Blog

Claudia Schreier & Company @ Ailey Citigroup

Above: Amber Neff and Drew Grant dancing with Claudia Schreier & Company at Ailey Citigroup Theatre; photo by Nir Arieli

Saturday August 8th, 2015 – Exactly one year ago tonight, Claudia Schreier won the Breaking Glass Project’s competition for female choreographers with her brilliant ballet, HARMONIC. Her prize was to present a full evening of her own work at Ailey Citigroup Theatre, and that prize was claimed tonight as five of Claudia’s works were performed by an array dancers drawn together specially for the occasion.

The evening was an unalloyed triumph for all concerned, including two contemporary composers whose works were choreographed by Claudia (Jeff Beal and Douwe Eisenga – both of them were present and took a bow at the end); the choral group Tapestry who performed live for the ballet VIGIL; a chamber quartet playing Jeff Beal’s score for ALMOST MORNING live, and – of course – the superb ensemble of dancers.

Above: the chamber musicians, with dancers Amber Neff and Drew Grant, in ALMOST MORNING

When we first started watching House of Cards, my partner and I were very much taken with Jeff Beal’s score: “…this music would make a great ballet!” And now it’s come to pass: ALMOST MORNING is set to an original score composed for Ms. Schreier by the multi-Emmy Award-winning Mr.Beal. Six dancers appear in a series of overlapping duets interspersed among ensemble passages. The music pulses and percolates, but can also turn moody or melodious along the way. The musicians – Kieran Ledwidge (violin), Tia Allen (viola), Kirin McElwain (cello) and Ta-Wei Yu (piano) – delivered the score with propulsive assurance.

The choreographer responds to this music with movement that has a broad overall sweep but also features countless felicitous and original touches. Amber Neff is thrice tossed into the air, spiraling before being caught by her partner Drew Grant; the blondes – Kaitlyn Gilliland and Elizabeth Claire Walker – dance in tandem; and a sustained duo for Ms. Walker and Mr. Grant is particularly striking. A pas de trois for Ms. Neff, Francis Lawrence, and Da’Von Doane progresses to a pensive solo danced by the incomparable Kaitlyn Gilliland. There are stretches of visual polyphony; the dancers form a circle before sweeping into a triple pas de deux set to the score’s most lyrical theme. Then the dancers rush off in the end, leaving the stage to the musicians.

The conclusion of the ballet triggered the first of the evening’s enthusiastic ovations: having observed ALMOST MORNING in a keen state of silence, the audience demonstrated their approval for both the music and the dancing in no uncertain terms. And this was only the beginning.

The evening continued on its soaring trajectory with HARMONIC, the ballet to Douwe Eisenga’s stimulating score which clinched the prize for Claudia Schreier at last year’s Breaking Glass competition. HARMONIC was originally created by Ms. Schreier in 2013 for the Columbia Ballet Collaborative, and was subsequently re-staged for Craig Salstein’s Intermezzo Dance Company, who performed it at Vassar College in March 2014. Inspired by Mr. Eisenga’s magical score, HARMONIC is a contemporary ballet that seems built to last.

Tonight HARMONIC received a mesmerizing performance, with ABT’s entrancing Stephanie Williams displaying marvelous technique and a particularly attractive presence. Earlier this month, Stephanie danced – splendidly – for Joshua Beamish at The Joyce. The principal male role here was taken by Dance Theatre of Harlem’s intrepid Da’Von Doane; Da’Von danced in four ballets tonight and, after a long day of tech/dress/performance, he seemed totally fresh at the end of the evening and looked ready to repeat the whole programme. Strength and stamina are essential, but when you add Da’Von’s stunning physique, impeccable partnering, generosity of spirit, and his intangible gift for making everything seem right with the world, you have a paragon.

Da’Von’s dancing with Ms. Williams (above) was electrifying to behold, for they are well-matched in terms of both daring and allure.

One could say there are no supporting roles in Claudia Schreier’s ballets: she puts demands on everyone involved in a given work and then rewards them with opportunities to shine. Thus tonight in HARMONIC, Amber Neff and Elinor Hitt were utterly essential; they danced their hearts out, and basked beautifully in those passages of being partnered by Da’Von. Again, the audience response was thunderous.

More images from HARMONIC:

Elinor Hitt

Stephanie Williams

A new production of Ms. Schreier’s 2009 ballet ANOMIE is imbued with a striking atmosphere of lyricism and poetry. Set to the heartfelt beauty of César Franck’s Prelude, Fugue and Variation…

…ANOMIE opens (above) with New York City Ballet’s distinctive Lydia Wellington posed in Daniel Applebaum’s arms in a pool of light; Lydia slowly unfolds and the ballet begins its beautiful flight. In addition to the abounding artistry of this wonderfully simpatico City Ballet duo, we could also savor the ever-vivid clarity of Amber Neff’s dancing, the aristocratic face and silken line of Elizabeth Claire Walker, and the handsomely assured presence of Drew Grant.

Elizabeth Claire Walker (above) with Drew Grant…

Elizabeth Claire Walker and Daniel Applebaum

All five dancers appear in a diagonal, with a canonic dramatic port de bras motif, before Lydia Wellington and Daniel Applebaum meet again to end the ballet as in a fading dream.

I can’t resist sharing more of Nir Arieli’s images from ANOMIE:

Daniel Applebaum and Elizabeth Claire Walker

Lydia Wellington, aloft

Daniel Appebaum and Elizabeth Claire Walker: a most congenial partnership

Daniel Applebaum and Lydia Wellington

Lydia Wellington and Daniel Applebaum

Following the interval, the atmosphere became spiritual as Vigil, a pas de deux danced by Elinor Hitt and Da’Von Doane to sacred choral music by Tomás Luis de Victoria and Sergei Rachmaninoff which was performed live onstage by the 20-member choir Tapestry. The singers, clad in black, arranged themselves in a semi-circle around the dance-space; they are a wonderful, physically diverse group of musicians and they harmonized with a kind of gentle intensity that created an atmosphere of both reverence and hope.

Above from VIGIL, danced by Elinor Hitt and Da’Von Doane

Ms. Hitt was one of the revelations of the evening; her jazzy dancing in HARMONIC made us think of her as an extroverted allegro dancer, yet in VIGIL she displayed a poignantly expressive adagio style that put me in mind of Sara Mearns’ elegiac luminosity. It almost goes without saying that Da’Von Doane achieved another miracle of control, strength, and grace here; the partnership had a gorgeous flow and resonance, so finely attuned to the music. The dancers seemed angel-like in their white costumes, and their shaping of Ms. Schreier’s port de bras and the heavenly quality of the duet’s numerous lifts really cast a spell. The performance moved me to tears.

More of Nir Arieli’s images from VIGIL:

PULSE, a driving full-company work, is set to Dutch composer Douwe Eisenga‘s marvelous Piano Concerto: I. With her customary flair for visualizing the music, Claudia Schreier molded the Eisenga score into another fascinating dancework: as exciting as HARMONIC, but bigger and splashier. In its dynamic thrust, PULSE reminded me at times of Robbins’s GLASS PIECES.

Claudia’s full contingent of dancers took the stage for this impressively-structured ballet, and there were some dancers in the cast we hadn’t seen earlier in the evening, including New York City Ballet soloist Lauren King (above); always a welcome sight onstage, Lauren danced with her trademark mixture of lyricism and edge: a combination that always makes her so exciting to watch. Also appearing in PULSE were Nayara Lopes and Craig Wasserman, vivid dancers who I wish we could have seen more of over the course of the evening.

Da’Von Doane’s opening solo in PULSE showed yet another facet of this dancer…a dancer to whom the word “amazing” can most truly be applied. The solo becomes an echo-duet for Da’Von and Craig Wasserman…

…with motifs later taken up by the male ensemble (above): Da’Von, Craig, Daniel,and Francis.

PULSE plunges forward, Claudia Schreier’s choreography ever-attentive to the nuances of the Eisenga score. At one moment, an air of mystery pervades only to surrender to the inevitable forward impetus of the music. There’s a buildup as waves of dancers enter…

…and then suddenly we are lured into a solo passage for Kaitlyn Gilliland (above), dancing with goddess-like authority. Lines of dancers along a right-angle converge…

…and then Lauren King and Da’Von Doane (above) meet up for a duet, followed by other fleeting episodes. The women dance as a group, and then the men, and then everyone, as PULSE sprints to the finish line: a perfect finale for a grand evening of dance.

Amber Neff and Da’Von Doane in PULSE: “We could have danced all night…in fact, we did!” To the dancers, one and all, heaps of roses and buckets of iced champagne.

The performance ended with a colossal standing ovation and a din of cheers; the enthusiasm poured out into the lobby where the audience seemed reluctant to take leave after such an extraordinary evening. Although I have been following Claudia Schreier’s work for a few seasons, I must say that experiencing a full programme of her choreography surpassed my expectations, which were very high indeed. In addition to her enviable ability to choose just the right music and fill it with meaningful movement, her work is blessedly free of gimmicks or self-indulgence. Claudia knows the value of not over-extending her ideas, so that after each piece we are left wanting more.

All photo by Nir Arieli, with my sincere thanks for his patience and his artistry.

August 9, 2015
Upcoming: Joshua Beamish/MOVE: the company

Above: Joshua Beamish, photo by David Cooper

Joshua Beamish/Move: the company will be at The Joyce August 4th and 5th, 2015; the performances are part of The Joyce’s Ballet Festival 2015.

Joshua, who recently appeared as one of Wendy Whelan’s choreographer/partners for her RESTLESS CREATURE project, brings a diverse program to The Joyce. Featured works are the U.S. premiere of burrow, a duet for Royal Ballet dancers Matthew Ball and Nicol Edmonds, and the world premiere of Surface Properties, an ensemble work performed by ten dancers from American Ballet Theatre to a score by Mark Mellits and Michael Gordon. Also on the program are excerpts from Pierced, Beamish’s 2013 piece exploring the darker side of love.

On July 30th, Joshua invited me down to the Martha Graham studios on Bethune Street where he showed me a run-thru of Surface Properties. This was only the second time that the dancers went thru the entire piece; it’s a big-scale and very active ballet, and the Mellits/Gordon score is propulsive and wonderfully danceable. Alternating full-ensemble passages with a series of fleeting solos and pas de deux, trois, et quatre, the work sustains our interest in its complex and sometimes whimsical partnering, unexpected match-ups of dancers, stylized port de bras elements, and unabashed physicality.

The dancers, who rarely have a chance to do anything like this at ABT, leapt enthusiastically into this fresh experience, embracing the non-stop movement with technical brilliance and affording an opportunity to savor both their dancing and their personalities at close range. They are a super bunch: Zhongjing Fang, Isadora Loyola, Luciana Paris, Lauren Post, Cassandra Trenary, Stephanie Williams, Sterling Baca, Grayson Davis, Jose Sebastian, and Roman Zhurbin.

I look forward to seeing Surface Properties, costumed and lit, on The Joyce stage.

July 30, 2015
Lydia Johnson’s WHAT COUNTS on Vimeo

Above: Blake Hennessy-York and Sarah Pon of Lydia Johnson Dance rehearsing WHAT COUNTS

A hit at its New York City premiere performances in June, 2015, choreographer Lydia Johnson’s WHAT COUNTS is now available for watching on Vimeo. Tune in here.

The jazzy score comes to us from The Bad Plus, and the ballet is performed by a quintet of Lydia Johnson Dance’s distinctive dancers: Sarah Pon, Blake Hennessy-York, Laura DiOrio, Katie Martin-Lohiya, and Chazz Fenner-McBride.

July 30, 2015
Lydia Johnson’s WHAT COUNTS on Vimeo

Above: Blake Hennessy-York and Sarah Pon of Lydia Johnson Dance rehearsing WHAT COUNTS

A hit at its New York City premiere performances in June, 2015, choreographer Lydia Johnson’s WHAT COUNTS is now available for watching on Vimeo. Tune in here.

The jazzy score comes to us from The Bad Plus, and the ballet is performed by a quintet of Lydia Johnson Dance’s distinctive dancers: Sarah Pon, Blake Hennessy-York, Laura DiOrio, Katie Martin-Lohiya, and Chazz Fenner-McBride.

July 29, 2015
Summer Morning

This is the Summer of my discontent, I guess…

July 28, 2015
Maria

Maria

Kees van Dongen (1877-1968)

July 26, 2015
Maria

Maria

Kees van Dongen (1877-1968)

July 25, 2015
Mario Sereni Has Passed Away

Above: Mario Sereni as Giorgio Germont in Verdi’s LA TRAVIATA

Mario Sereni, the Italian baritone who sang over 550 performances with The Metropolitan Opera between 1957 and 1984, has reportedly died at the age of 87.

Sereni had a warm, rich sound with an easy top, and an instinctive feel for phrasing off the words of his native language. I first saw him at the Old Met as Belcore in L’ELISIR D’AMORE (with Freni, Gedda, and Corena, no less!); once the new House opened and I was going to the opera frequently, Sereni was a singer I saw often. He was popular with the fans, and always very cordial when we greeted him after a performance.

Although he sang many of the great Verdi roles – Germont in TRAVIATA being particularly well-suited to his voice, and he also appeared as Amonasro, Count di Luna, Posa, Ford in FALSTAFF and Don Carlo in LA FORZA DEL DESTINO – it was in the more verismo-oriented operas that Sereni made his best impression, at least for me. His Tonio in PAGLIACCI was outstanding, and he was often cast in the sympathetic roles of Sharpless (MADAMA BUTTERFLY) and Marcello (LA BOHEME). One performance that I recall with special affection was his Carlo Gerard in ANDREA CHENIER, where he appeared opposite Raina Kabaivanska in her only Met performance as Maddalena. In the French repertoire, Sereni sang Valentin in FAUST and Escamillo in CARMEN; he even made a foray into Wagner, as the Herald in LOHENGRIN. Among other Sereni roles were Rossini’s Figaro, Donizetti’s Malatesta (DON PASQUALE) and Enrico (LUCIA), and Lescaut in the Puccini opera. Near the end of his Met career, he sang several performances of Schaunard in BOHEME, and that was the role of his final Met performance in 1984.

Mario Sereni appears on several complete opera recordings; my personal favorite is (again) his Carlo Gerard in CHENIER on EMI, opposite Antonietta Stella and Franco Corelli. Also on EMI, he sings with Victoria de los Angeles on her classic recordings of BUTTERFLY and TRAVIATA. And he is in fine fettle on the RCA recording of LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR, with Anna Moffo and Carlo Bergonzi. Here is the Wolfscrag Scene from that recording, in which Bergonzi and Sereni make such a vivid impression, both vocally and dramatically.

July 23, 2015
CMS: Summer Evenings III
Above: violinist Alexander Sitkovetsky and pianist Wu Qian, featured performers at tonight’s Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center concert

Wednesday July 22nd, 2015 – Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center‘s inaugural Summer Series wrapped up this evening with a most impressive and enjoyable programme. The formula for these Summer concerts (as for all of the Society’s concerts, really) was a simple one: great music played in a wonderful space by first-rate musicians. That the series was a genuine success came as no surprise to me; and the best news is, planning for a Summer Series 2016 at CMS seems already to be in the works as I write this.

The Society draws from an A-list roster of musical artists, sometimes featuring established ensembles – such as the Amphion String Quartet who headlined the second concert in the Summer Series – and sometimes gathering together players from diverse musical backgrounds to illuminate a particular convergence of works. For tonight’s programme, pianist Wu Qian and violinist Alexander Sitkovetsky were the central figures; this husband-and-wife team (who make up two-thirds of The Sitkovetsky Trio) played in all three works. Joining them were the delightful young violinist Danbi Um, viola paragon Richard O’Neill, and the distinguished veteran cellist Laurence Lesser.

Antonín Dvořák’s Bagatelles for Two Violins, Cello, and Keyboard, Op. 47, opened the evening; this series of miniatures alternates spirited dance rhythms with soulful slower movements, all drawing upon the folk music which so often inspired the composer. Plucking cello, rhapsodic violins, and flowing piano motifs are among the attractions of these five small wonders. Wu Qian was at the keyboard, with the two violinists and Mr. Lesser’s amiable cello assuring a most appealing exploration of the unfolding thematic material which abounds in these charming, deftly scored bagatelles.

Robert Schumann’s Sonata in D minor for Violin and Piano, Op. 121 was given a remarkable performance by Mr. Sitkovetsky and Wu Qian. Although stationed in a way that seemed to preclude eye contact, the two developed an extraordinary telepathic rapport. Mr. Sitkovetsky had removed his white dinner jacket and, all in black, he proved as fascinating to watch as to hear, with expressive body English and moving in an almost choreographic response to the music.

Following a passionate, slashing start, Mr. Sitkovetsky intoned a heartfelt solo passage before the eruption of energy that propels the sonata’s first movement. The violinist’s playing is wonderfully rich, plumbing the depths of feeling with his resonant tone. For the energetic opening of the second movement, the violin/piano collaboration was rhythmically driven, though lapsing at one point into a melodious interlude.

A mandolin-like plucking motif opens the third movement, which evolves into a haunting theme: here Mr. Sitkovetsky’s Olde World sound and his ability to transform melody into poetry was at its most moving. In the final movement’s expansive variety of themes and energies, violinist and pianist were simply thrilling, causing the audience to celebrate their joint artistry with prolonged applause and calling the duo out for a second bow.

Danbi Um, in a glamorous deep emerald gown with a diamond clasp, looks as elegant as she plays. She took the first chair for the evening’s concluding Brahms (the Quintet in F minor for Piano, Two Violins, Viola, and Cello, Op. 34) and, with her ravishing ascents to the upper range, graced the music at every moment. The big singing themes of this work were delivered with striking lushness by the players – Mr. Sitkovetsky and Wu Qian, violist Richard O’Neill, and cellist Laurence Lesser joining Ms. Um; they sometimes created the sonic illusion of a much larger ensemble with their plush tone.

The performance was brimming with marvelous moments, including (in the first movement) a lovely violin/viola ‘conversation’ and a luminous moment when Ms. Um, with her refined tone, passed the melody to Mr. Lesser who took it up with achingly beautiful expressiveness.

The somewhat hesitant opening of the second movement – with Mr. Lesser’s subtle plucking motif – took a few moments to bloom into melody. Mr. O’Neill, a player we can admire as much for his artistry as for his humanitarian and charitable work, had a deeply moving theme with which to entice; then Mr. Lesser’s cello took a series of ever-deepening plunges. At the piano Wu Qian’s gently lilting playing underscored the ensuing rise of the string voices. In a moment of sheer perfection, Ms. Um and Mr. O’Neill jointly tapered the movement’s final note til it vanished into the air.

After some treading in a minor key, the third movement bursts forth; the pianist continually sounds a heraldry of march-like calls to action. Later, Wu Qian’s piano segues into a more lyrical passage where she is met by the Mr. Lesser’s genial cello…but their encounter is fleeting before another onrush of almost military vigor. Things calm down again momentarily, only to surge forward again with a triumphant feeling.

A pensive – almost eerie – feeling pervades the opening of the quintet’s finale. In music that is passionate and harmonically rich, we experience a mixture of vivid dance themes and passages of almost tragic-sounding lyricism.

As our estimable ensemble of players drew the evening to its close, the audience hailed them with sincere appreciation and affection. The evening was perhaps best summarized by a remark the man seated behind me made to his wife just as the house lights went down for the Brahms: “This is the place to be!”

The Repertory:
- Dvořák Bagatelles for Two Violins, Cello, and Keyboard, Op. 47 (1878)
- Schumann Sonata in D minor for Violin and Piano, Op. 121 (1851)
- Brahms Quintet in F minor for Piano, Two Violins, Viola, and Cello, Op. 34 (1862)
The Participating Artists:
Wu Qian , piano

Alexander Sitkovetsky , violin

Danbi Um , violin
Richard O’Neill , viola

Laurence Lesser , cello
July 22, 2015
CMS: Summer Evenings II
Above: the musicians of the Amphion String Quartet; left to right: David Southorn, Mihai Marcia, Katie Hyun, and Wei-Yang Andy Lin

Sunday July 19th, 2015 – The second in Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center‘s 3-concert summer series took place on a sweltering day. Outdoors, people were wilting from the intense heat and humidity, but in the cool, classical cavern of Alice Tully Hall, another capacity audience drew both physical comfort and spiritual sustenance from a well-devised and admirably played programme.

Putting Haydn and Mozart on the same bill of fare can sometimes result in Papa Haydn’s music being somewhat overshadowed by the younger composer’s. But that was not the case today, thanks to the Amphion String Quartet’s lovingly crafted rendering of Haydn’s penultimate completed string quartet: in G major, Op. 77, No. 1.

In the opening Allegro moderato, the Amphions brought both crisp clarity of articulation and a silky blend of timbres. The Adagio – which to me draws upon a depth of feeling that Haydn’s music does not always attain – produced some striking modulations and resonant pauses as the players, so sure of one another, seemed to breathe and phrase as one. Special mention must be made of the enticing sheen of cellist Mihai Marica’s playing. In the scurrying third movement of the Haydn, and also in its propulsive finale, the Amphion’s virtuosity and sense of fun were amply evident.

Above: pianist Gilles Vonsattel

Felix Mendelssohn is sometimes referred to as “the romantic classicist,” and this concert’s back-to-back programming of the Haydn (dating from 1799) and Mendelssohn’s Piano Quartet No. 3 in B minor, Opus 3, written a quarter-century later, showed most vividly the leap from Classicism to Romanticism that marked the arrival of the 19th century.

Mendelssohn’s music is really unlike anyone else’s; it has a wonderful freshness and vitality, and the composer’s enchanting trademark sound, affectionately referred to as ‘faerie music,’ has a charm all its own. It was a chance hearing of a Mendelssohn piano trio on the radio many, many years ago that opened my mind to the pleasures of chamber music; it was only after decades of devoting myself to opera that I got to the point where I had both the time and the energy to explore the chamber music repertoire, a genre of mind-boggling variety and endless reward.

Curiously, I’m finding these days that it’s instrumental soloists and chamber artists who have taken the place of great singers in my affection and admiration. I’ve always had a strong streak of unabashed ‘fanhood’; if I like a singer/dancer/musician, I really become an admirer and they become an idol. That happened for me today as Gilles Vonsattel played his way into my echelon of favorites in the Mendelssohn. In 2014, the Swiss-born American pianist participated in a memorable CMS performance of Messiaen’s ‘Quartet for the End of Time’. Playing my beloved Mendelssohn this evening, Mr. Vonsattel’s quicksilver technique and masterful turns of phrase kept me constantly drawn to the keyboard.

This Mendelssohn quartet is a veritable font of melody and shows a sophistication of musical imagination that seems extraordinary in a composer still in his teens. The second movement (Andante) is vastly pleasing to hear, opening with a lovely piano statement which gives way to lulling rhythms, with gently developing themes of longing from the violin (Ms. Hyun) and of pensive soulfulness from the cello (Mr. Marica). The third movement (Allegro molto) opens with an injection of Midsummer Night’s magic, proceeds to swelling melodies and becomes a big dance. In the finale, Mr. Vonsattel’s mercurial playing was simply irresistible.

Above: clarinetist Jörg Widmann

For the evening’s concluding Mozart, the ‘Clarinet Quartet’, Jörg Widmann (who also took part – splendidly – in that ‘Quartet for the End of Time‘ mentioned above) displayed an engagingly natural feel for legato, his tone having a mellow glow. In both featured clarinet passages and in his sharing of ensemble moments, Mr. Widmann’s clarity and his impressive affinity for dynamic colourings drew the audience’s deep and concentrated attention.

David Southorn took up the violin 1 position in the Mozart, especially appealing in the first movement’s solo theme set against Mr. Marica’s plucked cello pacing. In the Quintet’s heart-filling Adagio, Messrs. Southorn and Widmann traded melodic phrases to beautiful effect, whilst in the variations that are part of the work’s finale, Wei-Yang Andy Lin drew forth a weeping quality from his viola.

Throughout the Quintet, Mr. Widmann and his colleagues conveyed the enormous richness of Mozart’s writing, providing a musical experience in which virtuosity and emotion seemed ideally blended.

The Repertory:
- Haydn Quartet in G major for Strings, Hob. III:81, Op. 77, No. 1 (1799)
- Mendelssohn Quartet in B minor for Piano, Violin, Viola, and Cello, Op. 3 (1825)
- Mozart Quintet in A major for Clarinet, Two Violins, Viola, and Cello, K. 581 (1789)
The Participating Artists:

Gilles Vonsattel, piano; Jörg Widmann, clarinet; Amphion String Quartet, ensemble
July 19, 2015