From classical ballet to modern opera, 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 2023-24 season kicks off September 19 with George Balanchine’s Jewels. Appropriately to open the company’s 75th anniversary season, each of the ballet’s three acts pays tribute to a particular era and style of ballet. Emeralds, choreographed to music by Fauré, is modeled after the French Romantic style. Rubies, choreographed to Stravinsky’s Piano Capriccio, is modern and American. The final act, Diamonds, choreographed to music from Tchaikovsky’s third symphony, evokes Russia’s Imperial Ballet, where Balanchine received his training. Performances of Jewels continue through September 24.
On Site Opera brings its first site-adaptive opera Song of the Nightingale to Manhattan West September 21-23. Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's The Nightingale, the opera by composer Lisa DeSpain and librettist Melisa Tien was co-commissioned by On Site Opera and Brookfield Properties Arts & Culture. Additional performances will take place next week, September 28-30, at Brookfield Place.
Ahead of its Met premiere next week, members of the cast and creative team of Jake Heggie and Terrence McNally’s Dead Man Walking will join a discussion moderated by Met General Manager Peter Gelb as part of the Guggenheim’s Works & Process series September 18. Dead Man Walking, directed by Ivo van Hove and starring Joyce DiDonato and Ryan McKinny, will open the Metropolitan Opera’s 2023-24 season September 26.
September 19, the Martha Graham Dance Company will offer an inside look at the company’s new production of Agnes de Mille’s Rodeo at the Martha Graham Studio Theater. The new production, which will have its premiere in California September 30, will include costumes by Oana Botez, projected stage design by Beowulf Boritt, and new bluegrass arrangement by Gabe Witcher of Aaron Copland’s score.
September 20, the National Chorus of Korea, led by conductor EuiJoong Yoon, will perform "The choral epic: Hunminjeongeum" at Lincoln Center’s David Geffen Hall. This will be the U.S. premiere of the work by composer Byunghee Oh.
To stay up to date with classic arts news, subscribe to Playbill's classic arts newsletter.
