It’s December in New York, which means you can hear Tchaikovsky playing all through the city. Here is just a sampling of some of the classic arts events happening this week:
Dances Patrelle presents The Yorkville Nutcracker at the Gerald Lynch Theater December 19-22. Returning for its 28th season, The Yorkville Nutcracker takes its audience on a tour of New York City in 1895, starting at a Christmas party in Gracie Mansion, before moving along through Central Park and the Bronx Botanical Gardens.
The Mark Morris Dance Group’s The Hard Nut wraps up its run at the Brooklyn Academy of Music December 22. Mark Morris’ retro-modern reimagining of Tchaikovsky’s ballet based on the story by E.T.A. Hoffman sets the action in the 1970s, with Colin Fowler conducting the MMDG Music Ensemble.
The New York Philharmonic presents Elf in Concert December 19-22. Justin Freer will conduct a live performance of John Debney’s score accompanying a screening of the 2003 holiday classic. Elf in Concert joins Julie Taymor’s abridged English holiday production of The Magic Flute at the Metropolitan Opera and George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker in a Lincoln Center plaza-wide week of holiday favorites. December 17 will also be the season’s final performance of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s holiday tradition of presenting Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos.
Jessica Vosk and Essential Voices USA join the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall December 20 and 21 for a holiday concert of classic carols and contemporary favorites. Steven Reineke and Judith Clurman conduct.
Musica Sacra will give a holiday concert at Carnegie Hall December 18, with soprano Susanna Phillips and pianist Simone Dinnerstein. The program will include Poulenc’s Hodie Christus natus est, Morten Lauridsen’s O magnum mysterium, selections from Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, Biebl’s Ave Maria, Mozart’s Exsultate, Jubilate, James Bassi’s Quem pastores laudavere, and Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy.
Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo begins a three-week residency at the Joyce Theatre this week, beginning December 17. The gender-skewing comic ballet company celebrates its 50th anniversary with two programs. The first program includes Durante Verzola’s Symphony, set to music by Gounod and inspired by George Balanchine’s Symphony in C; as well as Giselle (Act II), choreographed by Yelena Tchenychova after Perrot and Petipa’s choreography for the Adolphe Adam ballet, a staple of the classical ballet repertoire. The second program will include an excerpt from Swan Lake as choreographed by Ivanov; Yes Virginia, Another Piano Ballet, by Peter Anastos to music by Chopin; and Raymonda’s Wedding: A Traditionally Confusing Divertissement in Two Scenes, based on Marius Petipa and Alexander Glazunov’s Raymonda.
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre’s month-long residency at New York City Center enters its third week. Over the course of December the company is presenting a variety of programs featuring four world premieres and three new productions alongside revivals from the company’s stories repertoire.
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