From here to Fauré, 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’s Spring Season will kick off April 22 with an all-Balanchine program, opening with Apollo, the earliest Balanchine work in the company’s repertory. The 1928 ballet was the first collaboration between George Balanchine and composer Igor Stravinsky. The program will also include three other Balanchine ballets, all of them in some form excerpts from larger works: Ballo della Regina, a setting of the ballet scene from Verdi’s opera Don Carlos, often cut from performances of the opera itself; Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, set to an excerpt from Swan Lake; and Chaconne, set to ballet music from Gluck’s opera Orfeo ed Euridice.
A second NYCB program, titled Innovators and Icons, will start performances April 24, and feature three ballets from choreographers closely connected with the company: George Balanchine’s Scotch Symphony, set to Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 3; Jerome Robbins’ Glass Pieces, set to selections of music by Philip Glass; And Belles-Lettres, by NYCB Resident Choreographer Justin Peck, set to music by César Franck.
Performances continue at the Metropolitan Opera this week of Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) and Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro). Though written independently of one another, the operas are based on two plays from a trilogy by Pierre Beaumarchais. Barbiere tells the story of how the Count and Countess Almaviva met and eloped, with the wily barber Figaro assisting in helping the Countess-to-be Rosina escape the eye of her guardian Doctor Bartolo. Nozze, set years later, concerns Figaro’s approaching marriage to the Countess’ maid Susanna, and the Count and Countess’ increasingly strained marriage. Both beloved staples of the comic opera repertoire, Barbiere and Nozze are often considered a set, and this week audiences at the Met will have the opportunity to take in both on consecutive days. This week will also feature this season’s final performances of another Mozart masterpiece, The Magic Flute.
Mozart will be well-represented at Lincoln Center this week, as conductor Iván Fischer leads the New York Philharmonic in concerts April 25-27 featuring the overture to The Magic Flute, as well as Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5, with soloist Lisa Batiashvili. The program will also include a performance of the complete score of Béla Bartók’s ballet The Wooden Prince.
The Boston Symphony Orchestra plays two concerts at Carnegie Hall this year, led by conductor Andris Nelsons. The orchestra will be joined by pianist Mitsuko Uchido April 23 for a performance of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4, followed by Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 15. The following day, cellist Yo-Yo Ma will join the orchestra for an all-Shostakovich program including the composer’s Cello Concerto No. 1 and Symphony No. 11.
Pianist Brad Mehldau will play music from his latest album Aprés Fauré at the 92nd Street Y April 23. The program will include Fauré’s Four Nocturnes, original compositions reimagining Fauré, and selections bridging the two. The 92nd Street Y will also host an appearance from Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw and Gabriel Kahane, performing their collaborative work Hexagons April 25.
The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center presents a wide-ranging program at Alice Tully Hall April 26, which includes Mozart’s Duo in G Major for Violin and Viola; Arensky’s Trio No. 2 for Piano, Violin, and Cello; Gian Carlo Menotti’s Suite for Two Cellos and Piano; and Fauré’s Piano Quintet No. 1. The concert will feature pianists Anna Geniushene and Wu Qian, violinists Lun Li and Alexander Sitkovetsky, violist Yura Lee, and cellists Nicholas Canellakis and Sterling Elliott.
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