World Financial Center Series returns to Lower Manhattan

For nearly 15 years, the World Financial Center's Arts and Events Program has been an invigorating presence in the once culture-starved Lower Manhattan, with its freewheeling blend of visual art, dance, and music performances. Yet this year the series has become a more potent symbol of resilience. The Center, with its glass-encased public atrium, Winter Garden, reopened to the public on September 17, after a season-long hiatus due to damage suffered in the September 11 terrorist attacks.

Two weeks after the Winter Garden's reopening--becoming the first major structure heavily damaged in the attacks to be fully restored--the series got underway with a free performance by the dance troupe Ailey 2. Other October highlights include a Wednesday dance series, featuring such troupes as Ballet Hispanico and Susan Marshall & Company; appearances by the Big Apple Circus; and "Sonic Garden," a newly-commissioned collection of sound installations by four of New York's most visionary artists: Laurie Anderson, David Byrne, Marina Rosenfeld, and Ben Rubin. In November, WNYC's New Sounds Live returns to the Center for three Wednesday evening concerts beginning with a performance by Morelenbaum2/Sakamoto, featuring music by Antonio Carlos Jobim.

"We're back with our first fall season in two years," said Debra Simon, artistic director of the World Financial Center Arts & Events Program. "Beginning with the dynamic sound installation, 'Sonic Garden,' created in association with Creative Time, and ending with New Views, nine site-specific installations for the WFC complex co-organized by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, we can say that the leading arts program of Downtown…is restored."

Located at 220 Vesey Street, the 10-story Winter Garden atrium, the centerpiece of the World Financial Center complex, was gutted by falling steel beams and other wreckage as the World Trade Center's north tower collapsed. The $50 million Winter Garden restoration included replacing metal framework and 2,000 panes of glass, relaying 60,000 square feet of marble flooring and steps, and replacing 16 40-foot Florida palm trees that did not survive the disaster.

Musical Adventures

Seeking to provide an alternative to the ubiquitous visual reminders of September 11, as well as celebrating the renewed vitality of Lower Manhattan, the Arts and Events Program together with the public-arts presenter Creative Time commissioned a sound installation by four artists entitled "Sonic Garden." The site-specific installation encompasses four short works by the musicians Laurie Anderson, David Byrne, and Marina Rosenfeld, and the sound designer Ben Rubin. Looped in 40-minute intervals, the recordings range from stones skipping across water and jokes of famed Catskill comedians to string ensembles interspersed with voice and the recorded shouts and calls of commodities traders at the nearby New York Mercantile Exchange. The entire creation will take place from Thursday, October 17-Saturday, November 30.

The musical offerings continue on November 4 at 12:15 with the trio Sequenza--pianist Yael Weiss, violinist Mark Kaplan, and cellist Colin Carr--offering a program of beloved classics as well as contemporary works. From November 6 through 20, WNYC's New Sounds Live will present a three-concert series, curated and hosted by John Schaefer. These include performances by Morelenbaum2/Sakamoto in music by late, great Brazilian songwriter Antonio Carlos Jobim (Nov. 6); the all-women’s vocal ensemble Kitka (Nov. 13); and vocal overtone pioneer David Hykes and the Harmonic Choir (Nov. 20) Wrapping up the fall musical events is a performance by a piano quartet comprised of members of the New York Philharmonic (Nov. 22).

Trick-or-Treating and Multimedia Installations:

The young and young at heart shouldn't miss the Halloween Kid's Party (Oct. 26), a costumed afternoon of trick-or-treating, storytelling, pumpkin decorating, and face painting. And finally, the visual arts are well represented with New Views: World Financial Center (Oct. 30, 2002-Jan. 17, 2003) in the World Financial Center's Courtyard Gallery. As part of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council's World Views residency program, nine New York-based visual artists have been invited to create a diverse series of site-specific, multimedia installations shown throughout the World Financial Center Complex this fall. Artists include Anne Beffel, Jane Benson, Curtis Cuffie, Charles Goldman, Elke Lehmann, Pia Lindman, Brian P. McGrath, Andrea Ray and Alex Villar.

Admission is free for all events. For information, call (212) 945-0505 or visit the World Financial Center Web site.

Additional Resources:
An archival episode of Soundcheck features a conversation with choreographer Elisa Monte about bringing dance performance back to the Winter Garden.