Club Free Time Blog

Intimate Venues, Rare Programs

classical music, Music notes

by Gail Wein
May 01, 2018

In this column, I usually highlight events at the major concert presenters, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and New York Philharmonic. These spots have the biggest concentration of A-List, Can’t Miss performers. But first, today, some recommendations for lesser-known artists and out-of-the way venues.

The Orion String Quartet celebrates its 30th anniversary with a gift to us: all of Beethoven’s string quartets, performed over six concerts. Remaining dates are May 2, 3, 7 and 14. Admission is free.

The Jupiter Chamber Players are an-all-too-well-kept secret. Their season of two dozen concerts at Good Shephard Presbyterian Church features solid performances, excellent programs and great players. They’ll wind up this season with Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Brahms performed by a roster that includes the violist Paul Neubauer and cellist Christine Lamprea.

The Flea Theater recently moved to a new location in Tribeca. In addition to edgy off-off Broadway productions, the venue presents some unusual concert offerings. The early music group ARTEK combines the two art forms in “Artemisia”, a one-woman show that features live Baroque music, on May 15, 17, 19 and 20. ARTEK also gives two more traditional concerts there on May 16 and 18.

One of the longest-running series in New York is the People’s Symphony. It’s one of the most economical, too. People’s Symphony winds up its 118th season with Dover String Quartet on May 5 and Brahms all-star sextet on May 12, both at Washington Irving High School. One of the longest-running new music marathons (okay, that’s a bit of a niche category, but, still…30 years), the Bang on a Can Marathon brings us 10 hours of continuous live performances on May 13. Admission is free.

And now, as promised, some big-venue highlights:
In May, Carnegie Hall presents Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (May 4 and 5), Les Violons du Roy (May 5), pianists Emanuel Ax (May 10) and Yuja Wang (May 17), and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra (May 17 and 30).

Lincoln Center’s Great Performers series brings to the stage the London Symphony Orchestra with conductor Simon Rattle (May 4, 6 and 7), cellist Sol Gabetta (May 12) and Freiburg Baroque Orchestra (May 19).

A couple of highlights of the New York Philharmonic’s 175th season in May include two programs led by the conductor Semyon Bychkov: Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5 and Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No. 1 (May 17, 18, 19, and 22) and Luciano Berio’s groundbreaking Sinfonia (with the vocal group Roomful of Teeth) paired with Richard Strauss’s An Alpine Symphony (May 24, 25 and 26).

Well? What are you waiting for? Get out there and hear some live music!