“Dog Days” at the Prototype Festival
by Steven Pisano (Photo by Ellen Appel.) War is everywhere. People are starving. The meager food rations air-dropped from military helicopters are not nearly enough to stave off hunger. All […]
Opera
Hold on to Your Seat: The Prototype Festival Starts This Week
Now in its fourth season, the Prototype Festival has become an essential part of the New York cultural season. Featuring cutting-edge new chamber opera and music-theater works, shows are almost
Julia Wolfe’s “Steel Hammer” at BAM
by Steven Pisano (All photos by Steven Pisano.) Last week, BAM’s Harvey Theater presented Steel Hammer, a theatrical working of Pulitzer Prize-winning Julia Wolfe’s 2009 cantata exploring the African-American folk
“You Us We All” at the Brooklyn Academy of Music
by Steven Pisano (All photographs by Steven Pisano.) Shara Worden has done it again. Best known as the lead singer of My Brightest Diamond, Worden brought her new faux opera You Us We All last
“Hagoromo” at Brooklyn Academy of Music
by Steven Pisano (All photos by Ross Karre Arts Documentation.) Part theater, part dance, part chamber opera, Hagoromo, which played last week to sold-out houses at BAM’s Harvey Theater, is based
“Persona,” a New Opera: Finding a Voice at National Sawdust
by Steven Pisano (All photographs by Steven Pisano.) Last weekend at National Sawdust, Williamsburg's hip new venue for contemporary music, Beth Morrison Projects presented Persona, a new chamber opera based on the 1965
“Joan of Arc at the Stake” at New York Philharmonic
by Steven Pisano Photo by Chris Lee. Oratorios are a tricky business. On the one hand, it can seem unsettling for a symphony orchestra to present an oratorio, which has
Handel’s “Orlando” at the Whitebox Art Center
by Christina Klessig Entering into the minimalistic Whitebox Art Center on Friday night was like stepping into a rehearsal space at Julliard, the only stage set an empty five seat
“Meredith Monk and Friends” at Zankel Hall
by Steven Pisano One thing is clear: Meredith Monk has a lot of friends—musicians who have both directly and indirectly been influenced by her work. And she has written a lot of music. So, it was only