THENEWYORKER,SEPTEMBER30, 2019 11
ILLUSTRATION BY ANTHONY RUSSO
Orphaned as a child and sent to a theological seminary for education
and eventual ordainment, Komitas Vardapet was a gifted musician and
an ardent collector of folk songs. He became a foundational figure in
Armenian music, known for his pioneering work as an ethnomusicologist
and a pedagogue. The soulful, splendid works that Komitas compiled
and composed have an instantaneous appeal, and a concert at Symphony
Space, on Sept. 27, presents them in two ways. Making its New York City
début, the Gurdjieff Ensemble—established by Levon Eskenian, in 2008,
to perform works by the Greek-Armenian mystic G. I. Gurdjieff—plays
Komitas on traditional instruments, including the duduk, oud, santur, and
dhol. Providing urbane contrast, the pianist Lusine Grigoryan elegantly and
persuasively translates Komitas’s music on the grand piano.—Steve Smith
RECITALS
1
DANCE
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch
In a now yearly ritual, the Fall Fashion Gala
(Sept. 26) offers, with varying degrees of suc-
cess, new works costumed by designers of
note. (This year, the honors go to Anna Sui
and Zac Posen.) There’s usually a film, too,
celebrating the company’s costume shop and
its resident guru, Marc Happel, who is amply
deserving of praise. Both of the new ballets
premièring at the gala are by people associated
with the company: Lauren Lovette, currently
a principal dancer, and her predecessor Ed-
waard Liang, a former City Ballet soloist who
later joined the contemporary ballet company
Nederlands Dans Theatre. As a choreographer,
Liang’s style is full of undulating lines that
loop and buckle, expressing emotion through
fluidity and luxuriant partnering. One com-
pelling aspect of Lovette’s ballets—she has
made two for the company so far—is their
openhearted quality, exemplified by a dreamy
pas de deux for two men in her 2017 piece “Not
Our Fate.”—Marina Harss (Through Oct. 13.)
the life and the music of the Baroque trumpeter
and composer Girolamo Fantini. The evening’s
main attraction, though, is the seldom heard
work of Rocco di Pietro, a pianist, composer,
writer, and teacher who brings his wide-rang-
ing interests to bear in music with a decidedly
multidisciplinary bent. In celebration of his
seventieth birthday, the Mivos musicians pre-
sent a sampling of his work across four and a
half decades, with a few world premières. The
composer himself also takes to the piano, for a
performance of Julius Eastman’s haunting and
meditative “Hail Mary”; the piece has special
meaning for di Pietro, who received it as a gift
from Eastman at a low and lonely time in his
life.—Hélène Werner (Sept. 26 at 8.)
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra
Carnegie Hall
For centuries, composers have taken up the
challenge of depicting cities, seasons, and land-
scapes in music. Orpheus Chamber Orches-
tra pairs Mendelssohn’s “Italian” Symphony,
whose frisky energy and elegant melodies
testify to the composer’s love of Rome and
Naples, with Jessie Montgomery’s new “Shift,
Change, Turn, and Variations,” a modern hom-
age to the cycle of seasons. The feather-fin-
gered pianist Jan Lisiecki joins the ensemble
for Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in
D Minor.—O.Z. (Sept. 26 at 8.)
Hotel Elefant
Areté Venue and Gallery
The ensemble Hotel Elefant has been invig-
orating the classical-music scene in New York
for almost a decade with performances of music
by living composers. Far more unusual than
it may seem, this is by no means a gimmick;
with a roster of about twenty musicians, the
collective celebrates the innovation and cre-
ativity at the heart of our current moment. It
opens its eighth season with a kaleidoscopic
array of tonality and rhythm in short pieces
by Carlos Bandera, Sean Harold, Alexandra
Gardner, Kaija Saariaho, and Patrick Castillo.
The evening culminates with a performance of
Lois V Vierk’s celestially inspired yet strangely
anxious “Red Shift,” from 1989.—H.W. (Sept.
27 at 7.)
A Night of Women Composers
National Sawdust
Co-founded by Paola Prestini, in 2015, National
Sawdust honors its brief legacy with a sea-
son-opening program featuring women com-
posers of past and present. A pair of new-music
luminaries, Timo Andres and Nico Muhly,
perform Clara Schumann’s “Trois Romances”
and Meredith Monk’s “Ellis Island,” and the
newly created National Sawdust Ensemble
plays selections by Missy Mazzoli, Emma
O’Halloran, and others. The 2019 Pulitzer
Prize winner Ellen Reid makes an appearance
with her recent piece “So Much on My Soul,”
based on poetry by singers in the Young Peo-
ple’s Chorus of New York City. Rafiq Bhatia
and Son Lux’s Ian Chang cross into jazz to pay
tribute to the vanguard pianist and composer
Mary Lou Williams with interpretations of her
classically inflected and irresistible “Zodiac
Suite.”—H.W. (Sept. 27 at 7:30.)
Constellation Chor
Spectrum
Constellation Chor, a vocal ensemble compris-
ing singers, dancers, actors, and composers,
made an indelible impression on anyone who
saw its visceral, committed work in the New
York Philharmonic’s première of Ashley Fure’s
“Filament,” last season, or who witnessed the
group collaborating with the flutist Claire
Chase, at the Kitchen, earlier this year. The
opening performance of its residency prom-
ises uncommon intimacy in a decidedly cozy
Brooklyn space.—S.S. (Sept. 27 at 8.)
Joe Hisaishi and Friends
Carnegie Hall
In recent seasons, Joe Hisaishi, a composer
known for the sophisticated appeal of his scores
for the animated films of Hayao Miyazaki, has
become a frequent presence in the concert hall.
In these two Carnegie appearances, Hisaishi
joins the American Symphony Orchestra as both
conductor and pianist; the program includes the
U.S. première of an original composition, “The
East Land Symphony,” as well as suites derived
from his cinematic œuvre.—S.S. (Sept. 27-28 at 8.)
