NYC trip in brief

Just a few words about all of the plays and concerts I got to go to in my NYC trip.

The first night was graced with Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. A wonderful production with Nathan Lane, Bill Irwin, John Goodman, and (correction) John Glover full of humor, wit, and sadness. If anyone has even the slightest interest in this play, I cannot recommend seeing this version enough.

Ionesco’s Exit the King was the next afternoon’s play. A strange and wonderful one. The set and staging are amazing and the acting is (obviously) wonderful. Another play full of humor, wit, and sadness although more politically oriented. This one is probably a bit more “easy to take” than Godot, if just a bit more straight forward.

That night I saw Ensemble Intercontemporain at Alice Tully Hall (which is incredible). It is newly renovated (apparently all of the wood lining the walls came from a single tree), with a wonderfully rich and warm sound. The concert opened with Ligeti’s Melodien from the 70s. The ensemble performed beautifully and it was very nice to hear this rarely performed work. Next was Ligeti’s Violin Concerto. This is such a wonderful piece of music, by far one of my favorites of Ligeti’s. I’m used to hearing recordings of this work, and ones with a lot more “in-your-face” approach to the solo part. Hae-Sun Kang played with much elegance and it was a wonderful way to hear the piece! The second half of the concert was a Bruno Mantovani piece titled Le sette chiese. I very much enjoyed this piece: colorful, weird, well-paced, etc. The ensemble has a CD out of the work that I plan to purchase soon.

We also stumbled upon a Latin American baroque music concert at the Trinity Church on Wall Street which was very enjoyable. The Trinity Church Choir sang accompanied by the Rebel Baroque Orchestra. A very nice treat.:)