From the dust bowl to the ocean blue, the classic arts scene in New York is never quiet. Here is just a sampling of some of the classic arts events happening this week.
MasterVoices concludes its 2023-24 season with a concert performance of Ricky Ian Gordon and Michael Korie鈥檚 The Grapes Of Wrath April 17 at Carnegie Hall, with the Orchestra of St. Luke鈥檚. Ted Sperling conducts the operatic adaptation of John Steinbeck's Dust Bowl-set novel, which stars Kyle Oliver as Tom Joad, with Margaret Lattimore and Nathan Gunn as Ma and Pa Joad. This marks a full-circle moment for Nathan Gunn, who played Tom when MasterVoices performed the opera in 2010. The cast also includes Mikaela Bennett, Bryonha Marie, Victor Starsky, Malcolm MacKenzie, Schyler Vargas, Christian Pursell, John Brancy, David Fleiss, and Jan Constantine, with Joe Morton and J. Smith-Cameron narrating.
Conductor Thomas S酶nderg氓rd makes his New York Philharmonic debut this week leading the orchestra for the U.S. premiere of Olga Neuwirth鈥檚 Keyframes for a Hippogriff. The work is a NY Phil commission as part of Project 19, a multi-season initiative to commission and premiere 19 new works by 19 women composers. Keyframes for a Hippogriff sets to music texts by Ariosto, Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, Friedrich Nietzsche, graffiti artists, and others, sung by countertenor Andrew Watts and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus. The work will be performed alongside Lili Boulanger鈥檚 D鈥檜n matin de printemps, and Prokofiev鈥檚 Symphony No. 5.
Mezzo-soprano Emily D鈥橝ngelo will make her Carnegie Hall recital debut April 20 with pianist Sophia Mu帽oz. The program will include songs by Bart贸k, Zemlinsky, Rebecca Clarke, both Alma and Gustav Mahler. The recital will also include a selection from Jeanine Tesori鈥檚 Grounded, , starring D鈥橝ngelo.
Carnegie Hall will also host this week performances from the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra (April 16); violinist Daniel Lozakovich and pianist Behzod Abduraimov (April 17); the Danish String Quartet (April 18); the Cecilia Chorus of New York (April 19); and pianist Emanuel Ax (April 21). Ax will celebrate fifty years since his Carnegie Hall debut with a program of Beethoven and Schoenberg.
The Blue Hill Troupe celebrates its 100th anniversary with a production of Gilbert and Sullivan鈥檚 H.M.S. Pinafore, running April 19-27 at El Teatro of El Museo del Barrio on the Upper East Side. One of Gilbert and Sullivan鈥檚 earliest big hits, H.M.S. Pinafore tells the story of the daughter of a captain in the Royal Navy, who, although sought in marriage by the First Lord of the Admiralty, is secretly in love with a lowly sailor aboard her father鈥檚 ship. Lauren Cupples and Joanne Lessner (Einstein鈥檚 Dreams) share the role of Josephine, starring respectively opposite Robert Farruggia and Rich Miller as the foremast hand Ralph Rackstraw. The cast also includes Neal Young and Kevin Murray as Captain Corcoran; Erik Hanson and Jonathan Jacobson as the Rt. Hon. Sir Joseph Porter, K.C.B.; and Kim Lindsay Grutman (Titanic) and Suzanne R. Taylor as Little Buttercup, the bumboat woman with a mysterious secret that could turn everyone鈥檚 world topsy-turvy.
The vocal ensemble Chanticleer will perform at the Kaufman Music Center April 18. Originating as a Renaissance music ensemble, the group鈥檚 repertoire has expanded dramatically, as represented by the program they will perform this week, featuring works by Kurt Weill, Stephen Sondheim, Joni Mitchell, Peter Gabriel, Irving Berlin, Freddie Mercury, Hoagy Carmichael, Ayanna Woods, Tom Petty, and more.
Pianist Anne-Marie McDermott will host a concert at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center鈥檚 Rose Studio. McDermott will be joined by violinist Paul Huang and cellist Brook Speltz for a program including Gli猫re鈥檚 Eight Pieces for Violin and Cello, Poulenc鈥檚 Sonata for Violin and Piano, and Chaminade鈥檚 Trio No. 2 in A minor for Piano, Violin, and Cello.
The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center will also present this week String Resonance April 21 at Alice Tully Hall. Violinists Chad Hoops and Bella Hristova, violists Matthew Lipman and Timothy Ridout, and cellist Sihao He, will perform works by Beethoven, Jean Fran莽aix, Frank Bridge, and Mendelssohn.
The Jerusalem Quartet returns to the 92nd Street Y April 16. The ensemble will perform three contrasting quartets from three different centuries: Haydn鈥檚 Quartet in E鈾� Major, Op. 76 No. 6, Brahms鈥� Quartet No. 3 in B鈾� Major, and Shostakovich鈥檚 Quartet No. 2 in A鈾� Major.
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