The World Financial Center in lower Manhattan (New York City) is presenting a free performance of the Knickerbocker Chamber Orchestra on 16 January 2010, featuring special guest Neil Gaiman narrating Peter and the Wolf. The performance will be part of a larger show entitled “Musical Tales and Adventures: Peter and the Wolf and And Bold to Fall Withal—Henry Hudson in the New World“, and will be set in the WFC’s glass-vaulted Winter Garden. The concert begins at 7PM, and no tickets or reservations are required.
The concert will also feature acclaimed Broadway tenor Jason Danieley in And Bold to Fall Withal—Henry Hudson in the New World (a world premiere composition by Knickerbocker founder and conductor Gary S. Fagin). The piece celebrates the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s arrival in New York Harbor.
The evening will also include a performance of Charles Ives’ haunting The Unanswered Question and Duke Ellington’s playful Up and Down, Up and Down, from Such Sweet Thunder. At the end of the concert, the Winter Garden will be transformed into a ballroom with dancing, as the Orchestra plays Tchaikovsky’s Waltz from Eugene Onegin.
WFC Artistic Director Debra Simon said “We’re thrilled to be partnering once again with the Knickerbocker Chamber Orchestra, which in one short year has established itself as an estimable force on New York’s classical music scene. Neil Gaiman and Jason Danieley both rank among the most exciting voices in their respective fields, and it’s a testament to Knickerbocker’s influence that they’ve chosen to be a part of this magical evening in one of New York’s most stunning performance spaces.”
For more details, see this page.