From Shakespeare to Shostakovich, 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 concludes its 2024-2025 season with a week of performances of George Balanchine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, running May 27–June 1. The full-length ballet adaptation of Shakespeare’s play is set to music by Felix Mendelssohn, including his overture and incidental music to the play, supplemented with additional symphonic works by the composer. The first act of the ballet tells most of the story of Shakespeare’s comedy, with the second act taking the form of a divertissement serving the role of the Pyramus and Thisbe scene in the play.
The New York Philharmonic also concludes its regular season this week with performances of Mahler’s seventh symphony May 29–June 1, led by the orchestra’s incoming music director, Gustavo Dudamel. The five-movement symphony is one of the longest in the standard repertoire, and calls for a number of instruments not commonly heard in a symphony orchestra, including a tenor horn, as well as a guitar and mandolin.
Performances of John Adams’ Antony and Cleopatra continue at the Metropolitan Opera this week as the company enters the final weeks of its 2024-2025 season. Soprano Julia Bullock and baritone Gerald Finley star in the adaptation of Shakespeare’s play. The season’s final weeks also include revivals of Puccini’s La Boheme, Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia, and Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades.
Ballet Hispánico presents CARMEN.maquia at New York City Center May 29–June 1, during the company’s 55th Emerald Anniversary, celebrating the 150th anniversary of Bizet’s opera Carmen. The work by Gustavo Ramirez Sansano reimagines the story of Carmen using music from various works by Bizet.
Pianist Evgeny Kissin will perform two concerts of Shostakovich at Carnegie Hall this week, joined by an all-star roster of musicians. On May 28, Kissin will be joined by violinist Gidon Kremer, violist Maxim Rysanov, and cellist Gautier Capuçon, to perform Shostakovich’s Violin, Viola, and Cello sonatas, respectively. May 31 will see Kissin joined by soprano Susanna Phillips, mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke, tenor John Matthew Myers, bass Alexander Roslavets, cellist Giedrė Dirvanauskaitė, and the Kopelman Quartet with Kremer returning on violin, for a program which includes Shostakovich’s Piano Quintet, Piano Trio No. 2, and the song cycle Four Verses of Captain Lebyadkin and From Jewish Folk Poetry.
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