A season of Kaija Saariaho in New York
5th October 2016
© © Priska Ketterer
The Metropolitan opera gives L'Amour de loin its New York premiere. The New York Times called Saariaho's breakthrough opera 'transfixing…a lushly beautiful score.' The long-awaited production will be directed by Robert Lepage and conducted by Susanna Mälkki.
December 1, 6, 10, 14, 17, 21, 24, 29
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Esa-Pekka Salonen leads the New York Philharmonic in an all-Saariaho concert at the Park Avenue Armory, an event directed by Pierre Audi and lit by Jennifer Tipton. On the program: Lonh, for soprano and electronics, the New York premieres of Circle Map and the clarinet concerto D'OM LE VRAI SENS with soloist Kari Kriikku, and the US premiere of Lumière et Pesanteur.
October 13-14
A new dance/puppet production at Central Park's Swedish Cottage Marionette Theater is entitled Oltra mar with choreography by Luca Veggetti — a modern retelling of a medieval tale of idealized love between two people intimately connected, yet separated by the sea. The Swedish Cottage, an historic space that is beloved by generations of children, will be converted into a black box theater for adults for these intimate and immersive performances.
October 6-9
The Juilliard School, in association with the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative, presents AXIOM performing Saariaho's piano trio Light and Matter, as well as Esa-Pekka Salonen's string quartet Homunculus.
October 12
New York University offers a special studies course using Saariaho's opera L'Amour de loin — only the second opera composed by a woman to be staged by the Met (the last was Dame Ethel Smyth's Der Wald in 1903) — to ask questions about 'Production, Performance, Pleasure and Profit.' Suzanne Cusick, with special guest-star Cori Ellison (Dramaturg, Glyndebourne Opera Festival), are the intructors.
October 19 and other Wednesdays
The Juilliard School presents In Context: Kaija Saariaho, performances of pieces influential to Saariaho: music of Bach, Janáček, and Szymanowski. A conversation by Saariaho and Brian Zeger follows, concluding with her chamber and vocal music: Serenatas, Quatre Instants, and Light and Matter.
October 26
The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center presents the exquisite Die Aussicht on texts of Hölderlin with soprano Tony Arnold at the Rose Studio.
October 27
Mannes composers-in-residence Saariaho and Jean-Baptiste Barrière collaborate with flutist Margaret Lancaster in a multi-media event for flute and live electronics, with stage direction by Luca Veggetti. The program is a unique musical and visual braid with interactive electronics and video that includes Saariaho's Laconisme de l'aile, NoaNoa, and Dolce Tormento.
November 3
Prior to the Metropolitan Opera's new production of L'Amour de loin opening December 1, its general manager Peter Gelb discusses the opera with Saariaho and the Met's creative team, accompanied by performance excerpts at Guggenheim Works & Process.
November 7
Ahead of the La Passion de Simone performances beginning November 19, The New School hosts 'Empathy & Action: A Subjective Discussion of Simone Weil’s Legacy,' a panel discussion including Ssariaho that will be moderated by Aleksi Barrière, stage director of La Passion de Simone.
November 14
The Mannes School of Music, in collaboration with La Chambre aux échos and ICE, stages Saariaho's cornerstone oratorio La Passion de Simone at The Lynch Theatre. This contemporary Passion play on the 'luminous trajectory' of philosopher and activist Simone Weil, who devoted her life to the oppressed and met an untimely death in 1943, will be performed by soprano Sayuri Araida, the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), and students of Mannes.
November 19-20
At French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF), the Metropolitan Opera's Peter Gelb and Saariaho join acclaimed novelist Amin Maalouf, the librettist of L'Amour de loin, in conversation followed by excerpts from the opera and selections from other collaborations of Saariaho and Maalouf.
November 21
The 92nd Street Y presents Cloud Trio for strings, performed by The Variation Trio.
November 30
AXIOM and conductor Jeffrey Milarsky perform an all-Saariaho program of music for large ensemble: Lichtbogen, Solar, and Notes on Light at The Juilliard School.
December 12
