Mozart would have loved meme culture
Plus, an exciting new hire at the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
It started with a surprise: Paris Opera Ballet étoiles Hugo Marchand and Hannah O’Neill treated the audience at New York City Center’s annual Fall for Dance festival with an unplanned pas de deux from Le Parc, a ballet by Angelin Preljocaj that debuted in 1994 (and returned to Paris stages in February). It was the kind of performance you can’t properly process in the moment, but one that stays tucked away in a shallow corner of your brain, surfacing for weeks later at moments unbidden.
I was struck by the way the dancers draped their bodies over one another, overcome with longing that—when physically present with the object of one’s affection—can only be expressed through leonine nuzzling. The image, too, of O’Neill hovering horizontally as Marchand spins her in a kiss lingered. Still, somehow even more pervasive in my memory was the score: the adagio from Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major (K. 488).
It was the way it started—soft and tentative, before billowing out in an unyielding close, the flutes piping in and the strings adding a rocking texture just below the surface, which bubbles up for just a moment. I couldn’t get it out of my head.
I’ve been listening to more of Mozart’s piano concertos; he wrote 27, and with great variety. Even the movement which follows the adagio in No. 23—the allegro assai—feels shockingly jubilant juxtaposed with its predecessor.
In Mozart, more than Beethoven or Bach, I find these moments that feel like buried treasure. They aren’t the works that are most easily identifiable by name, but in so many, I can recognize melodies I’ve heard before. Surely I’d encountered the allegro of Concerto No. 20 in some cinematic swell of drama. And there, in No. 4, a dreaming twinkling that feels impossibly timeless.
Many classical musicians—much like many great artists through history—can feel, now, to us, like more ideas than historical figures. One calls to mind a marble bust. But although Amadeus (1984) is fiction, it’s true that Mozart was a goofy (some might say childish) boy genius who died too young. In the Mozart House in Salzburg, I saw recreations of shooting targets he ordered to be designed, with such level of inane trolling:
“The targets, if it is not too late, I should like to have as follows: a small person with fair hair shown bending over and revealing his bare arse. From his mouth come the words, ‘Bon appétit for the feast.’ The other man should be in boots and with spurs, wearing a red jacket and a wonderful wig in the latest fashion. He should be of medium height and positioned in such a way that he is licking the other man’s arse. From his mouth come the words, ‘Oh, there’s nothing to beat it? That’s how I want it please.’”
This…from the very mind who wrote his own requiem on his deathbed 14 years later, and the piano concerto which has haunted me these past few months.
All this is to say that there are joys and pleasures to be found by acquainting oneself with things that may seem impenetrable or easily glossed over with the tap of a shuffle button. Your curiosity will yield rewards.
The seemingly endless wave of museum renovations continues—now, with LACMA’s new $724 expansion, the David Geffen Galleries, which will finally debut after about two decades of fundraising, planning, pausing, and building. The 347,500-square foot space opens to the public on May 4 (also my birthday).
Not only is the building itself swirling and wavelike—so too is its curatorial approach, which groups artwork loosely geographically, according to the bodies of water closest to where the art originates, e.g. Mediterranean, Atlantic, Pacific. It is, the New York Times reports, a “non-hierarchical space.”
The water metaphors abound: Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors member Holly J. Mitchell told the NYT that the museum’s revamp represents a “sea change, a culture shift at an interesting time in our nation’s history—the physical structure of older museums being oppressive.”
I think that quote, while quippy, may give just a touch too much credit to architecture alone, but I’m all for museums reinvestigating their curatorial processes (though this can go poorly, as we saw in the case of the Brooklyn Museum’s 2024 rehang, which may have gone a step too far in positioning modern-day perspectives over historical context and artistic analysis).
Regardless, the Peter Zumthor-designed building is genuinely stunning, and—like many recent museum projects—takes into consideration how people will actually come together within its walls. The Geffen Galleries double the museum’s previous gallery space and also include “kid-friendly” objects, a coffee house, restaurant, wine bar, bookstore, and theater.
Not to be outdone, London’s National Gallery announced that the Japanese design firm Kengo Kuma and Associates (with BDP and MICA) has won the competition to design a new wing, as a part of its £750 million expansion, the “largest and most significant” transformation in its 200-year history. Called Project Domani, the plan intends to drive community engagement and increase opportunities for global partnerships.
The painting-exclusive museum, up until now, has displayed work dated up till 1900, will extend its historic collection into the 21st century, making it one of the only places in the world where visitors can “view the entire history of painting in the Western tradition.”
That’s not to say that everything is going great. While the National Gallery has raised £375 million for the renovation, in addition to receiving a £75 million donation to the National Gallery Trust (which will help it expand its collection and develop an endowment), the museum has an £8.2 million deficit, The Guardian points out, which could lead to job cuts, fewer exhibits, and higher ticket costs.
I mean, the U.K.’s culture ministers are already considering charging tourists ticket fees for its national museums, which are currently free for all and have been since 2001, The Guardian reported in March. This is already fairly common practice elsewhere; non-EU citizens pay more to get into the Louvre, Egyptian visitors to the new Grand Egyptian Museum can get in for far less than tourists, and Japan is currently debating applying the practice to its national museums.
There is much debate about this—especially given the general sentiment around the British Museum’s treasure trove (why should a Brit be able to see the Elgin Marbles, but a visiting Greek citizen not have the opportunity to lay their eyes on the missing Caryatid for free)? Some prefer alternative means of boosting museum revenue, like granting these institutions a cut of a hotel tax.
Although the Los Angeles Philharmonic is saying farewell to conductor Gustavo Dudamel as he heads over to the NY Phil, it still has plenty of excitement for Angelenos ahead. Thirty-year-old Anna Handler, who most recently worked as assistant conductor at the currently embattled Boston Symphony Orchestra, has been named the LA Phil’s next conductor-in-residence. She’ll hold this position for the next three seasons.
She sounds genuinely exciting, and much like conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen (who now serves as the Phil’s creative director), has a deep interest in technology, which could open the doors for all kinds of innovation.
Her dream, really, is to make her beloved artform more exciting for the masses: she wants to create a “build a Disney World for classical music,” she told the Los Angeles Times.
A majority of artistic directors at the largest ballet companies in the U.S. are men, finds the Dance Data Project in its annual global leadership report. This is relatively unchanged from the previous two years. The pipeline to gender equity is also starting to look a bit concerning, as the data shows associate and artistic directors—feeder positions for the top role—are also increasingly going to men.
A couple live broadcasts for you to keep an eye on: The Royal Ballet’s Giselle will be in select theaters on April 12 and 13. You can find a screening near you here.
Nederlands Dans Theater—one of the most exciting companies in the world—is also releasing a filmed version of the piece it debuted last year with Sharon Eyal Dance, “Into the Hairy.” I saw this piece last summer at NDT’s home theater in The Hague, and it was one of my favorite things I saw all year. Readers of Mezzanine Society can view the livestreamwith a special discount.
And if you, like me, missed Yuval Sharon’s much-hyped Tristan und Isolde at the Met, there’s good news: it will be broadcast through PBS’s Great Performances in September.
Below the paywall: A surprise (and quiet) departure at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the essay circling the art world, the man getting Americans to donate to the Louvre, the buzzy pianist with a great wardrobe to match, a ballet you’ll want to book at Lincoln Center this summer, and more.
