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Classical Music Listings from the New York Times

Pierre Boulez in 2004
Pierre Boulez

From NYTimes.com:

‘Crash’ (Friday and Saturday) The inventive American composer Robert Ashley died last year at 83, shortly after finishing “Crash,” his final opera, which had its premiere at the 2014 Whitney Biennial. Mr. Crash’s unconventional operas blend spoken dialogue; meditative, surrealist scores; surrealist dramatic elements; and experimental vocal idioms. “Crash,” which explores the attitudes and prejudices of an older man, features six voices and a score accompanied by photo projections. At 8 p.m., Roulette, 509 Atlantic Avenue, near Third Avenue, Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, 917-267-0363, roulette.org. (Schweitzer)

JACK Quartet (Friday) The inviting David Rubenstein Atrium has become not just a popular place near Lincoln Center to hang out and enjoy snacks, but also an increasingly busy space for concerts of all kinds. The adventurous and excellent JACK Quartet plays a free program of American works on Friday, including Ruth Crawford Seeger’s String Quartet “1931,” and recent pieces by John Zorn, Caroline Shaw, Missy Mazzoli and Jason Eckardt. At 7:30 p.m., Broadway between 62nd and 63rd Streets, Lincoln Center, 212-721-6500, atrium.lincolncenter.org. (Tommasini)

Juilliard Orchestra (Sunday) The charismatic conductor David Robertson leads this excellent orchestra in a 90th-birthday tribute to Pierre Boulez that retraces lines of debt and gratitude through 20th-century touchstones like Debussy’s “Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun,” Stravinsky’s “Symphonies of Wind Instruments” and two works by Boulez: “Originel,” from “… explosante-fixe …,” and “Rituel in Memoriam Bruno Maderna.” At 3 p.m., Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center, 212-721-6500, lincolncenter.org. (da Fonseca-Wollheim)

MATA Festival (Friday and Saturday) This zany, adventurous and polyglot festival of new music by young composers from around the world wraps up with a program on Friday headlined by the endearingly named Bearthoven Trio (piano, percussion and bass) in works by Jonathan Nangle and Amanda Schoofs. There’s also a new work for bass by Du Yun and “Corporate Talent Factor’s Next Top Idol!,” a piece posing as a talent competition, by Adam de la Cour. On Saturday, the accomplished Talea Ensemble delves into works inspired by technology and machines, including a percussion concerto, played partly on a handmade sculpture, by Ann Cleare. Full details are online. Most events take place at the Kitchen, 512 West 19th Street, Chelsea, 212-255-5793, thekitchen.org. (da Fonseca-Wollheim)


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