Baryshnikov Arts today announced its 2024 Spring Season, which includes newly commissioned projects including film, dance, music, visual art, opera, and puppetry. The new season builds on the organization’s rich history as a multi-disciplinary, multi-platform haven for artistic freedom, and will take place at the Jerome Robbins Theater at Baryshnikov Arts, 450 W 37th St, NYC. Pre-sale starts Wednesday, January 17, 2024 and general public on-sale ticketing opens Wednesday, January 24, 2024. Tickets are available at https://baryshnikovarts.org/.

 

The season will open with MERCE / MISHA / MORE_A Film Event followed by a newly commissioned dance piece, 4 | 2 | 3, from Baye and Asa. In late April, violinist Alexi Kenney and visual artist Xuan will collaborate on Shifting Ground, with the season concluding with the little OPERA theatre of ny’s family friendly production Jupiter’s Journey to the Earth in May.

 

Founder and Artistic Director Mikhail Baryshnikov said, “True to form, we are ushering in Spring 2024 with the doors of our beautiful Jerome Robbins Theater open to fresh ideas and exciting new disciplines. There's something for everyone and I can't wait to share it with you.”

 

MERCE / MISHA / MORE_A Film Event

Featuring Cunningham, Baryshnikov, Jaquelin Harris, Chalvar Monteiro and the Merce Cunningham Dance Company

World Premiere

Thursday, March 7, 2024 at 7pm; Friday, March 8, 2024 at 7pm; Saturday, March 9, 2024 at 7pm

 

A program of films celebrating decades of friendship, mutual admiration, and the working relationship between Mikhail Baryshnikov and Merce Cunningham. The program includes newly filmed reminiscences by Mikhail Baryshnikov; rarely seen rehearsal footage from 1967 and 1994; the duet from Landrover featuring Jaquelin Harris & Chalvar Monteiro filmed at Baryshnikov Arts during the pandemic; and the world premiere of Daniel Madoff’s film of Event at REDCAT, performed in 2010 by Mikhail Baryshnikov with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company. The evening ends with Merce Cunningham's 1999 homage to disco in Charlie Atlas’ film Just Dancing and a surprise gift for all audience members.

 

This program celebrates the 50th anniversary of Merce Cunningham’s first Event and Mikhail Baryshnikov’s arrival in the West.

 

4 | 2 | 3

Created by and featuring Baye & Asa

World Premiere

Thursday, March 28, 2024 at 7pm; Friday, March 29, 2024 at 7pm; Saturday, March 30, 2024 at 7pm

 

4 | 2 | 3 focuses on the generational impacts of climate change using the “Riddle of the Sphinx” as an allegorical structure. The piece is divided into three sections, for three generations of performers, examining the intergenerational cooperation necessary to acknowledge this moment of existential crisis. In 4 | 2 | 3, we see the foibles and blind spots of each generation. Just as the Riddle asks us to look at the cycle of one life, 4 | 2 | 3 gives us the structure to speak about the life cycle of an entire species. Reflecting on humanity’s industrial history, we build new worlds on foundations that are less oppressive, less extractive, and more sustainable.

 

Shifting Ground

Featuring Alexi Kenney & Xuan

Visual art commission by Baryshnikov Arts

Thursday, April 25, 2024 at 7pm; Friday, April 26, 2024 at 7pm; Saturday, April 27, 2024 at 7pm

 

Shifting Ground weaves together pieces for solo violin and violin/electronics by J.S. Bach and composers of other eras to form a program with dramatic arc, flow, and scope. Bach’s music is a perfect fusion of technical mastery and innovation, but it’s his ability to transcend technique and access the spiritual and mystical realm that has inspired this program, which is played in five acts with original projections from returning Baryshnikov Arts visual artist, Xuan. Alongside existing works by Rafiq Bhatia, Matthew Burtner, Mario Davidovsky, Nicola Matteis, and Kaija Saariaho, Alexi commissioned new works for this project by composers Salina Fisher, Angélica Negrón, and Paul Wiancko. Shifting Ground premiered in Spring 2023 and will be presented with Xuan’s boundary-pushing visuals for the first time in April at Baryshnikov Arts. The title Shifting Ground is a reference to the heart of all Baroque music—the ground bass—upon which variations are built, and whose omnipresence in music symbolizes Bach’s enduring legacy.

 

Produced in collaboration with the Ojai Music Festival

 

Jupiter's Journey to the Earth

By the little OPERA theatre of ny

World Premiere

Friday, May 10, 2024 at 7pm; Saturday, May 11, 2024 at 2pm and 6pm; Sunday, May 12, 2024 at 2pm

 

For the child in all of us (ages 7+), Jupiter’s Journey to the Earth is a family friendly chamber opera sung in English based upon the story of “Philemon and Baucis” from Ovid’s “Metamorphoses.” This new adaptation and production will mix puppeteers, opera singers, and instrumentalists in a show the entire family can enjoy. Franz Joseph Haydn’s opera Philemon und Baucis, oder Jupiters Reise auf die Erde was originally written for a marionette theater at the Royal Castle of Esterhazy in the 18th Century. In the story, the gods look down upon the earth and observe mankind’s cruelty towards one another and the world in which they live. At first, the gods throw storms upon the earth as punishment for the humans’ bad behavior. But before destroying everything, the gods decide to search for any moral good remaining. Jupiter and Mercury descend upon the earth and discover a husband and wife whose kindness proves humanity is worth saving.

 

Ticketing information

Baryshnikov Arts has introduced tiered pricing for all performances. Audience members can choose a price at a level that reflects their personal capacity.

 

General Tickets 

MISHA / MERCE / MORE_A Film Event $35 ($31 + $4 fee)

All other events $39 ($35 + $4 fee). Any seat in the house may be purchased at this level.

 

Round Up Tickets: $54 ($50 + $4 fee): Audience members with more financial flexibility are encouraged to consider purchasing Round Up Tickets. Your support helps to ensure that Baryshnikov Arts can continue to present contemporary, innovative performances at affordable ticket prices.

 

Pay-It-Forward Tickets: $74 ($70 + $4 fee)

A Pay-It-Forward Ticket includes a ticket for yourself and allows Baryshnikov Arts to provide a complimentary ticket to an artist or member of our community who would otherwise be restricted from attending our performances due to financial barriers. Audience members whose personal financial situation allows are encouraged to purchase at this level.

 

Children’s Tickets for the little OPERA theatre of ny: $19 ($15 + $4 fee) for children 12 and under.

 

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Baye & Asa is a company creating movement art projects directed & choreographed by Amadi ‘Baye’ Washington & Sam ‘Asa’ Pratt. They grew up together in New York City, and that shared educational history is the mother of their work. Hip Hop & African dance languages are the foundation of their technique. The rhythms of these techniques inform the way they energetically confront contemporary dance, theater, and film. They’ve presented their work at The Joyce Theater, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, Pioneer Works, The 92nd Street Y, Baryshnikov Arts Center, Jacob’s Pillow, ODC, Blacklight Summit, and Battery Dance Festival. They were selected as one of Dance Magazine's “25 to Watch” for 2022, and are recipients of Dance Magazine's 2023 Harkness Promise Award. Their film work has won numerous awards and has been presented internationally. Baye & Asa have works currently touring with BODYTRAFFIC and the Martha Graham Dance Company, and in the coming year they’ll be creating new commissions for the Alvin Ailey II, Baryshnikov Arts Center, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

 

Violinist Alexi Kenney is forging a career that defies categorization, following his interests, intuition, and heart. He is equally at home creating experimental programs and commissioning new works, soloing with major orchestras in the USA and abroad, and collaborating with some of the most celebrated musicians of our time. He has appeared as soloist with the Cleveland Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Indianapolis Symphony, and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, among many others, in recital at Wigmore Hall, Carnegie Hall, 92NY, and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and in a play-conduct role as guest leader of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. In 2023, he debuted Shifting Ground, a solo violin recital that interweaves Bach with contemporary works (including two commissioned compositions by Salina Fisher and Angélica Negrón), at Cal Performances, Celebrity SeriesBoston, Princeton University Concerts, and the Phillips Collection. A sought-after chamber musician, Alexi regularly performs at festivals including Chamber Music Northwest, ChamberFest Cleveland, La Jolla, Marlboro, Ojai, Seattle, and Spoleto, and as a member of the new quartet collective Owls alongside violist Ayane Kozasa, cellist Gabe Cabezas, and cellist/composer Paul Wiancko. He is an alum of the Bowers Program at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Alexi is the recipient of an Avery Fisher Career Grant, a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award, and winner of the ConcertArtists Guild Competition. Born in 1994 in Palo Alto, California, Alexi received his Artist Diploma from the New England Conservatory, where he studied with Donald Weilerstein and Miriam Fried. He plays a violin made by Stefan-Peter Greiner in 2009 and a bow by François-Nicolas Voirin. Outside of music, Alexi enjoys searching for great food and coffee, baking for friends, and walking for miles on end in whichever city he finds himself, listening to podcasts and Bach on repeat.

 

Xuan is a new media artist, filmmaker, and pianist working at the intersection of music, visual art, and technology. A trained classical pianist with a passion for ‘visual music,’ she actively develops innovative, cross-disciplinary projects that broaden the immersive scope of new music and performance. Her work encompasses experimental animation, abstract scenography, music videos, interactive installations and large scale projection mapping. Her music-driven films explore themes of femininity, power, inner conflict, and multicultural identity. She has collaborated with artists such as Glenn Kotche, Pierre Jodlowski, Nina Shekhar, Annika Socolofsky, Bec Plexus, Eighth Blackbird, Third Coast Percussion, Anzû Quartet, Akropolis Quintet, Nois Quartet, Parhelion Trio, Rubiks Collective, and Ensemble Garage — which have led to live performances at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the MCA Chicago, the Smithsonian Institution, University of South Carolina, Carnegie Mellon University, Constellation, SF Jazz, Le Poisson Rouge, Ad Astra Music Festival, Mizzou International Composers Festival, and CAP UCLA’S Tune In Festival 2021. Xuan was selected to create projections for Art on theMART (2021), ‘the largest permanent digital art projection in the world' on the on the 2.5 acre façade of the Merchandise Mart in Chicago, in collaboration with GRAMMY-winning ensemble Eighth Blackbird and world-renowned composer Michael Gordon. Her interactive installations have been exhibited at the ErsterErster Gallery in Berlin, DE, the ibug Urban Art Festival in Reinchenbach, DE, and Design Biennale 2019 in Zürich, CH, the RESCUE Residency in Santo Stefano di Magra, Italy, Sound Forms 2021 in Hong Kong, and at the Rail Yards in Albuquerque, as part of Onebeat’s 10th Anniversary celebration in 2022. She was invited to be an Artist-in-Residence at the Digital Graffiti Festival at Alys Beach and ibug Festival for urbane Künst in 2023. An advocate for cross-disciplinary collaboration and multi-media performance, she has given lectures at Carnegie Mellon University, University of Colorado Boulder, University of South Carolina, Rochester Institute of Technology, and The New School. Additionally, she has taught experimental filmmaking at the Eastman School of Music since 2016. Xuan is a graduate of Eastman in piano performance and has studied Media Spaces at the BTK University of Art and Design in Berlin. She is honored to be a fellow of Onebeat 9 in 2022 and the Blackbird Creative Lab in 2018.

 

The little OPERA theatre of ny (LOTNY) is a chamber opera company that was founded in 2004.

The most recent production was the 2019 NY premiere of Benjamin Britten’s Owen Wingrave at the GK Arts Center in DUMBO. Prior productions include the NY premiere of J.A. Hasse’s Piramo e Tisbe, which was described as “superbly smart and affecting” by Parterre and “fit for a king” by ConcertoNet. The 2017 New York premiere of Carlisle Floyd’s Prince of Players was widely praised, and described by the New York Times as “well made and stylish.” Other recent productions include Chevalier de Saint-George’s L’Amant Anonyme, which was heralded as “an exercise in restrained beauty;” and the 2014 production of Carlisle Floyd’s Slow Dusk & Markheim was warmly received, described as “ambitious and rewarding” by Opera News. Past seasons have included Rossini’s Opportunity Makes the Thief, a production that Opera News called a “lively and enlightening contribution… to New York City’s operatic life”; Gluck’s 1760 comic opera, The Reformed Drunkard; and a double bill entitled Travelers, which included two rarities by Gustav Holst (The Wandering Scholar and Sāvitri). A “Critic’s Pick” in The New Yorker and The New York Times, Travelers garnered critical praise. New York Times commended the opera’s “delicate balance of grandeur and intimacy.” In 2011, LOTNY presented the New York stage premiere of Mozart’s youthful opera, Mitridate, re di Ponto to sold-out houses, and received widespread press coverage. Work with living composers include the production of Inessa Zaretsky’s Man in a Black Coat as part of Target Margin’s Last Futurist Lab at The Bushwick Starr. Concert presentations have included: This Little Light of Mine: The Stories of Marian Anderson and Leontyne Price created by and featuring Adrienne Danrich presented at Merkin Concert Hall, Make Believe: A tribute to Jerome Kern, and The Bohemians both presented at Socrates Sculpture Park.

 

About Baryshnikov Arts

Baryshnikov Arts, founded in 2005 by Mikhail Baryshnikov, is rooted in the belief that artists hold irreplaceable roles in our world, shaping perspectives, offering new approaches, and initiating crucial conversations in complex social, political, and cultural environments. Baryshnikov Arts supports extraordinary performers to experiment with unique artistic expression that asks audiences to view the world in new ways. We offer performance opportunities, artist residencies, and more. In October 2022 Baryshnikov Arts welcomed a new Executive Director, Sonja Kostich, with a focus on cultivating and supporting new perspectives. With the recent rebrand of the organization in June 2023, Baryshnikov Arts expands its capacity to create multi-platform and collaborative havens for artistic expression, innovation and freedom as we commit further to elevating and sharing the stories of artists of diverse cultures and histories. baryshnikovarts.org