Lincoln Festival 2009

Surround yourself with stunning theater, music, and dance at Lincoln Center Festival 2009! For three exciting weeks in July, artists from around the world share their stories on the human experience, ranging from tragic to enraged, from poignant to hopeful and joyful.
This year’s world-class theater features the return of visionary director Ariane Mnouchkine and her acting collective Le Théâtre du Soleil, who examine the threads that connect people universally in Les Ephemeres. Piccolo Teatro di Milano and Teatri Uniti di Napoli perform Trilogia della villeggiatura, an uproarious satire on the Italian middle class starring and directed by Toni Servillo.
Eclectic musical offerings come from this country and abroad. A New Orleans-style party heats up with A Tribute to Wardell Quezergue, joyfully celebrating the “Creole Beethoven” and the unsung heroes of American music.Justin adams and Juldeh camara flaunt their mastery of percussive Afro-Blues on a program with rising Malian star Issa bagayogo. Two leading Berber singer-songwriters make U.S. debuts,Idir and the “Queen of Chaabi” Najat aatabou, and Dennis Russell Davies and Maki Namekawa perform innovative works for Two pianos.
Internationally-acclaimed dance companies bring their signature styles to this year’s Festival. Emanuel Gat Dance investigates the relationship between movement and sound in the North American premiere of Silent Ballet on a program with Winter Variations, and Shen Wei Dance Arts explores the iconic choreographer’s journey from China to America and back in the New York premiere of Re- (I, II, III).
Two acclaimed theater companies arrive at the Festival from Russia with deeply moving works: the Chekhov International Theatre Festival presents boris Godunov, an exposé of corrupt Tsarist Russia, and the St. Petersburg-based Maly Drama Theatre follows a physicist with a moral dilemma in Life and Fate. Also hailing from Eastern Europe, Budapest’s Katona József Theatre performs Ivanov, based on one of Chekhov’s most compelling characters; Polish ensemble Narodowy Stary Teatr delves into the mind of an obsessed scientist in Kalkwerk; and Hungary’s Béla Pintér and Company perform Peasant Opera, a hilarious dark musical comedy.