After hiking the canyons of Utah and Arizona for a week, I’ve come back to a veritable Avalanche of music here in NYC. Which isn’t at all a bad thing. Here’s a quick rundown of this weekend’s highlights:
- Bang on a Can Long Play Festival: The 5th annual festival kicked off last night with a wild show at Pioneer Works featuring electronic music by Tyondai Braxton (ex-Battles) and Oneohtrix Point Never (aka Daniel Lopatin). Tonight is all about jazz, with NEA Jazz Master Billy Hart and former Kennedy Center Jazz Director Jason Moran with electronic musician BlankFor.ms, and drummer Marcus Gilmore. Things really get going over the weekend with 70+ shows over a dozen venues around central Brooklyn. Some events are free; most require a pass.
- Barbès 24th Anniversary (5/1): Barbès and I came to the South Slope right around the same time 24 years ago, and as owner/raconteur Olivier Conan put it on his Instagram today: “Cheers to Brooklyn, because I tried, but couldn’t find a better place to live. A better place to make and hear music. A better place to build a true community. It may all be under attack, but we’re all still here. Somehow.” Today’s anniversary party features a lineup of longtime favorites Oscar Noriega, Las Rubias del Norte, and Big Lazy. I’ll try to stop by for a cocktail before bed.
- New York Philharmonic: I just got back from today’s matinee, which featured the NY Premiere of Ellen Reid’s Earth Between Oceans, an ambitious choral symphony inspired by the threatened waters off of NYC and LA. The nature-inspired program also included Wagner’s Forest Murmurs from Siegfried, an obscure work for male chorus and low strings by Schubert, and Stravinsky’s Firebird. Oh, did I mention it was conducted by Gustavo Dudamel? Unfortunately, tomorrow night’s final concert is sold out, but you can always head up and watch it on the Hauser Digital Wall.
- Robert Wilson’s Moby Dick at BAM: I’m squeezing this in between Long Play shows tomorrow night, which is convenient given that BAM is adjacent to most LP venues. With a guitar-rock score by British singer-songwriter Anna Calvi, Wilson’s final masterpiece receives it’s US premiere this weekend at the Gilman Opera House, in a production by the Dusseldorf Schauspielhaus.
- Eugene Onegin at the Met Opera: The superstar Latvian soprano Asmik Grigorian returns to the Met Saturday afternoon as Tatiana in Tchaikovsky’s lyrical romance. You can catch it at the house, or at your local theater as part of the Met’s Live in HD. Or just listen on your local radio station.
- National Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall: Finally, the NSO – soon to be homeless after the imminent closure of the Kennedy Center – comes to Carnegie this Sunday for a matinee performance of Puccini’s Il Trittico with their music director, Gianandrea Noseda. Expect fireworks.