My long weekend in New York June 12-14 was very stimulating
and filled with music. Arthur Honegger’s dramatic oratorio, Jeanne d'Arc
au bûcher (Joan of Arc at the
Stake) was performed by the New York Philharmonic conducted by Alan Gilbert. This oratorio portrayed Joan of Arc as she
lived her final minutes and remembered some of the events that led her to that
point. Performed in French with English
supertitles, this was masterful and very moving. New York Choral Arts provided the vocal parts
and there were three speaking roles that moved the drama along. The title role, a speaking role, was played
by Marion Cotillard with intensity and innocence. Here is a brief review of this oratorio:
Marion Cotillard in the title role of
Honegger’s Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher,
Photo by Chris Lee
I had the good
fortune to see the American Ballet Theater's (ABT’s) extraordinary and elegant performance
of Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty. This staging is notable because
ABT’s artist-in-residence, Alexei Ratmansky, researched in detail the
choreography of Marius Petipa and the costumes from the first performances of
this ballet in 1890 in St. Petersburg, Russia.
This production hearkens back to a view of an old-world court in two
time periods separated by 100 years. Ratmansky
cast several children from ABT’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onasis ballet school, where
my friend’s daughter, Julia Levine, is a student. Julia danced two roles in Sleeping Beauty.
Gillian Murphy as
Aurora in ABT’s The Sleeping Beauty,
Photo by Gene Schiavone
With Julia Levine at
the American Ballet Theater
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