Lincoln Center's White Light Festival: 2016 lineup, schedule, tickets
The international multidisciplinary festival, which takes its name from a quotation by the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, is an annual exploration of the power of art to illuminate our interior and communal lives. “I could compare my music to white light which contains all colors. Only a prism can divide the colors and make them appear; this prism could be the spirit of the listener. ” – Arvo Pärt
Lincoln Center’s seventh annual White Light Festival will run from October 16 through November 16, 2016 and features 41 performances, including world and U.S. premieres, by artists and companies from nine countries, and will unfold in 10 venues on and off the Lincoln Center’s campus.
Among this year’s programming: “A Little Night Music” with MMDG Music Ensemble featuring works by Nico Muhly, Messiaen, and others; “Sounds of India,” a 10-part special focus on South India, curated by Mark Morris; William Kentridge and Handspring Puppet Company production of Monteverdi’s opera, Il ritorno d’Ulisse (“The Return of Ulysses”); and a discussion titled “Our Humanity: Past, Present, and Future” moderated by WNYC’s John Schaffer featuring “a multidisciplinary panel of esteemed thinkers and theorists will explore the commonality inherent in the human condition and examine the qualities that unite and elevate us.”
Tickets are on sale now. Detailed lineup and schedule for the 2016 White Light Festival is listed below.
—
White Light Festival 2016 Presentations
Human Requiem (U.S. Premiere)
Sunday, October 16, 2016 at 7:30 pm
Tuesday, October 18, 2016 at 7:30 pm
Wednesday, October 19, 2016 at 7:30 pm
Synod House, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, 1047 Amsterdam Avenue
Post-performance discussion on Tuesday, October 18 with Simon Halsey and Jochen Sandig
White Light Lounge follows each performance
Rundfunkchor Berlin
Simon Halsey, conductor
Marlis Petersen, soprano
Konrad Jarnot, baritone
Angela Gassenhuber, piano
Philip Mayers, piano
Jochen Sandig, concept and direction
Brahms (arr. Phillip Moll): Ein deutsches Requiem, Op. 45
Brahms referred to his German Requiem as a “human” requiem in an oft-cited letter to conductor Carl Reinthaler, and the choral masterwork is considered a mass for the living, focused on overcoming our mortality. In this unique theatrical choral event conceived by Jochen Sandig of Berlin’s cultural center, Radialsystem V, the choir, accompanied by piano four hands in an arrangement by Phillip Moll, is interspersed among the standing audience, which moves organically with the production. Rundfunkchor Berlin and conductor Simon Halsey, who last appeared at White Light Festival in 2014 in Peter Sellars’s St. Matthew Passion and in Rachmaninoff’s Vespers, return for three performances at the Synod House at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Human Requiem premiered in September 2012 at Germany’s Hamburger Theater Festival. Rundfunkchor Berlin’s recording of Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem with the Berliner Philharmoniker under Sir Simon Rattle won the 2008 Grammy for Best Choral Recording.
***
THIS WORLD MADE ITSELF
Thursday, October 20, 2016 at 7:30 pm
Friday, October 21, 2016 at 7:30 pm
Saturday, October 22, 2016 at 7:30 pm
Clark Studio Theater, Rose Building, 165 W. 65th Street, 7th floor
Post-performance discussion with Miwa Matreyek on Saturday, October 22
White Light Lounge follows each performance
Miwa Matreyek, animator and performer
Myth and Infrastructure
This World Made Itself
Performance artist Miwa Matreyek uses animation, projections, music, and her own silhouette to create fantastical worlds in these solo live performances. In Myth and Infrastructure, the artist’s moving shadow becomes an integral part of her dreamlike animation as she traverses oceans, cityscapes, and domestic spaces. This World Made Itself is a solo multimedia performance also featuring animation and the artist’s silhouette, offering a visually rich journey through the history of the universe and the complex world of humanity.
Myth and Infrastructure features original music by Anna Oxygen, Caroline, and Mileece and premiered at TED Global 2010 in Oxford, England. This World Made Itself, featuring music by Flying Lotus, Careful (aka Eric Lindley), and Mileece, was completed in late 2013 and premiered at the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio.
***
IMMORTAL BACH
Friday, October 21, 2016 at 7:30 pm
Church of St. Mary the Virgin, 145 W. 46th Street
White Light Lounge follows the performance
Rundfunkchor Berlin
Gijs Leenaars, director
Ezra Seltzer, cello
Avi Stein, chamber organ
Schütz: Ist nicht Ephraim mein teurer Sohn
Bach: Fürchte dich nicht, BWV 228
Bach: Komm, Jesu, Komm!, BWV 229
Brahms: Fest- und Gedenksprüche, Op. 109
Brahms: Warum ist das Licht gegeben, Op. 74, No. 1
Schoenberg: Friede auf Erden, Op. 13
Knut Nystedt: Immortal Bach
Rundfunkchor Berlin (Berlin Radio Choir) returns to the Church of St. Mary the Virgin for an evening of sacred choral works from the Baroque to the late 20th century. Led by its new director, Gijs Leenaars, the choir presents a program of Schütz, Bach and Brahms that also features Schoenberg’s Friede auf Erden (“Peace on Earth”), an audacious 1907 choral work of universal humanity, and contemporary Norwegian composer Knut Nystedt’s Immortal Bach (1987), a meditative piece derived from the first stanza of Bach’s chorale “Komm, süsser Tod.”
***
Babel(words)
Wednesday, October 26, 2016 at 7:30 pm
Thursday, October 27, 2016 at 7:30 pm
Rose Theater, Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall, Broadway at 60th Street
Pre-performance discussion on Wednesday, October 26 at 6:15 pm with Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui,
Damien Jalet, and Jane Moss
White Light Lounge follows each performance
Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, choreography
Damien Jalet, choreography
Antony Gormley, set design
Music: Patrizia Bovi, Mahabub Khan, Sattar Khan, Gabriele Miracle, Shogo Yoshii
Belgian choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, who brought his Sutra to the inaugural White Light Festival in 2010, returns with Babel(words), a dance performance that explores nationhood, identity, and cross-cultural communication. Based on the biblical story of the Tower of Babel, this work, co-choreographed with Damien Jalet, features giant, three-dimensional frames by sculptor Antony Gormley that alternately become an apartment block, a tower, a prison, and a city. Through dance, multilingual chatter, and an explosive score, Babel(words) explores pluralism and isolation in our modern world. Babel(words) premiered April 27, 2010 at La Monnaie in Brussels and won Best New Dance Production and Outstanding Achievement in Dance for set design at the 2011 Olivier Awards.
SPECIAL FOCUS: SOUNDS OF INDIA
Curated by Mark Morris
Thursday, October 27, 2016 at 6:15 pm
Location TBA
Sounds of India: Opening Talk with Mark Morris and Lakshmi Vishwanathan
***
Bombay Jayashri
Thursday, October 27, 2016 at 7:30 pm
Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College, 524 West 59th Street
White Light Lounge follows the performance
Bombay Jayashri is a celebrated Indian classical music performer who catapulted to the global stage with her Oscar-nominated Tamil lullaby in Ang Lee’s 2012 film Life of Pi. Trained as a Carnatic vocalist, she will present a concert of traditional works molded into her own distinct style, which she has developed through collaborating extensively with western classical musicians. Jayashri is particularly interested in exploring the therapeutic and healing value that music can generate across cultures, conveyed through her deep roots in the Carnatic tradition.
***
Dussasana Vadhom (The Killing of Dussasana)
Friday, October 28, 2016 at 7:30 pm
Sunday, October 30, 2016 at 5:00 pm
Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College, 524 West 59th Street
Pre-concert lecture by Laksmi Vishwanathan on Friday, October 28 at 6:15 pm, Location TBA
White Light Lounge follows each performance
Kerala Kalamandalam Kathakali Troupe
A troupe of performers from Kerala Kalamandalam, a premier performing arts institution in southern India, presents the mythic dance-drama of Kathakali, an art form based on ancient ritual folk dances in the state of Kerala, practiced in its current form since the 17th century. Kathakali dancers often spend a decade of intensive martial arts training preparing for their roles. Utilizing elaborate costumes, colorful makeup, refined gestures, ornate singing, and accompanying percussion, this all-male troupe will bring to life mythological tales from a Hindu epic.
***
O Rangasayee
Serenade
The “Tamil Film Songs in Stereo” Pas de Deux
New work (World premiere)
Saturday, October 29, 2016 at 7:30 pm
Thursday, November 3, 2016 at 7:30 pm
Saturday, November 5, 2016 at 7:30 pm
Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College, 524 West 59th Street
Pre-performance discussion with Mark Morris on Saturday, November 5 at 6:15 pm
White Light Lounges follow each performance
Mark Morris Dance Group
Mark Morris, choreographer
MMDG Music Ensemble
Choreographer Mark Morris has spent decades traveling to southern India, attending annual festivals, concerts, and dance performances. This special program for the Mark Morris Dance Group reprises two India-inspired solos, O Rangasayee (1984) and Serenade (2003), as well as a humorous 1983 duet set to a lively Tamil film score—one of the rare Morris creations using prerecorded music. The program culminates in a world-premiere new work set to live music by Terry Riley for string quartet.
O Rangasayee premiered March 15, 1984, at Dansechange Montreal; Serenade premiered March 8, 2003, at George Mason University Center for the Arts in Fairfax, Virginia. The “Tamil Film Songs in Stereo” Pas de Deux premiered December 15, 1983, at Dance Theater Workshop, Bessie Schönberg Theatre, New York, and was broadcast on PBS in 1986.
Endowment support for the White Light Festival presentation of the Mark Morris Dance Group is provided by Blavatnik Family Foundation for Dance.
***
V. Selvaganesh
Tuesday, November 1, 2016 at 7:30 pm
Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College, 524 West 59th Street
Pre-performance artist discussion at 6:15 pm
White Light Lounge follows the performance
Chennai native V. Selvaganesh, known for his work with Remember Shakti, is a percussionist trained in the Carnatic tradition and one of the world’s leading kanjira (south Indian frame drum) players. As he creates an expanded palette for the kanjira bordering on a techno vibe, Selvaganesh uses the constant bell-like jangle of the kanjira to evoke the warp-speed jungle groove of drums and bass. For this performance, Selvaganesh will demonstrate his innovative approach, integrating Indian classical music with contemporary musical forms.
***
Nrityagram Dance Ensemble
Wednesday, November 2, 2016 at 7:30 pm
Friday, November 4, 2016 at 7:30 pm
Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College, 524 West 59th Street
Post-performance artist discussion on Wednesday, November 2
White Light Lounge follows each performance
In a village devoted to dance in southern India, Nrityagram dancers complement their intensive training with the study of literature, Sanskrit, yoga, meditation, and martial arts. The all-female troupe expertly channels the powerful imagery, compelling physicality, and emotional honesty of Odissi dance, a classical Indian form dating back 2,000 years. Odissi dancers create the illusion of temple sculpture coming to life through balancing weight on one foot and using isolated, curved torso movements, forming an eternal “S” pattern with the body in space.
***
A Little Night Music with Nrityagram Music Ensemble
Thursday, November 3, 2016 at 10:00 pm
Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse, Rose Building, 165 West 65th Street, 10th floor
Musicians: Jateen Sahu, vocals and harmonium; Rohan Dahale, vocals and mardala (percussion); Sanjib Kunda, violin; Manu Raj, bamboo flute
An evening of music selected from the vast range of musical traditions of India-from Hindustani classical ragas to traditional music from Odisha to folk melodies.
***
A Little Night Music with MMDG Music Ensemble
Friday, November 4, 2016 at 10:00 pm
Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse, Rose Building, 165 West 65th Street, 10th Floor
Works by Nico Muhly, Messiaen, and others
***
T.M. Krishna, vocals
Sunday, November 6, 2016 at 5:00 pm
Gerald W. Lynch Theater John Jay College, 524 West 59th Street
White Light Lounge follows the performance
T.M. Krishna is a classically trained Carnatic vocalist who performs ragas spanning centuries, gliding between microtones revelatory to the Western ear. Revered as an Indian music “powerhouse” (Washington Post), the iconic and controversial musician brings his groundbreaking technique to the White Light stage for this performance.
***
Verdi: Messa da Requiem
Sunday, October 30, 2016 at 3:00 pm
David Geffen Hall, Broadway at 65th Street
Pre-concert lecture by Andrew Shenton at 1:45 pm, Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse
VERDI REQUIEM
London Symphony Orchestra
Gianandrea Noseda, conductor
Erika Grimaldi, soprano
Daniela Barcellona, mezzo-soprano
Francesco Meli, tenor
Vitalij Kowaljow, bass
London Symphony Chorus
Simon Halsey, chorus director
Sung in Latin with English supertitles
This performance is also part of Lincoln Center’s Great Performers “Symphonic Masters” series.
Penned by a grief-stricken Giuseppe Verdi to memorialize poet Alessandro Manzoni, the Verdi Requiem is one of the most recognizable major choral works in the repertoire. The agnostic composer’s dramatic musical setting of the Roman Catholic funeral mass is often referred to as “an opera in disguise” (NPR). Gianandrea Noseda, music director designate of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C., conducts the London Symphony Orchestra, joined by four outstanding vocal soloists and the London Symphony Chorus under Simon Halsey.
There will be a pre-concert lecture by Andrew Shenton at 1:45 p.m. in the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse.
Endowment support for Symphonic Masters is provided by the Leon Levy Fund. Endowment support is also provide by UBS.
***
Our Humanity: Past, Present, and Future
Saturday, November 5, 2016 from 4:00 until 5:30 pm
Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse, 165 W. 65th Street, 10th floor
White Light Conversation
John Schaefer, moderator
In an increasingly fractious world where discourse serves to amplify prejudice, fear, and separateness, a multidisciplinary panel of esteemed thinkers and theorists will explore the commonality inherent in the human condition and examine the qualities that unite and elevate us. Through the lenses of evolution, psychology, religion, and art, this panel will provide fresh insight into the age-old question, “What makes us human?”
***
All That Fall
Wednesday, November 9, 2016 at 7:00 pm
Thursday, November 10, 2016 at 7:00 and 9:00 pm
Friday, November 11, 2016 at 7:00 and 9:00 pm
Saturday, November 12, 2016 at 3:00, 7:00 and 9:00 pm
The Duke on 42nd Street, 229 W. 42nd Street
by Samuel Beckett
Pan Pan Theatre
Gavin Quinn, director
Pan Pan Theatre’s All That Fall is a multi-layered composition of recorded voices that can be experienced as a black comedy, a murder mystery, a cryptic literary riddle, or a quasi-musical score. With just 60 seats, the audience sits in rocking chairs surrounded by speakers and ambient lighting for an immersive experience of Samuel Beckett’s first radio play. Directed by Gavin Quinn, Pan Pan Theatre’s production of All That Fall premiered in August 2011 at Project Arts Centre in Dublin, Ireland. All That Fall won the 2011 Irish Times Theatre Awards for Best Sound Design and Best Lighting Design, as well as the Herald Angel Award at the Edinburgh International Festival 2013.
(T)here to (T)here (World Premiere)
Thursday, November 10, 2016 at 8:00 pm
Friday, November 11, 2016 at 8:00 pm
Saturday, November 12, 2016 at 8:00 pm
Baryshnikov Arts Center, Jerome Robbins Theater, 450 W. 37th Street
Post-performance discussion with Liz Gerring on Friday, November 11
White Light Lounges on Friday and Saturday, November 11–12
Liz Gerring Dance Company
Liz Gerring, choreographer
Kay Rosen, artistic collaborator
Michael J. Schumacher, composer
Amith Chandrashaker, lighting design
Joshua Higgason, video set design
Dancers: Brandon Collwes, Joseph Giordano, Pierre Guilbault, Julia Jurgilewicz, Claire Westby
Co-presented by Lincoln Center’s White Light Festival and Baryshnikov Arts Center
New York-based choreographer Liz Gerring developed (T)here to (T)here in collaboration with visual artist Kay Rosen. Using projected text to create a visual space of words and color, (T)here to (T)here follows a central couple whose solos come together and move apart, mirroring the cyclical nature of relationships. Featuring an original score by frequent Gerring collaborator Michael J. Schumacher, this intimate performance allows the audience to experience the dancers as individuals with unique, yet universal, human experiences. This work has been in development since 2014 with support from Baryshnikov Arts Center and Lincoln Center, and receives its world premiere at the 2016 White Light Festival.
***
A Venetian Coronation 1595
Saturday, November 12, 2016 at 7:30 pm
Alice Tully Hall, Broadway at 65th Street
Pre-concert lecture, “Prisoners in Their Own Palace: The Doges of Venice,”
by Raymond Erickson at 6:15 pm, Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse
White Light Lounge follows the performance, Alice Tully Hall Outer Lobby
Gabrieli
Paul McCreesh, conductor
Works by Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli performed on period instruments
Sung in Italian with English supertitles
This performance is also part of Lincoln Center’s Great Performers “Chamber Orchestras” series.
The renowned period-instrument ensemble and choir Gabrieli, led by its founder Paul McCreesh, is known for its mold-breaking reconstructions of music from historical events. For this program, the ensemble evokes the grand pageantry and soundworld of early Baroque Italian masters, reconstructing music from the coronation of Doge Marino Grimani at St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice. Gabrieli and McCreesh released A New Venetian Coronation 1595 in 2012, a remake of the ensemble’s 1990 recording, which won the 2013 Gramophone Early Music Award.
***
Il ritorno d’Ulisse (“The Return of Ulysses”)
Monday, November 14, 2016 at 7:30 pm
Tuesday, November 15, 2016 at 7:30 pm
Wednesday, November 16, 2016 at 7:30 pm
Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College, 524 West 59th Street
Post-performance talk on Tuesday, November 15 with Adrian Kohler and Basil Jones
White Light Lounge follows each performance
Handspring Puppet Company
William Kentridge, director
Ricercar Consort
Philippe Pierlot, Musical Director
Monteverdi: Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria
Sung in Italian with English supertitles
Handspring Puppet Company, in its first New York appearance since War Horse, presents Monteverdi’s opera Il ritorno d’Ulisse (“The Return of Ulysses”) based on Homer’s Odyssey. Directed by South African visual artist William Kentridge, whose Winterreise was featured in the 2014 White Light Festival, this version of Monteverdi’s opera places Ulysses center stage in a hospital bed in Johannesburg. The dying hero’s visions, dreams and thoughts are conveyed to the audience via opera singers paired with puppeteers, accompanied by animated scenes by Kentridge, in a multilayered exploration of human heroism and frailty. This production, which premiered in South Africa in 1998, was presented by Lincoln Center’s “New Visions” series in March 2004.
***
Medieval to Modern
Wednesday, November 16, 2016 at 7:30 pm
Alice Tully Hall, Broadway at 65th Street
White Light Lounge follows the performance
Jeremy Denk, piano
Works by Machaut, Couperin, Frescobaldi, Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Stravinsky,
Cage, Ligeti, and John Adams
This performance is also part of Lincoln Center’s Great Performers “Virtuoso Recitals” series.
New York-based pianist Jeremy Denk, who so memorably joined with Renée and Robert Belfer Music Director Louis Langrée and the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra last summer for a program of Bach and Mozart, follows the evolution of music from the medieval era to the present day in this specially crafted White Light program. Like time-lapse photography, the evening progresses through seven centuries of music, creating sublime surprises from Couperin to Cage and beyond.
