Needless to say, the new seasons indicate new beginnings, but the New York Philharmonic has one more reason to celebrate: the reopening of David Geffen Hall after a two-year renovation. The ensemble and its musical director, Jaap van Zweden, baptize their renovated home with some self-awareness, performing Etienne Charles’s “San Juan Hill – A New York Story” (October 8), a piece named for the neighborhood African American and Caribbean in the Upper West Side that was razed to make way for Lincoln Center.
Across the square, Sondra Radvanovsky, soprano of rare power and agility, plays the vengeful sorceress of Cherubini’s “Medea”, a role closely associated with Maria Callas, in the Metropolitan Opera’s season opening production (September 27-28 October ).
Perhaps sharing Medea’s passion for curses, composer and soprano Kate Soper writes and performs in “HEX” – in which a contemporary music group accidentally opens the gates of Hell – accompanied by the Wet Ink Ensemble, in a place to be announced (September 14). Bass-baritone Davóne Tines performs in two other alternative theater shows: Tyshawn Sorey’s “Monochromatic Light (Afterlife)”, inspired by the Rothko Chapel, in a production by Peter Sellars at the Park Avenue Armory (September 27-October 8) , and “Everything Rises”, a personal reflection on BIPOC experiences, created with violinist Jennifer Koh, at BAM’s Next Wave Festival (12-15 October).
With a Carnegie Hall debut (November 3), Tines joins a roster that includes pianist Igor Levit, who dives into the compelling Twenty-Four Preludes and Fugues Op. 87 (October 18); the Los Angeles Philharmonic and its teacher, Gustavo Dudamel, presenting Gabriela Ortiz’s New York premieres (October 25-26); and the Berlin Philharmonic and its drummer, Kirill Petrenko, playing emphatic symphonies by Mahler and Korngold (10-12 November).
Experiments in Opera, a collective of composers who treat opera as a sandbox for bizarre inventions, is launching a ten-episode streaming miniseries, “Everything for Dawn” (allarts.org; October 7-November 4). The Miller Theater, another forge of contemporary music, opens its season with the JACK Quartet, performing Liza Lim’s “String Creatures” (September 29).
At 92nd Street Y, in a sort of queue at the opening of the Philharmonic, cellist Seth Parker Woods performs “Difficult Grace”, a narrative of the Great Migration, which brought millions of black Americans north to seek their fortune (November 19) . ♦
