Club Free Time Blog

Festivals for Long Nights

Gail Wein
January 02, 2016

Things start early this year. We've barely put away the holiday ornaments and the party hats, and now we can look forward to a bevy of excellent concerts and festivals.

January is conference time here in New York City, when thousands of industry-types from around the world flock to our town to scope out talent for their rosters, venues and series. Some performances are just for conference attendees at Association of Performing Arts Presenters, Chamber Music America, International Society for the Performing Arts and Jazz Connect Conference; others are open to the public. You can find many of these events on the Unofficial Guide to Music at this website: http://rendezville.com/rps.

January also brings a multitude of festivals to New York, to help combat the cold days and long nights. The Winter Jazz Fest is an annual staple. The highlight is the Marathon on January 15 and 16 with dozens hundreds of concerts around Greenwich Village at Le Poisson Rouge, SubCulture, the New School, The Greene Space and more. You can purchase a one- or two- day pass in advance through the Winter Jazz Fest website.

Then there's the annual Prototype Festival, featuring new and recent opera-theatre and music-theatre works at several venues in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Highlights include the opera "Dog Days" at NYU's Skirball Center January 9-11 and an electro-accoustic opera called "La Reina" about the drug trade in Mexico and the US at Florence Gould Hall on January 17. Prototype runs January 6–17; tickets available through the festival's website.

Another annual spate of performances, Juilliard's Focus! festival, has been going on more than 30 years. This year's programs focus (aha, that's why the title) on the composer Milton Babbitt, and the music that he influenced. All of the concerts are free, and tickets (available at Juilliard box office) are required. More info on Juilliard's website, the festival runs January 22 - 29.
Beethoven didn't invent the string quartet. But he did write some of the greatest works in the genre. You can hear every one of Beethoven's string quartets in chronological order at Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center's Winter Festival. There are six concerts at Alice Tully Hall, January 31 - February 21, each featuring a different ensemble.

On January 28, Orchestre National de France is at Carnegie, and this concert is not to be missed. In my opinion, they are one of the finest orchestras, anywhere. Daniele Gatti conducts, and Julian Rachlin is featured soloist in Shostakovich Violin Concerto No. 1. The program also includes works by Debussy and Tchaikovsky.

Happy New Year! See you at the concert hall!