Read on for some recent classic arts headlines, videos, and more you may have missed. For additional news covering opera, dance, music, and more, visit Playbill Classic Arts.
Battery Dance Goes Digital
Battery Dance presents its annual festival virtually this year, with performances heading online now through August 22 (streaming at 7 PM ET each night). The lineup includes 52 filmed performances, including 28 premieres from 19 countries. Kicking off the 39th annual event is a program titled “Black Voices in Dance,” featuring Ervs Works Dance’s I-will I-Will-I-WILLLLL, Jamal Jackson Dance Company’s grEeneR grASsEs, Kafago Dance Ensemble’s CROSSROADS, and tenderheaded… from the Dorchell Haqq-helmed company D. Visit BatteryDance.org for the full lineup.
LA Philharmonic Names New Fellows
Violinist Sydney Adedamola and violist Jarrett Threadgill will embark on a fellowship program from the Los Angeles Philharmonic beginning in September. This marks the third year of the initiative, and the first under its new name: Judith and Thomas L. Beckmen LA Phil Resident Fellows program (named after the newly appointed chairs). The program aims to support musicians from underrepresented populations and prepare them for competitions and auditions for professional orchestras.
David Lang’s in nature
Take a look below at the debut of in nature, created by Pulitzer-winning composer David Lang as a hybrid between live and pre-filmed performances in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The piece recently made its world premiere as a co-presentation between the choir The Crossing and the Warren Miller Performing Arts Center. Twenty members of The Crossing recorded their vocal parts one at a time in Philadelphia, with their videos subsequently accompanying four singers from the Montana-based Roots in the Sky, who performed in a socially distanced arrangement on the WMPAC stage.
Table of Silence Project 9/11 Re-Imagined
Table of Silence Project 9/11, an annual public dance piece from Buglisi Dance Theatre Artistic Director Jacqulyn Buglisi, will be re-imagined this year. While the site-specific presentation (which began on the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks) typically includes over 100 dancers encircling the Josie Robertson Plaza at Lincoln Center, the 2020 edition will instead feature 24 dancers in a new, socially distanced prologue choreographed by Buglisi, with performers hailing from her namesake company, Ailey II, Alison Cook Beatty Dance, Ballet Hispánico's BHdos, The Juilliard School, Limón Dance Company, Martha Graham Dance Company, and more, along with electric violinist Daniel Bernard Roumain and poet Marc Bamuthi Joseph. The September 11 performance, which will also include a short film inspired by the project and a full presentation of last year's piece, will be live streamed beginning at 7:55 AM ET on LincolnCenter.org.
