A Summer of Opera, Theater and Music
|
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/02/arts/a-summer-of-opera-theater-and-music.html Version 0 of 1. BAYREUTH, GERMANY Bayreuth Festival, bayreuther-festspiele.de July 25 to Aug. 28 The police closely surveilled the world premiere of the director Uwe Eric Laufenberg’s production of “Parsifal” at Bayreuth last year because of fears that the show, an updated take that featured Muslim iconography (including veiled chorus singers), might incite extremist reactions. The opening went off without a hitch, and the show was well received (it will return this summer). The rest of the lineup in this Wagner-only festival includes favorites like “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg,” “Tristan und Isolde” and the “Ring” cycle. EAST SUSSEX, ENGLAND Glyndebourne, glyndebourne.com Through Aug. 27 The Australian composer Brett Dean’s new operatic adaptation of “Hamlet” will have its world premiere here, starring the British tenor Allan Clayton as the vengeance-seeking prince. Glyndebourne is by and large known for top-flight renderings of classic operas, and there is also plenty of that this season. Other highlights include a revival of Katharina Thoma’s 2013 production of “Ariadne auf Naxos,” which updates the Strauss opera to World War II, and a staging of Mozart’s “La Clemenza di Tito” conducted by the festival’s music director, Robin Ticciati. VERONA, ITALY Arena Opera Festival, arena.it June 23 to Aug. 27 The arena festival boasts many major talents, but at least one of its major draws is its setting: a 2,000-year-old Roman amphitheater that adds a sweeping backdrop and a sense of history to the classic operas presented here. This year’s lineup includes Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly” and “Tosca,” as well as two renderings of Verdi’s “Aida”: a recent version from Carlus Padrissa and Àlex Ollé, Spanish collaborators known for their striking visual productions, and a beloved 1913 staging that kick-started the tradition of putting on summer operas here. SALZBURG, AUSTRIA Salzburg Festival, salzburgerfestspiele.at July 21 to Aug. 30 This storied music and drama festival, whose roots stretch back nearly 100 years, will mark the arrival of its latest artistic director, Markus Hinterhäuser, with a season of all-new opera and theater productions. The season features new stagings of the medieval morality play “Everyman”; Shostakovich’s tragic opera, “Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District”; and Verdi’s “I Due Foscari,” about Italian nobles brought low. The season’s starry highlight, though, is undoubtedly the new production of “Aida,” conducted by Riccardo Muti and starring the celebrated soprano Anna Netrebko. The artist Shirin Neshat, known for her stark work in photography and film, will direct. AVIGNON, FRANCE Festival d’Avignon, festival-avignon.com July 6 to 26 The leading European theater directors of the moment, like the stylized and austere British director Katie Mitchell and the flamboyant, abstract Berliner Frank Castorf, will stage productions at this storied festival this summer. (Ms. Mitchell will direct Jean Genet’s sadism-tinged “The Maids,” while Mr. Castorf will direct an adaptation of Bulgakov’s “The Life of Monsieur de Molière.”) From July 7 to 30, roughly the same time as the official festival, dozens of storefronts and restaurants around this walled medieval city will turn into temporary theaters for the sprawling “Avignon Off,” a showcase of work from independent troupes. WILLIAMSTOWN, MASS. Williamstown Theater Festival, wtfestival.org June 27 to Aug. 20 Each summer, a top-notch roster of new and older plays appears in this festival, staged on the campus of Williams College, nestled in the hills of western Massachusetts. Shows this season include “A Legendary Romance,” a new musical by Geoff Morrow and Timothy Prager about a Hollywood producer examining his legacy, and “Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow Moscow,” an adaptation by Halley Feiffer of Chekhov’s “Three Sisters.” MANCHESTER, ENGLAND Manchester International Festival, mif.co.uk June 29 to July 16 This biennial festival kicked off in 2007, and has since become one of the leading worldwide incubators for new, cutting-edge art. Though the festival has an international outlook and reputation, it also showcases Manchester stories and talent: “True Faith,” for example, a new exhibition by the artist Matthew Higgs, the writer Jon Savage and the archivist Johan Kugelberg, explores the legacy of two of Manchester’s top musical exports, the bands Joy Division and New Order. The exhibition will have its world premiere here this summer. HOBART, TASMANIA Dark Mofo, darkmofo.net.au June 8 to 21 This festival — a multidisciplinary celebration of the winter solstice — has always had vaguely gothic overtones and deliberately macabre performances. But it may have crossed a line this year when organizers scheduled “150.Action,” a performance piece by the artist and provocateur Hermann Nitsch that they said involved “meat, fish, fruit and blood, live performers and an orchestra.” Protests from animal rights activists ensued, but the work is still scheduled to appear. Other pieces in the lineup are slightly more conventional, including performances by the Scottish rock band Mogwai and the Norwegian music collective Ulver. The festival ends with a (noncompulsory) nude solstice swim on a local beach. YUZAWA, JAPAN Fuji Rock Festival, fujirock-eng.com July 28 to 30 Björk, Gorillaz, the xx and Aphex Twin are among the major pop acts from the West appearing in Japan for this festival, set in a high-altitude ski resort in the middle of the country. Over the course of three days, they will mix with major Japanese acts, like the rock groups Love Psychedelico, Sambomaster and Yogee New Waves. LONDON Meltdown, southbankcentre.co.uk June 9 to 18 The fiery pop musician M.I.A. has grabbed attention around the world for her outspoken political stances and earworm songs like “Paper Planes.” In London, she will try her hand at curating London’s Meltdown festival, which each summer welcomes a new celebrity to oversee the proceedings. This year’s acts include the Mercury Prize-winning Scottish band Young Fathers and the rappers JD Samson, Mykki Blanco and Giggs. M.I.A. will close the events with a performance at the Royal Festival Hall. PILTON, ENGLAND Glastonbury Festival, glastonburyfestivals.co.uk June 21 to 25 Radiohead, the Foo Fighters and Ed Sheeran will headline this festival, the jewel in the European pop festival crown. Dozens of acts will visit the rolling hills of England’s southwest countryside for this year’s event. Acts include British indie favorites like London Grammar and Kate Tempest as well as major international imports like Katy Perry and Lorde. MANCHESTER, TENN. Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, bonnaroo.com June 8 to 11 Each June, roughly 80,000 people come to the Great Stage Park for this camp-out music event that many consider the Valhalla of summer music festivals. The hottest music makers of the moment will be there, like the trance group xx, the solo R&B crooner the Weeknd and Chance the Rapper. Some seriously seasoned acts, like U2 and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, will also appear. The eclectic lineup includes bluegrass bands, grime rappers from Britain and even a string of comedy acts. BUDAPEST Sziget, szigetfestival.com Aug. 9 to 16 This festival, which got its start in the early 1990s, has slowly grown into one of Europe’s most popular summer music extravaganzas. Hundreds of acts will appear on a leafy Danube island in Budapest’s north for this year’s event. Chart toppers like Wiz Khalifa, Flume and Major Lazer will appear alongside popular indie acts like Alt-J and Rita Ora. CHICAGO Pitchfork Music Festival, pitchfork.com July 14 to 16 In the decade since its founding, Pitchfork has managed to maintain its indie credentials even as its popularity has ballooned. LCD Soundsystem, a Tribe Called Quest and Solange will headline this festival, and indie darlings like PJ Harvey, Mitski, Dirty Projectors and Madame Gandhi will also appear. Those who cannot get their music fix from the indie Pitchfork can stick around Chicago until Aug. 3, when the city’s biggest and best-known music festival, Lollapalooza, headlined by the pop A-listers of the moment, kicks off in Grant Park. MONTREAL Festival de Jazz de Montréal, montrealjazzfest.com June 28 to July 8 The rocker, songwriter and Nobel laureate Bob Dylan will perform a June 30 concert that will anchor this year’s festival, a sprawling event that includes dozens of sanctioned events and smaller, unofficial pop-up concerts at fringe venues across Montreal, a jazz haven. The lineup features bona fide jazz groups, like the throwback group Pink Martini, and some big-name acts from other genres, like the DJ collective Thievery Corporation and the folksy singer-songwriter Melissa Etheridge. LENOX AND STOCKBRIDGE, MASS. Tanglewood, bso.org June 17 to Aug. 30 Every summer, the Boston Symphony Orchestra performs a series of summer concerts in the Berkshire mountains of western Massachusetts. There is no shortage of star power joining them this summer: The violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, the cellist Yo-Yo Ma and the film composer John Williams are some of the big names who will visit Tanglewood. On Aug. 19, Mr. Williams and the symphony’s music director, Andris Nelsons, will take the stage together to conduct “John Williams’ Film Night,” a concert featuring popular film scores, including some, like “E.T.,” composed by Mr. Williams himself. LONDON The Proms, bbc.co.uk/proms July 14 to Sept. 9 This festival — a series of 90 concerts by prominent visiting orchestras, staged over the course of eight weeks, mostly in London’s Royal Albert Hall — always features a broad mix of music, for classical music aficionados and casual listeners alike. This year’s concerts include tributes to famous musicians like the Hollywood composer John Williams, and the jazz contemporaries Ella Fitzgerald and Dizzy Gillespie, both of whom were born 100 years ago this year. Traditionalists can get their fix with concerts marking the 450th anniversary of the birth of Monteverdi, and one commemorating the centenary of the Russian Revolution. AIX-EN-PROVENCE, FRANCE Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, festival-aix.com July 3 to 22 Major orchestral performances, chamber music concerts and full-scale operas all play a part in this festival, set in venues around an idyllic university city. Though the festival has a strong reputation for its classical performances, it has also become an incubator for cutting-edge opera productions in recent years. This year will see the world premiere of an adaptation by the composer Philippe Boesmans of the classic Italian children’s story “Pinocchio,” rendered in the dark tones of the original 19th-century fairy tale. |