From Cromwell to South Carolina, 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.
Porgy and Bess returns to the stage of the Metropolitan Opera for six more performances this month, starring Alfred Walker as Porgy and Brittany Renee as Bess. The iconic American opera also features Vuvu Mpofu as Clara, Leah Hawkins as Serena, Frederick Ballentine as Sportin' Life, Ryan Speedo Green as Crown, and Benjamin Taylor as Jake. Mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves will mark her retirement from the stage with a final set of performances in the role of Maria.
Puccini's Madama Butterfly is also revived at the Met this week, beginning performances January 9 with soprano Ailyn Pérez as Cio-Cio-San and tenor SeokJong Baek as Pinkerton. Performances continue, meanwhile, of Bellini's I Puritani, which opened in a new production last week starring soprano Lisette Oropesa as Elvira, with tenor Lawrence Brownlee and baritone Artur Ruciński as her rival Royalist and Roundhead suitors, who fight for her hand, and for the future of England amid the English Civil War. The January 10 matinee performance of I Puritani will be broadcast to cinemas worldwide as part of the Met's Live in HD series.
The New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players' production of H.M.S. Pinafore opens January 10 at Hunter College's Kaye Playhouse. With a plot that satirizes England's social and economic class structure with a love story between the daughter of a naval captain and a lowly sailor aboard her father's ship, H.M.S. Pinafore was a major breakout hit in 1878, and continues to be referenced and parodied in popular culture to this day, with homages and quotations popping up in everything from Merrily We Roll Along to The Simpsons. NYGASP's production runs through January 18.
Gianandrea Noseda will conduct the New York Philharmonic in an all-Russian program January 7-10. Pianist Behzod Abduraimov will join the orchestra to perform Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1, followed by Shostakovich's Symphony No. 4 at Lincoln Center's David Geffen Hall.
Asian American Arts Alliance (A4) and the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company's annual AAPI Dance Festival will run January 10 and 11 at the Ailey Citigroup Theatre. The festival will feature performances from the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, Take Dance, Sugar Vendil, the Barkha Dance Company, Naomi Funaki, Sun Kim Dance Theatre, and Nava Dance Theatre. There will also be a Rising Stars showcase on January 10, featuring emerging choreographers including Maya Kulkarni, Stephanie Shin, Jie-Hung Connie Shiau, Chieh Hsjung and Yu-Wei Heath Hsiao.
Soprano Kathryn Lewek will give a performance with musicians from the Metropolitan Opera January 5 at Advent Lutheran Church. The musicians will include principal flautist Seth Morris, principal clarinetist Anton Rist, violinists Miran Kim and Amy Kauffmann, violist Zoë Martin-Doike, cellist Julia Bruskin, and bass player Leigh Mesh. Lewek will sing arias from La Traviata, Rigoletto, and The Abduction from the Seraglio, as well as an aria from her signature role of the Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute. The program will also include Mozart's Clarinet Quintet, and Verdi's rarely-heard String Quartet.
The Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players will give a concert at Good Shepherd Faith Presbyterian Church January 5. The program, titled "Out of Russia," features Tchaikovsky's Valse-Scherzo for Violin and Piano, Katchaturian's Trio in G Minor for Clarinet, Violin, and Piano, Prokofiev's Sonata for Two Violins in C Major, and Sergey Ivanovich Taneyev's Piano Quintet in G Minor.
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