PREVIEW: November in New York
92Y
Saturday, Nov 16, JACK Quartet, one of today’s top new music ensembles, plays two works by Xanakis, and two New York premieres for percussion and string quartet.
Friday, Nov 22 pianist Benjamin Hochman begins a two concert exploration of “the influence of words on music” in Chopin, Schumann, Brahms, and Thomas Adès’s Darknesse Visible.
Areté
Nouveau Classical Project, a local commissioning ensemble, presents Line: voices. “Group chant, verbalization, and reactive impulses, and instructive scores,” will be explored in a program including their latest commission, mini_014, by Paul Pinto. Wednesday, Nov 13.
Sunday, Nov 24 at 8pm, Ghost Ensemble performs Universe Sings. Two world premieres are included in this varied chamber music program.
Nov 26 is the FIDOqrtet, a free improvising ensemble with varied influences.
Bargemusic
Nov 9 at 6pm, Jerome Lowenthal, chair of the piano department at the Juilliard School, performs Bach and Chopin.
Carnegie Hall
Brentano Quartet performs a Carnegie Hall co-commission of a new work by Matthew Aucoin, alongside Mozart and Ravel, on Nov 6 in Zankel Hall.
November 7, in Weill Recital Hall, chamber music ensemble Decoda, presents “Influences and Inspirations:” J. C. Bach, Schoenberg, Mozart, and a piece by Thomas Adès called Catch.
Bavarian Radio Symphony appears under the baton of Mariss Jansons for two concerts, Nov 8 - 9. Their repertoire will include Strauss’s Four Last Songs, Brahms’s Fourth, Shostakovich’s Tenth, and Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major with the legendary Rudolph Buchbinder.
Nov 14, Leon Botstein’s The Orchestra Now plays a fascinating program of rarely heard Honegger, Schoeck, Mitropoulos, and Stravinsky’s Divertimento from The Fairy’s Kiss.
Chicago Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of Riccardo Muti, appears for two concerts Nov 15-16. They will bring their refinement and finesse to Bizet’s Roma, Respighi’s Pines of Rome, and Prokofiev’s rarely heard Third Symphony.
Monday, Nov 18, Boston Symphony Orchestra brings Mahler’s Fourth and Grieg’s Piano Concerto with soloist Leif Ove Andsnes.
Conrad Tao, brilliant pianist and composer, makes his Carnegie Hall solo debut Wednesday, Nov 20 in Weill Recital Hall. His daring, thoughtful program balances new music (David Lang, Julia Wolfe, Elliott Carter, and Jason Eckhart) with Bach, Schumann (Kreisleriana), and Rachmaninoff. Not to be missed.
Gershwin’s gem of political satire Let ‘Em Eat Cake, as timely as ever, will be revived by Mastervoices and Orchestra of St. Luke’s, conducted by Ted Sperling, Nov 21.
Yannick Nézet-Séguin appears with his hometown orchestra, Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal and soprano soloist Joyce DiDonato, for some Mozart arias and Bruckner’s Fourth. Nov 22.
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
CMS, celebrating their 50th Season, seems to be aiming for a season of one highlight after another. November features three biggies. Fri Nov 8 at 7:30pm the Schumann Quartet plays Berg’s seminal Lyric Suite with soprano Tony Arnold. Artistic Director Wu Han plays piano in Brahms’s Quintet in B Minor in a program also including Schumann’s Dichterliebe with tenor Paul Appleby. Tues Nov 18.
Stravinsky’s version of his classic The Soldier’s Tale for trio of violin, clarinet, and piano anchors a program, Sun Nov 24 at 5pm, of innovative chamber music milestones including Beethoven, Mendelssohn, and Smetana.
The Crypt Sessions
Pianist Matan Porat plays a program inspired by light, Lux, in this special candle-lit venue. From Gregorian chant to Schumann, Debussy, Bartók, and Adés, among others. Nov 19 at 7pm.
Metropolitan Opera
The Met Opera event of the month, perhaps of the year: Akhnaten, opening Nov 8. Listen to the illuminative interview countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo gave with Terry Gross on NPR’s Fresh Air.
Miller Theater
The Composer Portraits series features New Zealeand-born composer and “sound artist” Thursday Nov 14 at 8pm. The concert includes a world premiere performed by the brilliantly named percussion and piano quartet Yarn/Wire.
The new music-focused TAK Ensemble plays a “Pop-Up Concert” (first-come, first-serve seats onstage) on Tuesday, Nov 26 at 6pm.
National Sawdust
Meredith Monk’s 77th Birthday will be celebrated at (where else) this happening Williamsburg venue. Milk Bar provides sweets. Meredith Monk’s Birthday Dance Party, Wednesday, Nov 20.
The Processing Series begins a four-part concert series Nov 23 with vocalist Lucy Dhegrae, founder of groundbreaking Resonant Bodies Festival, with More Beautiful Than Words Can Tell featuring the world premiere of Osnat Netzer’s Philomelos.
New York Festival of Song
This is a must-see. Two one act operas: Marc Blitzstein’s No For An Answer & Kurt Weill’s Dee Silbersee (Silverlake). “Two powerful, neglected works by two masters of political theater. Each speaks passionately to the issues of our times.” Tuesday, Nov 19 in Merkin Hall at Kaufman Music Center.
New York Philharmonic
Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts the New York premiere of his composition Gemini, as well as the New York premiere of a piece by Hindemith, Ragtime (Well-Tempered), and the Mathis Der Maler symphony. Nov 6 - 12.
Another New York premiere follows the next week. Bryce Dessner, of the Grammy–winning band The National, plays electric guitar in the New York Premiere of his piece Wires. Santtu-Matias Rouvali conducts that, and the Sibelius First. Nov 14-16.
Finally, Nov 27 - Dec 3, Daniil Trifonov joins Jaap van Zweden in Scriabin’s Piano Concerto, alongside Tchaikovsky’s Fifth.
St. Thomas Church Fifth Avenue
The renowned St. Thomas Choir School celebrates its 100th anniversary in a concert Nov 7 at 7:30pm. Jeremy Filsell leads the St. Thomas Choir of Men and Boys and Orchestra of St. Luke’s in Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, extracts from T. Tertius Noble’s Cantata Gloria Domini, and Stephen Paulus’s Cantata Prayers and Remembrances.
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