this week in music

THE MILE-LONG OPERA, A BIOGRAPHY OF 7 O’CLOCK

The Mile-Long Opera premieres on the High Line on October 3 at 7:00 (photo by Jean Coleman)

The High Line, Gansevoort St.
October 3-8, free with advance timed reservation
www.thehighline.org
milelongopera.com

Now that we’re in October, sunset has moved into the 6:30 range, but “civil” twilight is hovering around 7:00. So it is appropriate that from October 3-8, the High Line will be hosting The Mile-Long Opera, a biography of 7 o’clock, beginning each night at seven. The free presentation consists of one thousand singers from across New York, delivering the world premiere of this site-specific event, as the audience makes their way along the elevated park. The words were written by poets Anne Carson (librettist) and Claudia Rankine (essayist), based on interviews conducted with New Yorkers at Abrons Arts Center and the Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce in Manhattan, ARTs East NY in Brooklyn, Jacob A. Riis Neighborhood Settlement in Queens, the POINTCDC in the Bronx, and Snug Harbor in Staten Island, discussing what seven o’clock means to them. The work was created by composer David Lang and Diller Scofidio + Renfro, the design studio behind the High Line. The Mile-Long Opera is directed by Elizabeth Diller and Lynsey Peisinger, with music direction by Donald Nally, sound by Jody Elff, lighting by John Torres, and costumes by Carlos Soto; wildly inventive, multidisciplinary Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson is the creative adviser. Although advance registration is closed, there will be standby lines beginning at 6:30 each night at Gansevoort & Washington Sts.; since the event is free, you can expect many people who have signed up will not show, so there should be a pretty good chance of getting in. You can also experience the event in 360 degrees via an app that will be available on October 3. So think about it: Just what does 7:00 mean to you?

THE SIX BRANDENBURG CONCERTOS

Anne de Keersmaeker’s adaptation of The Six Brandenburg Concertos comes to the Park Ave. Armory this week

Park Ave. Armory, Wade Thompson Drill Hall
643 Park Ave. at 67th St.
October 1-7, $45-$95
212-933-5812
www.armoryonpark.org
www.rosas.be/en

Belgian choreographer Anne de Keersmaeker has been making deeply thoughtful, intellectually exciting, stunningly beautiful work — “the art of dance as an act of writing movements in space and time,” as it says in the mission statement of her company — for nearly four decades. On October 1, just a few weeks after its September 12 world premiere in Berlin, her eagerly anticipated adaptation of The Six Brandenburg Concertos opens at the Park Avenue Armory, home to several great explorations of Bach, from the 2014 St. Matthew Passion by Peter Sellars, with the Berliner Philharmoniker conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, to the 2015 Goldberg by pianist Igor Levit and visual artist Marina Abramovic. De Keersmaeker’s piece is choreographed for sixteen members of all generations in her Rosas company, performed to all six concertos played live by noted baroque orchestra B’Rock, conducted by Amandine Beyer, who has worked with De Keekrmaeker previously. With costumes by An D’Huys and set and lighting design by Jan Versweyveld, Ivo van Hove’s partner and regular collaborator, the two-hour piece promises to be a fascinating look at the interplay of pattern in music and movement, interpreted by masters.

six brandenburg concertos

De Keersmaeker has never shied from setting her works to music that is both challenging and fiercely beloved; in 1980, her well-known Violin Phase was performed to the music of Steve Reich, and just a year ago in September, twi-ny was riveted by her work with Salva Sanchez on A Love Supreme at New York Live Arts, performed to John Coltrane’s classic album. “Like no other, Bach’s music carries within itself movement and dance, managing to combine the greatest abstraction with a concrete, physical, and, subsequently, even transcendental dimension,” De Keersmaeker has said. In a recent interview with Jan Vandenhouwe, artistic director of Kunsthuis Opera Vlaanderen Royal Ballet Flanders, De Keersmaeker noted, “Just like Bach in composing, I have to impose rules on myself which over time I can break. . . . Measure by measure we try to compensate Bach’s musical counterpoint with a choreographic counterpoint. It is certainly an enormous challenge to match the logic of the dance vocabulary with that of the music.” It’s a challenge that will be met in the Wade Thompson Drill Hall during this very special week of performances, by De Keersmaeker and her co-creators and dancers, Boštjan Antončič, Carlos Garbin, Frank Gizycki, Marie Goudot, Robin Haghi, Cynthia Loemij, Mark Lorimer, Michaël Pomero, Jason Respilieux, Igor Shyshko, Luka Švajda, Jakub Truszkowski, Thomas Vantuycom, Samantha van Wissen, Sandy Williams, and Sue Yeon Youn. De Keersmaeker and Beyer will take part in an artist talk with Performa founding director and chief curator RoseLee Goldberg on October 4 at 6:00; the event is sold out, but it will be streamed live on Facebook here.

FERRAGOSTO 2018

More than twenty thousand guests are expected to descend on Arthur Ave. on Saturday for the annual Ferragosto festival

More than twenty thousand people are expected to descend on Arthur Ave. on Saturday for the annual Ferragosto festival

Arthur Ave. between Crescent Ave. & 187th St.
Saturday, September 9, free, 12 noon – 6:00 pm
www.ferragosto.com

The Ancient Roman festival known as Ferragosto dates back to August 15 in 18 BC, celebrating summer, the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, the end of the harvest season, and various gods and goddesses (Diana, Vertumnus, Opis). Here in New York City, Ferragosto is taking place this year on September 9 along one-hundred-year-old Arthur Ave., which was named for Chester A. Arthur, the Vermont-born New York lawyer and politician who became the twenty-first president of the United States. Belmont Business Improvement District executive director Philip Marino will give the opening remarks at 11:30, followed by Elio Scaccio performing “Inno di Mameli,” the Italian National Anthem, and Nick Vero delivering “The Star-Spangled Banner.” There will be live performances by Scaccio and JulieAnna at 11:45 and 2:15, Natalie Pinto at 12:45, Frankie Sands at 3:15, and Rock Steady at 4:45. Among the many merchants with booths will be Arthur Avenue Cigars, Artuso Pastry Shop, Bronx Dance Theatre, Casa Della Mozzerella, Catania’s Pizza, De Lillo’s Pastry Shop, Dominick’s Restaurant, Gerbasi, Liberatore’s Garden, Madonia Bros. Bakery, Mario’s, Peter’s Meat Market, Randazzo’s, Sacred Heart Gifts & Apparel, St. Barnabas Hospital, Terranova Bakery, and Zero Otto Nove. It doesn’t get much more Italian than this, so divertiti!

OctFest 2018: AN INTERNATIONAL BEER, MUSIC, AND FOOD CELEBRATION

octfest-beer-festival

Governors Island
Saturday, September 8, and Sunday, September 9, $75 per day, $140 both, 2:00 – 10:00
octfest.co/p/1
govisland.com

Beer, music, and food are on the menu at OctFest, taking place on Governors Island on September 8 and 9. On Saturday, the music lineup boasts Vince Staples, Jeff Tweedy, NAO, Saba, Preoccupations, Vagabon, Standing on the Corner, Hatchie, Flasher, and Madison McFerrin, while taking the stage on Sunday are the Flaming Lips, Nile Rodgers & CHIC, Yo La Tengo, Girlpool, Hop Along, No Age, Kamaiyah, Shopping, Julie Byrne, and the Courtneys. Food will be available from Best Pizza, Cervo’s, Hank’s Juicy Beef, Island Oyster, KronnerBurger, Los Viajeros Food Truck, Mission Chinese Food, Oddfellows Ice Cream Co., Sweet Chick, STUF’D Truck, and Roberta’s Pizza, curated by Bon Appétit. Presented by Pitchfork and beer culture website October, the second annual festival also features suds from nearly one hundred craft breweries from some twenty countries, including Rogue Ales, Zero Gravity Craft Brewery, Bogota Beer Co., Boxing Cat Brewery, Wicked Weed Brewing, DC Brau, Wedge Brewing Co., Four Peaks Brewing Co., Wild Beer Co., Birra del Borgo, Brouwerij Bosteels, La Virgen, Cerveza Patagonia, Cucapá, Nicaragua Craft Beer Co., 4 Pines Brewing Company, Taihu Brewery, the Hand & Malt Brewery, and Karbach Brewing Co. In addition, money will be raised for the Billion Oyster Project.

YOU SAY YOU WANT A REVOLUTION: REMEMBERING THE 60s

NYPL explores the 1960s counterculture movement in multimedia exhibit (photo by twi-ny/mdr)

The New York Public Library
Stephen A. Schwartzman Building
D. Samuel and Jeane H. Gottesman Exhibition Hall
Daily through September 1, free
917-275-6975
www.nypl.org

The New York Public Library revisits one of the most turbulent eras of American history in “You Say You Want a Revolution: Remembering the 60s,” which continues at the main Manhattan branch through September 1. Part of Carnegie Hall’s citywide “The ’60s: The Years that Changed America,” the show features photographs, art, letters, documents, video, music, propaganda, and more, divided into “Get My Soul Free: Consciousness,” “Wang Dang Doodle: Sexuality and Gender,” “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall: The New Left,” “Bad Moon on the Rise: War in Vietnam,” “I’m Black and I’m Proud: Civil Rights and Black Power,” and “Back to the Garden: Communal Life,” exploring the counterculture and its legacy. John Updike defends the war in Southeast Asia. Tom Wolfe takes notes for what would become The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. Film clips celebrate Woodstock and Hair. Buttons declare, “Black Is Beautiful.” The death of the hippie is memorialized in Haight-Ashbury. Psychedelic posters announce happenings. Patty Hearst reinvents herself as Tania. Gloria Steinem has something to say to the New York Times. And Uncle Sam wants out. There are also listening booths where you can act as your own DJ, choosing songs from hundreds of albums arranged politically. Free tours will be held at 12:30 and 3:30 Monday through Saturday and Sunday at 2:00.

BRYANT PARK PICNICS: LA TRAVIATA

New York City Opera continues summer season in Bryant Park next week with La Traviata (photo by Matthew Eisman)

New York City Opera
Bryant Park Upper Terrace
Forty-First St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
Tuesday, August 28, 6:00
bryantpark.org
nycopera.com/parks

New York City Opera has spent significant time in Bryant Park this summer, performing hour-long versions of Bizet’s Carmen, Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, Rossini’s La Cenerentola, and Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West and Madama Butterfly, among other special presentations. Next up is Verdi’s perennial favorite, La Traviata, based on a novel by Alexandre Dumas fils. It’s more timely than usual now that Pretty Woman is on Broadway, featuring a scene in which the protagonists go to the opera to see the show. La Traviata will be performed in the park on August 28 at 6:00; the People’s Opera summer season concludes September 17 with Rossini’s The Barber of Seville.

METROPOLITAN OPERA SUMMER HD FESTIVAL 2018

Met summer Live in HD screening festival starts this week

THE MET LIVE IN HD
Lincoln Center, Josie Robertson Plaza
Columbus Ave. at 63rd St.
August 24 – September 3, free, starting time between 7:30 and 8:00
212-769-7028
www.metopera.org

The Met Opera’s annual — and free — Summer HD Festival kicks off August 24, consisting of ten filmed operas from 2012 to 2018, projected onto a large screen on Josie Robertson Plaza, plus a bonus opening-night screening of the Marx Brothers classic A Night at the Opera, which goes behind the scenes of Verdi’s Il Trovatore. Even with three thousand available seats for each presentation, be prepared to get there early. Below is the full schedule.

Friday, August 24
A Night at the Opera (Sam Wood, 1935), 8:00

Saturday, August 25
Roméo et Juliette by Charles Gounod, libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, directed by Bartlett Sher, with Diana Damrau as Juliette and Vittorio Grigolo as Roméo, conducted by Gianandrea Noseda, from January 21, 2017, 8:00

Sunday, August 26
Norma, by Vincenzo Bellini, libretto by Felice Romani, directed by Sir David McVicar, with Sondra Radvanovsky, Joyce DiDonato, and Joseph Calleja, conducted by Carlo Rizzi, from October 7, 2017, 7:45

Monday, August 27
Elektra, by Richard Strauss, libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, directed by Patrice Chéreau, with Nina Stemme, Adrianne Pieczonka, Waltraud Meier, and Eric Owens, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen, from April 30, 2016, 8:00

Tuesday, August 28
Il barbiere di Siviglia by Gioachino Rossini, libretto by Cesare Sterbini, directed by Bartlett Sher, with Christopher Maltman as Figaro, Isabel Leonard as Rosina, and Lawrence Brownlee as Count Almaviva, conducted by Michele Mariotti, from November 22, 2014, 8:00

Wednesday, August 29
Lulu by Alban Berg, libretto by Alban Berg, directed by William Kentridge, with Marlis Petersen, Johan Reuter, Daniel Brenna, Paul Groves, Franz Grundheber, and Susan Graham, conducted by Lothar Koenigs, from November 21, 2015, 7:30

Thursday, August 30
Rusalka by Antonín Dvořák, libretto by Jaroslav Kvapil, directed by Mary Zimmerman, with Kristine Opolais, Brandon Jovanovich, Eric Owens, and Jamie Barton, conducted by Sir Mark Elder, from February 25, 2017, 7:45

Friday, August 31
L’elisir d’amore by Gaetano Donizetti, libretto by Felice Romani, directed by Bartlett Sher, with Pretty Yende and Matthew Polenzani, conducted by Domingo Hindoyan, from February 10, 2018, 8:00

Saturday, September 1
Un ballo in maschera by Giuseppe Verdi, libretto by Antonio Somma, directed by David Alden, with Marcelo Álvarez, Sondra Radvanovsky, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Kathleen Kim, and Stephanie Blythe, conducted by Fabio Luisi, from December 8, 2012, 8:00

Sunday, September 2
Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss, libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal and Harry Graf Kessler, directed by Robert Carsen, with Renée Fleming, Elīna Garanča, Erin Morley, Matthew Polenzani, and Günther Groissböck, conducted by Sebastian Weigle, from May 13, 2017, 7:15

Monday, September 3
Madama Butterfly by Giacomo Puccini, libretto by Giuseppe Giacosa, directed by Anthony Minghella, with Kristine Opolais, Roberto Alagna, and Dwayne Croft, conducted by Karel Mark Chichon, from April 2, 2016, 8:00