Part of TŌN’s Sight & Sound series
In the hit series Sight & Sound, conductor and music historian Leon Botstein explores the parallels between orchestral music and the visual arts. A discussion is accompanied by on-screen artworks and musical excerpts performed by The Orchestra Now, followed by a full performance and audience Q&A.
When 18th-century scholars exhumed ancient Greek and Roman sculptures that had spent more than a millennium underground, they assumed that the pieces had been created without color. Based on their observations of those newfound objects, art scholars built an imaginary picture of the classical past; with it came a set, “classical” idea of musical structure and form, cemented by its originator, “Papa” Franz Josef Haydn. A century later, as late romanticism jettisoned fixed forms for passionate expressionism, Johannes Brahms fought to retain classicism as the aesthetic standard—and though musical classicism eventually ran its course, Brahms’s Variations provide a unique look back to its origins.
Leon Botstein, The Orchestra Now
Experience the virtuosic prowess of St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble in a program of some of Antonio Vivaldi’s most evocative and dynamic concertos. Like water echoing through the canals of his home city of Venice, Vivaldi’s music shimmers and flows with rhythmic vitality and graceful melodies. In the concert’s opening piece, it carries the tempestuous energy of a storm. The Concerto for Flute, Oboe, Bassoon, and Strings, “La tempesta di mare,” paints a vivid picture of crashing waves and the fury of the sea, a storminess heard again with occasional moments of repose in the Violin Concerto in E Minor. In the composer’s Flute Concerto variant of “La tempesta di mare,” we see that Vivaldi was not only a master of expression, but an innovator of musical form, as he helped vastly expand the genre of the concerto. His distinctive movement structure of fast-slow-fast became a blueprint for future Baroque composers. And unlike earlier concertos, which typically consisted of alternating full and smaller ensemble sections, Vivaldi chose to spotlight single instruments instead, writing virtuosic music for a variety of instruments not previously heard soloistically. This particular flute concerto may even be the first ever written for the transverse flute (as opposed to the recorder). Beyond expressive solo lines, Vivaldi’s mastery of melding diverse musical voices can be heard in the sprightly Concerto for Oboe and Violin in B-flat Major, which features the two instruments in charming dialogue with each other. In a dazzling finale, OSL Ensemble member Krista Bennion Feeney takes center stage for the variations on “La folia,” where she skillfully navigates the intricate twists and turns of Vivaldi’s inventive transformations on the popular Renaissance melody. Underwriting for the 2023-2024 Chamber Music Series comes from the Asbjorn Lunde Foundation.
This holiday season, experience the magic of Bach as Orchestra of St. Luke’s presents the Christmas Oratorio under the baton of Principal Conductor Bernard Labadie. Labadie brings not only his historically informed expertise to the evening, but the superb singers of La Chapelle de Québec, founded by Labadie in 1985 and renowned for their performances of early music masterworks. The orchestra also welcomes soloists Lauren Snouffer, Avery Amereau, and Andrew Haji back to the stage, and Joshua Hopkins in his OSL debut, fresh off a season at the Metropolitan Opera, for Bach’s formidable but glorious arias. Though Bach considered his work to be one “oratorio” (Weihnachtsoratorium, in German), its original performance was spread between December 25, 1734 and January 6, 1735, according to the Lutheran liturgical calendar. Each of the six sections that comprise the whole is essentially its own cantata with its own musical key and instrumentation, assembled for its specific feast day. Assembled, rather than composed, as Bach took nearly all the choruses and arias from his previous works (a common practice of the time—Handel was a particularly egregious self-plagiarist). Many of these borrowed works were secular, composed for princes and coronations, but their royal pomp suits their repurposed subject well. The ultra-devout Bach was undoubtedly glad to take music originally meant to praise a Saxon king and repurpose it for religious use. As segmented as the Christmas Oratorio appears on paper, all six parts are linked by the evangelist tenor, and by reflective chorales throughout. It’s bookended by grand chorus movements complete with a festive complement of trumpets and timpani. In 2023, we’re fortunate to hear the work not over two weeks, but rather in its entirety in one evening—just as Bach conceived it!
Taconic Opera produces two piano concertos at one concert! Both are presented on a concert grand with full orchestra and conducted by Taconic Opera Musical Director, Jun Nakabayashi. Both piano concertos will be performed by rising star, Kessa Mefford, who recently made her debut at Carnegie Hall. She will perform Ravel’s famous Piano Concerto in G Major and then perform the world premiere of Dan Montez’s Piano Concerto in C Minor. ONE PERFORMANCE ONLY!
Taconic Opera presents two famous oratorios, Mozart’s Requiem and Fauré’s Requiem at one performance! Both are presented with the orchestra, chorus, and soloists of the Taconic Opera. Many remember Mozart’s Requiem being composed at the end of his life as the pinnacle of his classical composing style. Fauré’s famous Requiem anticipates the impressionism of Debussy and Ravel. His work is more uplifting, having rid itself of the “Dies Irae” and other severe parts of the death masses. He added texts from the Rite of Burial which traditionally follow the Requiem Mass. As a result, the work is an uplifting and exalting work not to be missed. TWO PERFORMANCES!
The Met presents a special benefit concert in celebration of the 75th birthday of Stephen Schwartz, the Oscar and Grammy Award–winning composer of Broadway smash-hits Wicked, Godspell, and Pippin, and lyricist for beloved film classics Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Enchanted, and more. Stars of Broadway, Hollywood, opera, and popular music come together to give performances of Schwartz’s greatest hits in tribute to his decades of artistic achievements and ongoing contributions to musical theater. Proceeds of this special event support the Metropolitan Opera.
Dances by Very Young Choreographers showcases the choreography of the students of Ellen Robbins, ages 8 – 18. It is devised to give a young audience exposure to the variety of theater experiences that modern dance affords. It includes dances that are humorous, narrative, minimal, lyrical, and visually conceptual. The music selections, chosen by the choreographers, range from classical to contemporary music including folk music, jazz, pop and the spoken word. Children in the audience will have an opportunity to come onstage for a brief, structured improvisation for the fun of dancing an idea. Following the matinee on January 28th, there will be an evening concert by the Alumni of Dances by Very Young Choreographers, which presents work by dancers who studied with Ellen as early as 1982 to 2016. The alumni artists are: Marina Chan, Lina Dahbour, Maia Sage Ermansons, Krista Jansen, Amelia Sanders, Rakhel Shapiro, and Lou Sydel.
The Bill T. Jones Arnie Zane / Company will be performing Love Redefined & Story as part of UAlbany’s Dance In Albany Series. Born in 1982, this trailblazing company foreshadowed issues of identity, form and social commentary that would change the face of American dance. With a repertory that is widely varied in its subject matter, visual imagery and stylistic approach to movement, voice and stagecraft, it remains one of the foremost contemporary dance groups in the world.
Dia Art Foundation and New York Live Arts present the New York premiere of Boy mother / faceless bloom, a stage work by Juni One Set, a collaboration of Senga Nengudi, yuniya edi kwon, and Haruko Crow Nishimura & Joshua Kohl of Degenerate Art Ensemble. The work is presented in conjunction with the long-term exhibition of Nengudi’s work on view at Dia Beacon, as part of Performa Biennial 2023. Threading mythology and autobiography, while drawing from the diverse lineages of queer, anti-colonial, and care-based artistic practices, Boy mother / faceless bloom is an interdisciplinary performance work. Dance, music, poetry, ritual, and sculptural installation converge to tell a story of transformation, transgression, and the formation of new transcestral lines.
Celebrate Ted’s Sperling’s 10th Anniversary as MasterVoices’ Artistic Director at our Winter Gala!
Christian Quiñones: Fever is How the Body Prays (First Music commission and World Premiere) Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35 featuring Augustin Hadelich, violin Sibelius: Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 43
J.S. Bach’s incomparable genius is on full display in his crowning work, The Art of the Fugue. Combining technical mastery with unequalled imagination, this work is a transformative musical experience bordering on the cosmic and mystical: there is nothing like it in all of music.
Renowned harpsichordist and CMS Artist Kenneth Weiss offers a collection of works, all of them captivating discoveries from the eternal wellspring of Baroque repertoire. Seven leading composers provide invention, virtuosity, and the irresistible spirit so beloved in the music of this era.