“A veritable Psalm-athon will be the centerpiece of Lincoln Center’s White Light Festival this fall,” writes Michael Cooper in Tuesday’s (6/20) New York Times. “Organizers said Tuesday that the festival would feature performances of settings of all 150 biblical psalms, by 150 different composers, in ‘The Psalms Experience.’ This seems a natural fit for White Light, which has made transcendence and spirituality its central themes. Other highlights of the festival—which will run from Oct. 18 through Nov. 15—include John Eliot Gardiner conducting Monteverdi’s three surviving operas; the Mark Morris Dance Group performing the New York premiere of ‘Layla and Majnun,’ a Middle Eastern opera; and the choreographer Jessica Lang staging Pergolesi’s ‘Stabat Mater.’ But the psalms bonanza, for which the festival will spread out across the city to present a dozen concerts featuring 1,000 years of music by composers including Bach, Handel, Telemann and Arvo Pärt, will be the most unusual offering.” Composers for the newly commissioned settings include David Lang (Psalm 101), Mohammed Fairouz (Psalm 14), Evelin Seppar (Psalm 129), and Nico Muhly (Psalm 63). Works by Bruckner, Ned Rorem, Tallis, Bach, Purcell, Brahms, and Palestrina that are set to psalms will also be part of the programs.
Posted June 22, 2017
