5 Questions to Paola Prestini (Co-Founder and Artistic Director, National Sawdust) on February 9, 2021 at 6:00 am
Though Google Maps currently marks Brooklyn’s National Sawdust venue as closed, this fertile ground for artistic exploration is anything but in hibernation. Opened in 2015 thanks to the efforts of attorney and organist Kevin Dolan and composer Paola Prestini, the former sawdust-factory-turned-contemporary-music-haven has just announced its Winter/Spring 2021 season, featuring a cornucopia of creative work from a stylistically rich cohort of composers, choreographers, poets, instrumentalists, dancers, and filmmakers.
Furthering its mission as an incubator for young artists’ careers, a new partnership with New York University’s Center for Ballet and the Arts and the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation joins National Sawdust’s stellar lineup of fellowship programs, including the Hildegard Commission and the BluePrint Fellowship; and Beth Morrison Projects returns thi
12 pm ET: Mark Morris Dance Group presents
Dido and Aeneas. A screening of the 1995 film directed by Barbara Willis Sweete who recreated the
Dido and Aeneas set on a sound stage in Toronto and filmed it without the constraints of a proscenium stage and with Morris in his critically acclaimed role. The screening will be followed by a live Q&A with Morris and Sweete and launches a week of activities including talks with dancers and artistic collaborators. Dance with MMDG classes for all levels to learn excerpts of the work; Dance for PD classes appropriate for anyone with mobility concerns. View here and on demand for one week.
Acclaimed Composer Tania León and Latin Music Industry Leader Betsy Pérez Join The ASCAP Foundation Board of Directors
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The ASCAP Foundation today announces that it has named
Tania León and
Pérez to its Board of Directors. Both bring impressive credentials and experience paired with an unparalleled passion for nurturing aspiring songwriters, composers and lyricists and ensuring that music education is available in schools and communities across the United States. Tania and Betsy are a true gift to The ASCAP Foundation, said
ASCAP Foundation Executive Director Colleen McDonough. We are grateful for the passion, dedication and vision these new Board members bring, and we welcome their commitment to helping The Foundation fulfill its mission to support and develop American music creators.
2 pm ET: NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester presents
Gilbert conducts Prokofiev. Daniil Trifonov joins Hamburg’s NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra for Prokofiev’s First Piano Concerto under the leadership of Chief Conductor Alan Gilbert who also leads the orchestra in an account of the composer’s
Classical Symphony. View here.
2 pm ET: The Royal Opera House presents
Puccini’s
Il Trittico.
Il Tabarro, set aboard a barge on the Seine, stars Lucio Gallo as Michele, Eva-Maria Westbroek as Giorgetta, and Aleksandrs Antonenko as Luigi.
Suor Angelica has Ermonela Jaho in the title role of the nun whose familial sacrifice is at the heart of the opera.
Wagner’s
Die Walküre. Conductor: Adam Fischer, director: Sven-Eric Bechtolf. With Christopher Ventris, Ain Anger, Waltraud Meier, Linda Watson, and Tomasz Konieczny. Production from January 2016. Register for free and view here.
1 pm ET: Copland House presents
Underscored: Jalbert’s
Crossings. Vermont-born composer Pierre Jalbert was inspired by the migration of people voyaging into new and unfamiliar places and traces Jalbert’s own French-Canadian-American ancestry.
Crossings is built around a folk song from Quebec,
Quand j’ai parti du Canada (When I Left Canada), which is deconstructed, reinterpreted, reassembled, and reordered in inventive and unexpected ways. The program features a complete performance of the work, preceded by an introductory conversation with the composer, and followed by a live Q&A with viewers. Register and view here.