Weekend Arts Planner: A panoply of puppet shows and a chamber music festival featuring Rhiannon Giddens
There's always so much music and art and theater happening in New York City -- we can never cover everything. But speaking with Weekend Edition host David Furst, WNYC's Culture and Arts Editor Steve Smith once again highlights a few of the "can't miss" events on the calendar.
"Puppetopia" has just opened at the downtown arts center HERE. This year's lineup is curated by master puppeteer Basil Twist, and it includes five very different shows that explore some serious adult themes in fantastical and beautiful ways. Three shows are playing this weekend, and two of those are closing tonight: "Mother Mold," a tabletop puppet show, and "Tin Iso and the Dawn," described as a shadow-puppet symphony with original music. Also playing this weekend, and running for a while longer, is "Deeper Closer Warmer," which brings together the Puerto Rican puppeteers of Poncili Creación with a local experimental music group called The Daxophone Consort. (The daxophone is a bowed hunk of carved wood, and in the right hands it can sing out, laugh, chortle and whine.)
Two more shows open during the weeks to come: "The Emotions," a collaboration of Korean and Japanese artists, and "Offal Unstory," in which a creator named Kalan Shh! -- a.k.a. enormousface -- surveys literature throughout history to explore how humans justify dominating the natural world. All the shows are happening at HERE, on Sixth Avenue near Spring Street, and the festival runs through March 25th.
2. Spring ChamberFest at The Juilliard School
Rhiannon Giddens is known for a lot of very different things. She's been a major force in the revival and recognition of Black American folk and roots music traditions, on her own and with the Carolina Chocolate Drops. She's a classically trained vocalist who now serves as artistic director of Silkroad, exploring music from all over the world. She's known for hosting the popular opera podcast Aria Code, produced by WNYC Studios. And she's composed an opera of her own, "Omar," in collaboration with composer Michael Abels.
That opera hasn't come to New York just yet… but on Monday, March 13, you'll get a chance to hear selections from "Omar" during a concert at the Juilliard School. The all-Giddens program also includes a lovely song called "Lullaby," which Giddens recorded with the Kronos Quartet, and selections from her ballet score "Black Lucy and the Bard." Giddens isn't billed as a performer, but she's presently serving as Juilliard Creative Associate, and she'll be on hand to talk to students and audience members about her music and how she makes it.
The event is part of Juilliard's ChamberFest, which packs five concerts into just three days at the school’s Paul Hall. ChamberFest showcases student excellence and versatility: The programs include major pieces by Beethoven and Brahms, but in addition to the all-Giddens affair, you can also hear a Piano Quintet by Florence Price, a Black American composer active during the first half of the 20th century, whose work has experienced a major resurgence recently. And another program includes "Curvo Totalitas," a very recent, very hypnotic piece by a contemporary composer, Catherine Lamb.
Juilliard's ChamberFest is happening on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday in Paul Hall. There are concerts happening at 7:30 each night, and at 4:30 on Monday and Wednesday. Tickets for each concert cost just $10 and are available in advance on the Juilliard website. And tickets are running low already for the Rhiannon Giddens concert on Monday night, so it's a good idea to jump on that one right away.
