this week in music

DOPPELGANGER

Park Ave. Armory’s Wade Thompson Drill Hall is transformed into a WWI military hospital in Doppelganger (photo by Monika Rittershaus / courtesy of Park Avenue Armory)

DOPPELGANGER
Park Avenue Armory, Wade Thompson Drill Hall
643 Park Ave. at 67th St.
September 22-28, $54-$259
212-933-5812
www.armoryonpark.org

Park Avenue Armory once again confirms that its Wade Thompson Drill Hall is the most sensational performance space in New York City with the world premiere of Claus Guth’s bold and breathtaking Doppelganger.

In 1828, ailing Austrian composer Franz Schubert wrote “13 Lieder nach Gedichten von Rellstab und Heine,” a baker’s dozen of songs set to text by German poet, pianist, and music critic Ludwig Rellstab (originally written for Beethoven) and German poet and literary critic Heinrich Heine. Schubert died of syphilis in November of that year at the age of thirty-one; the works were published in 1829 as a fourteen-song cycle, Schwanengesang (“Swan Song”), with the addition of a song with lyrics by Austrian archaeologist and poet Johann Gabriel Seidl.

Innovative German director Guth has adapted Schwanengesang into a riveting tale of love, war, and death, set inside a military field hospital; the armory itself was built for the Seventh Regiment during the Civil War, adding a layer of reality. Michael Levine’s stunning set consists of nine rows of seven white-sheeted beds, in austere alignment, with Helmut Deutsch’s piano at the center (where one of the beds would have been, but the pianist is in no need of any kind of assistance). At the front and back are six chairs and mobile IV units for nurses. The audience sits in rising rafters on either side of the beds.

When the doors open about fifteen minutes prior to the official start time, nearly two dozen of the beds are already occupied by barefoot men in WWI-era brown pants and jacket, white shirt, and suspenders (the costumes are by Constance Hoffman); they shift in restless sleep as the nurses proceed in unison through the rows of beds and Deutsch waits patiently at his grand piano.

A seriously injured soldier faces heartbreak in Doppelganger (photo by Monika Rittershaus / courtesy of Park Avenue Armory)

Schubert did not intend for the fourteen songs to form a continuous, complete narrative, but Guth transforms it into a seamless, deeply compelling, and powerful story. The doors close and the show begins, soon focusing on an unnamed solitary individual (German-Austrian tenor Jonas Kaufmann). “In deep repose my comrades in arms / lie in a circle around me; / my heart is so anxious and heavy, / so ardent with longing,” he sings in Rellstab’s “Warrior’s foreboding,” continuing, “How often I have dreamt sweetly / upon her warm breast! / How cheerful the fireside glow seemed / when she lay in my arms.”

Rellstab’s words are beautiful and romantic as the man makes numerous references to nature while contemplating his bleak future. “Murmuring brook, so silver and bright, / do you hasten, so lively and swift, to my beloved?” he asks in “Love’s message.” In “Far away,” he speaks of “Whispering breezes, / gently ruffled waves, darting sunbeams, lingering nowhere.” Other stanzas refer to “snowy blossoms,” “slender treetops,” a “roaring forest,” “gardens so green.”

Heine’s lyrics cast the man as a lonely soul desperate for connection. “I, unhappy Atlas, must bear a world, / the whole world of sorrows. / I bear the unbearable, and my heart / would break within my body,” he proclaims. Tears figure prominently, appearing in four songs. “My tears, too, flowed / down my cheeks. / And oh – I cannot believe / that I have lost you!” he declares in “Her portrait.”

Kaufmann is in terrific voice; he wanders around the set seeking solace, looking for a reason to fight for a life that is draining from his body. He stops at a bedpost, lays out on the floor, and stands under falling rose petals. He makes sure to visit each part of the audience, sometimes coming within only a few feet. The other soldiers and the nurses weave in and out of the columns, sitting on beds or gathering together. (The movement is expertly choreographed by Sommer Ulrickson.)

Helmut Deutsch calmly plays at a center piano while action swirls around him (photo by Monika Rittershaus / courtesy of Park Avenue Armory)

Urs Schönebaum’s brilliant lighting is like a character unto itself; each bed has its own white spotlight, and occasionally a stand of lights bursts from one end, casting long shadows amid the nearly blinding brightness. The projections by rocafilm include bare trees and an abstract static on the floor, as if we’re inside the man’s disintegrating mind. Mathis Nitschke’s compositions feature sudden blasts of the noises of war, providing theatrical accompaniment to Deutsch’s gorgeous playing, all balanced by Mark Grey’s tantalizing sound design, which links songs that were not meant to mellifluously follow one after another to do exactly that, flowing like the brooks so often referenced in the lyrics.

Guth, who played Schubert’s Winterreise as a student and previously collaborated with Kaufmann on the composer’s Fierrabras, takes advantage of nearly everything the armory has to offer; it’s hard to imagine the ninety-minute Doppelganger being quite as successful anywhere else. Surtitles are projected in English and German above the seating. The cavernous fifty-five-thousand-square-foot hall has rarely felt so intimate despite its impressive length and vast, high ceiling. And the finale holds a powerful surprise that also explains the title of the work, and not just because the name of the song is “Der Doppelgänger.”

Incorporating dance, theater, music recital, art installation, and poetry, Doppelganger is a triumphant, site-specific marvel that is not just for classical music fans. It’s a timeless emotional treatise on the evils of war and the heartbreak of lost love as a man reflects on his life while staring death straight in the face.

It’s a harrowing and thoroughly astounding journey. Although it grew out of the European wars of the nineteenth century, it remains painfully relevant even as a twenty-first-century war rages on the borders of Eastern Europe today.

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

DOUGLAS DUNN + DANCERS: GARDEN PARTY

Douglas Dunn’s Garden Party is back for a return engagement (photo by Jacob Burckhardt)

GARDEN PARTY
Douglas Dunn Studio
541 Broadway between Spring & Prince Sts., third floor
September 6-10, $20 floor cushions, $25 chairs
www.douglasdunndance.com

This past April, Douglas Dunn + Dancers presented the world premiere of Garden Party at the company’s third-floor Soho loft studio. The sixty-minute piece is now returning for an encore run September 6-10; tickets are $20 for floor cushions or $25 for a chair.

Longtime Dunn collaborator Mimi Gross designed the colorful costumes and scenery, bathing the space in lushly painted trompe l’oeil walls and ceiling and a long horizontal mirror covered with pink, yellow, and green flowers, plants, trees, clouds, raindrops, and other natural elements. The work is performed by Dunn, Alexandra Berger, Janet Charleston, Grazia Della-Terza, Vanessa Knouse, Emily Pope, Paul Singh, Jin Ju Song-Begin, Timothy Ward, and Christopher Williams, with lighting and projections by Lauren Parrish, sound by Jacob Burckhardt, and preshow live music by guitarist and composer Tosh Sheridan.

The soundtrack consists of pop and classical tunes (Robert de Visée, John Lennon & Yoko Ono, Bach, Mark Knopfler & Emmylou Harris, more), birdsong, and poetry (by John Keats, Anne Waldman, Molière, Rainer Maria Rilke, John Milton, Stephanie Jacco, and others, read by Dunn, Waldman, Jacco, and Della-Terza). In an April twi-ny talk, Dunn noted, “The feel of this evening was clear to me the day the title hit me (about three years ago, the pandemic postponing the project). The lavish beauty of Mimi’s set completely fulfills my initial intuition . . . as if she’d read my dancing mind.”

Tickets are limited; the show sold out its April premiere, so don’t hesitate if you want to be part of this intimate experience.

RENÉE FLEMING IMMERSED IN PARIS AND VENICE

Renée Fleming takes viewers backstage at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Renée Fleming’s Cities that Sing: Paris (photo courtesy IMAX and Stage Access)

RENÉE FLEMING’S CITIES THAT SING: PARIS / VENICE (Francois-Rene Martin, 2022/2023)
AMC Empire 25, IMAX Laser
AMC Kips Bay 15, IMAX Laser
Paris: Saturday, August 26, $32, 3:00
Venice: Saturday, September 16, $32, 3:00
www.fathomevents.com
imax.com/reneefleming

Here in New York City, we’ve been spoiled when it comes to superstar soprano Renée Fleming. The Grammy-winning Rochester native has been performing at the Metropolitan Opera House since her 1991 debut as Countess Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro; this season she appeared as Clarissa Vaughan in The Hours. Fleming has also been on Broadway twice, in Living in Love in 2015 and Carousel in 2018, as well as the Shed in the 2019 drama Norma Jeane Baker of Troy.

Now we get a chance to see another side of Fleming as she visits two of the great international cities, exploring their music and culture in two one-day-only IMAX screenings. On August 26, you can immerse yourself in Renée Fleming’s Cities that Sing: Paris, followed September 16 by Renée Fleming’s Cities that Sing: Venice.

“My career has taken me to stages all over the world singing repertoire that is so virtuosic, so beautiful and enriching, and now I get to bring some of that experience to movie screens through this spectacular pairing of IMAX and Fathom Events,” Fleming said in a statement. “This is an extraordinary combination that allows these two special films to be seen by the largest possible audience.”

In Paris, Fleming, focusing on chamber pieces and arias by such composers as Reynaldo Hahn, Gabriel Faure, Léo Delibes, Jacques Offenbach, Georges Bizet, and Giuseppe Verdi, is joined by tenor Piotr Beczała, soprano Axelle Fanyo, baritone Alexandre Duhamel, pianist Tanguy de Williencourt, and the Orchestre Victor Hugo Franche-Comteat, conducted by Jean-François Verdier, at the Théâtre du Châtelet as they take a musical journey through the City of Lights; she also sits down for a conversation with French couturier Alexis Mabille and Canadian opera director Robert Carsen.

In Venice, concentrating on classic works by such Italian composers as Verdi, Gioachino Rossini, and Giacomo Puccini, Fleming performs at the Teatro La Fenice with tenor Francesco Meli, baritone Mattia Olivieri, mezzo-soprano Paola Gardina, and the Orchestra Del Teatro La Fenice conducted by Riccardo Frizza; she also discusses the City of Canals with Frizza and La Fenice artistic director Fortunato Ortombina.

Renée Fleming guides viewers through the City of Canals in Renée Fleming’s Cities that Sing: Venice (photo courtesy IMAX and Stage Access)

Presented by IMAX, Fathom, and Stage Access, the films are directed by Francois-Rene Martin (Baroque Odyssey: A Birthday Concert in the Gardens of William Christie, Edward Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius) and lavishly photographed and lit by Julien Jaunet as Fleming sings in the gorgeous theaters, visits local shops, takes a gondola ride, and engages in outdoor conversations about art and culture.

“Opera is called grand opera for a reason: It’s larger than life, incorporating every art — instrumental music, singing, drama, poetry — into one major art form that is a wonderful experience on the big screen,” Fleming added.

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

HOW TO GET INSIDE THE MIND OF JOHN WILSON

The end of How To with John Wilson is being celebrated with several special film programs

JOHN WILSON SELECTS
Anthology Film Archives
32 Second Ave. at Second St.
August 19-29
212-505-5181
www.anthologyfilmarchives.org

No one captures the minute foibles of everyday life in New York City like John Wilson does. On his HBO series How To with John Wilson, which concludes its third and, sadly, final season on September 1, New York City native and documentarian Wilson incorporates a treasure trove of background shots he and his team have collected over the years into new interviews with New Yorkers as he tackles such subjects as “How To Make Small Talk,” “How To Put Up Scaffolding,” “How To Find a Spot,” “How To Throw Out Your Batteries,” and “How To Find a Public Restroom.” In each episode, the ever cool, calm, collected, and wonderfully deadpan Wilson veers off on fascinating and hilarious tangents that are quintessentially New York.

In honor of the end of the series, Anthology Film Archives invited him to curate “John Wilson Selects,” which runs August 19–29 and kicks off with “John Wilson & Crew,” a collection of short works made by many of his collaborators. “When I started to put together the team for How To, I wanted to hire camera people and editors whose vision I really admired. This program showcases original work by a handful of crew members on the show who are all amazing artists in their own right,” Wilson said in a statement.

The evening consists of Nathan Truesdell’s When the LAPD Blows Up Your Neighborhood, Nellie Kluz’s The Sunken Smile and DD, Chris Maggio’s Even a Broken Clock Is Right Twice a Day, Leia Jospé’s No Delay and Let Me Luv U, Britni West’s Tired Moonlight, LJ Frezza’s Nothing and Is It Us?, Jess Pinkham’s PanoptiJohn, and Wilson’s My Morning with Magic Mike. Wilson and several crew members will be on hand for a discussion on August 19.

William H. Whyte documentary is a major influence on John Wilson

The festival continues with works by filmmakers who have inspired and influenced Wilson, beginning with Mark Lewis’s Animalicious, which Wilson pairs with his own Looner, a college film he made about balloon fetishists in Binghamton. Bruce Brown’s On Any Sunday is the follow-up to the surfing classic The Endless Summer. Les Blank, Vikram Jayanti, and Chris Simon’s Innocents Abroad tracks American tourists on a bus tour in Europe. Bronx native George Kuchar’s Weather Diary 4 has a unique soundtrack; it’s being shown with Kuchar’s Low Light Life and Award. Mark Benjamin and Marc Levin’s The Last Party is a political film in which, Wilson says, “Robert Downey Jr. is insufferable . . . but it still manages to be one of the most beautiful documentaries I’ve ever seen.” Wilson calls Tony Montana and Mark Brian Smith’s Overnight “a cautionary tale about creative hubris.”

And William H. Whyte’s The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces might have the most impact on Wilson, who says about it, “William Whyte is a legendary people watcher who likes to study the subtle ways public space is used. I think about this film constantly whenever I’m out shooting. It all feels very scientific but he has a little fun describing human behavior, like when he identifies the ‘girl watchers’ hanging out in a midtown plaza. My favorite part is when he studies the way that people use chairs.”

HOW TO NEW YORK
Rooftop Films
Gansevoort Plaza, 38 Gansevoort St. at Ninth Ave.
Wednesday, August 30, free with RSVP, 7:15
rooftopfilms.com

Rooftop Films is celebrating How To with a special evening in Gansevoort Plaza on August 30, beginning with live music at 7:15, followed by screenings of five shorts at 8:00 and a Q&A. The films begin with an advance preview of the final episode of the series, How To Track Your Package, about Wilson trying to locate a stolen delivery. In Joe Bonacci’s Cat Stickers Trilogy, someone is affixing cat stickers to walls and objects throughout an apartment complex. Alex Mallis and Travis Wood’s Dollar Pizza Documentary is about the prevalence of the ninety-nine-cent slice (which has gone up to $1.50 at some joints). Mike Donahue’s Troy finds a couple who are harassed by a neighbor’s loud sex. And in Jarreau Carrillo’s The Vacation, an overworked Black man wants to do more than just go to the beach with his friends on the last day of summer.

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

CONEY ISLAND SAND SCULPTING CONTEST 2023

Twenty-fifth annual Sand Sculpting Contest takes place in Coney Island on Saturday (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

Thirty-first annual Coney Island Sand Sculpting Contest should feature some wild creations on Saturday (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

CONEY ISLAND SAND SCULPTING CONTEST
Coney Island
Boardwalk between West Tenth & Twelfth Sts.
Saturday, August 12, free, noon – 4:00 pm
www.coneyisland.com
www.allianceforconeyisland.org

The thirty-first annual Coney Island Sand Sculpting Contest will take place at the People’s Playground on August 12, as amateurs, semiprofessionals, and professionals will create masterpieces in the Brooklyn sand, many with a nautical theme. It’s a blast watching the constructions rise from nothing into some extremely elaborate works of temporary art. The event, which features cash prizes, is hosted by the Alliance for Coney Island and features four categories: Adult Group, Family, Individual, and People’s Choice. There are always a few architectural ringers who design sophisticated castles, along with a handful of gentlemen building, well, sexy mermaids. You can register as late as eleven o’clock Saturday to participate. While visiting Coney Island on August 12, you should also check out the Coney Island Museum, the Coney Island Circus Sideshow, the Music of Curiosities Viva concert with Mystical Children and host PNK VLVT WTCH, and the New York Aquarium in addition to riding the Cyclone and the Wonder Wheel.

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

TICKET ALERT: THE MUSIC CRITIC

John Malkovich, Hyung-ki Joo, and Aleksey Igudesman star in The Music Critic, coming to the Beacon for one night only

Who: John Malkovich, Aleksey Igudesman, Hyung-ki Joo
What: The Music Critic, play with live classical music and opera
Where: Beacon Theatre, Broadway at 74th St.
When: Saturday, October 28, $66-$257, 7:30
Why: In such films as Being John Malkovich and cable series as The New Pope, two-time Oscar nominee and Emmy winner John Malkovich (Places in the Heart, In the Line of Fire) has shown that he has a wickedly clever sense of humor, especially when it comes to himself. Since appearing on Broadway four times from 1984 to 1987 (Death of a Salesman, Arms and the Man, The Caretaker, Burn This), his stage work in New York has been limited. In 2011, he starred as the title murderer in The Infernal Comedy: Confessions of a Serial Killer at BAM, and two years later he portrayed Giacomo Casanova at City Center in The Giacomo Variations; both traveling productions combined classical music, opera, and theater.

On October 28, Malkovich will return to the city for one night only with his latest traveling show, The Music Critic, in which he plays a cynical expositor who argues that Antonín Dvořák “indulges in ugly, unnatural music,” calls Johannes Brahms a “giftless bastard,” and claims that “the music of Debussy has the attractiveness of a pretty, tubercular maiden.” It was created and conceived by Russian violinist, poet, author, director, composer, and conductor Aleksey Igudesman, who performs in the international hit with his longtime comedy partner, Korean-British pianist, composer, and educator Hyung-ki Joo; both trained at the prestigious Yehudi Menuhin School. The irreverent comic duo of Igudesman & Joo has previously staged such productions as And Now Rachmaninoff, And Now Mozart, and BIG Nightmare Music.

“We are all happy to be back on the road, and for the first time also in the USA, participating in an evening which consists of some of the greatest compositions in the history of classical music, paired with the perhaps rather unexpected initial reactions those compositions elicited from some of the world’s renowned music critics, along with some other surprises,” Malkovich said in a statement. Igudesman added, “The Music Critic is a project very close to my heart, and bringing it to the USA is something I dreamed of from its inception. My dear friend John Malkovich in the role of the evil critic is despicable and lovable at the same time and evokes the critic in every one of us.”

The score of The Music Critic features Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Brahms, Schumann, Debussy, Prokofiev, Eugène Ysaÿe, Giya Kancheli, Astor Piazzolla, and Igudesman; Igudesman and Joo will be joined by cellist Antonio Lysy, violist Hsin-Yun Huang, and violinist Claire Wells. Be prepared for an unpredictable evening of fab music and comic high jinks.

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

HARLEM WEEK: A GREAT DAY IN HARLEM AND MORE

Who: Uptown Dance Academy, the Gospel Caravan, IMPACT Repertory Theatre, Mama Foundation’s Sing Harlem! Choir, Bishop Hezekiah Walker & Choir, Ray Chew & the Harlem Music Festival All-Star Band featuring Nona Hendryx, more
What: Annual Harlem Week celebration
Where: U.S. Grant National Memorial Park, West 122nd St. at Riverside Dr.
When: Sunday, August 13, free, noon – 7:00 pm (festival runs August 9-16)
Why: One of the centerpieces of Harlem Week is “A Great Day in Harlem,” which takes place Sunday, August 13, as part of this annual summer festival. There will be an international village with booths selling food, clothing, jewelry, and more, as well as live music and dance divided into “Artz, Rootz & Rhythm,” “The Gospel Caravan,” “The Fashion Flava Fashion Show,” and “The Concert Under the Stars.” Among the performers are the Uptown Dance Academy, the Gospel Caravan, IMPACT Repertory Theatre, the Sing Harlem! Choir, and Bishop Hezekiah Walker & Choir. In addition, Ray Chew & the Harlem Music Festival All-Star Band, featuring Nona Hendryx, will perform a tribute to the one and only Tina Turner, who died in May at the age of eighty-three; Harry Belafonte, Tony Bennett, Miriam Makeba, and Tito Puente will also be honored.

The theme of the forty-ninth annual Harlem Week is “Be the Change: Hope. Joy. Love.”; it runs August 9-16 with such other free events as the panel discussion “Climate & Environmental Justice in Harlem: Storms, Heat & Wildfires,” A Harlem SummerStage concert, Senior Citizens Day, the Uptown Night Market, the Percy Sutton Harlem 5K Run & Walk & Children’s Run, “Choose Healthy Life Service of Renewal and Healing,” Great Jazz on the Great Hill in Central Park with Wycliffe Gordon and Bobby Sanabria, Imagenation Outdoor Film Festival screenings of Beat Street with DJ Spivey and Max Roach: The Drum Also Waltzes, a Youth Conference & Hackathon, Economic Development Day, an Arts & Culture Broadway Summit, Harlem on My Mind Conversations, a Jobs & Career Fair, and more. “We continue to build a stronger, more united Harlem, radiating hope, joy, and love throughout our beloved city,” Harlem Week chairman Lloyd Williams said in a statement.

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