young and Jung Hee Choi singing with guitarist Jon Catler, bassist Hansford Rowe, tabla player Naren Budhkar, and the recorded tamburas of Pandit Pran Nath – present two concerts of evening raga in a light-design setting by Choi and the late Marian Zazeela.
18
The Crossing
Zankel Hall, Carnegie Hall
881 Seventh Ave.; Midtown West
Friday, Oct. 18 at 7:30pm; $60–$70
carnegiehall.org
Donald Nally leads the exemplary choral ensemble The Crossing in the New York premiere of Can We Know the Sound of Forgiveness, an evening-length multidisciplinary event featuring music by Carnegie Hall composer-in-residence Gabriela Ortiz inspired by the art of James Drake, alongside instrumentalists, dancers, and more.
Momenta Festival IX
Broadway Presbyterian Church
601 W. 114th St.; Upper West Side
Friday, Oct. 18 & Sunday, Oct. 20 at 7pm; free admission
Americas Society
680 Park Ave.; Upper East Side
Tuesday, Oct. 22 & Thursday, Oct. 24 at 7pm; free admission
momentaquartet.com
The theme of this year’s festival, a four-concert series in which each member of the ever-inventive Momenta Quartet curates a single program, is “Charles Ives at 150,” celebrating the great American maverick composer. Each free event includes a piece by Ives, contextualized with old and new music by composers ranging from Georg Philipp Telemann, Antonín Dvořák, and Florence Price to Henry Cowell, Julián Carrillo, and Claude Vivier.
2024 Progressive Chamber Music Festival
Greenwich House Music School
46 Barrow St., Greenwich Village
Friday, Oct. 18 & Saturday, Oct. 19 at 7pm; $30, advance $25
Two-day pass $45, advance $40
eventbrite.com
Another quartet-curated celebration, this eclectic affair from the Sirius Quartet seeks to redefine more inclusively the boundaries of what constitutes chamber music. Friday’s concert features performances by the quartet, the improvising saxophone-and-guitar duo of Tim Berne and Gregg Belisle-Chi, and cellist Jake Charkey, a specialist in Western classical styles and Hindustani music. Night two features My Trio, the drums-and-keyboards duo of Ian Erickson and Jacob Hiser, and duo SaaWee with a contemporary approach to Korean shamanic tradition.
Brandon Seabrook + Grey Mcmurray + IMA
Public Records
233 Butler St., Brooklyn
Friday, Oct. 18 at 7pm; $25.75
dice.fm
Another compelling Public Records bill brings together two of the city’s headiest guitar stylists: Brandon Seabrook, whose dizzying new solo album, Object of Unknown Function, is out this day; and Grey Mcmurray, whose cinematic art-song EP Crying at Breakfast arrives next week. In the opening slot is IMA, the exploratory duo of electroacoustic sound artist Amma Ateria and percussionist Nava Dunkelman—transfixing on their 2019 LP, The Flowers Die in Burning Fire.
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C4: The Choral Composer/Conductor Collective
Church of St. Luke in the Fields
487 Hudson St.; West Village
Saturday, Oct. 19 at 8pm; $30, pay what you will $10, pay it forward $50
eventbrite.com
C4, an ensemble of singers, composers, and conductors devoted to expanding approaches to choral composition, presents world premieres by Evan Fontaine, Alexa Letourneau, Colston Reinhoff, Cynthia Shaw, Charlie Kreidler, Tara Mack, Helder Oliveira, and Kelly Wang.
Sydeboob Duo
Scholes Street Studio
375 Lorimer St., Brooklyn
Saturday, Oct. 19 at 8pm; $17.85
eventbrite.com
Sydeboob Duo, the memorably named pairing of soprano Anna Elder and flutist Sarah Steranka, performs a spectacularly eclectic mix of pieces by Ursula Mamlok, Adolphus Hailstork, Anthony Braxton, Max Johnson, Andrew Hamilton, Katherine Pukinskis, and Ellen Ruth Harrison.
Washington Square Contemporary Music Society
Tenri Cultural Institute
43a W. 13th St.; Greenwich Village
Saturday, Oct. 19 at 7:30pm; $20, seniors and students $10
wp.nyu.edu
The Bergamot Quartet plays new and recent pieces by Ioannis Angelakis, Ledah Finck, Jaime Oliver, Joel Rust, and Caroline Shaw.
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counter)induction
Tenri Cultural Institute
43a W. 13th St.; Greenwich Village
Sunday, Oct. 20 at 4pm; $22
eventbrite.com
The steadfast, versatile composer/performer collective with the typographically distinctive name, counter)induction opens its new season with a program titled “The Order of Things,” featuring compositions by Jukka Tiensuu, Inbal Segev, Kyle Bartlett, Jeffrey Mumford, Douglas Boyce, and Diego Tedesco.
Shepherdess & Friends
Coffey Street Studio
Red Hook, Brooklyn
Sunday, Oct. 20 at 6pm; $25
shepherdessduo.com
Violinist Hajnal Pivnick and mezzo soprano Kayleigh Butcher perform world premieres by Mary Kouyoumdjian, Phong Tran, and Annika Socolofsky, a U.S. premiere by Anthony Green, and more.
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Juilliard Percussion Ensemble
Peter Jay Sharp Theater, The Juilliard School
155 W. 65th St.; Upper West Side
Monday, Oct. 21 at 8pm; free admission with R.S.V.P.
juilliard.edu
Daniel Druckman leads the newest configuration of Juilliard’s celebrated Percussion Ensemble in compositions by Amy Beth Kirsten, John Liberatore, Andy Akiho, and Jo Kondo. If you can’t attend in person, the performance will be streamed online live and archived for on-demand playback at Juilliard LIVE.
22
Tim Berne
Lowlands Bar
543 3rd Ave., Brooklyn
Tuesday, Oct. 22 at 8pm; pass-the-hat
instagram.com/berneornot
Saxophonist and composer Tim Berne has been in residence at Lowlands for months now, a homespun residency he unpacks in a just-published New York Times feature by Hank Shteamer. Here, he celebrates his 70th birthday (Oct. 16) with close regular collaborators Gregg Belisle-Chi, John Hébert, Tom Rainey, and Aurora Nealand.
More vital directories of new-music destinations:
Find even more events in Night After Night Watch: The Master List, here.
Photographs by Steve Smith, except where indicated.
also now I know I must read sharon’s book
so kind of you to share, Steve