New York, New York
Limelight's guide to the best arts events in the Big Apple this December
Classical Music
Steve Reich’s Nightcap
Catch the NY Philharmonic concert featuring Steve Reich’s Music for Ensemble and Orchestra and then enjoy an evening with a drink and an intimate musical exchange in the glow of the skyline as seen from the Kaplan Penthouse. Reich himself curates a program featuring works by Nico Muhly plus a World Premiere by Gabriella Smith.
Sheku Kanneh-Mason at carnegie hall
The 2016 BBC Young Musician of the Year came to global attention playing at the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. His New York recital debut alongside his sister Isata includes an exuberant set of Beethoven variations for cello, an early Barber sonata, plus works by Rachmaninov and Lutoslawski.
Alma Deutscher at carnegie hall
Alma Deutscher has been composing music since the age of 4 and has featured in a one-hour documentary on BBC television’s prime network. Here, she makes her Carnegie Hall debut as soloist in both of her concertos, while also presenting scenes from her opera Cinderella, plus her latest work for large orchestra, Siren Sounds Waltz.
Joyce and Yannick’s Winter Journey
The power duo of mezzo Joyce DiDonato accompanied by maestro Yannick Nézet-Séguin on the piano perform one of music’s greatest song cycles: Schubert’s harrowing and compellingly tragic Winterreise. The two dozen songs in this cycle chart a journey through an icy winter landscape, telling tales of alienation and loneliness.
Christmas with Blue Heron
Award-winning early music vocal ensemble Blue Heron is joined by a violin band and the spirited brass of the Dark Horse Consort. The program features works by Praetorius, who combined the color of Italian music with the rich tradition of Lutheran chorales. A highlight will be the advent hymn, Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland.
Opera
Der Rosenkavalier
Robert Carsen’s witty staging returns with Simon Rattle conducting Strauss’s glittering score. Soprano Camilla Nylund is the worldly Marschallin, with mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožená as her exuberant young lover, Octavian. Günther Groissböck reprises his take on the lascivious Baron Ochs, and rising soprano Golda Schultz sings the innocent Sophie.
Der Freischütz
Heartbeat Opera present a radically contemporary take on this classic 19th-century tale of ghosts and demons. Director Louisa Proske re-envisions Weber’s Bohemian village as an American town with its pervasive gun culture, sadistic bullying of the “unmanly” young hero, and an Iraq Veteran who brings the stench of war back into his community.
Julie Taymor’s Magic Flute
Mozart’s fairy tale opera returns in the Met’s abridged, English-language version for families, perfect for younger audiences, with no intermission and a running time of less than two hours. Lothar Koenigs conducts a dynamic cast of standout Mozarteans. Eye-popping puppetry and stunning visuals guaranteed.
The Little Match Girl Passion
The U.S.’s premiere choir, The Crossing, presents two performances of David Lang’s wintry modern masterpiece in the evocative surrounds of the medieval Fuentidueña Chapel at the Met Cloisters in uptown Manhattan. Lang’s take on Hans Christian Andersen’s morality tale of magic versus poverty is uniquely moving.
Wozzeck
After wowing audiences at Opera Australia, William Kentridge’s visual take on Berg’s masterpiece comes to the Met. Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts Peter Mattei in an anticipated role debut as the title character with Elza van den Heever as Marie, Christopher Ventris as the Drum-Major, Christian Van Horn as the Doctor and Gerhard Siegel as the Captain.
Musicals & Theatre
Ute Lemper’s Weimar Cabaret
A chance to be transported to that fleeting moment of wild experimentation born of the short-lived progressive culture that bloomed in pre-war Germany. Classic cabaret songs by Weill, Brecht, Hollander, Spoliansky and more receive the sexy and acerbic interpretation that is Ute Lemper’s signature style.
Judgement Day
Richard Jones directs Ödön von Horváth’s intriguing hybrid: part moral fable, part sociopolitical commentary, part noirish thriller. When a dutiful train stationmaster is momentarily distracted, a tragic train crash results. Park Avenue Armory presents a fresh take on who should bear responsibility for certain actions, a theme that clearly resonates today.
West Side Story
When Jerome Robbins, Leonard Bernstein, Arthur Laurents and Stephen Sondheim created West Side Story, it was hailed as game changing. Now, three daring theater-makers – director Ivo van Hove, choreographer Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker and designer Jan Versweyveld offer a radical new interpretation with 23 young performers all making their Broadway debuts.
FOR COLORED GIRLS WHO HAVE CONSIDERED SUICIDE/WHEN THE RAINBOW IS ENUF
Filled with passion, humor, and raw honesty, Ntozake Shange’s form-changing choreopoem tells the stories of seven women of color using poetry, song, and movement. With unflinching honesty and emotion, each woman voices her survival story of having to exist in a world shaped by sexism and racism.
A Soldier’s Play
1944. A Louisiana Army base. A sergeant is murdered. The crime, with its masterfully unfolded investigation, triggers a gripping barrage of questions about sacrifice, service, and identity in America. A hair-raising drama, Charles Fuller’s Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece rockets onto Broadway for the first time, starring David Alan Grier and Blair Underwood.
New York, New York
LIMELIGHT’S GUIDE TO THE BEST ARTS EVENTS IN THE BIG APPLE
Australians are the world’s greatest tourists, right? And no city offers quite as much in the way of artist thrills and spills as the Big Apple. After a year spent finding his feet, Limelight Editor-at-Large Clive Paget has hunted down the big names and haunted the city’s glittering venues. He’s also found unexpected performance spaces, from clubs to churches and even the odd cemetery. From the glamour of the Met and the buzz of Broadway to classical music hideaways and, yes, even some free stuff, our insider’s guide aims to be everything an adventurous cultural tourist needs.