A Mozart-Pergolesi combo concert... with dance

By Robert Levine, 02 November 2017

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“flowing modern dance movements never went for anything but harmony with the music and text”

Reviewed at Jazz at Lincoln Center: Rose Theater, New York City on 1 November 2017

Mozart, Divertimento in F major, "Salzburg Symphony no. 3", K138 (K125c)

Pergolesi, Stabat Mater

Jessica Lang Dance

Jessica Lang, Choreography

Speranza Scappucci, Conductor

Orchestra of St Luke's

Andriana Chuchman, Soprano

Anthony Roth Costanzo, Countertenor

Mark McCullough, Lighting Designer

Bradon McDonald, Costume Designer

Marjorie Bradley Kellogg, Set Designer

Jessica Lang Dance, pleasing but disappointing

Jaime Robles, 28th February

Lang’s choreography lacks the hectic drollness and biting originality of Tharp’s, and while accessible it is also sweeter and blander.

***11

A few light years away from the future, with Jessica Lang Dance at the Joyce

Ivan Talijancic, 16th August

Aiming to showcase “ballet for the 21st century”, a six-part program titled Ballet v6.0 has landed this August at New York’s preeminent dance venue, the Joyce Theatre. It has been said that one should not judge a book by its cover; conversely, I suppose, one should not judge a festival by one of its (six) performances.

*1111

Kinan Azmeh offers a sampling of delights with St Luke’s

No’a L. bat Miri, 15th April

As part of St Luke’s ‘Visionary Sounds’ series, Kinan Azmeh joined the chamber ensemble to play a variety of his own compositions.

****1

Minimalism with a beating heart: Julius Eastman's Femenine

Kurt Gottschalk, 4th February

The spirit of the St Luke's Chamber Ensemble makes for a successful performance of Julius Eastman's 1974 composition Femenine.

****1

Pichon crafts inventive Beethoven program with Orchestra of St Luke's

Cameron Kelsall, 6th November

The French conductor pairs Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with several of the composer’s more obscure miniatures, performed alongside thematically related poetry.

*****

A resplendent St John Passion at Carnegie Hall

Susan Stempleski, 10th April

Principal Conductor Bernard Labadie leads the Orchestra of St Luke’s in a superbly sung and played performance of Bach’s fiery and dramatic St John Passion.

****1

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Robert Levine

Robert T. Levine is a New York born-and-bred music writer with a particular interest in music for the voice. His work has appeared in many periodicals and newspapers. He is the author of many books, including The Story of the Orchestra, four volumes in the Black Dog & Leventhal Opera Library, and, most recently, Maria Callas: A Musical Biography.

A Mozart-Pergolesi combo concert in New York... with dance