Classical Music and Opera
1. ‘Delusion’
Laurie Anderson performs twenty stories, creating a “trancelike situation … so that your mind can float.”
BAM, Sept. 21–Oct. 3.
2. New York Philharmonic
Alan Gilbert opens the season with a swinging premiere by Wynton Marsalis.
Avery Fisher Hall; starts Sept. 22.
3. ‘El Gato Con Botas’
Gotham Chamber Opera stages Xavier Montsalvatge’s whimsical Puss in Boots, with bunraku puppetry thrown in.
New Victory Theater, Oct. 2–10.
4. ‘Boris Godunov’
The first Met Boris for the singular bass Rene Pape; Valery Gergiev conducts.
Metropolitan Opera, Oct. 11.
5. ‘How Can You Stay in the House All Day and Not Go Anywhere?’
The artist Ralph Lemon’s eclectic new multimedia work, inspired by a 102-year-old sharecropper.
BAM, October 13–16.
6. “Composer Portraits”
Two must-hear nights this fall: Matthias Pintscher’s chamber music, and Pierre Boulez, whose program will culminate in a rare new work.
Miller Theatre, Oct. 21 and Dec. 6.
7. “Spectral Scriabin”
A tribute to the piano innovator (and color theorist) Alexander Scriabin, with multihued lighting by Jennifer Tipton.
Baryshnikov Arts Center, Oct. 26 and 27.
8. ‘A Quiet Place’
The New York premiere of Leonard Bernstein’s once-panned opera, a psychological drama flashing back through a long marriage, which he called “emotionally the strongest thing I’ve ever written.”
City Opera, Oct. 27–Nov. 21.
9. ‘Judith’
The story of one of the Bible’s most badass ladies in a semi-staged Croatian retelling.
Lincoln Center; Nov. 3, 5, 6.
10. Brad Mehldau
For the first time, Carnegie gives its composer’s chair to a jazzman, and not just any cat—a pianist with broad influences and a cerebral style.
Carnegie Hall, Nov. 9.
11. ‘Gravity Radio’
Mikel Rouse’s song cycle blends multichannel video with sounds from the AP wire, a string quartet, and his own band’s songs.
BAM, Dec. 7, 9, 10, 11.
12. NYFOS Next
New York Festival of Song’s intimate new series opens with a lineup co-curated by Gabriel Kahane.
Baryshnikov Arts Center, Nov. 16.
13. ‘Messe de Notre Dame’
A big event in early-music circles: Machaut’s almost-never-performed fourteenth-century mass. Ensemble Organum does the honors.
Baryshnikov Arts Center, Dec. 8.
14. JapanNYC
Seiji Ozawa directs this citywide festival. Best bet: two nights of the Saito Kinen Orchestra.
Carnegie Hall, Dec. 14 and 15.
Dance
15. New York City Ballet
Pre-Nutcracker catnip: a real fall season of 27 ballets. Look for Benjamin Millepied’s collaboration with David Lang.
David H. Koch Theater, Sept. 14–Oct. 10.
16. ‘Maa’br>Kaija Saariaho’s only ballet gets its U.S. premiere, stylishly choreographed by Luca Veggetti.
Miller Theatre, Sept. 24.
17. ‘Vollmond’
In the first new season here since Pina Bausch’s death, her company performs an immersive new work in which a giant boulder anchors the stage.
BAM, Sept. 29–Oct. 9.
18. “Works & Process”
The performance-with-discussion series returns, as Jessica Lang and Pontus Lidberg both choreograph new work to one piece by David Lang.
Guggenheim Museum, Oct. 3.
19. Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet
Cedar Lake’s lively season includes local premieres by Alexander Ekman and Hofesh Shechter.
Joyce Theatre, Oct. 26–Nov. 7.
20. ‘Sutra’
Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, known for blending ballet, African, and hip-hop rhythms, premieres a piece starring seventeen Shaolin monks.
Lincoln Center, Nov. 2–4.