A jarring buzz. The sound of a whip cracking? There are voices all around me. I am not sure where they are coming from. The voices repeat themselves exhaustively — sometimes in Russian. Lights flash on, then abruptly off. Random snatches of music enter my awareness. A man moves like a dream – glacially. Did…
Tag: Next Wave Festival
Vortex Temporum
Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker is one of the contemporary choreographers I most admire. I discovered her accidentally, through my love of contemporary music. The first time I saw her work was at Brooklyn Academy of Music, when her dance company, Rosas, presented Drumming, performed to the seminal percussive work of the same name by Steve Reich. I already…
The Hunger
Someone once told me that you can tell how fantastic a music festival is if the number of bands you wished you could have seen is equally as long as the groups you did get to see. This rule certainly applies to the BAM Next Wave Festival. The list of what I wish I could…
Phaedra(s)
I set off a smoke detector as I left the Brooklyn Academy of Music last night, but it was not because I was smoking. It was because of the hot mess of passion Aphrodite stirred up in the poor Phaedras – all three of them — played with a sizzling ferociousness by the inimitable French…
the loser
This is how “preaching to the choir” might look, I thought, as I sat in the mezzanine, completely enthralled by the story that baritone, Rod Gilfry — who was terrific in Anna Nicole — sang to us last night at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. This was the world premiere of David Lang’s opera, the loser, based on…
Continu
And so another exciting Next Wave Festival comes to a close — at least for me. I saw my final performance of the fall season last night at BAM. Sasha Waltz & Guests presented Continu, set to music by Edgard Varèse, Claude Vivier, Iannis Xenakis, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. (A percussion piece by Xenakis was…
Steel Hammer
“He laid down his hammer and he died. Lord, Lord. He laid down his hammer and he died.” I have had Pete Seeger’s voice singing his version of the folk song, John Henry, racing through my head like a runaway train ever since I left Steel Hammer — a collaboration between composer, Julia Wolfe, and SITI Company….
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…
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