Lincoln Center Summer Festival to Bring Back Some Classical Music
Lincoln Center's summer festival will highlight the city's diverse cultural traditions, the center announced on Tuesday, including performances by an experimental collective; a celebration of Brazilian culture; and the staging of a Sanskrit epic.
The collective, American Modern Opera Company, which is made up of musicians and dancers, will present a dozen productions, making its Lincoln Center debut. The festival, Summer for the City, will run June 11 through Aug. 9, and it will also include a six-performance engagement by the string quartet Brooklyn Rider to celebrate the group's 20th anniversary.
Since the festival began, in 2022, it has scaled back the classical music and opera programming that used to define summer events like the Lincoln Center Festival and the Mostly Mozart Festival. This edition is a restoration of some of those types of offerings.
'This is a constantly evolving city and artist community and audience, and it's our job to be in that conversation,' Shanta Thake, Lincoln Center's chief artistic officer, said in an interview. 'You will never see a summer that looks like the summer before.'
Summer for the City is part of the center's efforts to appeal to new audiences by promoting an array of genres, including classical music, comedy, pop and social dance. Last year, the festival attracted 442,000 people, up from 380,000 in 2023, the center said.
In June, members of the American Modern Opera Company will perform the New York premiere of 'The Comet/Poppea,' which pairs George Lewis's adaptation of W.E.B. Du Bois's story 'The Comet' and Monteverdi's 'L'Incoronazione di Poppea.' Additional programming by the collective includes a staging of Messiaen's song cycle 'Harawi,' sung by the soprano Julia Bullock, and the staged premiere of Matthew Aucoin's 'Music for New Bodies,' directed by Peter Sellars. The lineup also features 'Rome Is Falling,' written by the bass player Doug Balliett, and described as a 'zany lesson on the absurdity of what can happen when influential people lose power.'
Lincoln Center said it hoped this year's festival would help shine a light on the city's vibrant cultural communities. The lineup includes 'Mahabharata,' a large-scale retelling of a Sanskrit epic by Why Not Theater, a Canadian group, and a weeklong celebration of Brazilian culture featuring the singer-songwriter Lenine and the rock band Os Mutantes.
The Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center, under the baton of its music and artistic director Jonathon Heyward, will perform a mix of new and old. Each of its programs will feature at least one living composer. But the ensemble will also perform Robert Schumann's Fourth Symphony, Clara Schumann's Konzertsatz in F minor, Beethoven's Seventh Symphony and other classic works.
The giant disco ball that has become a staple of the festival will once again hang over a dance floor built on Lincoln Center's main plaza. Clint Ramos, the Broadway costume and set designer, will return to decorate the center's outdoor spaces, this year based on the theme of birds.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Times
18 hours ago
- New York Times
A Retelling of the Mahabharata, Set to Modern-Day Struggles
The Sanskrit epic the Mahabharata has been adapted many times over in oral retellings, plays, movies, comic books and more. Consisting of over 100,000 verses, the poem has so many stories that picking which ones to tell is a statement in itself. And making that decision can pose its own challenges as Ravi Jain and Miriam Fernandes, co-artistic directors of the Toronto-based theater company Why Not, learned when they went about adapting it. Now they are bringing their expansive two-part contemporary staging, which premiered in 2023 at the Shaw Festival in Ontario, Canada, to Lincoln Center, where it will run from Tuesday through June 29. Their adaptation is based on the poet Carole Satyamurti's retelling of the epic, which, at its core, is the story of two warring sets of cousins — the Kauravas and the Pandavas — trying to control a kingdom. The poem is part myth, part guide to upholding moral values and duty — or dharma. Some of the epic incorporates the Bhagavad Gita, a philosophical text on Hindu morality, which is framed as a discussion between Prince Arjuna, a Pandava and a skilled archer, and Lord Krishna, a Hindu God who acts as Arjuna's teacher. Jain, 45, began developing the piece in 2016 after receiving a $375,000 grant from the Canada Council for the Arts, the country's public arts funder. Fernandes, 36, joined him on the project two years later after finishing graduate school in France. Jain described an early version of the script in an interview as 'feminist' and 'self-referential.' But the pandemic made them rethink which stories could best drive home the point of dharma — a central tenet of the text. 'To build a civilization, those with the most power must take care of those with the least,' Jain said, referring to the epic's message. 'In the animal kingdom, the strong eat the weak. There's no problem with that. But humans have empathy, and we can build a civilization where we're not just those who eat and those who are eaten, but rather those who feed and those who are fed.' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Buzz Feed
2 days ago
- Buzz Feed
36 Splurge-Worthy Beauty Products That'll Prove To Be Absolutely Worthwhile
A fan-fave Laneige lip mask, which honestly requires no introduction. Enriched with vitamin C, coconut oil, shea butter, and antioxidants, it nourishes and protects your lips while giving them a supple, glossy finish. It's a splurge-worthy staple you'll probably love as much as the reviewer who called it "absolute magic." And a lightweight, moisture-coating Laneige Lip Glowy Balm packed with murumuru (a palm native to the Amazon) and shea butter, making it the perfect daytime partner in crime to the cult-favorite lip sleeping mask. Be careful using this around your besties, because they *will* be asking if they can have some. A wildly popular Olaplex repairing treatment, which is the OG when it comes to products that help strengthen your locks. It features a highly concentrated formula designed to help rebuild breakage, reduce split ends, and prevent future damage. Plus, reviewers rave about the fast results! A super effective high-frequency wand, because it's a whole skincare system wrapped up into one truly powerful, multi-talented tool. This wand helps boost cell metabolism through increased energy production and blood circulation. Consider it a workout for your skin! It can help you achieve your most elusive, radiant complexion. ✨ Sol de Janeiro Brazilian Bum Bum Cream if you want to be known for your absolutely SCRUMPTIOUS scent. Enriched with caffeine, guarana extract, and coconut oil, this miraculous little jar of cream will help tighten *and* smooth your skin like nobody's business. *And* Sol de Janeiro's Hair And Body Fragrance Mist you simply need if you, too, are obsessed with the cult-fave Bum Bum Cream. This comes in 10 different scents, ranging from warm, floral notes to bright, fresh notes. Inspired by the Brazilian spirit, many reviewers claim it'll transport you to a tropical paradise. 🏝️ A Living Proof Full Dry Volume and Texture Spray that does the work of multiple products. Not only does it absorb oil and deliver instant, long-lasting volume and texture — it *also* provides heat protection and a buildable, no-slip grip for increased styling versatility. Wonderskin's Wonder Blading lip stain because reviewers rave about how true it is to its long-lasting, transfer-resistant reputation! It glides on as a vibrant blue hue that you can peel off to reveal an adorable, rosy lip stain. So treat yourself, and ~kiss~ those constant lipstick re-applications goodbye. 💋 Glow Recipe Watermelon Glow Sleeping Mask, a popular K-beauty favorite, that this reviewer with adult acne and scarring calls "pure magic." Here's the rundown: it's got 2.5% pH-balanced AHA complex for gentle exfoliation, seven weights of hyaluronic acid for *intense* plumping and hydration, peptides derived from quinoa for visible firmness, and niacinamide for bright, evenly toned skin. It'll be like quenching your skin with a tall glass of water for that post-facial ✨glow✨. Or a high potency Eight Saints "Up The Anti" Night Cream, which is a heavy cream packed with key natural and organic ingredients, including protein peptides, niacinamide, and hyaluronic acid to help keep your skin plump, fresh, and hydrated. Plus, it's free of synthetics and toxins! A compact, lightweight Shark FlexStyle air styling system that many reviewers are ditching their Dyson for (and this one's less than half the price!). It features five attachments that can dry, smooth, curl, *and* volumize your hair at maximum speed. The best part? It's got temp-regulating technology that reduces heat damage to your hair! A Nuxe dry oil (a luxury skincare brand based in France) made with seven precious botanical oils to nourish and replenish your face, body, and hair for a deliciously silky glow. ✨ A bestselling Buxom Full-On Plumping Lip Polish for a luscious, peptide-powered pout. 💋 It's enriched with vitamin E to provide antioxidant properties and moisture that'll last all day and all night. Feel the slight ~tingle~ as it works to plump, condition, and smooth your lips. Plus, it comes in shimmer, pearlescent, and glitter finishes! A Solawave red light therapy wand because it gives you the power of a pro-level facial right at home. It's got red light therapy that helps fade discoloration, micro-currents that stimulate facial muscles and lift skin, and therapeutic warmth to decrease redness and help your skin absorb your skincare products even more. According to my girl math, that means it basically pays for itself. Or a color light therapy mask that can adjust your skin's specific needs with the click of a button. Looking for some anti-aging properties? Red light. Trying to clear your breakout? Blue light. Want to balance and even out your skin tone? Green light. Reviewers are raving about how smooth, bright, and bouncy their skin looks! What's even better is that you can just sit back, grab a book or watch some TV, and have some ~me time~. A deeply hydrating and plumping Laboratoires Embryolisse daily moisturizer — truly a magical, multi-purpose cream in a bottle. It's enriched with soybeans and aloe vera to soothe and moisturize, as well as beeswax and shea butter to protect and nourish the skin. Plus, reviewers rave about how smooth of a canvas it provides as a makeup primer! A Lancôme radiance-boosting face serum that is commonly referred to as "magic in a bottle" by reviewers. It's enriched with 10% bifidus prebiotic to help support the skin's moisture barrier, as well as hyaluronic acid and vitamin Cg to improve firmness and radiance. We love a multi-talented product. 😍 Or an award-winning Armani Beauty Luminous Silk Foundation, which is the actual foundation that Sabrina Carpenter's makeup artist uses to create her glowy base! This oil-free formula delivers buildable medium coverage to give you that coveted radiant finish and a ~glow-from-within~ look. A reviewer-beloved Soft Pinch Liquid Blush from Selena Gomez's Rare Beauty because a natural, glowy, baby pink look is gorgeous year-round. This delivers long-lasting, buildable pigment in your choice of dewy or matte finish and lends you a healthy lil' flush. A luxe Medicube facial device — a high-tech K-beauty tool (which is used by Hailey Bieber!) that'll help you truly elevate your whole skincare game. This helpful little tool stimulates your skin to create electro-passageways so your skincare penetrates more deeply, leaving it plumper and brighter. Now you'll *actually* be able to get the most from all those pricey serums and moisturizers! A powerful Tatcha Indigo Overnight Repair Cream because if there's anything that deserves some luxury, it's your skin. It's so effective that it made this reviewer say they have never had such quick results from any other product (and that was just after one night's use!). This soothing serum-in-moisturizer treatment is enriched with Japanese indigo extract, mondo grass root, and a biomimetic ceramide blend that visibly calms irritation, strengthens the skin's barrier, and balances the microbiome for a delightfully radiant complexion. A glow-enhancing Supergoop SPF 40 sunscreen if you want to look downright luminous. 😍 It acts as a sunscreen, primer, and BB cream with a light formula that protects you against harmful rays and blue light. Or an SPF 46 EltaMD face sunscreen that's become a *favorite* amongst sensitive and acne-prone skin types. It's formulated with niacinamide to reduce redness and restore suppleness, all while leaving no residue! Redken's All Soft Shampoo with an argan oil-enriched formula that helps soften and moisturize dry, brittle hair. Reviewers say they're obsessed with the results and rave about how many compliments they get on how amazing their hair looks and smells! Or a Briogeo exfoliating shampoo, aka what all dry scalps need to prevent flakes and buildup! It features a perfect blend of charcoal (to detoxify the scalp) and coconut oil (to moisturize and prevent dryness). Plus! It's got a cooling mixture of tea tree and peppermint oil that not only smells ~delightful~ but also soothes itchiness and helps balance scalp pH. A mattifying waterproof One/Size On 'Til Dawn Setting Spray, which I'm pretty sure has some sort of miraculous witchcraft in it. Beyoncé used it at her Renaissance concert in the pouring rain at her DC show — and mother's face stayed looking fresh and FLAWLESS through the downpour. Honestly, just take my money. A viral (and refillable!) Fenty Beauty Invisimatte Instant Setting + Blotting Powder that works like magic to absorb shine, blur the appearance of pores, and give you a natural matte refresh for an instantly filtered look. It's traceless against all skin tones and won't cake, clog pores, creep into fine lines, or disturb makeup. In fact, it helps extend the wear of your foundation! The best part? No flashback, shine, or cakiness = *bomb* pics. 🔥 A splurge-worthy Drunk Elephant Intensive Hydration Serum — a light, water-based gel formulated with pineapple ceramide to boost luminosity, pro-vitamin B5 to attract hydration to the skin *and* keep it there, and sodium hyaluronate to promote firmness by reducing fine lines and wrinkles. And the smell? GLORIOUS. 😍 Glow Recipe's Watermelon Glow Niacinamide Dew Drops that'll brighten both your skin and your day. It's infused with vitamin C, vitamin E, and moringa oil to help even out your skin tone and give you a dewy finish. It also has a lightweight texture that absorbs quickly, making it ideal for all skin types so you can glow from the inside out. A highly concentrated K18 Leave-In Molecular Hair Mask if you're trying to restore you're processed hair to its silky glory (we've all been there🥲). This mask is enriched with peptides that work their magic to moisturize and reverse the damage on your locks in just 4 minutes! Fenty Beauty's Gloss Bomb Universal Lip Luminizer, because everything Mother Riri touches is gold. The best part about this? It feels as good as it looks, leaving you with all the explosive shine and *none* of the stickiness. The Dewy Skin Cream by Tatcha, which is one of those beloved luxury brands that never disappoints! This is enriched with Japanese purple rice (packed with antioxidants!), plumping botanical extracts, *and* a replenishing hyaluronic acid-algae complex. You'll almost be able to hear your skin thanking you. 😍 Color Wow's Dream Coat Supernatural Spray that is made with a super lightweight, nongreasy formula that doubles as a heat protectant and basically transforms your hair into silk, all while giving it waterproof powers. Simply apply it to damp hair, comb to distribute, and blow-dry to activate its magic! Sunday Riley Good Genes All-In-One Lactic Acid Treatment because it's packed with lactic acid to target discoloration and dark spots, licorice with naturally brightening properties to help improve radiance, and lemongrass to refresh the skin for a toned complexion. TBH, I never thought a formula could sound so ~delicious~ for my skin. Paula's Choice Skin Perfecting 2% BHA Liquid Exfoliant because it has salicylic acid that penetrates your pores to help catch breakouts before they reach the surface. And bonus! Its green tea leaf extract quickly calms redness and soothes skin sensitivity. An anti-frizz curl-defining cream if you want to activate and define your curls to achieve your ~bounciest~ look yet. This reviewer-beloved staple is infused with hydrating argan oil and vegetable protein to coat porous strands and split ends.
San Francisco Chronicle
2 days ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Nero's ancient Rome and Jazz Age New York meet in `The Comet/Poppea' at Lincoln Center
NEW YORK (AP) — Nero's ancient Rome and Jazz Age New York were similar. That is the message of 'The Comet/Poppea,' an intriguing combination of Monteverdi's 1643 opera 'L'incoronazione di Poppea' and George E. Lewis' 'The Comet,' a Pulitzer Prize finalist this year. The mashup conceived by director Yuval Sharon began a five-performance run at Lincoln Center's Summer for the City on Wednesday night. First seen in Los Angeles last year, the American Modern Opera Company production unfolds on a turntable that completes a spin each 2 minutes, 8 seconds. An audience of 380 is split into sections on opposite sides of the set on stage at the David Koch Theater while the venue's 2,586 auditorium seats remain empty. 'It's an unstable ride over the course of 90 minutes, and the power of the interpretation is up to each and every spectator,' Sharon said. 'Whether you're on one side of the seating bank or the other, you're going to have a totally different experience and you may miss a really important piece of action that your imagination is going to have to fill.' In Monteverdi's final opera, created to Giovanni Francesco Busenello's libretto, Nerone exiles his wife Ottavia, leaving him free to crown Poppea empress. Lewis composed 'The Comet' to librettist Douglas Kearney's adaption of W.E.B. Du Bois' dystopian eight-page 1920 short story in which a working-class Black man, Jim (Davóne Tines), and a society white woman, Julia (Kiera Duffy), believe they are the only survivors of a comet and can join to form a prejudice-free society. Their aspirations collapse when they learn people outside New York remained alive and segregation was unconquerable. 'People can make the leap between the music they're hearing and the kinds of tensions that are inherent to modern life and the tensions that the opera presents and the text presents, particularly around the dystopian aspect of white supremacy,' Lewis said. 'White supremacy is a kind of dystopia and it's a dystopia that we continue to live with today." Mimi Lien's two-sided set, illuminated strikingly by John Torres, is tiered with a bath at the top level on the Roman portion and a red Art Deco restaurant evoking the Rainbow Room on the other, where Jim and Julia find three dead bodies slumped. 'Jim is confronted with what it means to be the only man left alive, what it newly means to be a Black man allowed into spaces he wasn't before, but then have that dream crushed by the reality of Julia also inhabiting that space," said Tines, a commanding presence as Jim and the smaller role of Mercury. 'The Comet/Poppea' debuted at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA last June and also was performed with a student cast in Philadelphia in November. It is part of a Run AMOC* festival of 12 productions at Lincoln Center that include 10 New York premieres. Friday's performance can been viewed on a live stream on Lincoln Center's Facebook and YouTube channels. Planning, writing and funding took years Sharon first discussed the project in 2018 with countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo, who sings Nerone and Julia's father, a stuffed shirt dressed like Mr. Monopoly. 'It fell apart so many times,' Constanzo said. 'First, the pandemic came, and so all of our plans we'd put together were dashed. Then we had one co-producer who was giving a lot of money and they pulled out. Then we got another co-producer to put that much money in again and they pulled out." Sharon had met Lewis at a 2018 Columbia University conference and approached him with the idea of concentrating on Poppea's upward mobility and creating 'a secondary story to complicate and to make a mess of this idea of authoritarianism.' Sharon trimmed 'Poppea' to its essence. Lewis' music, filled with dissonance and a snippet of jazz, mixes with the Monterverdi's baroque, which Jim first hears from the restaurant jukebox. 'The conception was one in which you knew from the beginning that there are moments of overlap, there are moments of exchange, of sequentiality,' Lewis said. 'It could stand alone by itself, `The Comet,' certainly." Lincoln Center is presenting a more ambitious offering of classical events after drawing criticisms in the first three seasons of Summer for the City that emerged from the pandemic. There are 266 scheduled events from June 11 through Aug. 9. Programs are set to include jazz, Latin music, R&B, Broadway, pop, Caribbean, dance and more.
