From NYTimes.com:
Robert Ashley Operas (through Sunday) The composer Robert Ashley had a devoted following, especially for his unconventional, often haunting operas with spoken dialogue, chanting, and experimental musical and narrative techniques. He died in March at the age of 83, just months after completing his final opera, “Crash,” which, under the direction of Alex Waterman, recently opened a presentation of three Ashley operas at the 2014 Whitney Biennial. “Vidas Perfectas,” a new Spanish-language version of Mr. Ashley’s television opera “Perfect Lives,” is the second production, also directed by Mr. Waterman. The series ends with what Mr. Ashley called a “speaking opera” from 1968, “The Trial of Ann Opie Wehrer and Unknown Accomplices for Crimes Against Humanity.” “Vidas Perfectas”: Friday at 1:30 and 6:30 p.m., Saturday and Sunday at noon and 4:30 p.m. “The Trial”: Friday at 2 and 4:30 p.m., Whitney Museum of American Art, 212-570-7766, whitney.org; $20, $15 for students and 65+. (Anthony Tommasini)
Bargemusic (Friday through Sunday and Wednesday) This intimate floating concert hall is, as usual, host to a variety of repertory this week. On Friday the pianist Gilles Vonsattel’s program is heavy on modern music by composers like Benjamin Shadow, Messiaen and Frederic Rzewski. (The Rzewski work, “Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues,” returns as part of the pianist Thomas Schultz’s recital on Wednesday.) The barge’s artistic director, the violinist Mark Peskanov, takes the stage on Saturday with the pianist Doris Stevenson and works by Bach, Schumann and others. Sunday’s concert will honor Herbert Stessin, a longtime piano faculty member at the Juilliard School who died in 2011, and feature the pianists Orli Shaham, Jonathan Feldman, Rita Sloan and Sakiko Ohashi. Friday, Saturday and Wednesday at 7 p.m., Sunday at 4 p.m., Bargemusic, Fulton Ferry Landing, next to the Brooklyn Bridge, Brooklyn, 718-624-2083, bargemusic.org; $35, $30 for 65+, $15 for students. (Woolfe)
Collected Stories (Tuesday through Thursday) The centerpiece of David Lang’s Carnegie Hall composer residency is a week of concerts demonstrating the enviable range of his tastes. The first concert, “hero,” brings together Harry Partch’s “The Wayward,” a series of compositions based on Depression-era hobos, and the vocalist and harpist Benjamin Bagby’s dramatic interpretation of “Beowulf.” The next night, “spirit,” begins with Tuvan throat singing by the group Huun-Huur-Tu and continues with Arvo Part’s Passion narrative “Passio,” conducted by Julian Wachner and featuring the tenor Nicholas Phan, the baritone Dashon Burton and the vocal ensemble Tenet. On Thursday “love/loss” features retellings of the folk ballad “The Two Sisters” by the composers Julia Wolfe and Nico Muhly as well as a performance by the alternative hip-hop group the Uncluded (the rapper Aesop Rock and the singer-songwriter Kimya Dawson). (Through April 29.) At 6 p.m., Zankel Hall, Carnegie Hall, 212-247-7800, carnegiehall.org; $34 and $40. (Woolfe)
Concertante (Thursday) Messiaen’s searing but hopeful “Quartet for the End of Time” forms the centerpiece of this flexible chamber group’s program of wartime chamber works. The program also includes Shostakovich’s dark and powerful Piano Trio in E minor (Op. 67), which ends with a bitter dance of death. At 7:30 p.m., Merkin Concert Hall, Goodman House, 129 West 67th Street, Manhattan, 212-501-3330, kaufman-center.org; $26. (Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim)
Cutting Edge Concerts New Music Festival (Monday) This adventurous series, organized by the composer Victoria Bond, continues with the New York debut of the Blue Streak Ensemble, a chamber group founded by the composer Margaret Brouwer. The program includes works by Ms. Brouwer, Ms. Bond (selections from her opera “Clara”), Robert Paterson, David T. Little and Jonathan Tunick. At 7:30 p.m., Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway, at 95th Street, 212-864-5400, symphonyspace.org; $20, $15 for students. (Woolfe)
Vijay Iyer and the Brentano String Quartet (Thursday) The composer and pianist Vijay Iyer, whose multistylistic works draw from jazz, classical and electronic music, joins the dynamic Brentano String Quartet in selections from “Time, Place, Action,” his recent piano quintet, written for the Brentano players. The program includes Mr. Iyer in several other works that can be heard on his new album, “Mutations.” This evening, is hosted by Terrance McKnight of WQXR. At 7 p.m., the Greene Space, 44 Charlton Street, at Varick Street, SoHo, 646-829-4000, thegreenespace.org; $20. (Tommasini)
MATA Festival (Friday through Monday) This annual new-music extravaganza features works by 34 young composers from 17 countries. On Friday, the Talea Ensemble performs a new work by the Dutch composer Edward Hamel. On Saturday, the International Contemporary Ensemble and Neue Vocalsolisten offer a work by the Swiss composer Oscar Bianchi. On Sunday Neue Vocalsolisten celebrates Easter with avant-garde vocal music, and on Monday the Mivos Quartet and Mantra Percussion join forces for music by Daniel Wohl and Yotam Haber. The program also includes a piece by the Swedish composer Lisa Streich, which will be performed by percussionists on a bicycle. Friday, Saturday and Monday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 1 p.m., the Kitchen, 512 West 19th Street, Chelsea, 212-255-5793, thekitchen.org; $20, $15 for students. (Schweitzer)
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