Opera in NYC: Mozart’s Le Nozze Di Figaro at The MetOpera

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Opera in NYC: Mozart’s Le Nozze Di Figaro at The MetOpera

The Metropolitan Opera presents Le Nozze Di Figaro by Mozart in the modernized setting with two exceptional international casts; performances continue in February 2020    

Susanna Phillips as the Countess, Nadine Sierra as Susanna, and Luca Pisaroni as Figaro in Mozart's "Le Nozze di Figaro."
Susanna Phillips as the Countess, Nadine Sierra as Susanna, and Luca Pisaroni as Figaro in Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro.” Photo: Marty Sohl / Met Opera

A cornerstone of any opera house’s repertoire, Mozart’s Le Nozze Di Figaro is presented by the MetOpera in Sir Richard Eyre’s dynamic production with two exceptional casts. In the Fall 2019 sopranos Nadine Sierra and Susanna Phillips; mezzo-soprano Gaëlle Arquez; baritone Mariusz Kwiecien; and bass-baritones Luca Pisaroni and Adam Plachetka sing. Sopranos Anita Hartig and Hanna-Elisabeth Müller; mezzo-soprano Marianne Crevasse; and bass-baritone Mariusz Kwiecien take the charge in February 2020.

Premiered at the Met in the 2014-2015 season, the current production transposes the action from the late 18th century Spain to an elegant villa of the 1930s. Cleverly employing the rotating stage for the fast change of the decor and uninterrupted action when moving from scene to scene, the creators and the cast present a highly entertaining and instructive storyline about the virtues of love, decency, loyalty, and the vice of jealousy. The orchestral fluidity under the baton of Antonella Manacorda, sets the pace.

The libretto for the opera was written by Mozart’s favored collaborator Lorenzo Da Ponte. Da Ponte adapted a popular play La Folle Journée, ou Le Mariage de Figaro by Beaumarchais for his libretto which he completed even before Mozart started writing music for the opera. Ingeniously sequencing the comic scenes with hidings and cross-dressings, Beaumarchais’s play denounces the feudal rules and highlights the wits and smarts of the lower classes. According to Beaumarchais’s contemporaries, the play foreshadowed the French Revolution.

At the MetOpera, Le Nozze’s magical music and catchy arias are delivered by the incredible cast with confidence and mastery. Luca Pisaroni as Figaro sings with grace and warmth and is perfectly attuned to the velvety palette of Nadine Serra’s voice as Susanna. The beauty of the duets and the ensemble arias are well-matched by the orchestral work while the comic scenes and the moments of tension are skillfully calibrated and are presented with vitality and affection.

Enjoy the vibrant production of the timeless masterpiece by Mozart and Da Ponte.

The opera’s run time is 3 hours and 30 minutes with one intermission; sung in Italian with the subtitles.

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Opera in NYC: Andrea Bocelli at Met Opera

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Opera in NYC: Andrea Bocelli at Met Opera

Andrea Bocelli returns to MetOpera stage with Italian Opera Favorites recital on February 10, 2020 at 7.30 pm

Andrea Bocelli at the piano at Premio Faraglioni 2009
Andrea Bocelli at Premio Faraglioni 2009; photo by Sannita / Image licensed by Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported

Andrea Bocelli returns to New York for two Sunday evenings of operatic recitals at the Metropolitan Opera House. The program will feature the opera fan’s favorite love duets, arias, and songs. Bocelli will appear with renown international stars and members of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra under the baton of Eugene Kohn. These unique musical events promise an unforgettable joy and entertainment.

This year recital by the master of Italian Opera follows a pair of triumphant recitals on the MetOpera stage in 2019. Before 2019, Bocelli was absent from the Met Opera stage for the past seven years, so his return was highly anticipated by the delighted fans. This year recital is another treat for the lucky audience promising a genuine performance of the timeless favorites. Click below for tickets:

Monday, February 10, 2020 at 7.30 pm         BUY TICKETS

 

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Jazz in NYC: Vijay Iyer Trio at Jazz Standard in January 2020

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Jazz in NYC: Vijay Iyer Trio at Jazz Standard in January 2020

Jazz Standard club presents Vijay Iyer Solo and with his Trio from January 29 – February 1, 2020 

Vijay Iyer
Vijay Iyer; photo credit Jimmy Katz

Vijay Iyer, MacArthur “Genius”, comes to the venerable club Jazz Standard in midtown Manhattan for a series of performances with his trio and in the solo shows.  Iyer, a powerful pianist, composer, and bandleader, holds a very special place among the contemporary jazz musicians. The critics note the potency and “physicality” of his music as described by The Guardian.

Both of his groups – the Trio and the Sextet – are well known to the music fans. In this engagement, the Trio will surely not disappoint the lucky audience. Performances by Iyer and his musicians are intense and are calling for deep concentration with little time for introductions and time taking reminiscence of the origins of the compositions. Hold your breath, immerse yourself in the sound and enjoy every second of the music!           BUY TICKETS 

 

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Ballet in NYC: Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake at New York City Center

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Ballet in NYC: Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake at New York City Center

Tchaikovsky’s celebrated music combined with the reimagined dark fairy-tale in the powerful performance by Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures company is playing until February 9, 2020 at New York City Center 

Tchaikovsky, Swan Lake, Act II by Bourne New Adventures company
SWAN LAKE by Bourne, 2018, Plymouth, Royal Theatre Plymouth/ Photo Credit: Johan Persson

Director Matthew Bourne’s reimagined centuries-old fairy-tale set to the timeless music by Tchaikovsky dazzles, entertains, and shocks with the audience eagerly responding to each cue extended by the dancers. Created for the New Adventure company in 1995, Bourne’s libretto combines recognizable classical themes with not so subtle references to the public obsession with Windsor royals and the old-society members’ struggle with finding their place in the modern life. From the vantage point of 2020 viewer, the story turns from an entertaining account into a complex psychological drama of mother/son relations, suppressed self-realization, and the burden of traditions.

However, there is an interesting twist to the narrative. The original tale put to music by Tchaikovsky and Swan Lake ballet’s first choreographer J. Reisigner believed to reference the life of Bavarian King Ludwig II. When visiting Schwansee in his childhood, Ludwig II was preoccupied with the swans, was emotionally weak and deemed insane later in life. He was renowned for building bigger than life castles such as Neuschwanstein. It is conceivable that King’s life inspired Prince Siegfried’s character in Swan Lake. Watching Bourne’s interpretation, it is easy to find several parallels to Ludwig’s story in the libretto.

The production is universally known for its replacement of the gentle and tense female swan ensemble with the muscular, forceful, and vindictive flock of all-male dancers. Accentuated by the strong wings and loud hissing sound, their power and domination over feeble and thickly prince is in full swing in Act II and III. Yet, with all their wild freedom, even the swans are unable to accept and accommodate the outsider in their ranks. It’s a grim reminder of the stronghold of prejudice and a drive to preserve the homogeny.

The ballet has everything from puns and jokes to the touching despair and frightening indifference of those around us. For this run, the production was skillfully updated with a rather streamlined soundtrack in place of the live orchestra among other changes. Recognized as the longest-running dance show, the plot still has its potency and bitterness. The cast delivers its lines with the grace and power expected from the renown company. The thought-provoking spectacle is playing at New York City Center until February 9, 2020.

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Art in NYC: Felix Vallotton Exhibition at the Met Museum

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Art in NYC: Felix Vallotton Exhibition at the Met Museum

The Met Museum presents Felix Vallotton: Painter of Disquiet, a retrospective of the most notable paintings and art prints depicting the fin-de-siècle Paris

On view from October 29, 2019 – January 26, 2020

Felix Vallotton, Five O’Clock, 1898
Five O’Clock, 1898, Distemper on cardboard, Private collection / Photo © Fondation Félix Vallotton, Lausanne

A fascinating exhibition of major works by Felix Vallotton tells a provocative story about life in Paris at the turn of the 20th century. Covering all the major phases of Vallotton’s oeurvre, the exhibition starts with his early prints and woodcuts. These early works were made at the beginning of artist’s career when he experimented with steep perspectives and flat images of the Nabis circle principles. The exhibition also showcases powerful oil paintings of the genre scenes, nudes, and landscapes of his mature period.

Well-known to art historians but not widely recognized by the public, Vallotton’s works are a mix of keen observation, wry wit, and subtle yet potent critique of the hypocrisy of bourgeoisie and the sinful pleasures of Belle Epoch France. His early prints and woodcuts made on a gamut of topics from the docile scene with music instruments to observations of everyday life to the street riots are examples of a mastery of detail and minimalist touch. While clearly demonstrating the strength of the technique, his works seemed to fall in-between the styles and artistic movements of his time. This leaves the impression that he either came too late for the expressive art of such painters like Ingre who was a strong influence for Vallotton or too early for the New Objectivity style of the 1920s.

Emphasizing his upbringing in a strict Protestant family in quiet Switzerland, the exhibition conveys Vallotton’s point of view as an outsider to the fast-moving city life.  He immediately sees the dissonance between the newly established canons and their twisted morality, but is restrained in his critique. While executed with very fine detail that at times allude to the influence of the Old Masters in the use of reflections and light, the ambiguity of the scenes leave many questions unanswered. The openness to interpretation is what makes Vallotton’s art so potent. After all, this probably was the artist’s goal and he achieved it with the utmost elegance.

In addition to Vallotton’s famous woodcut cycles, there are expansive paintings of landscapes, nudes, and discrete encounters with a multitude of subtleties, mysterious perspectives, and odd angles.

Coming to New York after a triumphant show at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, this is the first retrospective of Vallotton’s work in New York in 30 years. It is organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the Royal Academy of Arts, London, in collaboration with Fondation Félix Vallotton, Lausanne.

Discover this amazing artist while sampling the thrilling artworks on view at The Met. Felix Vallotton: Painter of Disquiet is on view form October 29, 2019 – January 26, 2020.

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