Make Music New York Presents:
R.B. Schlather’s Ariodante Open Rehearsal
Wednesday, December 21st @ 12pm
About the Show
Rehearsal of Handel’s Ariodante
Directed R.B. Schlather; Conducted by Geoffrey McDonald
with Doug Balliet, Ambur Braid, Jamie Van Eyck, Elliot Figg, Noemy Gagnon-Lafrenais, Samuel Levine, Randall Scotting, Paul Morton, Kristin Olson, and Tamara Wilson.
Composed in 1734 by George Frideric Handel
American artist and opera director R. B. Schlather reunites with regular collaborator conductor Geoffrey McDonald in a workshop to create a new performing edition of George Frideric Handel’s ARIODANTE. This is in preparation for a performance of the opera in New York City, completing a trilogy started by Schlather in 2014 of Handel operas based on Ludovico Ariosto’s epic poem “Orlando Furioso.” These performances have been praised in the New York Times by art critic Holland Cotter as a “fascinating species of performance art,” and by classical music editor Zachary Woolfe “a valuable project that deserves enthusiastic support,” and a “gift given to the NY cultural scene.”
Opera programming at NS is supported in part by a generous gift from Alberto Cribiore.
Other Fall Highlights
National Sawdust and Manhattan School of Music Present: The House Taken Over
October 8, 2016 - 8:00pm An opera based on the 1946 short story by Argentine writer Julio Cortázar featuring a score by composer Vasco Mendonça. It tells the story of a brother and sister living together in their ancestral home which is being "taken over" by unknown entities. Directed by Artist-in-Residence R.B. Schlather, The House Taken Over starts in a realist manner, slowly introducing a scene in which natural laws are distorted within a unique 4-D set.
R.B. Schlather Presents: Ariodante Workshop Performance
December 21, 2016 - 7:00pm Open workshop of Handel’s Ariodante. Directed R.B. Schlather; Conducted by Geoffrey McDonald. Composed in 1734 by George Frideric Handel.
Bridging the Gap I
December 4, 2016 - 4:00pm Featuring composers from the Manhattan School of Music – Richard Danielpour, Yunzhuo Gan, Paolo Marchettini, and Marjorie Merryman – and Manhattan School of Music's premiere ensemble TACTUS
NYFOS Next: Christopher Cerrone & Friends
December 8, 2016 - 7:00pm Hailed as "a rising star" by The New Yorker and winner of the 2015 Samual Barber Rome Prize, Christopher Cerrone is a Brooklyn-based composer whose compositional voice is characterized by profoundly expressive lyricism, ringing clarity, and deep literary fluency. His opera Invisible Cities, based on Italo Calvino's classic novel was praised by The Los Angeles Times as "a delicate and beautiful opera...[which] could be, and should be, done anywhere."
NYFOS Next, the "invaluable contemporary-music series" (The New Yorker), offers today's song composers an opportunity to curate a program of their work alongside that of their peers, students, and mentors.
NYFOS Next, the "invaluable contemporary-music series" (The New Yorker), offers today's song composers an opportunity to curate a program of their work alongside that of their peers, students, and mentors.
Jeff McErlain Presents: A Night Of The Delta Blues With CeDell Davis And His Band
October 20, 2016 - 7:00pm The blues is one of the great American contributions to world. It reaches down to the heart of the human condition in the most direct way and transcends all boundaries. It is the truth and we know it when we hear it. We are lucky enough to have some of these original blues artist still with us to share the music in it’s purest form. CeDell Davis is one of those artists. At 90 years old he is living history. I am very excited to bring CeDell Davis to National Sawdust for this very special performance.
YPC Presents: Transient Glory
November 4, 2016 - 7:00pm Transient Glory, the groundbreaking new music commissioning series created in 2001 by Artistic Director Francisco J. Núñez for the Young People’s Chorus of New York City, returns with the world premieres of six new works, representing a wide range of perspectives and styles, by six distinguished composers: Mason Bates (Sirens), Michael Gordon (Great Trees of New York City), Joan La Barbara (A Murmuration for Chibok), YPC alumna Jessie Montgomery (Danse Africaine), Robert Xavier Rodriguez (A Surfeit of Similes), and Charles Wuorinen (Exsultet).
Theo Bleckmann & Shai Maestro: All Souls in the Dark
November 03, 2016 - 7:00pm Vocalist Theo Bleckmann and pianist Shai Maestro are performing “All Souls in the Dark”: turn off your cell phones, lay down, close your eyes and immerse yourself in the sounds, melodies and landscapes of these two master musicians in complete darkness. This is a refuge from the hectic and overstimulation we live in daily; a musical meditation of sorts. Pillows will be provided.
CCO Presents: Anaïs Nin and Odysseus’ Women, Louis Andriessen
October 15, 2016 - 8:00pm The desire of the mythical Ulysses and the desire of the legendary Anaïs Nin. Dutch director Jorinde Keesmaat brings in a U.S. premiere two distinctive works by Louis Andriessen together in one direction. The rarely performed Odysseus' Women (1995) for four female voices and synthesizer and the famous Anaïs Nin (2010).
Timo Andres & Yevgeny Kutik
October 19, 2016 - 7:00pm Acclaimed composer/pianist Timo Andres will be joined by celebrated violinist Yevgeny Kutik, giving the New York premiere of Andres’ Words Fail and the world premiere of Michael Gandolfi’s Arioso Doloroso/Estatico, both of which Kutik commissioned for his new album, Words Fail (Marquis, October 2016). These premieres will be featured alongside works by Nico Muhly, Mendelssohn, and Stravinsky, each continuing the theme of “songs without words.
National Sawdust and Manhattan School of Music Present: The House Taken Over
October 7, 2016 - 8:00pm An opera based on the 1946 short story by Argentine writer Julio Cortázar featuring a score by composer Vasco Mendonça. It tells the story of a brother and sister living together in their ancestral home which is being "taken over" by unknown entities. Directed by Artist-in-Residence R.B. Schlather, The House Taken Over starts in a realist manner, slowly introducing a scene in which natural laws are distorted within a unique 4-D set.
Queens of the Night: Mozart in Space
October 31, 2016 - 7:00pm Don your fabulous space suits! Heartbeat Opera presents its third annual Benefit Drag Extravaganza for one spectacular night of eye-popping fashion, divalicious coloraturas, and galactic Halloween revelries.
AdHoc Presents: Xylouris White
November 18, 2016 - 10:00pm When Xylouris White recorded their second album, this most intuitive and inquisitive of duos did what comes naturally to them: expanded their horizons. For George Xylouris, the Cretan lute player who partners here with the Dirty Three’s preternaturally fluent Australian drummer Jim White, one aim was to extend a core metaphor of their ruggedly visionary debut album, 2014’s Goats. “Like goats walking in the mountain” is Xylouris’ poetic analogy for their approach: “They may not know the place, but they can walk easily and take risks and feel comfortable. Really, the goats inspired us.”
