this week in music

CEDAR LAKE INSTALLATION 2015

Biannual Cedar Lake immersive performance installation takes place February 6-7 (photo by Nir Arieli)

Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet
547 West 26th St. between Tenth & Eleventh Aves.
February 6-7, $35, 7:00 & 9:00
212-244-0015
www.cedarlakedance.com

We’ve been to several of Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet’s biannual immersive performance installations, exciting, energizing evenings of art and dance in which the audience is encouraged to walk around the redesigned Chelsea space as the dancers move about and action can crop up anywhere. Previously held in the summer, this year’s program, conceived and directed by artistic director Alexandra Damiani, is scheduled for February 6 & 7, when the sixteen-member corps will perform to movement choreographed by Damiani and the full Cedar Lake company: Jon Bond, Joaquim de Santana, Vânia Doutel Vaz, Joseph Kudra, Matthew Rich, Ida Saki, Rachelle Scott, Ebony Williams, Madeline Wong, Nickemil Concepcion, Jin Young Won, Guillaume Quéau, Navarra Novy-Williams, Raymond Pinto, and apprentices Daphne Fernberger and Patrick Coker. The score will be played live by Brooklyn-based violin and viola duo Charly and Margaux, better known as Chargaux, interdisciplinary artists who used to perform in the subways but now have toured around the country in more professional venues. Space is limited, so get your tickets now for this always adventurous and entertaining event. (The company will also be at BAM June 3-6 in a more traditional setting.)

JOHN CARPENTER: LOST THEMES

The career of iconoclastic auteur John Carpenter is the focus of a talk and film series at BAM

Who: John Carpenter
What: John Carpenter in conversation with NPR host Brooke Gladstone
Where: BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, Peter Jay Sharp Building, 230 Lafayette Ave., 718-636-4100
When: Thursday, February 5, $25-$50, 8:00
Why: Writer, director, and composer John Carpenter discusses his career in film and music, in conjunction with the release of his album John Carpenter’s Lost Themes (Sacred Bones, February 3, 2015) and the BAMcinématek series “John Carpenter: Master of Fear,” which runs February 5-22 and consists of eighteen of Carpenter’s films, including Halloween, The Thing, Assault on Precinct 13, Escape from New York, They Live, and Starman in addition to three films specially selected by Carpenter: Straw Dogs, Sorcerer, and Forbidden Planet.

TICKET GIVEAWAY: DAVID GARRETT AND THE DEVIL’S VIOLINIST

Who: David Garrett, world’s fastest violinist
What: Celebration of the U.S. theatrical release of The Devil’s Violinist (Bernard Rose, 2013) and the accompanying soundtrack album, Garrett vs. Paganini (Decca/Universal), matinee screening followed by a Q&A and live performance by David Garrett
Where: Quad Cinema, 34 West 13th St., 212-255-2243
When: Sunday, February 1, free ticket giveaway below, 3:25
Why: German-born crossover musician David Garrett has been playing violin since the age of four; he makes his film debut in The Devil’s Violinist, starring as nineteenth-century Italian violin virtuoso, composer, and womanizer Niccolò Paganini, with Jared Harris as Urbani, Joely Richardson as Ethel Langham, and Christian McKay as John Watson, written and directed by Bernard Rose (Candyman, Immortal Beloved, The Kreutzer Sonata), opening at the Quad and on VOD January 30; the album, which also features Andrea Bocelli and Nicole Scherzinger, releases January 27.

TICKET GIVEAWAY: International superstar David Garrett will be at the Quad on Sunday, February 1, for a special Q&A and live performance following the 3:25 screening of The Devil’s Violinist, and twi-ny has three pairs of tickets to give away for free, along with CDs of the Garrett vs. Paganini album. Just send your name, daytime phone number, and the name of your favorite classical composer to contest@twi-ny.com by Thursday, January 29, at 3:00 to be eligible. All entrants must be twenty-one years of age or older; three winners will be selected at random.

VIDEO OF THE DAY: “CAN’T BREAK ME DOWN” BY BILLY IDOL

Who: Billy Idol, with special guest Broncho
What: Kings & Queens of the Underground Live World Tour
Where: Beacon Theater, 2124 Broadway between 74th & 75th Sts., 212-465-6500
When: Wednesday, January 28, $44.50-$105, 8:00
Why: William Michael Albert Broad, better known as Billy Idol, comes to the Beacon on the heels of the release of his autobiography, Dancing with Myself (Touchstone, October 2014), and new album, Kings & Queens of the Underground (Kobalt, October 2014), featuring such songs as “Bitter Pill,” “Save Me Now,” and “Postcards from the Past”

SUNDAYS ON BROADWAY

Yvonne Rainer’s CARRIAGE DISCRETENESS kicks off marathon opening of Sundays on Broadway winter season

Who: Cathy Weis Projects
What: Rare screening of 9 Evenings: Theatre and Engineering, documenting collaboration between experimental artists and Bell Labs in 1966 at the 69th Regiment Armory
Where: WeisAcres, 537 Broadway between Prince & Spring Sts., buzzer #3
When: Sunday, January 25, free, 2:00 (all future events at 8:00)
Why: The 2014 winter season of Sundays on Broadway begins on January 25 with a ten-hour marathon of 9 Evenings: Theatre and Engineering, consisting of films by David Tudor, John Cage, Deborah Hay, Övynid Fahlström, Robert Rauschenberg, Yvonne Rainer, Steve Paxton, Robert Whitman, Alex Hay, and Lucinda Childs; the salon-style series continues Sunday nights at 8:00 through March 29 with live performances, readings, film screenings, discussions, and more, including a selection of Trisha Brown’s early works on February 1 with Wendy Perron, a screening of Léonide Massine’s Choreartium on February 8 with Tatiana Massine Weinbaum, and a reading of Fortunato Depero’s unpublished Dramma plastico futurista by puppeteer Dan Hurlin on February 15 (advance reservations are required for the immersive installations taking place the last four Sundays in March with Jon Kinzel, Jennifer Miller, Vicky Shick, and others)

TICKET ALERT: BJÖRK IN NEW YORK

Tickets to see innovative Brooklyn-based Icelandic musician Björk at Carnegie Hall and City Center go on sale this week

Who: Björk
What: Vulnicura tour; tickets on sale January 19 (presale to fan club) and January 23 (general public)
Where: Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall, City Center, Randall’s Island Park
When: March 7 & 14, Carnegie Hall; March 25 & 28, April 1 & 4, City Center; June 5-7, Governors Ball (tickets on sale now for Governors Ball)
Why: Icelandic superstar Björk Guðmundsdóttir follows up her mega-successful Biophilia album, app, tour, and film with Vulnicura, a new record due in March featuring the tracks “Stone Milker,” “Lion Song,” “History of Touches,” “Black Lake,” “Family,” “Not Get,” “Atom Dance,” “Mouth Mantra,” and “Quicksand”; her concerts are always something special, and this should be no different — tickets go on sale for the New York shows to Björk fan club members on January 19 at 11:00 and to the general public January 23 at 11:00 and are sure to go very quickly (note: a multimedia retrospective of Björk’s career will open at MoMA on March 8)

MLK DAY 2015

New York City celebration of MLK Day includes a screening of KING: A FILMED RECORD…MONTGOMERY TO MEMPHIS at Film Forum

Multiple venues
Monday, January 19
www.mlkday.gov

In 1983, the third Monday in January was officially recognized as Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, honoring the birthday of the civil rights leader who was assassinated in Memphis on April 4, 1968. Dr. King would have turned eighty-six this month, and you can celebrate his legacy on Monday by participating in a Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service project or attending one of numerous special events taking place around the city. BAM’s twenty-ninth annual free Brooklyn Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. includes a keynote speech by Dr. Cornel West, live performances by Sandra St. Victor & Oya’s Daughter and the New York Fellowship Mass Choir, the theatrical presentation State of Emergence, the NYCHA Saratoga Village Community Center student exhibit “Picture the Dream,” and a screening of Ken Burns, Sara Burns, and David McMahon’s 2012 documentary The Central Park Five. The JCC in Manhattan will host an Engage MLK Day of Service in Brooklyn: Feeding Our Neighbors community initiative, a screening of Rachel Fisher and Rachel Pasternak’s 2014 documentary Joachim Prinz: I Shall Not Be Silent, and “Thank You, Dr. King,” in which Dance Theater of Harlem cofounder Arthur Mitchell shares his life story, joined by dancers Ashley Murphy and Da’Von Doane.

The Harlem Gospel Choir will play a special matinee at B.B. King’s on MLK Day

The Children’s Museum of Manhattan will teach kids about King’s legacy with the “Martin’s Mosaic” and Mugi Pottery workshops, the “Heroic Heroines: Coretta Scott King” book talk, and Movement & Circle Time participatory programs, while the Brooklyn Children’s Museum hosts the special hands-on crafts workshops “Let’s March!” and “Let’s Join Hands,” screenings of Rob Smiley and Vincenzo Trippetti’s 1999 animated film Our Friend, Martin, and a Cultural Connections performance by the Berean Community Drumline. The Museum at Eldridge Street will be hosting a free reading of Kobi Yamada and Mae Besom’s picture book What Do You Do with an Idea? along with a collage workshop. Also, Film Forum will show the 1970 three-hour epic documentary King: A Filmed Record . . . Montgomery to Memphis at 7:00, and the Harlem Gospel Choir will give a special MLK Day matinee at 12:30 at B.B. King’s in Times Square.