this week in music

OPPOSITES ATTRACT: BALLETCOLLECTIVE AT ST. JOHN THE DIVINE

BalletCollective returns to St. John the Divine for fifteenth anniversary season (photo courtesy BalletCollective)

OPPOSITES ATTRACT
Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine
1047 Amsterdam Ave. at 112th St.
November 3-5, $68.45-$137.75
Livestream November 4-22
balletcollective.com
stjohndivine.org

New York City–based BalletCollective is celebrating its fifteenth anniversary with “Opposites Attract,” a trio of new works, developed through the company’s 2026 Commission for Developing Choreographers, that will be performed three nights only, November 3–5, in the Crossing at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine. The troupe was founded by Troy Schumacher in 2011 “to create and perform forward-thinking works of art that reflect the world we live in; BalletCollective commissions emerging and established art makers and thought leaders to collaborate closely using an original process that inspires ballet-based works.”

“Opposites Attract” consists of the world premieres of Noelle Kayser’s Brigid, Shane Urton’s The Wet Heat of Living, and Schumacher’s What If, for a Day, We Could Be Friends. Kayser’s site-specific piece features live music by composer Julia Kent and costumes by Amanda Gladu, using as their source art a scent created by perfumer Heather Sielaff; together they explore the elements of water and mist, fire and ash in a spiritual context, channeling Saint Brigid of Kildare and Brigid the pagan goddess, “one woman, one archetype, told through two different lenses,” according to Kayser.

The Wet Heat of Living has music by Paul Novak and costumes by Gladu, using as their source art original poetry by M. Soledad Caballero, while What If, for a Day, We Could Be Friends has music by Phong Tran, performed live by NOIS, with an original illustration by Matt Rota as its source art.

The works will be performed by Georgia Greene, Thomas Hogan, Mizuho Kappa, Keenan Kiefer, Brooke Lutz, Arayah Lyte, Maya Milić, Alexander Perone, Davide Riccardo, Alexsander Swader, and Ella Titus, a roster that includes several dancers from New York City Ballet and Juilliard. The gala on November 5 honors Claire and Chris Mann and begins with a piece created with immersive theater director Hope Youngblood Heck. The November 4 performance will be livestreamed and available through November 22.

Be sure to get there early to check out such art installations as Nisha Bansil’s Unseen and Sebastián Gámez’s Ofrenda and take in the grand splendor of the cathedral.

[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer; you can follow him on Substack here.]

BRINGING DOWN THE HOUSE: PERICLES IN A BED-STUY CHURCH

PERICLES: IN CONCERT
Concord Baptist Church of Christ
833 Marcy Ave.
Monday, October 26, $33.85-$55.20
eventbrite.com
fireensemble.com

Last year I saw a rousing concert production of William Shakespeare’s Pericles inside the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, part of the Public Theater’s Public Works initiative. I wrote that it “features music and lyrics by Troy Anthony, a first for someone nurtured through Public Works; the score is an intoxicating mix of gospel, blues, ballads, R&B, and spirituals, at times turning St. John the Divine into a revival meeting. . . . The choreography is by Tiffany Rea-Fisher, who transforms a jousting tournament into a hip-hop dance battle. . . . There’s so much passion and energy on the stage that you just might forget that Pericles is not a very good play; a case has been made that the first two acts were actually written by pamphleteer and innkeeper George Wilkins. The story involves incest, pirates, child prostitution, resurrection, and betrayal as Pericles, the prince of Tyre, escapes the wrath of Antiochus and ventures to Tarsus, Pentapolis, and Ephesus, leaving behind his dead wife, Thaisa, and infant daughter, Marina. . . . Tony nominee Crystal Lucas-Perry brings the house down over and over again as Gower, the narrator, lustrous in a glorious white gown.”

A slightly different version of the show is being presented October 26 at the Concord Baptist Church of Christ in Bed-Stuy, codirected by Anthony and Rea-Fisher and performed by the ninety-person Fire Ensemble, “an intergenerational pop-up choir community that centers BIPOC and queer folx.” Lucas-Perry is reprising her role as Gower; the cast also includes Aisha Jackson, John-Michael Lyles, Jason Veasey, Jaime Cepero, Genesis Adelia Collado, Amina Faye, Treston Henderson, Ava Jones, Cal Mitchell, Dominique Smith, STONES, Cartreze Tucker, Matthew Elijah Webb, Samantha Williams, and Stephen Scott Wormley. Ticket prices range from pay-what-you-can in the balcony to $55.20 for front orchestra seats to see this special show.

[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer; you can follow him on Substack here.]

THE GREAT HUMAN UNIFIER: UNRAVELLED AT THE MILLER THEATRE

Andrew Borba and Lucy Davenport star as Robert and Anne Adams in Jake Broder’s UnRavelled (photo by Stan Evans)

UNRAVELLED
The Miller Theatre at Columbia University
Broadway at 116th St.
Friday, October 23, 7:30, and Saturday, October 24, 1:00, $12.50 – $49.75
millertheatre.com
www.gbhi.org/unravelled
unravelledplay.com

One of the most fascinating plays that I saw during the Zoom era came from an unlikely source: the Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI) at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Jake Broder’s UnRavelled is a deeply affecting ninety-minute play that shares the true story of Canadian scientist Anne Adams, who, in 1994, at the age of fifty-three, became obsessed with Maurice Ravel’s “Bolero” and made a remarkable painting based on the 1928 musical work, which Ravel composed for dancer Ida Rubenstein in 1928, when he was fifty-three. As it turns out, both Adams and Ravel had the same serious brain disease, Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD), which affects memory while lighting a creative fuse.

The play has now been adapted into an in-person production that is on the road, arriving at the Miller Theatre at Columbia University On October 23 and 24.

“I always imagined UnRavelled onstage, but with the pandemic, we had to pivot and present it virtually. After the first Zoom reading, the audience really came out of the woodwork to tell us their stories, and we realized how powerful this piece could be,” Broder, whose other plays include Our American Hamlet and Sense of Decency, told twi-ny. “I truly had no idea when I first made it if UnRavelled was good or effective, but once we put it in front of people, we realized we had to keep presenting this story. The twi-ny Pandemic Award [for Best Scientific Play] helped drive traffic to that version, which allowed us to present it on the West Coast and get articles and reviews about the project in Ireland and England. This helped us realize UnRavelled’s extensive reach. Quite simply, the story is only relevant to two kinds of people: those with a brain or those who love someone who has one. Having a brain is a great human unifier.”

Directed by James Bonas, the ninety-five-minute UnRavelled stars Lucy Davenport as Anne, a mathematician, chemist, and biologist, and Andrew Borba as her husband, Robert, a traffic architectural engineer. They are trying to hold together following a serious accident involving their son, but when they continue to have trouble communicating and Anne starts spending more time by herself in her studio, listening to “Bolero” and painting, Robert begins to suspect something else is going on, and Dr. Bruce Miller (David Aaron Baker) ultimately confirms that.

Anne is not necessarily alone; she is having imaginary conversations with Ravel (Leo Marks) about art, love, and science. Ravel also speaks with Rubenstein (Tracey A. Leigh), who has commissioned “Bolero,” which Ravel detests and can’t believe he actually wrote. Davenport and Marks reprise their roles from the online version. Keyboardist Aron Kallay serves as music director, with Randy Gloss on percussion, Rachel Iba on violin, Michelle Elliott Rearick on cello, and Nathaniel Edison on flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, oboe, and dizi.

The real Dr. Miller is the founding director of GBHI and the director of the Edward and Pearl Fein Memory and Aging Center at UCSF; you can watch the online Zoom presentation of UnRavelled here, followed by a panel discussion with Broder, Dr. Miller, behavioral neurologists Bill Seeley and Adit Friedberg, and virtual director Nike Doukas, as well as a related dance choreographed by Magda Kaczmarska.

Of course, first check it out at the Miller Theatre, in person, how it was always meant to be seen.

[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer; you can follow him on Substack here.]

JUST TAKING IT IN: GOING FULL MANTIS WITH MILFORD GRAVES AND ASHANTI ALSTON

Milford Graves enjoys a bite in his garden in new documentary about the unique percussionist and philosopher

Milford Graves enjoys a bite in his garden in documentary about the unique percussionist and philosopher

MILFORD GRAVES FULL MANTIS (Jake Meginsky, 2018)
Maysles Documentary Center
343 Lenox Ave./Malcolm X Blvd. between 127th & 128th Sts.
Sunday, September 27, $7-$15, 2:00, free Q&A 4:30
maysles.org
fullmantis.com

Jake Meginsky’s unconventional documentary of unconventional musician Milford Graves begins with the following epigraph from Graves: “Look at the room downstairs / Look at the garden outside / Don’t try to analyze it / Just take it in.” That is not only Graves’s life philosophy but also the best way to experience Milford Graves Full Mantis, which is screening September 27 at 2:00 at the Maysles Documentary Center. Born in 1941 in South Jamaica, Queens, where he resided until his death in February 2021, Graves was an avant-garde free jazz percussionist who played and lived to his own beat. In 2004, Meginsky knocked on Graves’s door, asked to study with him, and soon became the Professor’s assistant and documentarian; the film, codirected by drummer Neil Young, who also edited and photographed it with Meginsky, features compelling live footage along with peaceful moments in Graves’s basement and expansive garden. Early on, Meginsky shows a wild excerpt from a 1973 concert at the Jazz Middelheim Festival in Antwerp in which Graves performs with Joe Rigby and Hugh Glover on reeds and Arthur Williams on trumpet; the fierce, dissonant music might not be to everyone’s taste, but it serves as a terrific counterpoint to Graves’s calmer side, pontificating on, well, sometimes it’s hard to tell what, but it’s always fascinating.

There are also clips of Graves playing solo at the Brandeis Improv Festival in 2015 and in one of Park Ave. Armory’s historic rooms in 2016; in 2011 in his basement, where he’s surrounded by African sculpture, books, and computers that record his heartbeat and nervous system, which he incorporates into his work; and in Japan in 1981 with dancer Min Tanaka at a school for autistic children, where his unique performance inspired the kids to get up and move to the groove. In his backyard dojo he explains Yara, the discipline he invented based on martial arts, African ritual dance, the Lindy Hop, and the praying mantis and which he refers to as “the black way of self protection.” There are no talking-head experts or Graves acolytes singing his praises; the only voice heard in the film is Graves’s own, and for the first half of its ninety minutes Meginsky doesn’t show the film’s subject as he talks. Instead, while Graves speaks about his past and shares his kaleidoscopic philosophies, the camera slowly focuses on his lush garden or shows some of Graves’s animations.

But eventually Graves is seen sitting in his basement, telling a long, remarkable story of a turning point in his life. He’s an engaging character, bursting with enthusiasm and a unique view of the human body, the five senses, tear ducts, and the parasympathetic nervous system. And throughout, he keeps playing those drums, holding the sticks in his trademark way on a nonstandard kit he put together himself.

The screening at MDC will be followed at 4:30 by “An Afternoon with Ashanti Omowali Alston,” a free Q&A with the revolutionary, orator, writer, organizer, motivator, anarchist, and former Black Panther Party member, in conversation with political philosopher, academic, and author Joy James, focusing on the new book Anarchist Panther: The Selected Writings of Ashanti O. Alston (AK Press, August 2026, $21.99).

[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer; you can follow him on Substack here.]

“TO BE PUERTO RICAN IS TO BE AMERICAN”: ROBERTO LUGO IN MADISON SQUARE PARK

Roberto Lugo poses under depictions of his parents on Capicú de Cariño (I Heard It Both Ways) in Madison Square Park (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

ROBERTO LUGO: ALFARERO DEL BARRIO
Madison Square Park
26th St. between Fifth & Madison Aves.
Through December 6, free
www.madisonsquarepark.org
www.robertolugostudio.com
flickr slideshow and videos

“I knew of the Madison Square Park art program from Martin Puryear’s work, from Maya Lin’s work, and thinking about this as a moment to see an artist’s vision in this context, a place where everybody goes,” Roberto Lugo told me at the May opening of “Alfarero del Barrio (Village Potter).” He added, “I also think about this as an opportunity, that we have this crossing of so many cultures that are intersecting here, so I thought to myself, If I ever have the opportunity to do something like that, what would my focus be? How do I represent my culture and connect to places in New York? When I think about Puerto Rican culture, I think about the Bronx, Spanish Harlem, all these places where there’s this fusion in the contribution of Puerto Ricans, and I wanted to see them come here, but even Latino people in general, people of color, when they’re coming here, it feels really good to have something bright and colorful and celebratory.”

Roberto Lugo’s Para Los Días Caliente (This Is for the Hot Ones) is not for the dogs (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

“Alfarero del Barrio (Village Potter)” is a multipart installation that consists of a fifteen-foot-high graffiti-laden red fire hydrant, Para Los Días Caliente (This Is for the Hot Ones), a giant version of the first piece he made as a ceramicist and an homage to his father, who, on hot days in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia where they’re from, would cool off with his family by spraying water from a hydrant; four Domino Tables around the reflecting pool feature images of Lugo, his grandfather, baseball hero Roberto Clemente, and Cuban-American singer Celia Cruz (people are invited to bring their own dominoes and play on the tables); and Capicú de Cariño (I Heard It Both Ways) is a twenty-foot-high vase-urn made of foam, paint, and steel with portraits of Puerto Ricans around it: Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, singer Bad Bunny, Clemente, playwrights Quiara Alegría Hudes and Lemon Andersen, and Lugo’s parents, in addition to flowers, dominoes, chickens, and other lively elements. There is also a graffitied archway that allows you to walk through the vase, further immersing you in Puerto Rican culture and history.

“He remembers where he came from,” his father told me.

In his artist statement, Lugo declares, “Yo soy Boricua. / a proud domino-playing, / pasteles-making, / piragua-selling, / fire hydrant-spraying, / plantain-peeling, / salsa-dancing, / alcapurria-consuming, / limber-on the front porch-hustling Puerto Rican.” He also explains, “In recognition of the semiquincentennial of the United States of America, I wanted to recognize the diverse contributions of Puerto Ricans. ‘Alfarero del Barrio’ is a celebration of Puerto Rican culture and a visual representation of our resilience, creativity, and courage. Puerto Rican heritage has roots in African, Taíno, and Spanish culture — a sofrito that provides flavor to everything we do. The history of this intersection is filled with stories of strife, injustice, and horror, but through it all, Puerto Ricans have proven to be icons of resourcefulness and ingenuity that are celebrated through our food, music, and culture.”

On September 16 at 5:30 and October 14 at 5:00, there will be free twenty-minute evening art tours starting on the Redbud Lawn, led by the MSPC curatorial team. And on September 19, a tea ceremony will take place on the Cherry Lawn at 4:30, including a performance by Lugo, who is also a spoken-word poet, and special musical guests Lennie Simo and Marley Howard, with everyone enjoying Puerto Rican snacks and Lugo’s mother’s ginger tea in cups made by Lugo that you can keep.

IMG_8372

The exhibition continues through December 6, so you have plenty of time to experience its meaningful beauty and, as Lugo suggests, take photos of yourself in the vase, play dominoes, have fun at the hydrant, and “see that to be Puerto Rican is to be American.”

[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer and editor; you can follow him on Substack here.]

A SURGING LEGACY: PAYING TRIBUTE TO SINÉAD O’CONNOR AT THE JOYCE

The Surge: An Ode to Sinéad O’Connor celebrates the life and legacy of controversial singer-songwriter (photo by Kate Garner)

THE SURGE: AN ODE TO SINÉAD O’CONNOR
Joyce Theater
175 Eighth Ave. at 19th St.
September 16-27, $97-$112
212-645-2904
www.joyce.org

Tickets are going fast for the North American premiere of Tony-winning, Emmy-nominated Sonya Tayeh’s The Surge: An Ode to Sinéad O’Connor, running at the Joyce from September 16 to 27. A coproduction with Factory International in Manchester, England, the show pays tribute to the Dublin-born singer-songwriter who rose to stardom in the last 1980s and early 1990s with such albums as The Lion and the Cobra and I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got before getting mired in a series of political and religious controversies, experiencing health problems, and disappearing from public view for extended periods of time before dying by suicide in July 2023 at the age of fifty-six.

The seventy-minute show features Betsy Cooper, Alison Clancy, Gabrielle Malone, Mor Mendel, Amy Miller, Jennifer Nugent, Karine Plantadit, Lisa Race, Monique Smith, and Jin Ju Song-Begin dancing to more than a dozen O’Connor songs, from “Troy” and “Mandinka” to “Never Get Old” and “Feels So Different,” as well as audio excerpts from her 2021 memoir, Rememberings.

“Her death was generating these feelings and I was dancing in my loft, surrounded by this grief and joy,” director and choreographer Tayeh says in a program note. “The Joyce and I had been thinking about what we could make together, and not finding the right thing yet, and two things began boiling in my mind. One was about how ahead of her time she was, the volume of her voice, not just as a singer but with a belief system about people, those denied, closed off and mocked. The other was about curiosity, about where all the dance artists were that were my age and older. Where are the women over forty, and why did they disappear?”

Ever since her death, O’Connor and her legacy have been going through a metamorphosis and reevaluation; The Surge should add to that grief and joy.

[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer; you can follow him on Substack here.]

JOSIAH McELHENY & FRIENDS: “INSTRUMENT OBJECTS” AT THE KITCHEN

Who: Josiah McElheny, Zeena Parkins, Wendy Eisenberg, David Grubbs, Raven Chacon, Jennie C. Jones, George Lewis, Fred Moten, Claire Chase, Mary Halvorson, Ikue Mori, Tomeka Reid, Jason Moran, Craig Taborn, John Corbett
What: Programs in conjunction with the exhibition “Josiah McElheny: Instrument Object”
Where: The Kitchen at Westbeth, 163B Bank St., fourth floor loft
When: September 10 – November 7, free
Why: Josiah McElheny, who specializes in working with glass and mirrors, will be opening his latest exhibition, “Instrument Object,” on September 10 at the Kitchen at Westbeth, in which the Boston-born, New York City–based artist pays tribute to ten musicians and composers by translating their work into visual form. The multimedia installation, on view through November 7, honors the legacies of Pauline Oliveros, Lucia Dlugoszewski, Julius Eastman, John Cage, Milford Graves, David Grubbs, Big Mama Thornton, Joe McPhee, Wes Montgomery, and Sun Ra in such pieces as Bench for Archival Listening, Ladder Harp, Cosmic Blue Trumpet, and Heartline.

The show will be accompanied by a series of free live performances and gatherings, beginning September 10 at 7:00 with Zeena Parkins and continuing September 11 with a sunset duet by Wendy Eisenberg and David Grubbs, October 1 with the experimental dialogue “Limb Independence” at Giorno Poetry Systems with McElheny, Raven Chacon, Jennie C. Jones, George Lewis, and Fred Moten, and concluding November 7 and 8 with the two-day “Improvisation, Archive, and Homage” symposium with Claire Chase, Mary Halvorson, Ikue Mori, Tomeka Reid, Jason Moran, and Craig Taborn, moderated by John Corbett. In addition, there will be family art-making workshops on September 19 and 26 and October 3 at 11:00 am and 12:30 pm. All programs are free with advance RSVP.

[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer; you can follow him on Substack here.]