Just like clockwork, the fall season is here again, with operas and ballets opening left and right! Here is just a sampling of some of the classic arts events happening this week:
The Metropolitan Opera鈥檚 2024-25 season takes flight September 23 with the Met premiere of Jeanine Tesori and George Brant鈥檚 Grounded, directed by Michael Mayer. Based on Brant's play of the same name, Grounded tells the story of Jess, a fighter pilot who is grounded due to an unexpected pregnancy, and subsequently reassigned to piloting lethal drones remotely. Mezzo-soprano Emily D'Angelo stars as Jess. The cast, expanded from the original one-woman play, also features tenor Ben Bliss as Eric, baritone Kyle Miller as the Sensor, and bass-baritone Greer Grimsley as the Commander. Soprano Ellie Dehn plays "Also Jess," a character who embodies Jess' dissociated self. Met Music Director Yannick N茅zet-S茅guin conducts.
Also featured in the Met season鈥檚 opening week are revivals of Offenbach鈥檚 Les Contes d鈥橦offmann and Puccini鈥檚 Tosca. Les Contes d鈥橦offmann (The Tales of Hoffmann in English) is based on three stories by the 19th-century poet and music critic E.T.A. Hoffmann. Tenor Benjamin Bernheim plays the poet himself, narrating to a tavern of listeners stories of his tumultuous love life, involving run-ins with a Venetian courtesan, an aspiring singer with a tragic illness, and a lifelike clockwork automaton, played respectively by mezzo-soprano Cl茅mentine Margaine, and sopranos Pretty Yende and Erin Morley. Mezzo-soprano Vasilisa Berzhanskaya makes her Met debut as Hoffmann鈥檚 muse, appearing in the guise of the poet鈥檚 friend and sidekick Nicklausse, who saves Hoffmann three times from three villains played by bass-baritone Christian Van Horn. Tosca, meanwhile, is a verismo thriller telling the story of singer Floria Tosca, who gets caught up in a police investigation when her lover Mario Cavaradossi helps to hide an escaped political prisoner. Soprano Aleksandra Kurzak plays Tosca, opposite tenor SeokJong Baek as Cavaradossi and baritone George Gagnidze as the police chief Baron Scarpia.
One of the stories featured in Les Contes d鈥橦offmann鈥攖he one about the lifelike clockwork doll鈥攊s Hoffmann鈥檚 The Sandman, which also formed the basis of a ballet, Leo Delibes鈥� 颁辞辫辫茅濒颈补. In a moment of cross-plaza symmetry, the New York City Ballet will be reviving George Balanchine and Alexandra Danilova鈥檚 production of 颁辞辫辫茅濒颈补 for two weekends of performances, beginning September 27. The NYCB production is based on Petipa鈥檚 1884 staging, updated with new choreography by Balanchine and Danilova and additional music from some of Delibes鈥� other ballet scores.
Two more dance programs will open at the New York City Ballet this week, beginning with 鈥淎ll Peck,鈥� September 24. This season marks Justin Peck鈥檚 10th year as resident choreographer with the company, and accordingly, the company will celebrate him with a program of four of his ballets, including In Creases, his first work created for the company. The program will also include Solo, set to Samuel Barber鈥檚 Adagio for Strings; Partita, set to Caroline Shaw鈥檚 Partita for 8 Voices; and Everywhere We Go, the second work in Peck鈥檚 long-standing collaboration with Sufjan Stevens. 鈥淏alanchine + Ratmansky鈥� will follow, starting performances September 25, showcasing works by NYCB鈥檚 co-founding choreographer George Balanchine, and NYCB Artist in Residence Alexei Ratmansky. Russian composers are the throughline, as the program will include Balanchine鈥檚 Mozartiana (set to music by Tchaikovsky, inspired by Mozart), Memento Pro Gesualdo, and Movements for Piano and Orchestra (both set to music by Stravinsky); as well as Ratmansky鈥檚 Concerto DSCH, set to Shostakovich鈥檚 Piano Concerto No. 2.
Two weeks into the season, the New York Philharmonic will have its season-opening Gala September 24, featuring Josh Groban. Manfred Honeck will lead the orchestra in a program which includes Franz Supp茅鈥檚 Light Cavalry Overture, and a suite arranged by Honeck from Puccini鈥檚 Turandot. The Philharmonic鈥檚 popular The Art of the Score series will return September 26-28 with a concert of John Williams鈥� Grammy-winning score for the film Jaws. The score will be performed live to a screening of the film, with Anthony Parnther conducting.
Pianist Garrick Ohlsson will join the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra at Carnegie Hall September 28 for a performance of Mozart鈥檚 Piano Concerto No. 9. The concert will also include Brahms鈥� Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel, and a new work by Billy Childs.
BalletX, a Philadelphia-based contemporary ballet company, comes to the Joyce Theatre September 25-29. The company will present three New York premieres: Takehiro Ueyama鈥檚 Heroes, set to John Adams鈥� The Chairman Dances; Jodie Gate's Beautiful Once, with music by Ryan Lott; and Loughlan Prior's Macaroni, set to an original score by Claire Cowan.
New York City Center鈥檚 Fall for Dance festival continues this week through September 29. This second week of performances will feature Skylar Brandt and Herman Cornejo, Kyle Abraham鈥檚 A.I.M., Sara Mearns, Canada's Royal Winnipeg Ballet, and the Dutch National Ballet.
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