THE BOX IS EMPTY’S TOP PICKS:

Amy Beth Kirsten – Little Alice for string quartet. New World Center, Miami Beach, FL.  

Ride the cutting edge of contemporary music, as Michael Tilson Thomas and the orchestra present an evening exclusively dedicated to new work. The program features the world premieres of compositions by Samuel Carl Adams, Marcos Balter, Amy Beth Kirsten and NWS alumnus Alex Orfaly, two of which were commissioned by the New World Symphony.

Program

Alex Orfaly: Divertissement No. 2 for Solo Timpani and Ensemble (world premiere of NWS commission

Samuel Adams: Drift and Providence for Orchestra (world premiere of NWS commission)

Amy Beth Kirsten: Little Alicefor String Quartet (world premiere)

Marcos Balter: On Floating Bodies for Wind Octet (world premiere

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Maria Mannisto – Carmina Burana. Pacific Northwest Ballet, Seattle, WA.

From Greek gods to 13th century monks, this blockbuster double-bill reaches through centuries to resonate with powerful impact. Apollo, George Balanchine’s oldest surviving ballet, was his first international success as well as the start of his remarkable collaboration with Igor Stravinsky. The depiction of “a wild, half-human youth who acquires nobility through art” (Balanchine), Apollo is instructed by three Muses: Terpsichore, muse of dance and song; Polyhymnia, muse of mime; and Calliope, muse of poetry. Considered “worth every accolade ever bestowed upon it” (DanceView Times), Apollo “has acquired a mythical aura of its own” (New York Times).

Kent Stowell’s magnificent Carmina Burana, which has played to sold-out audiences since its 1993 premiere, realizes Carl Orff’s vision of a theatrical masterpiece that would surmount all artistic boundaries. The famous cantata’s poems about the fickleness of fortune, the joy of renewal, and the perils of sin come vividly to life in the shadow of Ming Cho Lee’s colossal twenty-six-foot golden wheel as Stowell’s evocative choreography, a 72-voice chorale, and live orchestra draw the audience into an exhilarating communal experience that is “unashamedly expressive” (Seattle Weekly).

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HAPPENING THIS WEEK – 4/16/12-4/22/12 – Seattle

• Table and Chairs – King Tears Bat Trip.  Conor Bryne Pub, Seattle, WA. April 18, 2012 8:00 p.m.
• Maria Mannisto – Carmina Burana. Pacific Northwest Ballet, Seattle, WA.  April 19, 2012 7:30 p.m. and April 21, 2012 2:00 p.m
• Jeremiah Cawley – Stuck Elevator by Byron Au Yong.  Wing Luke Museum, Seattle, WA.  April 20, 2012 4:00-5:00 p.m.
• Parnassus Project – Café Music.  Green Bean Coffe House, Seattle, WA.  April 20, 2012 6:00-8:00 p.m.

HAPPENING THIS WEEK – 4/16/12-4/22/12 – Elsewhere

• Amy Beth Kirsten – Little Alice for string quartet. New World Center, Miami Beach, FL.  April 20, 2012, 7:30.
• Kate Maroney – Haydn and Mozart with the Master Singers of Westchester, Bedford Presbyterian Church, Bedford, NY.  April 22, 2012, 4:00.

HAPPENING  SOON

• Inverse Opera – Bel Canto. In the Red Wine Bar and Café, Seattle, WA.  April 23, 2012, 7:30.
• Nat Evans – thingNY’s Seven Immediacies Series. Vaudeville Park, Brooklyn, NY.  April 24, 2012
• Scott Gendel – Metamorphosis.  The Tank Space for Performing andVisual Arts, New York, NY.  April 27 and 29, 2012 9:30 p.m.
• Table And Chairs – Operation ID & Wand. The Piano Fort, Portland OR.  April 28, 2012, 8:00 p.m..
• People Inside Electronics – Misfits and Hooligans.  Beyond Baroque, Venice, CA.  April 28, 2012, 9:00 p.m.
• Lindsay Kesselman /Kate Moroney – Einstein On The Beach. Barbican, London, England.  May 4-13, 2012.
• Seattle Modern Orchestra – Music On Paintings.  The Chapel at the Good Shepherd Center, Seattle, WA.  May 19, 8:00 p.m.
• Lauren Husting – Festival Brass. Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Minneapolis, MN.  May 20, 2012, 4:00.
• Kate Maroney – Music of Lisa Bielawa. The Stone, New York, NY.  May 24, 2012.  8:00.
• Lindsay Kesselman – Premiers by Nathaniel Eschler and Steve Roens. Congregational Church of Weston, Weston, MA.  May 30, 2012.