Metropolitan Museum Concerts January2008

Friday, January 11, 2008, at 7:00 p.m. - Steve Ross – "The Songs of Stephen Sondheim"
Cabaret star Steve Ross returns to the Museum with two programs. This first program, "The Songs of Stephen Sondheim," includes songs from including songs from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Company, Merrily We Roll Along, and Follies.
Steve Ross was born in New Rochelle, New York, one of five children. He studied the piano, and after attending Georgetown University and serving in the Army, he became what he calls a "background piano player," playing the music he'd grown up with: Cole Porter, Noel Coward, and Gershwin. In the early 1970s, he came to New York City. Many jobs hinged on his singing as well as playing – he told the club owners that he couldn't really sing, but they insisted. He decided to train his voice further, and so his style developed. A boost to Steve Ross's career came later in the 1970s, when he began his run at Ted Hook's popular Backstage piano bar and restaurant in the Broadway theater district. His major career thrust came when he became the first cabaret artist in 40 years to perform in the newly opened Algonquin Hotel's Oak Room, putting him in the vanguard of the cabaret revival. He performed regularly at the Oak Room for almost four years, and still returns for sell-out performances. A self-proclaimed Anglophile, Steve was happy to begin dinner cabaret at the Ritz in London. He enjoys performing regularly at London's popular Pizza on the Park. He has played at the Spoleto Festival, the Hong Kong Arts Festival, and the Perth Festival in Australia. He has performed in Brazil, around the United States, including on-and off-Broadway. In 1989, the BBC asked Steve Ross to host a live cabaret series. He was also the host of a popular radio series for National Public Radio, New York Cabaret Nights, with live broadcasts from cabaret rooms in New York City and featuring noted guests.
Tickets: $40

Sunday, January 13, 2008, at 7:00 p.m. - The Greek Byzantine Choir
The Greek Byzantine Choir, founded in 1977 by Lycourgos Angelopoulos, is world-renowned for performing music from the Greek Byzantine tradition. The choir will perform at The Temple of Dendur in The Sackler Wing.
The concert is presented in cooperation with the Axion Estin Foundation, Inc.
The Greek Byzantine Choir is one of the most famous exponents of Byzantine chant (the vocal music of the Eastern, more specifically the Greek, Christian Orthodox Church). Based in Athens, Greece, the Greek Byzantine Choir was founded in 1977 by Lycourgos Angelopoulos and his colleagues, with the aim of presenting to the public traditional Byzantine music drawn from both the oral and the written tradition. The Choir aims to preserve the genuine Byzantine tradition by freeing it from the influence of Western music. During its 20 years of existence, the Greek Byzantine Choir has taken part in more than 600 concerts, liturgies, and other events in Greece and in 22 other countries in Europe, Asia, the U.S., and Africa. Among them were all-night vigils at the Mount Sinai Monastery (1983), in Cologne (1985), at the Mega Spilaion Monastery (1987), at the Monastery of Vatopediou in Mount Athos (1995) and at the Cathedral of Saint Dimitrios in Thessaloniki (1993). The Choir has participated in numerous international festivals. From 1989 to 1991, it performed annually at the ancient theater of Epidavros. It also participated in the premiere of the contemporary work Rodanon by Michail Adamis. The choir performed at the Athens Music Hall in 1991 and each year from 1995 to 1998.
The Greek Byzantine Choir has made several recordings of Byzantine music including six CDs published in France. From 1990, it initiated the recording of the works of the great Byzantine "maistor" (master) Ioannis Koukouzelis, and in 1995 it published a volume of works by the composer.
The Temple of Dendur in The Sackler Wing.
Tickets: $50

Friday, January 18, 2008, at 7:00 p.m. - Patti Smith
Pop legend Patti Smith makes her fourth Metropolitan Museum appearance, joined by friends, for a program titled "Poems and Songs for the Young at Heart," featuring works of Hans Christian Andersen, William Blake, Lewis Carroll, A.A. Milne, Rudyard Kipling, and Robert Louis Stevenson.
This event marks Patti Smith's fourth appearance on the Metropolitan Museum Concerts series; she made her Museum debut in June 2001, when she performed a program in conjunction with the Museum's William Blake exhibition. In November 2002, she performed a program devoted to All Saints Day, and in October of last year, to Joan of Arc and French cultural heroes. As one of the early pioneers of the dynamic New York City punk scene, Patti Smith has been sharing her unique blend of poetic rock and roll with the public for over a quarter century.
Tickets: $40

Friday, January 25, 2008, at 8:00 p.m. - MMArtists in Concert
MMArtists in Concert, led by cellist Edward Arron, the artistic coordinator, was created in Metropolitan Museum Concerts' 50th anniversary season, and it is the first ensemble to bear the Museum's name. The ensemble has received critical acclaim not only for "bring[ing] solo quality to ensemble playing," but for the inviting nature of the events: "Connections play an important part in this fine ensemble's programs," noted Steve Smith in The New York Times, and "so do communication and enthusiastic advocacy." The three Friday evening programs will be introduced onstage by WQXR Morning Host Jeff Spurgeon and will be broadcast live on 96.3 FM WQXR as well as streamed online on www.WQXR.com.
String quintets of Beethoven – original and in arrangement – is the theme for the ensemble's fifth season of concerts. This first program features Mozart's Concerto in C Major for Piano and Strings, K. 415; Kirchner's Triptych for Violin and Cello (1986); Bolcom's Graceful Ghost Rag for Solo Piano (1970); and Beethoven's "Kreutzer" Sonata, Op. 47, arranged for string quintet. The ensemble's second and third programs, featuring music by Wuorinen, Dvorák, Carter, and Copland, as well as Beethoven, take place February 22 and May 16, 2008.
The ensemble musicians performing on the program are Colin Jacobsen and Yosuke Kawasaki, violin; Nicholas Cords, viola; Edward Arron and Raman Ramakrishnan, cello; and John Novacek, piano.
Tickets: $40

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December 11, 2007

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