New dance commissions by Ephrat Asherie and Omari Wiles
Theatrical first looks at Company, West Side Story, and Ocean Filibuster
Opera sneak peek with Lincoln Center Theater’s Intimate Apparel, The Metropolitan Opera’s Agrippina, and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis’s Awakenings
Dance previews featuring BalletX and Pennsylvania Ballet
Works & Process at the Guggenheim is pleased to announce its spring 2020 season. Since 1984, the performing arts series has championed new works and offered audiences unprecedented access to leading creators. The intimate Frank Lloyd Wright –designed Peter B. Lewis Theater is the venue for these seventy-minute programs that explore the creative process through stimulating discussions and riveting performance highlights. One-of-a-kind productions created for the Guggenheim’s rotunda offer a unique experience of the landmark museum. Additional information is available at worksandprocess.org.
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York logo
Audience members are invited to artist receptions in the rotunda following most evening programs. Prior to performances, The Wright restaurant is open with a cash bar from 5:30 to 7:30 pm.
Works & Process lead funding is provided by the Ford Foundation, Florence Gould Foundation, the Christian Humann Foundation, Mertz Gilmore Foundation, Stavros Niarchos Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and Evelyn Sharp Foundation, with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Spring 2020 Season
OPENING NIGHT CABARET
Anthony Roth Costanzo, January 6, 2020, 7:30 pm
Before he was an opera singer, countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo (Akhnaten and Glass Handel) was a Broadway baby moving from community theater to national tours, and eventually to the Great White Way. Now, Costanzo is looking back to go forward. For one night only, in the New York premiere of his cabaret, he revisits his childhood, drawing on the leading ladies, crooners, and icons that helped form him. And, in a twist, he finds just enough low to balance out his highs. Developed with the Bearded Ladies Cabaret, on the occasion of Opera Philadelphia’s Festival O19. Directed by John Jarboe. Musical arrangements by Heath Allen. Scenic design by Machine Dazzle.
Opening Night Chairs: Joanna Fisher, Bart Friedman, Andrew J. Martin-Weber, and Anh-Tuyet Nguyen
6:30 pm Reception in Rotunda
7:30 pm Performance in the Peter B. Lewis Theater
9 pm Dinner at The Wright
$500 Prime Seating and Artist Dinner
$250 Orchestra
$150 Dress Circle
$75 Side View
Countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo began performing professionally at the age of eleven and has since appeared in opera, concert, recital, film, and on Broadway. He has produced operas, installations, concerts, and performance series internationally. Recently, he appeared at the Metropolitan Opera performing the title role in Philip Glass’s Akhnaten, and has performed with many of the world’s other leading opera houses, including Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, the Los Angeles Opera, Houston Grand Opera, the Canadian Opera Company, Glyndebourne Opera Festival, English National Opera, and Teatro Real in Madrid. In concert he has appeared with the New York Philharmonic, the San Francisco Symphony, the London Symphony Orchestra, and the Berlin Philharmonic, and at Carnegie Hall, the Elbphilharmonie, and the Kennedy Center. His first album, ARC, was nominated for a Grammy and he received Musical America’s 2019 Vocalist of the Year award.
DANCE COMMISSION PREVIEW
Les Ballet Afrik and Ephrat Asherie Dance, Jan 13 and 14, 2020, 7:30 pm
In 2020, Works & Process commissions and premieres two works by Les Ballet Afrik and Ephrat Asherie Dance.
Having received the honorary status of Legend after 10 years of competing in the Vogue Ballroom scene and performing across the globe, choreographer Omari Wiles brings the ballroom to the Peter B. Lewis Theater at the Guggenheim. With excerpts of New York is Burning, performed by Les Ballet Afrik and guest artists, Wiles presents his signature “AfrikFusion” style, which fuses traditional African dances and Afrobeat styles with House dance and Vogue.
Excerpts from Ephrat Asherie’s UnderScored (working title) are performed by EAD company members with guest artists from New York City’s underground dance scene. Beginning with the legendary parties at The Loft and the Paradise Garage, UnderScored is inspired by intergenerational club-life memories and explores the ever-changing physical landscape of New York City’s underground House dance community.
November 15 Concert Featuring Music Inspired by Rome Includes Carnegie Hall Perspectives Artist Mezzo-Soprano Joyce DiDonato as Soloist
November 16 Features an All-Prokofiev Program
This November, Music Director Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra return to Carnegie Hall for two concerts in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage. The first evening, on Friday, November 15 at 8:00 p.m., features music inspired by Rome, including Berlioz’s La mort de Cléopâtre, written in 1829 as a bid for a Prix de Rome, with Perspectives artist mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato; Bizet’s rarely performed symphonic poem Roma; and Respighi’s Pines of Rome, one of three symphonic poems written by the Italian composer about different aspects of the Eternal City. Maestro Muti and the Orchestra return on the following night, Saturday, November 16 at 8:00 p.m., with an all-Prokofiev program featuring selections from Romeo and Juliet and Symphony No. 3.
The concert on November 15 is part of the Carnegie Hall Live broadcast and digital series with a live radio broadcast on WQXR 105.9 FM in New York and online at wqxr.org and carnegiehall.org/wqxr. Produced by WQXR and Carnegie Hall and co-hosted by WQXR’s Jeff Spurgeon and Clemency Burton-Hill, Carnegie Hall Live broadcasts include behind-the-scenes access to the artists and broadcast team, connecting national and international fans to the music and to each other. Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra last performed at Carnegie Hall in February 2018. Bank of America is the Proud Season Sponsor of Carnegie Hall.
This performance is also part of Joyce DiDonato’s Perspectives series at Carnegie Hall with concerts and events throughout the 2019–2020 season that highlight her full range of vocal artistry, as well as her work as an educator. (For more information on upcoming Perspectives performances, please visit: www.carnegiehall.org/didonato.
Program
Information
Friday,
November 15, 2019 at 8:00 p.m.
Chicago
Symphony Orchestra
Riccardo
Muti, Music Director and Conductor
Joyce
DiDonato, Mezzo-Soprano
Stern
Auditorium / Perelman Stage
Georges
Bizet Roma
Hector
Berlioz La Mort De Cléopâtre
Ottorino
Respighi Pines Of Rome
Public
support for Carnegie Hall Live on WQXR is provided by the National
Endowment for the Arts.
Perspectives:
Joyce DiDonato
Saturday,
November 16, 2019 at 8:00 p.m.
Chicago
Symphony Orchestra
Riccardo
Muti, Music Director and Conductor
Stern
Auditorium / Perelman Stage
Sergei
Prokofiev Selections From Romeo And Juliet
Sergei
Prokofiev Symphony No. 3 In C Minor, Op. 44
Born
in Naples, Italy, Riccardo Muti is one of the preeminent conductors
of our day. In 2010, when he became the tenth music director of the
Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO), he had more than forty years of
experience at the helm of Maggio Musicale Fiorentino
(1968–80), the Philharmonia Orchestra (1973–82), The
Philadelphia Orchestra (1980–92), and Teatro alla Scala
(1986–2005).
Photo of Riccardo Muti by Todd Rosenberg Photography
Mr.
Muti studied piano under Vincenzo Vitale at the Conservatory of
San Pietro a Majella in his hometown of Naples, graduating with
distinction. After he won the Guido Cantelli Conducting
Competition—by unanimous vote of the jury—in Milan in 1967,
his career developed quickly. In 1968, he became principal conductor
of Florence’s Maggio Musicale, a position that he held until
1980.
Herbert
von Karajan invited him to conduct at the Salzburg Festival in
Austria in 1971, and Mr. Muti has maintained a close relationship
with the summer festival and with its great orchestra, the Vienna
Philharmonic, for more than 45 years. When he conducted the
orchestra’s 150th anniversary concert in 1992, he was presented
with the Golden Ring, a special sign of esteem and affection,
and in 2001, his outstanding artistic contributions to the orchestra
were further recognized with the Otto Nicolai Gold Medal. He
is also a recipient of a silver medal from the Salzburg Mozarteum
for his contribution to the music of Mozart and the Golden Johann
Strauss Award by the Johann Strauss Society of Vienna. He
is an honorary member of Vienna’s Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde
(Society of the Friends of Music), the Vienna Hofmusikkapelle,
the Vienna Philharmonic, and the Vienna State Opera.
Mr.
Muti succeeded Otto Klemperer as chief conductor and music
director of London’s Philharmonia Orchestra in 1973, holding
that position until 1982. From 1980 to 1992, he was music director of
The Philadelphia Orchestra, and, in 1986, he became music
director of Milan’s Teatro alla Scala. During his 19-year
tenure, Muti conducted operatic and symphonic repertoire ranging from
the baroque to the contemporary, also leading hundreds of concerts
with the Filarmonica della Scala and touring the world with
both the opera company and the orchestra. His tenure as music
director, the longest of any in La Scala’s history, culminated in
the triumphant reopening of the restored opera house with Antonio
Salieri’s Europa riconosciuta, originally
commissioned for La Scala’s inaugural performance in 1778.
Riccardo
Muti’s vast catalog of recordings, numbering in the hundreds,
ranges from the traditional symphonic and operatic repertoires to
contemporary works. He also has written three books, Verdi,
l’italiano and Riccardo Muti: An Autobiography: First the
Music, Then the Words, both of which have been published in
several languages, as well as Infinity Between the Notes: My
Journey Into Music, published May 2019 and available in Italian.
Chicago symphony orchestra logo
During
his time with the CSO, Mr. Muti has won over audiences in greater
Chicago and across the globe through his music making as well as his
demonstrated commitment to sharing classical music. His first annual
free concert as CSO music director attracted more than 25,000 people
to Chicago’s Millennium Park. He regularly invites
subscribers, students, seniors, and people of low incomes to attend,
at no charge, his CSO rehearsals. Mr. Muti’s commitment to artistic
excellence and to creating a strong bond between an orchestra and its
communities continues to bring the Chicago Symphony Orchestra to ever
higher levels of achievement and renown.
This Major Survey Exhibition Features More Than 100 Photographs, Including New Work By The Renowned Southern Artist
For
more than 40 years, Sally Mann (American, b. 1951) has made
experimental, elegiac and hauntingly beautiful photographs that
explore the overarching themes of existence: memory, desire, death,
the bonds of family and nature’s indifference to human endeavor.
This fall, the High Museum of Art will present the first major survey
of her work to travel internationally, “Sally
Mann: A Thousand Crossings”(Oct.
19, 2019–Feb. 2, 2020). “Sally
Mann: A Thousand Crossings”
will be presented in the High’s Anne
Cox Chambers Wing.
Sally Mann (American, born 1951), Easter Dress, 1986, gelatin silver print, Patricia and David Schulte
Organized by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts, the exhibition presents figure studies, landscapes and architectural views that are united by their common origin and inspiration in the American South. Using her deep love of her homeland and her knowledge of its historically fraught heritage, Mann asks powerful, provocative questions—about history, identity, race and religion—that reverberate across geographic and national boundaries.
Sally Mann (American, born 1951), Deep South, Untitled (Scarred Tree), 1998, gelatin silver print, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Alfred H. Moses and Fern M. Schad Fund
The exhibition is co-curated by the High’s recently appointed Donald and Marilyn Keough Family Curator of PhotographySarah Kennel (previously with the Peabody Essex Museum), who developed the project with Sarah Greenough, senior curator of photographs at the National Gallery.
“I’m
thrilled to launch my tenure at the High with ‘A Thousand
Crossings,’ an exhibition that is not only dear to my heart, but
also makes perfect sense for the museum, which awarded Sally Mann the
first ‘Picturing the South’ commission in 1996. Mann’s drive to
ask the big questions—about love, death, war, race and the fraught
process of growing up—coupled with her ability to coax powerful
emotional resonances from the materials of her art make her one of
today’s most compelling artists.”
Sally Mann (American, born 1951), Hephaestus, 2008, gelatin silver print, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Kathleen Boone Samuels Memorial Fund
“With
this exhibition we continue to recognize of the importance of Mann’s
work, which explores themes that will strongly resonate with our
regional audience but that also addresses universal human
concerns,”
said Rand Suffolk, the High’s Nancy and Holcombe T. Greene, Jr.,
director. “We
are delighted to have Sarah on board to lead the project, and we look
forward to bringing these powerful photographs to Atlanta.”
“Sally
Mann: A Thousand Crossings”
investigates how Mann’s relationship with the South—a place rich
in literary and artistic traditions but troubled by history—has
shaped her work. The exhibition brings together 109 photographs,
including new and previously unpublished work, and is accompanied by
a fully illustrated catalog that offers an in-depth exploration of
the evolution of Mann’s art.
Sally Mann (American, born 1951), Triptych, 2004, 3 gelatin silver prints, The Sir Elton John Photography Collection
Organized into five sections—Family, The Land, Last Measure, Abide with Me and What Remains, the exhibition opens with works from the 1980s, when Mann began to photograph her three children at the family’s remote summer cabin on the Maury River near Lexington, Virginia. Made with an 8–x–10-inch view camera, the family pictures refute the stereotypes of childhood, offering instead unsettling visions of its complexity. Rooted in the experience of the natural environment surrounding the cabin—the Arcadian woodlands, rocky cliffs and languid rivers—these works convey the inextricable link between the family and their land and the sanctuary and freedom that it provided them.
The exhibition continues in The Land with photographs of the swamplands, fields and ruined estates Mann encountered as she traveled across Virginia, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi in the 1990s. Hoping to capture what she called the “radical light of the American South,” Mann made pictures in Virginia that glow with a tremulous light, while those made in Louisiana and Mississippi are more blasted and bleak. In these photographs, Mann also began to experiment with her process, employing antique lenses, high-contrast Ortho film and the 19th-century wet plate collodion process. The resulting photographic effects, including light flares, vignetting, blurs, streaks and scratches, serve as metaphors for the South as a site of memory, violence, ruin and rebirth.
Mann used these same techniques for her photographs of Civil War battlefields in the exhibition’s third section,Last Measure. These brooding and elusive pictures evoke the land as history’s graveyard, silently absorbing the blood and bones of the many thousands who perished in battles such as Antietam, Appomattox, Chancellorsville, Cold Harbor, Fredericksburg, Manassas, Spotsylvania and the Wilderness.
Sally Mann (American, born 1951), The Turn, 2005, gelatin silver print, Private collectionSally Mann (American, born 1951) Blackwater 25, 2008-2012 tintype Collection of the Artist
In
the early 2000s, Mann continued to reflect on how slavery and
segregation had left their mark on the landscape of Virginia and, in
turn, shaped her own childhood. The fourth section, Abide with Me,
explores these entwined histories. Two groups of photographs imagine
the physical and spiritual pathways for African Americans in
antebellum and post–Civil War Virginia: the rivers and swamps that
were potential escape routes for enslaved people and the churches
that promised safe harbor, communion and spiritual deliverance. This
section also includes photographs of Virginia Carter, the African
American woman who served as Mann’s primary caregiver. A defining
and beloved presence in Mann’s life, Carter taught Mann about the
profoundly complicated and charged nature of race relations in the
South. The last component of this section is a group of pictures of
African American men rendered in large prints (50 x 40 inches) made
from collodion negatives. Representing the artist’s desire to reach
across what she described as “the seemingly untraversable chasm of
race in the American South,” these powerful photographs explore
Mann’s own position in relation to the region’s fraught racial
history.
Sally Mann (American, born 1951), St. Paul United Methodist 04:01, 2008-2016, gelatin silver print, Collection of the artist
The final section of the exhibition, What Remains, explores themes of time, transformation and death through photographs of Mann and her family. Her enduring fascination with decay and the body’s vulnerability to the ravages of time is evident in a series of spectral portraits of her children’s faces and intimate photographs detailing the changing body of her husband, Larry, who suffers from muscular dystrophy. The exhibition closes with several riveting self-portraits Mann made in the wake of an accident. Here, her links to Southern literature and her preoccupation with decay are in full evidence: the pitted, scratched, ravaged and cloudy surfaces of the prints function as analogues for the body’s corrosion and death. The impression of the series as a whole is of an artist confronting her own mortality with composure and conviction.
Sally Mann (American, born 1951)
Last Light,
1990,
gelatin silver print
Joseph M. Cohen Family CollectionSally Mann (American, born 1951), The Two Virginias #4, 1991, gelatin silver print, Private collection
Born in 1951 in Lexington, Virginia, Mann continues to live and work in Rockbridge County. She developed her first roll of film in 1969 and began to work as a professional photographer in 1972. She attended Bennington College, Vermont, and graduated in 1974 with a Bachelor of Arts in literature from Hollins College, Roanoke, Virginia, where she earned a Master of Arts in creative writing the following year. She has exhibited widely and published her photographs in the books “Second Sight: The Photographs of Sally Mann” (1983), “Sweet Silent Thought: Platinum Prints by Sally Mann” (1987), “At Twelve: Portraits of Young Women” (1988), “Immediate Family” (1992), “Still Time” (1994), “Mother Land: Recent Landscapes of Georgia and Virginia” (1997), “What Remains” (2003), “Deep South” (2005), “Sally Mann: Photographs and Poetry” (2005), “Proud Flesh” (2009), “Sally Mann: The Flesh and the Spirit” (2010) and “Remembered Light: Cy Twombly in Lexington” (2016).
Sally Mann (American, born 1951), Battlefields, Antietam (Black Sun), 2001, gelatin silver print, Courtesy of Edwynn Houk Gallery, New York
Mann’s
bestselling memoir, “Hold
Still: A Memoir with Photographs”
(2015), was a finalist for the National
Book Award.
In 1996, Mann was selected to inaugurate the High’s “Picturing
the South”
photography series, a distinctive initiative that creates new bodies
of work inspired by the American South for the Museum’s collection.
She has received numerous other honors as well as grants from the
National Endowment
for the Arts,
the National
Endowment for the Humanities
and the Guggenheim
Foundation.
In 2011 Mann delivered the prestigious William
E. Massey Sr. Lectures in the History of American Civilization
at Harvard
University.
Sally Mann (American, born 1951), Battlefields, Fredericksburg (Cedar Trees), 2001, gelatin silver print, printed 2003, Waterman/Kislinger Family
Published
by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, and the Peabody
Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts, in association with Abrams,
this richly illustrated monograph constitutes an in-depth exploration
of the evolution of Mann’s art through its five sections: Family,
The Land, Last Measure, Abide with Me and What Remains. Plate
sections are enriched by the inclusion of quotations from Mann
herself and from her most beloved authors. Essays by curators
Sarah Greenough and Sarah Kennel analyze Mann’s
photographic development in concert with her literary interests and
Mann’s family photographs, respectively. In their valuable
contributions, Hilton Als, New Yorker staff writer and
recipient of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Criticism; Malcolm
Daniel, Gus and Lyndall Wortham Curator of Photography, The
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; and Drew Gilpin
Faust, former president and Lincoln Professor of
History, Harvard University, explore literary and photographic
responses to racism in the South, Mann’s debt to 19th-century
photographers and techniques, and the landscape as repository of
cultural and personal memory. Featuring 230 color illustrations, the
332-page catalog will be available at the High Museum Shop.
Sally Mann (American, born 1951),The Ditch, 1987, gelatin silver print, The Art Institute of Chicago, Gift of Sally Mann and Edwynn Houk GallerySally Mann (American, born 1951) On the Maury, 1992, gelatin silver print, Private collection.
Exhibition
Organization and Support
“Sally Mann: A Thousand
Crossings” is organized by the National Gallery of Art,
Washington, and the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem,
Massachusetts. This exhibition is made possible by Premier
Exhibition Series Sponsor Delta Air Lines, Inc.; Exhibition
Series Sponsors Georgia Natural Gas,Northside Hospital
and WarnerMedia; Premier Exhibition Series Supporters the
Antinori Foundation, Sarah and Jim Kennedy, Louise Sams and Jerome
Grilhot, and wish foundation; Benefactor Exhibition Series
Supporter Anne Cox Chambers Foundation; Ambassador Exhibition
Series Supporters Tom and Susan Wardell and Rod
Westmoreland; and Contributing Exhibition Series Supporters
Lucinda W. Bunnen, Marcia and John Donnell, W. Daniel Ebersole and
Sarah Eby-Ebersole, Peggy Foreman, Robin and Hilton Howell, Mr. and
Mrs. Baxter Jones, Margot and Danny McCaul, Joel Knox and Joan Marmo,
and The Ron and Lisa Brill Family Charitable Trust. Generous
support is also provided by the Alfred and Adele Davis Exhibition
Endowment Fund, Anne Cox Chambers Exhibition Fund, Barbara Stewart
Exhibition Fund, Dorothy Smith Hopkins Exhibition Endowment
Fund, Eleanor McDonald Storza Exhibition Endowment Fund, The Fay and
Barrett Howell Exhibition Fund, Forward Arts Foundation Exhibition
Endowment Fund, Helen S. Lanier Endowment Fund, Isobel Anne
Fraser–Nancy Fraser Parker Exhibition Endowment Fund, John H. and
Wilhelmina D. Harland Exhibition Endowment Fund, Katherine Murphy
Riley Special Exhibition Endowment Fund, Margaretta Taylor Exhibition
Fund, and the RJR Nabisco Exhibition Endowment Fund.
About the High Museum of Art Located in the heart of Atlanta, Georgia, the High Museum of Art connects with audiences from across the Southeast and around the world through its distinguished collection, dynamic schedule of special exhibitions and engaging community-focused programs. Housed within facilities designed by Pritzker Prize–winning architects Richard Meier and Renzo Piano, the High features a collection of more than 17,000 works of art, including an extensive anthology of 19th- and 20th-century American fine and decorative arts; major holdings of photography and folk and self-taught work, especially that of artists from the American South; burgeoning collections of modern and contemporary art, including paintings, sculpture, new media and design; a growing collection of African art, with work dating from pre-history through the present; and significant holdings of European paintings and works on paper. The High is dedicated to reflecting the diversity of its communities and offering a variety of exhibitions and educational programs that engage visitors with the world of art, the lives of artists and the creative process. For more information about the High, visit www.high.org.
Season Highlights Include Digable Planets, BalletX, Khalid, Bob Moses, Slick Rick the Ruler, KRS-One, La India, Frankie Negrón, Valerie June, and many more
Benefit Concerts Featuring Elvis Costello, Regina Spektor, Gov’t Mule, and more
Charlie Parker Jazz Festival Celebrates 25th Anniversary this Season
Season runs May 17 to September 28
More than 100 FREE and benefit shows across all 5 boroughs of NYC
The City Parks Foundation is excited to announce the 2017 season of SummerStage, New York City‘s largest free outdoor performing arts festival, bringing more than 100 performances to Central Park and 15 neighborhood parks throughout the five boroughs. This year’s festival, presented by Capital One Bank, will showcase over 150 unique artists performing shows from a plethora of genres and disciplines, including indie-rock, hip-hop, Latin, jazz, R&B, salsa, bhangra, poetry, opera, contemporary dance, and theater.
The City Parks Foundation (CPF) is the only independent, nonprofit organization whose mission is to offer programs in public parks throughout the five boroughs of New York City. The organization is dedicated to invigorating and transforming parks into dynamic, vibrant centers of urban life through sports, arts, community development and education programs for all New Yorkers. Its programs and community building initiatives — located in more than 350 parks, recreation centers and public schools across New York City — reach 425,000 people each year. Our ethos is simple: we believe thriving parks reflect thriving communities.
SummerStage, a program of City Parks Foundation, is New York’s largest free outdoor performing arts festival. SummerStage annually presents more than 100 performances in 16 parks throughout the five boroughs. With performances ranging from American pop, Latin, world music, dance and theater, SummerStage fills a vital niche in New York City’s summer arts festival landscape. Since its inception 32 years ago, more than six million people from New York City and around the world have enjoyed SummerStage.
This year, SummerStage will also celebrate the 25th anniversary of the beloved Charlie Parker Jazz Festival, New York City’s annual salute to the eponymous late saxophonist. The festival, which each year coincides with Charlie Parker’s birthday, takes place uptown in Harlem’s historic Marcus Garvey Park and downtown in Tompkins Square Park, across the street from the apartment Parker called home. This year, the festival has been extended to four days and will include Emmy Award-winning tap dance virtuoso Jason Samuels Smith, world-renowned Anat Cohen Tentet, jazz master Lee Konitz Quartet, slow-funk Terri Lyne Carrington and Social Science, reverend drummer Louis Hayes, young American vocalist Charenee Wade, Grammy nominated Joshua Redman Quartet, modern jazz creative voice Lou Donaldson, saxophonist Tia Fuller of the all-female band touring with Beyoncé, vocalist Alicia Olatuja, and more.
SummerStage will also expand its family-friendly pre-show workshop offerings this season to include dance classes, beatboxing lessons, and introductions to DJing and Latin percussion. These interactive workshops will take place prior to select SummerStage shows throughout the season, and all ages are encouraged to come out to the park early to participate. To kick off the season, SummerStage will host a DJ lesson from Scratch DJ Academy and a beatboxing tutorial with renowned beatboxer Exacto before the Digable Planets performance in Coffey Park. Other workshops will include salsa dance lessons in St. Mary’s Park and a poetry class in Marcus Garvey Park.
“City Parks Foundation is dedicated to providing every New Yorker with access to excellent, culturally relevant performing arts experiences in their home communities. Our SummerStage festival brings outstanding artists from genres across the globe directly to city parks across the five boroughs, all free of charge, making those parks community and cultural centers,” said Heather Lubov, Executive Director of City Parks Foundation.
SummerStage will kick off its first free show of the season with performances from the legendary Mavis Staples and contemporary blues artist Toshi Reagon in Central Park on June 3rd. Staples will lead a powerful vocal showcase of rock, blues, gospel and R&B. Digable Planets will reunite to open the citywide SummerStage run with a rare performance in Coffey Park in Brooklyn on June 21st. New York rap icon KRS-One and DJ Chuck Chillout will also perform in Coffey Park on June 25th and dynamic emcee Jadakiss will take the mic at Crotona Park on August 6th. Wu-Tang Clan founding member GZA “The Genius” will drop knowledge in Corporal Thompson Park in Staten Island on July 23rd. Brasil Summerfest returns featuring iconic samba singer Elza Soares and rising star Liniker e os Carmelows on August 5th in Central Park. Jazz veteran Joshua RedmanQuartet will pay tribute to Charlie Parker as part of the annual Charlie Parker Jazz Festival on August 27th in Manhattan’s Tompkins Square Park.
This season will also feature benefit shows in Central Park to help support City Parks Foundation‘s free programs for all New Yorkers. American rock band Gov’t Mule, the Grammy award-winning Elvis Costello & The Imposters, progressive rock multi-stylists Umphrey’s McGee, avant-rocker PJ Harvey, indie pop singer Regina Spektor, energetic rockers All Time Low, anthemic artists The Revivalists, and indie rock trailblazers Young the Giant with special guests Cold War Kids have been confirmed with many more to be announced. All benefit concerts are produced by The Bowery Presents.
Other highlights include:
George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic along with Main Source, DJ Marley Marl and host Roxanne Shante will bring the funk to Flushing Meadows Corona Park as part of the Only In Queens Summer Festival on June 11
Indie-folk pop singer and indie-folk singer rising star Margaret Glaspy performs on June 22nd in Coffey Park
Classic hip-hop innovators Slick Rick the Ruler and GrandWizzard Theodore will team up in Queens’ Springfield Park on July 7th
Timeless architect of alternative-rock PJ Harvey will host a benefit show in Central Park on July 19th
Contemporary ballet company BalletX will perform their acclaimed piece “Big Ones” set to the music of Amy Winehouse in Central Park on July 26th
Latin Grammy Award-winning princess of salsa La India will perform in St. Mary’s Park in the Bronx on July 28th
Salsa’s next definitive voice Frankie Negrón will perform in St. Mary’s Park in the Bronx on July 29th
Rock Steady Crew will celebrate the 40th anniversary of their Bronx-conceived b-boy crew in Central Park with a who’s who of classic hip-hop performances including the legendary MC Lyte on July 30th
Taj Mo: The Taj Mahal & Keb’ Mo’ Band, two generations of blues giants, will take over Central Park on Aug 13th
A performance from the cast of Broadway’s new hit musical A Bronx Tale, based on the critically acclaimed play that inspired the classic film, will make its way to Crotona Park in the Bronx on Aug 3rd
Alternative rock band and one of Rolling Stone‘s “10 Bands You Need to Know,” The Revivalists will perform a benefit concert in Central Park on Aug 10th
SummerStage Family Day, featuring performances from They Might Be Giants and Bill Childs of Spare the Rock, Spoil the Child Radio, comes to Central Park on Aug 12th
The Russell Simmons / Mos Def-backed series Def Poetry Jam will host a reunion in Marcus Garvey Park in Manhattan on Aug 20th
Irving Penn (1917–2009), known for his iconic fashion, portrait and still life images that appeared in Vogue magazine, ranks as one of the twentieth century’s most prolific and influential photographers. The first retrospective of his work in 20 years, Irving Penn: Beyond Beauty conveys the extraordinary breadth and legacy of the American artist and will be on view at theFrist Center for the Visual Arts from February 24 to May 29, 2017.
Organized by the Smithsonian American Art Museum and Merry Foresta, the museum’s curator of photography from 1983 to 1999, the exhibition contains more than 140 photographs, including the debut of 100 photographs recently donated by The Irving Penn Foundation and several previously unseen or never-before-exhibited photographs. Penn’s renown as a fashion photographer is matched by the recognition of his innovative and insightful portraits, still lifes, nudes, and travel photographs. The exhibition features work from all stages of Penn’s career, including street scenes from the late 1930s, photographs of the American South from the early 1940s, celebrity portraits, fashion photographs, and Penn’s stunning late color work.
In a career that spanned nearly 70 years, Penn’s aesthetic and technical skill earned him accolades in both the artistic and commercial worlds. He was a master of both black-and-white and color photography, and his revival of platinum printing in the 1960s and 1970s was a catalyst for significant change in the art world. He successfully crossed the chasm that separated magazine and fine-art photography, narrowing the gap between art and fashion. “Penn adopted a workmanlike approach to making pictures,'” says Frist Center Chief Curator Mark Scala. “But even in his most commercial images, he upended convention with a penchant for formal surprise.”
Schooled in painting and design, Penn eventually chose photography as his life’s work. His portraits and fashion photographs defined elegance, yet throughout his career, he also transformed mundane objects—storefront signs, food, cigarette butts, street debris—into memorable images of unexpected, often surreal, beauty.
First Feature Documentary On The Author/Activist Features Exclusive Interviews With Dr. Angelou, Oprah Winfrey, Common, Bill And Hillary Clinton, And Others
Dr. Maya Angelou on the set of “Oprah’s Master Class,” circa January 2011. Credit: OWN
Distinctly referred to as “a redwood tree, with deep roots in American culture,” Dr. Maya Angelou (April 4, 1928-May 28, 2014) led a prolific life. As a singer, dancer, activist, poet and writer, she inspired generations with lyrical modern African-American thought that pushed boundaries. Best known for her autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings(Random House), she gave people the freedom to think about their history in a way they never had before. The first feature documentary about her life, American Masters – Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise, premieres nationwide Tuesday, February 21 at 8 p.m. on PBS (check local listings) during Black History Month as part of the 31st season of THIRTEEN‘s American Masters series. PBS Distribution will release the film on DVD the same day, with additional bonus features, and on Digital HD February 22. The film title is based on one of our favorite poems by Dr. Angelou, “Still I Rise” from her poetry collection And Still I Rise (Random House).
Dr. Maya Angelou, circa late 70s/early 80s. Credit: Getty Images
With unprecedented access, filmmakers Bob Hercules and Rita Coburn Whack trace Dr. Angelou’s incredible journey, shedding light on the untold aspects of her life through never-before-seen footage, rare archival photographs and videos and her own words. From her upbringing in the Depression-era South and her early performing career (1957’s Miss Calypso album and Calypso Heat Wave film, Jean Genet’s 1961 play The Blacks) to her work with Malcolm X in Ghana and her many writing successes, including her inaugural poem for President Bill Clinton, American Masters – Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise reveals hidden facets of her life during some of America’s most defining moments. The film also features exclusive interviews with Dr. Angelou, her friends and family, including (in alphabetical order) Diahann Carroll, actress; Hillary Clinton, former U.S. Secretary of State; Bill Clinton, 42nd President of the U.S.’ Common, hip-hop artist/actor; Jules Feiffer, writer/cartoonist; Nikki Giovanni, writer; Louis Gossett, Jr., actor; Guy B. Johnson, Dr. Angelou’s son; Quincy Jones, musician/producer/composer; Robert Loomis, Dr. Angelou’s editor; Don Martin, dancer/opened for Dr. Angelou; Louise Meriwether, writer; Eugene Redmond, professor of English literature; Valerie Simpson, singer/songwriter; John Singleton, director; Cicely Tyson, actress; Alice Windom, friend/roommate in Ghana (1963-65); Oprah Winfrey, global media leader/philanthropist andAlfre Woodard, actress.
Dr. Maya Angelou, circa 1970. Credit: Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
Dr. Maya Angelou called Sonoma, California, home in the late 70s/early 80s. Credit: Magnum
“It was a unique privilege to be the first filmmakers to tell Dr. Angelou’s full story and exciting to uncover stories that most people hadn’t heard,” said co-director and co-producer Bob Hercules.
“The film reflects on how the events of history, culture and the arts shaped Dr. Angelou’s life, and how she, in turn, helped shape our own worldview through her autobiographical literature and activism,” said co-director and co-producer Rita Coburn Whack.
“It is bittersweet that Dr. Angelou takes her rightful place in the American Masters series posthumously,” said executive producer Michael Kantor, Co-Executive Producer and American Masters series Executive Producer. “We are fortunate that Bob and Rita captured these insightful interviews with her just prior to her death so we can all learn from her wisdom firsthand.”Continue reading →
B.B. King: The Life of Riley Premieres Nationally Friday, February 12 at 9 p.m. (check local listings)
Features interviews with Bono, Eric Clapton, Aaron Neville, John Mayer, Bonnie Raitt, Carlos Santana, Ringo Starr, and more
B.B. King, born Riley B. King, was one of the most influential and celebrated blues musicians of all time. From his roots as a sharecropper’s son, working in the cotton fields of Mississippi, he rose to become a living legend — the most renowned blues singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer of the past 40 years — earning the moniker ‘King of the Blues‘. King’s story of struggle and triumph is chronicled in American Masters: B.B. King: The Life of Riley, premiering nationwide during Black History Month on Friday, February 12 at 9 p.m. (ET) on PBS (check local listing). Academy Award winner Morgan Freeman narrates and appears in the film.
B.B. King performing on stage at the Royal Albert Hall. Photo: Kevin Nixon
Made with the full cooperation of The B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center in Indianola, Mississippi, B.B. King: The Life of Rileywas filmed in locations across America, as well as the United Kingdom. Award-winning Producer/Director Jon Brewer worked on the film with King for two years. Filming was completed shortly before King passed on May 14, 2015.
The bio-doc explores King’s challenging life and career through candid interviews with the man himself, his family, longtime friends, and fellow music contemporaries such as Bono, George Benson, Eric Clapton, Aaron Neville, John Mayer, Bonnie Raitt, Carlos Santana, Ringo Starr, Johnny Winter, and more.
Born September 16, 1925 on a plantation in Itta Bena, Mississippi, near Indianola, King was raised by his maternal grandmother, Elnora Farr in nearby Kilmichael. After she died, his father brought him to live in Lexington. There, for the first time, King experienced segregation. A mob hung a black boy and dragged him behind a car to the courthouse in Lexington. King witnessed the boy being dragged; it was an image he would never forget. Like so many blacks of his generation, King was subjected to bigotry, racism, hatred and denial. But he never allowed it to destroy his spirit or his music.
King candidly reminisces about memorable people in his life such as preacher Archie Fair, the first person he heard play an electric guitar; cousin Bukka White, who taught him about being a blues singer; the musical influence of bluesman T-Bone Walker and French jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt; his stint as a disc jockey where his radio names (Beale Street Blues Boy and Blues Boy King) were eventually shortened to B.B. King; and how and why he came to name his guitars Lucille. A bittersweet moment in the film is King’s reflection on marriage. King had two wives, Martha Lee Denton, and then Sue Carol Hall. The failures of each marriage were attributed to King’s relentless touring schedule.
Rare archival footage is interspersed throughout the film, including his 1968 performance at Bill Graham’s Fillmore West where he was billed with some of the hottest rock stars, who idolized him and helped to introduce him to a young white audience.
Among the highlights from the film is footage of King’s collaboration with Bono, where King reveals that he “does not do chords,” and the story behind King and Eric Clapton‘s recording of Riding with the King. Though he made an exception for Clapton, King admits he doesn’t like to play acoustic guitar.
The ‘King of Blues,’ who delighted audiences around the world with such classic R&B hits as Three O’ Clock Blues, Paying The Cost To Be The Boss, Every Day I Have The Blues, and of course his most popular cross over hit, The Thrill Is Gone, died at age 89. The city of Memphis, where he had performed so many times, held a funeral procession for him down Beale Street, with a brass band marching in front of the hearse, playing When the Saints Go Marching In.
“Play the best that I can. Reach as many people as you can, as many countries,” says King. “In other words, I’d like the whole world to be able to hear B.B. King sing and play the blues.“
“B.B. King became America’s most recognizable and influential blues musician,” says Michael Kantor, executive producer of American Masters. “The thrill isn’t really gone yet – I think anyone who sees this film will be thrilled and inspired by this legendary artist.”
“American Masters,” THIRTEEN’s award-winning biography series, explores the lives and creative journeys of America’s most enduring artistic and cultural giants. With insight and originality, the series illuminates the extraordinary mosaic of our nation’s landscape, heritage and traditions. Watch full episodes and more at http://pbs.org/americanmasters. (PRNewsFoto/WNET)
The Shreveport Regional Arts Council and Shreveport-Bossier Convention and Tourist Bureau announce details of Cave’s eight-month artist-in-residency program in Shreveport
Louisiana is no stranger to the colorful and the outrageous, whether it is embodied by the celebration of Mardi Gras or the spicy local cuisine. It’s no wonder that Soundsuit artist Nick Cave thinks the northwest corner of this flamboyant state is the perfect place to bring his elaborate, symbolic and engaging art.
Nick Cave refers to himself as “an artist with a responsibility.” His work is grounded in civic consciousness. His Soundsuit art is exhibited at the Smithsonian Museum of Modern Art, Crystal Bridges Museum, the Trapholt Museum in Denmark and he works around the world in London, Paris, China, Jerusalem and Australia. His current exhibition, “Here Hear” at the Cranbrook Museum near Detroit, is creating social change as Detroit discovers Detroit.
But why Shreveport, and why now?
“I like the neighborhood in which I will work in Shreveport,” said Mr. Cave. “It’s a nine-block area called Shreveport Common that is completely uncommon because of its amazing quirks and diversity. My work here will be like nothing I’ve ever done, a brand new idea. It will be about change and about being proactive. I hope that it will be the mortar that unifies this neighborhood and that helps the rest of the world recognize who is here and see how we value and recognize that they matter.”
Shreveport Common was named the 2015 National Development Council’s #1 Community Development Project in the Nation. Cave is coming to Shreveport Common as an artist-in-residency with The Shreveport Regional Arts Councilto work with residents in the care of social service organizations within Shreveport Common. Over an eight-month period, Mr. Cave will work alongside local artists, choreographers, dancers, musicians, spoken word artists and filmmakers to engage the social service residents to weave and construct elaborately beaded blankets that symbolize their “hidden stories,” the ones seldom heard in our nation’s disenfranchised communities.
Mr. Cave’s work in Shreveport will culminate with a performance at the Shreveport Memorial Municipal Auditorium on Sunday, March 20, 2016.
People throughout the Shreveport community will be encouraged to take part in the Nick Cave experience by participating in fun, public “Bead-a-Thons” to help string beads for blankets to be used in the March 20 performance. They will also have the opportunity to spontaneously experience Nick Cave “INvasions” on Shreveport street corners and at local landmarks. These INvasions are often a part of the Nick Cave “Soundsuit” experience and have been performed in locations including Grand Central Station, Detroit and Denver.
Mr. Cave’s Artist-in-Residency program in Shreveport and the finale performance are funded, in part, through a grant award from the National Endowment for the Arts to the Shreveport Regional Arts Council.
To find out more about #NickCaveBlanketsShreveport, the local artists with whom he will work and the Shreveport Common social organizations that he will impact, visit the Shreveport Regional Arts Council’s website at http://www.shrevearts.org.
Ric Burns’ New Documentary American Ballet Theatre: A History Premieres Nationwide on THIRTEEN’s American Masters Series Friday, May 15 on PBS in Honor of the Company’s 75th Anniversary
THIRTEEN’s American Masters series teams up with Emmy- and Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Ric Burns to co-produce a new documentary about the American Ballet Theatre (ABT) in honor of its 75th anniversary.
American Masters – American Ballet Theatre: A History premieres nationwide Friday, May 15, 2015 at 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings) and delving into the rich history of one of the world’s preeminent ballet companies, Burns combines intimate rehearsal footage, virtuoso performances and interviews with American Ballet Theatre’s key figures: artists pivotal to the company’s formation, including Alicia Alonso and the late Donald Saddler and Frederic Franklin; contemporary luminaries, including dancers Susan Jaffe and Julie Kent, choreographer Alexei Ratmansky and artistic director Kevin McKenzie; past and present stars Misty Copeland, Gillian Murphy, Marcelo Gomes and Hee Seo; dance historian and author Jennifer Homans; and prominent dance critics Anna Kisselgoff and the late Clive Barnes.
Alicia Alonso in “Swan Lake.” Credit: Photo by Maurice Seymour
“The story of American Ballet Theatre, and the breathtaking rise of dance in the U.S. over the last three-quarters of a century, is one of the most inspiring stories in the cultural world,” says Burns. “Ballet is the most poignantly ephemeral and expressive of all the arts, both earthbound and transcendent. And ABT, indisputably one of the greatest dance companies in the world, has torn down an incredible number of barriers, welcoming choreographers of every kind and dancers from around the world.”
American Ballet Theatre’s Corps de Ballet in “La Bayadere.” Credit: Photo by Buddy Squires
Gillian Murphy warming up for the Black Swan variation in “Swan Lake.” Credit: Photo by George Seminara
Gillian Murphy receives last minute coaching from Kevin McKenzie and Clinton Luckett. Credit: Photo by George Seminara
American Ballet Theatre (ABT) is recognized as one of the great dance companies in the world. Few ballet companies equal ABT for its combination of size, scope, and outreach. Recognized as a living national treasure since its founding in 1940, ABT is the only major cultural institution that annually tours the United States, performing for more than 450,000 people. The company has also made more than 30 international tours to 43 countries as perhaps the most representative American ballet company and has been sponsored by the State Department of the United States on many of these engagements.
When American Ballet Theatre was launched in autumn 1939, the aim was to develop a repertoire of the best ballets from the past and to encourage the creation of new works by gifted young choreographers, wherever they might be found. Under the direction of Lucia Chase and Oliver Smith from 1940-1980, the company more than fulfilled that aim. ABT’s repertoire, perhaps unmatched in the history of ballet, includes all of the great full-length ballets of the 19th century, such as Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty and Giselle, the finest works from the early part of the 20th century, such as Apollo, Les Sylphides, Jardin aux Lilas and Rodeo, and acclaimed contemporary masterpieces such as Airs, Push Comes to Shove and Duets. In acquiring such an extraordinary repertoire, ABT has commissioned works by all of the great choreographic geniuses of the 20thcentury: George Balanchine, Antony Tudor, Jerome Robbins, Agnes de Mille and Twyla Tharp, among others.
In 1980, Mikhail Baryshnikov became artistic director of American Ballet Theatre, succeeding Lucia Chase and Oliver Smith. Under his leadership, numerous classical ballets were staged, restaged and refurbished, and the company experienced a strengthening and refining of the classical tradition. In 1990, Jane Hermann and Oliver Smith succeeded Baryshnikov and immediately established an agenda that was dedicated to maintaining the great traditions of the past while aggressively pursuing a vital and innovative future.
In October 1992, former American Ballet Theatre principal dancer Kevin McKenzie was appointed artistic director. McKenzie, steadfast in his vision of ABT as “American,” is committed to maintaining the company’s vast repertoire, and to bringing the art of dance theater to the great stages of the world.
Over its 75-year history, the company has appeared in a total of 136 cities in 45 countries and has appeared in all 50 states of the United States. In keeping with ABT’s long-standing commitment to bring the finest in dance to the widest international audience, the company has recently enjoyed triumphant successes with engagements in Abu Dhabi, Brisbane, Hong Kong, Havana, Tokyo and Beijing. On April 27, 2006, by an act of Congress, American Ballet Theatre became America’s National Ballet Company®.
Isabella Boylston, Joseph Gorak and Thomas Forster executing a variation during class. Credit: Photo by George Seminara
“As we approach our 75th year, it is a tremendous honor to have Ric Burns andAmerican Masters illuminate ABT’s history in such a rich and meaningful way,” said Rachel Moore, CEO of American Ballet Theatre. “I am certain the expertise and care Ric and his team have devoted to this film will offer a fresh perspective on our art form and serve as a fitting testament to this cultural institution.”
In 2007, Misty Copeland made history by becoming the third African-American female soloist and first in two decades at American Ballet Theatre. She is interviewed and performs in Ric Burns’ new documentary “American Masters: American Ballet Theatre.” Credit: Jade Young
First U.S. Exhibition Exploring Darker Works by Marc Chagall Created During World War II, September 15, 2013 – February 2, 2014
From September 15, 2013 through February 2, 2014, THE JEWISH MUSEUM (1109 Fifth Avenue at 92nd Street, New York City) in New York will present CHAGALL: LOVE, WAR, AND EXILE which, for the first time in the U.S., explores a significant but neglected period in the artist’s career, from the rise of fascism in the 1930s through 1948, years spent in Paris and then in exile in New York.
MARC CHAGALL (1887-1985), one of the foremost modernists of the 20th century, created his unique style by drawing on elements from richly colored folk art motifs, the Russian Christian icon tradition, Cubism, and Surrealism. Beginning with the evocative paintings from his years in France, CHAGALL: LOVE, WAR, AND EXILE illuminate an artist deeply responsive to the suffering inflicted by war and to his own personal losses and concerns. Although he never abandoned a poetic sensibility, his art of the 1930s and 1940s reflects the political reality of the time. Most unexpected is the recurring appearance of the figure of the crucified Jesus as a metaphor for war and persecution. By the mid-1940s, Chagall returns to joyful, colorful compositions expressing the power of love. The exhibition includes 30 paintings and 24 works on paper, as well as selected letters, poems, photos, and ephemera. Continue reading →
$1 MILLION AWARD RECOGNIZES AMERICAN DOCUMENTARY AND ITS GROUNDBREAKING PUBLIC TELEVISION SERIES, POV, FOR EXTRAORDINARY CREATIVITY AND EFFECTIVENESS
AMERICAN DOCUMENTARY | POV is one of only 13 nonprofit organizations around the world to win this year’s MACARTHUR AWARD FOR CREATIVE AND EFFECTIVE INSTITUTIONS. The award, which was announced today, recognizes exceptional grantees that have demonstrated creativity and impact, and invests in their long-term sustainability with sizable one-time grants. AMERICAN DOCUMENTARY | POV will use its $1 million MACARTHUR AWARD to build its cash reserves and complete an infrastructure upgrade.
According to MacArthur, the Award is not only recognition for past leadership and success but also an investment in the future. Organizations will use this support to build cash reserves and endowments, develop strategic plans, and upgrade technology and physical infrastructure.
POV Logo (Photo Credit: American Documentary, Inc.)
Furthermore, for these Awards, the Foundation does not seek or accept nominations. To qualify, organizations must demonstrate exceptional creativity and effectiveness; have reached a critical or strategic point in their development; show strong leadership and stable financial management; have previously received MacArthur support; and engage in work central to one of MacArthur’s core programs.
AMERICAN DOCUMENTARY, INC. (AMDOC)is a multimedia company dedicated to creating, identifying and presenting contemporary stories that express opinions and perspectives rarely featured in mainstream media outlets and is often a catalyst for public culture, developing collaborative strategic-engagement activities around socially relevant content on television, online and in community settings. These activities are designed to trigger action, from dialogue and feedback to educational opportunities and community participation. Continue reading →
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