Care of the always informative DotDotDot Music, color us très impressed with Symphony Space's upcoming 2014-15 offerings: a live rendering of the score to Beasts of the Southern Wild, Classicalite dears eighth blackbird, husband and wife virtuosi Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn, wall-to-wall Johnny Cash and even a brand new mini-series, itself.
Hurdling into its 36th iteration--running from September 2014 through June 2015--this season holds a quintet of concerts at Symphony Space's Peter Jay Sharp Theater, as well as that inaugural series in the Leonard Nimoy Thalia.
A nexus of new music programming, SS never fails to find exciting ways to explore music's commonality across the genres--be it classical or indie classical, Broadway's best to the newest jazz sounds or the nihilist noise of one Richard Hell.
Here are but a smidgen of the highlights:
Season opener Sundance...Sings! takes place September 29 in Peter Jay Sharp with Broadway greats Christine Ebersole, Adriane Lenox, Steven Pasquale and others, showcasing composers and lyricists nurtured by Sundance Theater Lab.
Banjo best Béla Fleck is joined by his singer-songwriter wife Abigail Washburn in their first-ever New York City appearance as a duo on October 29.
Soul-stirring gospel takes over the Sharp Theater on December 3 when the Five Blind Boys of Alabama< sing a special holiday program.
Behn Zeitlin not only directed the award-winning film Beasts of the Southern Wild, but he also composed its soundtrack--which will be performed live by the Wordless Music Orchestra on January 23 and 24 to a special print of the film.
March 21 brings new music ensemble eighth blackbird. Their program explores the ever-blurrier boundaries between new classical music and indie rock with works by Bryce Dessner of The National, Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, Richard Reed Parry of Arcade Fire and maverick accordionist Michael Ward Bergeman.
And, lest we forget, here's the rundown on the new series that Clite is very much anticipating...
Night Out with Richard Hell. The NYC icon, who helped plot the course for punk and what came next, takes up residence at Symphony Space to introduce and interview young artists he admires. Opening October 17 with country-punk fireball Lydia Loveless.
REscored: Film + Live Music features live original scores by a freewheeling assortment of musical visionaries including guitarists Gary Lucas and Marc Ribot, trumpeter Steven Bernstein with Sex Mob, tabla player Karsh Kale and experimental hip-hop duo The Shanghai Restoration Project.
Sounds & Spirits features pairings of music--bluegrass, jazz, reggae, cabaret, Balkan brass--with artisanal spirits and cocktails curated by Small Batch America. With Slavic Soul Party, Helga Davis's The Love Show, Meta and the Cornerstones, The Deadly Gentlemen and others.
