The Garth Fagan Dance company performs “The Rite of Spring” with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra.
In Friday’s (1/23) Rochester Beacon, David Raymond writes, “The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra’s Dance Festival begins with cutting-edge modern dance and concludes with the elegance of classical ballet. The festival covers two weekends, with performances by Rochester’s two professional dance companies. Garth Fagan Dance will perform ‘Days and Nights in Rocinha,’ with music by Philip Glass, on Jan. 24 and 25, with guest conductor Aram Demirjian; and Rochester City Ballet will dance excerpts from Prokofiev’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ on Jan. 31 and Feb. 1, conducted by RPO music director Andreas Delfs. This new festival exemplifies Delfs’ commitment to bringing the RPO together with other local arts groups. The orchestra’s audiences had a preview of this in January 2024, when Garth Fagan Dance joined the conductor and the RPO in a very successful performance of Stravinsky’s ‘Rite of Spring.’ ‘Andreas spearheaded that “Rite of Spring,” ’ says Norwood ‘PJ’ Pennewell, the Garth Fagan company’s artistic director. ‘He wants to create for integration in the performing arts community, so he thought it made sense to join Garth Fagan and Rochester City Ballet in a festival.’… Along with ‘Romeo and Juliet,’ the RPO is presenting … Jean-Yves Thibaudet in the premiere of Aaron Jay Kernis’ Piano Concerto No. 2 … one of the orchestra’s ‘Voices of Today’ commissions.”
