Last night I spent over three hours at a tribute to Jean Ritchie, the “Mother of Folk,” who passed away on June 1 this year. The tribute was sponsored by the Folk Music Society of NY (FMSNY), and was organized by folk musician Dan Schatz. Jean’s two sons, Jon and Peter Pickow were in attendance,…
Author: victoriab • CurlyV
Designer | Artist | Writer | Blogger | Maker | Collector | Cultural Omnivore
You Us We All
Take a Baroque court masque (rich with fabulous wigs and costumes — and of course allegorical figures.) Add a heavy dose of pop culture (think Whitney Houston, Andy Warhol video of Edie Sedgwick, silver confetti, balloons.) Sprinkle with absolutely amazing vocals, text, and modern Baroque orchestration. Now shake it hard. Shake it even harder. If…
Savannah Bay
This evening, the BAM Fishman Space was transformed into a white room. In that room, two women struggle to unearth the difficult truth of an event that occurred long ago. Savannah Bay was written by French feminist writer Marguerite Duras. Her works for theater are rarely performed in America, so this was a special treat (it…
Hagoromo
What a week of BAM-tastic choral music, live music and dance! It is a privilege to attend such amazing Next Wave Festival performances. For as many shows as I attend, I miss so much (but until we have clones — heaven forbid — I will never be able to experience as many cultural events as…
Epiphany: The Cycle of Life
I am thrilled to say that I wish I could have spent an additional hour at BAM’s Fishman Space last night, listening to the fabulous Young People’s Chorus of New York City. They sang the work of several composers and librettists in a multi-media piece called Epiphany: The Cycle of Life (conducted by Francisco J. Núñez.)…
The Exalted
I am really sorry to say that I spent an excruciatingly long hour last night at BAM’s Fishman Space where I saw The Exalted (based on the German-Jewish art historian, Carl Einstein.) I really wish I had liked it more than I did, because Carl Hancock Rux (who conceived and wrote the piece) has a reputation for…
Rise Again Concert
. What a way to end a work week! Three friends and I attended a concert at First Unitarian Congregational Society in Brooklyn which is home to First Acoustics, a terrific music series that is now in its 8th season. This concert (co-sponsored by First Acoustics and People’s Voice Cafe), was in celebration of the new songbook…
Refuse the Hour
I just got home from the fabulous experimental chamber opera Refuse The Hour by artist William Kentridge. It was part of BAM’s Next Wave Festival. It was hard to describe, but try to imagine this: a mad steampunk scientific traveling circus lab that is exploring the concept of time — with a dash of Robert Wilson…
texts&beheadings/ElizabethR
Sometimes it pays to take a risk. That’s what I did tonight when I headed to BAM’s Fishman Space to attend the production of texts&beheadings/ElizabethR. This was one of those performance ideas that was either going to succeed or fail embarrassingly. I am happy to report it worked quite well. I am fascinated by the…
New Society by Miranda July
Several years ago, my friend from Ohio raved about a performance art piece that Miranda July staged while she was in Columbus. It was called New Society and my friend could not stop gushing about how interesting it was. He said she created a whole world in two hours, and that it involved the audience’s…
Batsheva — The Young Ensemble
Last night at The Joyce Theater, the curtain dropped at the end of the performance of the deliciously varied Decadance, an always evolving sampling of choreography created by Ohad Naharin, the creative force behind Batsheva, the marvelous Israeli-based dance company. Clapping wildly, I turned to the woman sitting next to me and gushed, “That was…
Antigone
Tuesday evening at BAM, I attended my first production of Antigone. Because it is by Sophokles and because Juliette Binoche starred as Antigone, I feel pressure to make some profound pronouncement on the whole evening. I will leave that to the scholars in the audience. What I will say is that Ivo van Hove directed…
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