"Fantastic
Voyages: The Genius of Hector Berlioz"
Conductor Sir Colin Davis--today's leading evangelist for Berlioz--presides
over Lincoln Center's Berlioz bicentennial celebrations, with a trio of concerts
by the London Symphony Orchestra. The series begins with Harold in Italy (with
violist Paul Silverthorne) and the Symphonie Fantastique, and wraps up with
La Damnation de Faust, featuring Petra Lang, Neill, Miles, and Jonathan Lemalu
in the leading roles (Note: WNYC will broadcast the orchestra's appearance at
the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. More info) Tuesday, March 4 & 7 at
8pm and March 9 at 3pm.
Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center (212-721-6500); $32-55.
Vienna Philharmonic
No other orchestra, no matter who happens to be in charge, serves up Strauss,
Schubert, or Bruckner with more generosity or calorie-rich helpings than the
Vienna Philharmonic. In its annual visit to New York, the group is joined by
early-music specialist Nikolaus Harnoncourt, who conducts symphonies by Beethoven,
Schubert, Bruckner, and Dvorak; music by Johann and Josef Strauss; and the Berg
Violin Concerto, with Gidon Kremer as soloist. March 7 & 8 at 8pm and 9
at 2pm.
Carnegie Hall, Seventh Ave. at 57th St. (212-247-7800); $39-177.
"Sounds French" Festival
The best in French contemporary music--by a diverse group of composers young
and old--comes to New York for a month of concerts, including this multimedia
program as part of the Guggenheim Museum's "Works and Process" series.
The concert is devoted to the music of Philippe Manoury and Philippe Schoeller,
featuring performances by Ensemble Alterance along with a video showing of excerpts
from Manoury's opera "K . . ." (after a story by Kafka). March 9-10
at 8pm.
Guggenheim Museum, Fifth Ave. at 89th St. (212-423-3587; for more information
visit soundsfrench.com);
$18.
Monica Groop, soprano
The superlative Finnish mezzo presents songs by Mozart, Mahler, Schoenberg,
Sibelius, and Grieg. With the pianist Rudolf Jansen. March 9 at 5pm.
Frick Collection, 1 E. 70th St.; (212-288-0700); Free Admission.
Mikhail Pletnev, piano
Mikhail Pletnev brings all the necessary sweep and scale to Russian repertory,
and his robust sound should ably fill up Met Museum's intimate Grace Rainey
Rogers Auditorium. Appropriate to the setting, the program includes Mussorgsky's
burly ''Pictures at an Exhibition'' and Tchaikovsky's G-Major "Grande Sonate."
March 20 at 8pm.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street (212-570-3949); $45.
John
Adams's El Niño
The New York premiere of Johns Adams's acclaimed oratorio, staged by Peter Sellars
and featuring the Los Angeles Philharmonic, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen,
and vocal soloists including Dawn Upshaw and Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, would
be news aplenty in itself. But another significant novelty here is the collaboration
between two major concert presenters usually locked in competition, Great Performers
at Lincoln Center and the Brooklyn Academy. March 20 & 22 at 7:30pm.
Howard Gilman Opera House, Brooklyn Academy of Music; (718-636-4100); $35-85.
Bach's Mass in B Minor
Two performances at St. Paul's Chapel celebrate J.S. Bach's 318th birthday with
the composer's musical will and testament, the B-minor Mass. George Steel conducts
Vox Vocal Ensemble, Gotham City Orchestra, and soloists. March 21 & 22 at
7:30pm.
St. Paul's Chapel, Columbia University. (212-854-7799); $35.
Immediately following the Columbia series, "Vespers with Bach" at
Holy Trinity Lutheran Church presents the B-minor Mass in a period-instrument
performance, as part of its Sunday Vespers service. March 23 at 5pm.
Holy Trinity Lutheran Church; 3 West 65th St. (212-206-1515); $20-30.
Pierre Boulez
In his final season as composer in residence at Carnegie (John Adams takes over
next year), the French master conducts the Ensemble Intercontemporain in two
programs of his own works, including Répons, a spatially conceived extravaganza
for which about half of the seats will have to be removed from the hall. March
22 at 8pm & 23 at 3pm.
Carnegie Hall, Seventh Ave. at 57th St. (212-247-7800); $10-42.
Mark
Adamo's Little Women
American composer Mark Adamo's operatic adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's cherished
1868 novel is one of the few instant hits in the world of contemporary opera,
arriving at the New York City Opera trailing favorable notices around the U.S.
including a Great Performers production on PBS. March 23 at 1:30pm and March
27 at 7:30pm.
New York State Theater, Lincoln Center (212-870-5570); $25-100.
Recovering a Musical Heritage
The questing James Conlon conducts works by Viktor Ullmann, who died at Auschwitz,
and other composers affected by World War II and the Holocaust in three varied
programs. First up is the Juilliard Orchestra and singers from The Juilliard
School in Ullmann's satirical, one-act chamber opera Der Kaiser von Atlantis
(The Emperor of Atlantis). The following day, Conlon joins forces with the Hawthorne
String Quartet and an ensemble of Juilliard students in a program including
Ullmann's String Quartet No. 3. And the Orchestra of St. Luke's presents Ullmann's
Second Symphony and works by Bartok, Zemlinsky, and Pavel Haas. March 23, 24,
26.
Central Synagogue, Lexington Ave. at 55th St. (212-838-5122); St. Bartholomew's
Church, Park Ave, at 50th St. (212-378-0226); Carnegie Hall Seventh Ave. at
57th St.; (212-247-7800); $27.
Absolute Ensemble
Violinist Anne Akiko Meyers and pianist Joseph Kalichstein solo in the world
premiere of the young Argentinean composer Ezequiel Viñao's evening-length
Saga. The work is a chamber tone poem for piano and violin and composed specifically
for Kristjan Järvi's intrepid Absolute Ensemble on a grant from Meet the Composer. March 25 at 8pm.
Miller Theater Broadway at 116th St. (212-854-7799); $20, $7 for Columbia students.