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David Hayes on life as Mannes Orchestra’s Music Director, his Nov. 18 event & more

David Hayes conducting

David Hayes
David Hayes

David Hayes is a skilled, versatile and prolific conductor. He is the Music Director of both the New York Choral Society and the Mannes Orchestra. He has also served on the conducting staff of The Philadelphia Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic. David has also overseen concerts for the European Center for Opera and Vocal Art, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, the Washington Chorus, and the Louisiana Philharmonic.

On Nov. 18, David will be conducting the Mannes Orchestra as they perform works by Bolcom, Ginastera and Harris. He caught up for some Q&A with Downtown earlier in the month to talk about his upcoming events and what actually got him to where he is today as an in-demand conductor. More info on David and other upcoming concerts can be found on The New School’s website.

What can you tell me about the upcoming event series for the Mannes School Of Music? Any particular events you are most excited about?

David Hayes: The entire year is a celebration of Mannes’ Centennial, so the events that are coming up not only celebrate Mannes’ history but also its present and future. We are focusing on composers, alumni and faculty — like our recent Alice Tully Hall Orchestra concert which was led by JoAnn Falletta (an alum) with music by Bohuslav Martinu (faculty in the 1950’s), as well as a cello concerto by composer Paul Moravec and played by Jeffrey Zeigler (both current faculty). We have exciting projects coming up with composer Kaija Saariaho (Composer-in-Residence this Fall) more music on the next Mannes orchestra by a former faculty member (Roy Harris’s 3rd Symphony) Mozart’s Cosí fan tutti, staged by our fabulous opera department, and then two exciting “movie” projects: “(Un) Silent Night featuring a live score played to Harold Lloyd’s Safety Last, and Howard Blake’s score to the beloved film The Snowman at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. And that’s just the Fall semester!

Where was the first Mannes-related event you ever worked on?

DH: I think the first Mannes Orchestra Concert I ever conducted was at Symphony Space, 96th & Broadway. Rhat was when the school was at its previous home on West 85th Street.

You are a Music Director for several organizations beyond Mannes. What else do you have coming up?

DH: I’m leading performances with the New York Choral Society at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Nov. 9, the U.S. Premiere of a concert Mass by Maltese composer Joseph Vella, and then a Christmas Concert at Alice Tully Hall on Dec. 21st. We return to Carnegie Hall in February for music of Duruflé and Haydn and then give the New York City premiere of James MacMillan’s St. Luke Passion in April.

Was it always the plan for you to be a conductor? Were you ever focused on being a full-time instrumentalist?

DH: I always had it in the back of my mind that I wanted to conduct. So while I studied violin and viola and was playing a lot — tons of “gigging around” — my professional conducting life started taking off quickly after my graduation from the Curtis Institute of Music and I simply didn’t have to time to play anymore. So I never did work exclusively as a full-time instrumentalist.

Outside of the classical and orchestral realm, have you attended any concerts recently?

DH: Actually, no! My schedule is so jam-packed that I can barely keep up with my own rehearsals and performances. It’s really hard to find time to hear other concerts — much as I’d like to!

Do you have a favorite album of 2016?

DH: Hmm, nothing specific that was released just this year. But I recently downloaded some performances of pianist William Kapell — seriously good playing!

David Hayes conducting
David Hayes conducting

When not busy with music, how do you like to spend your free time?

DH: I read a LOT. Besides that? going on long walks down the East River Promenade and binge-watching Gotham and Stranger Things!

Do you have a favorite restaurant in New York?

DH: I adored the Beacon restaurant on 55th near 6th Avenue, but it closed. My current favorite is Vic’s on Great Jones Street — wonderful food!

Finally, David, any last words for the kids?

DH: My simplest advice is “truly love what you do.” This is a very hard life, with lots of sacrifices. The only way it makes sense is if you love it so much that you can’t imagine ever doing anything else. If you have that fire inside, you at least have the possibility of success!

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Elie Hirschfeld Hails Opening of Frank Stella Exhibit At Downtown Whitney

whitney-museum-september-2014-ed-ledermanThe celebrated and groundbreaking creations of iconic American artists Frank Stella were put on display this weekend at the new Downtown Whitney Museum of American Art.

The exhibit offers the most comprehensive collection and presentation of the artist’s career – showcasing his prolific output from the mid-1950s to the present including approximately 120 works, including paintings, reliefs, maquettes, sculptures, and drawings.

“Stella’s revolutionary work has inspired a new generation of American artists and setting the foundation for a new approach to painting,” says iconic New York developer Elie Hirschfeld, whose own impressive art collection has hailed as one of the finest in the United States and includes a piece by the artist.

The Massachusetts born, but longtime New Yorker has been hailed for his breakthrough work in geometric and abstract paintings with no pictorial illusions has been called “inspired” by experts.

Stella’s technique emphasizes “the picture-as-object” rather than a representation of something else was unique and instrumental in launching a new art form.

His work has always been recognized and showcased prominently in New York.

In 2007, The Metropolitan Museum of Art dedicated its roof to display Stella’s sculpture, inspiring another New York luminary to purchase one of his masterpieces.

Approximately 100 works, including icons of major museum and private collections (including Hirschfeld’s), are on display.

Stella Photo
Frank Stella’s Gray Scramble X which was purchased by New York’s eminent Hirschfeld family in 1973.

Along with paintings, reliefs, sculptures, and prints, a selection of drawings and maquettes have been included to shed light on Stella’s conceptual and material process.

“For any New Yorker with an appreciation of art, this is a can’t-miss opportunity,” says Hirschfeld,

The Stella exhibit isopen to the public at the new Whitney through February 7, 2016.

It occupies the Whitney‘s entire fifth floor, an 18,000-square-foot gallery representing the Museum’s largest space for temporary exhibitions.

For more information, please click here.

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Egypt’s Middle Kingdom at the Met, Beginning October 12

Image courtesy of Wikipedia Commons

 

The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s “Ancient Egypt Transformed: The Middle Kingdom” opens in Gallery 899 on October 12th and will continue until January 24th. The exhibit will feature 230 items and groups of items, from a combination of the Metropolitan’s collection and the contributions of 37 lenders. The Met describes it as “the first comprehensive presentation of Middle Kingdom art and culture.”

 

Image courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Image courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Middle Kingdom began with the reunification of Egypt, which was followed by the revitalization of Egyptian culture. It lasted from approximately 2030-1650 B.C., beginning during Dynasty 11 in the reign of Nebhepetre Mentuhotep II and continuing to Dynasty 13. Thebes became the capital for the first time, until the 12th Dynasty when the capital became Itj-Tawy; in the 12th Dynasty, artistic styles – notable in sculptures of pharaohs from the time – shifted, while drawing influence from the Old Kingdom monuments in the Memphite region. The exhibit includes distinctive reliefs from Nebhepetre Mentuhotep’s mortuary complex in Thebes. Factors such as the centralization of administration, and improved agriculture (such as the end of water scarcity that may have contributed to the end of the Old Kingdom) gave Egypt greater stability, and allowed art and culture to thrive.

The decline into the Second Intermediate Period coincided with a series of short-lived kings, and the gradual loss of territory in Upper Egypt, including the important agricultural region of the Nile Delta.

Among the items to appear in the show are jewelry, reliefs, stone sculptures (including large sculptures or parts of monuments), and other items; the Met’s collection of Middle Kingdom pieces includes models with small figures that were placed in tombs, and representations of powerful figures in history alongside representations of animals (such as a cosmetic jar in the form of a cat with crystals for eyes).

middlekingdomboat
Image Courtesy of Wikipedia Commons

Related events include Membership Exhibition Previews on October 6th through October 11th, a Membership Evening Reception on the 8th, and Art Talks for members after the show opens. The exhibit is free with admission, though advance tickets for the museum can be purchased to avoid lines.

A catalogue and audio guides will be available. For $72, visitors can also enjoy a prix-fixe menu at the Museum Café inspired by the exhibit, featuring four courses inspired by modern Egyptian food.

-by Miranda Stewart

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The Met Celebrates the American Images of Thomas Hart Benton

THB_ExhibitionPage
“America Today” was on display at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

“America Today,” a stirring mural offering a unique view of American life in the 1920s by iconic artist Thomas Hart Benton is currently on exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on the Upper East Side.

The multi-panel installation juxtaposes images of hard-working blue collar workers in the rural United States against the gay and opulent lifestyle of the more fortunate residents of upscale Urban America.

The Missouri-born Benton who passed away in 1975 painted the 10-panel mural between 1930 and 1931 for New York’s New School for Social Research to adorn the boardroom of its modernist building on West 12th Street.

Benton was known for his realism and often politically charged creations. He became identified with the “Regionalist” style of the period, but later his refusal to adapt the trending styles of the times caused him to lose favor in the art world.

When he turned his focus to New York City, the artist’s work seemed calmer and less critical.

His piece, “Washington Square Art Fair,” offers a happy and idyllic glimpse at this Greenwich Village setting from a bygone era.

The piece hangs in the home of renowned New York developer Elie HIrschfeld who is a noted art collector and feels a particular connection to this painting.

“This was the first significant piece of art I acquired some 35 years ago,” Hirschfeld says. “I knew immediately that it would become the focus of my future collection of original art scenes of New York City.”

Hirschfeld says the piece offers a time capsule of the time when the park was a welcome respite for New Yorkers.

“The scene depicts a very happy Washington Square Park and the school that I attended – New York University Law School – and an important Art Fair that was well known at that time and lasted for many years,” says Hirschfeld.

main-benton
Elie Hirschfeld‘s prize Benton work: “Washington Square Art Fair.”

“The style is prototypical Benton. It is Benton’s New York with a care free and relaxed presentation,” the collector adds.

“This is not the gritty and frenetic New York seen in so many artists’ work.”

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New at the Met: The Roof Garden Commission: Dan Graham with Günther Vogt

Dan Graham
One of Graham’s pavilions in Berlin, Germany.

American artist Dan Graham was selected by The Metropolitan Museum of Art as the featured artist for its rooftop exhibit, coming this April. Dan Graham will work in collaboration with Swiss landscape architect Gunther Vogt for the exhibit, which will feature a unique steel and glass pavilion installed atop of the museum’s Iris B. and Gerald Canto Roof Garden. The Roof Garden Commission: Dan Graham with Günther Vogt will be on view from April 29 through November 2, 2014.

The focus of the exhibit is one of Graham’s masterfully designed pavilions, which are a unique blend of glass and steel, constructed of hedge rows and curves of two-way mirrored glass. The pavilion will be both transparent and reflective, offerring a changing and visually complex environment for visitors.

“We are thrilled to present this extraordinary new commission,” stated Thomas P. Campbell, Director and CEO of the Met. “For decades, Dan Graham has created work that challenges viewers to think in new and thought-provoking ways about the streets and cities they traverse every day. In his reimagining of the Met’s roof, visitors will discover a picturesque landscape that is at once unexpected and familiar.”

Graham rose as a prominent figure as head of John Daniel’s Gallery in New York back in the 1960’s, and curating Solomon “Sol” LeWitt’s first one man show back in 1965. His work designing pavilions has garnered him high praise since the 1980’s.

In 1966, Graham released his groundbreaking landmark photo-essay Homes for America, which dealt with issues of urbanity, public space, and the viewer’s own experience of it, through a multidisciplinary practice that includes writing, photography, video, performance, and the creation of sculptural environments of mirrored glass and metal.

Graham’s site-specific pavilions of the years that followed built on the artist’s interest in engaging the public with the space and structures that surround them. With its spectacular views of the city skyline and Central Park, the Museum’s Roof Garden presents a unique environment for Graham to further engage with notions of the city, its landscape and architecture, and the role of the public within its spaces.

Sandwiches, snacks, desserts, and beverage service—including espresso, cappuccino, iced tea, soft drinks, wine, and beer—will be available at the Roof Garden Café daily from 10:00 a.m. until closing, as weather permits. A martini bar will also be open on the Roof Garden on Friday and Saturday evenings (5:30–8:00 p.m.).

For further information, visit http://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2014/dan-graham

-Alejandro Ramos