8 THENEWYORKER,FEBRUARY3, 2020
If drag is the art of forging identity
through excess, then it has a home in
opera, which asks the human voice to
do extravagant things in the name of
feeling. The mezzo-soprano Stephanie
Blythe, who has spent decades knock-
ing listeners out of their seats with
her gale-force vocals, has adopted the
drag alter ego of Blythely Oratonio,
who, according to his program bio, is
“the tender, testosterone-filled tenor
of the century.” For this cabaret show
at the Appel Room, on Jan. 30, the
impressively bearded divo sings some
of the greatest arias ever written (nat-
urally) and pairs them (unnaturally)
with musical-theatre and pop numbers.
Oratonio’s influences include glam,
eighties rock, and Pavarotti, but really
he just wants to tell you a little about
himself.—Oussama ZahrINCONCERT
ILLUSTRATION BY CARI VANDER YACHT
1
CLASSICALMUSIC
Anne-Sophie Mutter
Carnegie Hall
Celebrations of Beethoven’s sestercentennial
are under way at Carnegie Hall, with the vio-
linist Anne-Sophie Mutter presiding over an
evening devoted to his chamber works. She
and the pianist Lambert Orkis play through
the joyous strains of the “Spring” Sonata and
the prickly intensity of the “Kreutzer” Sonata,
and the cellist Daniel Müller-Schott joins
them for the “Ghost” Trio. Also playing: The
conductor and scholar Leon Botstein, never
one to make the obvious choice, honors Bee-
thoven by leading the American Symphony
Orchestra in pieces by Spohr, Liszt, and Reger
that were inspired by the composer (Jan. 31 at
8).—Oussama Zahr (Jan. 30 at 7.)
New York Philharmonic
David Geffen Hall
Simone Young, the internationally renowned
Australian conductor who stepped in to re-
place an injured Jaap van Zweden for a series
of Philharmonic concerts last spring, returns
with a program of her own. The centerpiece is a
recent cello concerto by her countryman Brett
Dean, with Alban Gerhardt as the soloist; two
English staples surround that work—Britten’s
“Four Sea Interludes from ‘Peter Grimes’ ” and
Elgar’s “Enigma Variations.”—Steve Smith (Jan.
30 at 7:30 and Jan. 31 at 11 A.M.)
Simone Dinnerstein
Miller Theatre
Simone Dinnerstein’s way with Bach at the
piano is nimble and direct: she leans into
shifts in counterpoint like a race-car driver
hugging a track’s curves. The gifted musician
curates a three-part series of Bach’s works for
Miller Theatre, starting with four sonatas
that find the Baroque master pairing busy
keyboard passages with more mellifluous lines
for a solo instrument. Dinnerstein is joined
by the flutist Christina Jennings (Sonatas in
B Minor and E-Flat Major), the violinist Re-
becca Fischer (Sonata No. 4 in C Minor), and
the cellist Alexis Pia Gerlach (Sonata No. 2
in D Major).—O.Z. (Jan. 30 at 8.)counter)induction
Shapeshifter Lab
A restlessly inventive collective of composers
and performers with an oddly unforgetta-
ble name, counter)induction celebrates its
twentieth anniversary with what it calls a
“satisfyingly strange” mix. Included are recent
pieces by the ensemble members Kyle Bart-
lett, Douglas Boyce, Jessica Meyer, and Ryan
Streber, along with three small works by the
lutenist and countertenor Mark Rimple.—S.S.
(Jan. 31 at 7.)Peter Mattei
Carnegie Hall
The Swedish baritone Peter Mattei has a voice
that envelops his every utterance in pillowy
sound. It gives him a warm, three-dimen-
sional presence in operatic comedies and lends
a commanding, sympathetic tone in more
haunting material, such as Berg’s “Wozzeck,”
which he just wrapped at the Met. The latter
quality lends itself to a rendition of Schubert’sdesolate and disquieting song cycle “Winter-
reise,” which Mattei performs with the pianist
Lars David Nilsson at Zankel Hall. Also play-
ing: The sui-generis vocalist and actor Titus
Burgess honors Sondheim ahead of the Broad-
way legend’s ninetieth birthday with a concert
of his songs on Carnegie’s main stage (Feb.
1 at 8), and the soprano Sally Matthews digs
into the drama of pieces by Sibelius, Strauss,
and Wagner at Weill Recital Hall (Feb. 4 at
7:30).—O.Z. (Jan. 31 at 7:30.)Laurie Anderson
happylucky no.
An opportunity to catch the celebrated per-
formance artist, improviser, and storyteller
Laurie Anderson in an intimate Crown
Heights gallery space is so tantalizing that
it really doesn’t matter what she’ll be doing.
For this appearance, in addition to sharing her
characteristically wry observations, Anderson
takes up her violin in duets with two out-
standing musicians—the electric-viola player
Martha Mooke and the percussionist Susie
Ibarra.—S.S. (Jan. 31-Feb. 1 at 8.)panSonus
St. John’s in the Village
The impressive young duo panSonus com-
prises Amber Evans, a soprano, conductor,
and composer, and Jon Clancy, a percussionist
and sound artist. On the heels of an ambitious
tour of Australia and New Zealand late last
year, the pair regroups to showcase the music
featured on that trek, including a slate of fresh
sounds and new approaches by Zak Argabrite,
Jakob Bragg, Lydia Wayne Chang, and Vasily
Ratmansky.—S.S. (Feb. 1 at 7:30.)Susan Graham
Alice Tully Hall
Schumann’s “Frauenliebe und -leben” (“A
Woman’s Love and Life”) is one of the only
Romantic-era song cycles written specifically
for piano and a female protagonist, and, as
such, it gets plenty of play on recital programs.
The splendid American mezzo-soprano Susan
Graham, in collaboration with the pianist
Malcolm Martineau, finds a new way into the
work by breaking it down; she places each of
Schumann’s eight songs alongside pieces by
other composers. The cycle’s final song, to take
one example, appears in a group with Berlioz’s
heavyhearted “Absence” and Quilter’s ele-
gantly simple “How Should I Your True Love
Know,” exploring mournfulness in different
moods.—O.Z. (Feb. 4 at 7:30.)Argento New Music Project
Areté Venue and Gallery
“Double Take,” the latest offering by the Ar-
gento New Music Project, examines the no-
tion of duality from varying perspectives. To
open the concert, the vocalist Charmaine Lee
and the clarinettist Carol McGonnell match
extraordinary technique with lightning-fast
reflexes in structured improvisation. Schoen-
berg’s thrice-familiar “Verklärte Nacht” is
contrasted with an earlier germinal sketch,
“Toter Winkel,” and Erin Gee’s “Mouthpiecestyles that typically occupy opposite ends of
the dance-music taste spectrum but become
cozy cousins in Fitz’s hands. Here, the sim-
ilarly sharp-eared New Yorker Lychee plays
first.—Michaelangelo Matos (Feb. 1.)