From violin to theremin, 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:
Soprano Nadine Sierra, currently performing in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette at the Metropolitan Opera, will appear at Carnegie Hall March 11 with the Met Orchestra Chamber Ensemble. Sierra will perform Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5, one of a collection of nine suites combining influences from Bach and Brazilian folk music. The concert will also include Villa-Lobos’ Chôros No. 4, arrangements of two motets by Gesualdo, Stravinsky’s Octet for Wind Instruments, and Martinů’s Fantasia for Theremin, Oboe, String Quartet, and Piano.
Along with Roméo et Juliette, performances also continue at the Met this week of Verdi’s La Forza del Destino, and Puccini’s Turandot and Madama Butterfly. Madama Butterfly will have its final March performance on the 14th, before returning at the end of April with a new cast. La Forza del Destino will welcome a new cast as well, as Lise Davidsen and Judit Kutasi play their final performances March 16, with Elena Sitkhina and Maria Barakova stepping into the roles of Leonora and Preziosilla next week.
In addition to conducting two operas at the Met, Yannick Nézet-Séguin will lead an ensemble of alumni of the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America in a concert at Carnegie Hall March 14. The concert will include Shostakovich’s “Leningrad” Symphony, and George Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F, with soloist Daniil Trifonov.
Pianist Conrad Tao will join the New York Philharmonic March 13-19, playing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 17. The program, conducted by Jaap van Zweden, will also include Mendelssohn’s The Hebrides, and Beethoven’s iconic fifth symphony.
Conductor Klaus Mäkelä will make his Carnegie Hall debut March 16, leading the Orchestre de Paris in a concert of Stravinsky ballet scores. The program will include two of Stravinsky’s most iconic ballets, The Firebird and The Rite of Spring.
Carnegie Hall will also host this week performances from the American Composers Orchestra (March 12), pianist Jan Lisiecki (March 13), flautist and vocalist Nathalie Joachim (March 15), tenor Mark Padmore and pianist Mitsuko Uchida (March 15), and the New York Pops (March 15).
The Takács Quartet returns to the 92nd Street Y March 13 to perform Haydn’s “Sunrise” Quartet, the New York premiere of Nokuthula Ngwenyama’s Flow, Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 8 in E minor, the second of three quartets known as the “Razumovsky” quartets, so called after the Russian Count who commissioned them.
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