From the fresh sea air to the deepest depths of a state prison, 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.
The Metropolitan Opera returns from its mid-winter hiatus March 3 with the company premiere of Jake Heggie’s Moby-Dick. The operatic adaptation of Herman Melville’s epic novel stars tenor Brandon Jovanovich as the obsessed Captain Ahab, with tenor Stephen Costello as Greenhorn, the opera’s version of Ishmael. The cast also includes baritone Peter Mattei as Starbuck, bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green as Queequeg, soprano Janai Brugger as Pip, tenor William Burden as Flask, and baritone Malcolm Mackenzie as Stubb. The production is helmed by Leonard Foglia, making his Met debut, and Karen Kamensek conducts.
The Met’s Spring season continues with a revival of Fidelio, the sole opera by Ludwig van Beethoven. Soprano Lise Davidsen stars as Leonore, who tracks down her unjustly-imprisoned husband Florestan, and disguises herself as a man, using the name Fidelio, to enter the employ of the jailer and break her husband out of prison. The cast also includes tenor David Butt Philip as Florestan; bass René Pape as Rocco, the jailer; soprano Ying Fang as Marzelline, Rocco’s daughter who takes a liking to Fidelio; and bass-baritone Tomasz Konieczny as Don Pizzaro, the nobleman who orders Florestan’s imprisonment.
Fidelio will also be playing this week next door at David Geffen Hall—in a manner of speaking. Marin Alsop conducts the New York Philharmonic this week in a concert program leading with Beethoven’s Leonore Overture No. 3, the third overture that Beethoven wrote and then rejected for the opera. The concert will also include Brahms’ Variations on a Theme by Haydn, a suite from Stravinsky’s The Firebird, and the world premiere of a new violin concerto by Nico Muhly, with soloist Renaud Capuçon.
Tenor Ian Bostridge will perform Schubert’s Winterreise at the 92nd Street Y March 5 with pianist Julius Drake. One of Schubert’s most iconic works, the song cycle is a setting of 24 poems by Wilhelm Müller, organized as an hour-long monodrama telling the story of a love-lorn protagonist wandering through the winter.
The London Symphony Orchestra plays two concerts at Carnegie Hall this week, March 5 and 6, conducted by Sir Antonio Pappano. The March 5 concert will include Walker’s Sinfonia No. 5, Leonard Bernstein’s Serenade with violinist Janine Jansen, and Mahler’s Symphony No. 1. The March 6 concert will feature pianist Yunchan Lim playing Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2, as well as Walton’s Symphony No. 1.
Carnegie Hall will also host performances this week from violinist Leonidas Kavakos and pianist Daniil Trifonov (March 4); the American Composers Orchestra (March 6); Palaver Strings (March 7); and soprano Angel Blue with pianist Lang Lang (March 8).
The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center presents an all-Czech program March 9 at Alice Tully Hall. The program will feature Bedřich Smetana’s Má Vlast (From My Homeland), arranged for Violin and Piano; Leoš Janáček’s Pohadka (Fairy Tale) for Cello and Piano; Josef Suk’s Quartet in A minor for Piano, Violin, Viola and Cello; and Antonín Dvořák’s Quintet in G major for Two Violins, Viola, Cello, and Bass.
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