Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker would like to dedicate tonight’s performance to the memory of Steve Paxton (1939-2024).

THE GOLDBERG VARIATIONS, BWV 988

The Goldberg Variations belong to Bach’s late period. The composer pushes the boundaries of musical themes in a play of variations, canons and fugues. For this composition, he started from a simple and quiet melody, joined with an underlying bass line, which steadily unfolds into a musical cosmos that reveals itself with extraordinary variety and unparalleled complexity.

Together with pianists Pavel Kolesnikov and Alain Franco, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker continues her journey with Bach in dialogue with these variations. After working with a large dance ensemble for The Six Brandenburg Concertos (2019), her previous choreography to music by Bach, De Keersmaeker creates a solo for herself. In this piece, she stays true to the same principle of the musical score as the blueprint for choreography.

Including an aria and no less than thirty variations, Bach’s Goldberg Variations challenges the choreographer to a similar exercise: to find a form of dance capable of adaptation and flexibility while retaining an immutable core. To De Keersmaeker, it is above all an invitation to consolidate the road she travelled so far as an artist, addressing today’s pressing questions in her ongoing search for a personal choreographic idiom.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

© Anne Van Aerschot

Anee Teresa De Keersmaeker

In 1980, after studying dance at Mudra School in Brussels and Tisch School of the Arts in New York, Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker (1960) created Asch, her first choreographic work. Two years later came the premiere of Fase, Four Movements to the Music of Steve Reich. De Keersmaeker established the dance company Rosas in Brussels in 1983, while creating the work Rosas danst Rosas. Since these breakthrough pieces, her choreography has been grounded in a rigorous and prolific exploration of the relationship between dance and music. She has created with Rosas a wide-ranging body of work engaging the musical structures and scores of several periods, from early music to contemporary and popular idioms. Her choreographic practice also draws formal principles from geometry, numerical patterns, the natural world, and social structures to offer a unique perspective on the body’s articulation in space and time. In 1995 De Keersmaeker established the school P.A.R.T.S. (Performing Arts Research and Training Studios) in Brussels in association with De Munt/La Monnaie.

Pavel Kolesnikov

Following his seven-concert residency at the Aldeburgh Festival and sixth appearance at the BBC Proms this summer, the 2023/24 season sees Pavel Kolesnikov perform twice with the with the Danish National Symphony (with Susanna Mälkki and Manfred Honeck), debut with Cincinnati Symphony and Netherlands Philharmonic (both with Sir Mark Elder) and embark on a recital tour of North America. He also returns to the Philharmonia Orchestra (Santtu-Matias Rouvali), Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (Vasily Petrenko), Klavier Festival Ruhr and to Wigmore Hall where he was Artist-in-Residence during 2020/21.

Pavel is known for his cross-genre collaborations and narrative programmes. Recent examples include Celestial Navigation – a sequence of music featuring projections by architect Sophie Hicks and text by Martin Crimp – and his realisation of Bach’s Goldberg Variations with dancer Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker which has been staged over fifty times across Europe. Pavel also regularly performs with pianist Samson and the duo’s Carnegie Hall debut this season follows recent dates at Amsterdam’s Muziekgebouw, London’s Southbank and Barbican centres – the latter as part of Europe’s first-ever Classical Pride.

Pavel won the Honens International Piano Competition in 2012 and was a BBC New Generation Artist between 2014-16. He has since worked with all the BBC orchestras, London Symphony, London Philharmonic, The Hallé, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Orquestra Simfónica de Barcelona, City of Birmingham Symphony, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony and Stavanger Symphony among others. He regularly gives recitals at Wigmore Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Park Avenue Armoury, La Roque-d’Anthéron, Konzerthaus Berlin, Piano aux Jacobins Festival and De Singel.

Pavel’s discography for Hyperion includes albums of music by Reynaldo Hahn, Louis Couperin and Chopin.

CREDITS

The Goldberg Variations, BWV 988

Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, Pavel Kolesnikov / Rosas

 

Choreography and Dance

Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker 

Music

Johann Sebastian Bach, The Goldberg Variations, BWV 988

Piano

Pavel Kolesnikov

Musical Collaboration

Alain Franco

Choreographic Assistant

Diane Madden

Set and Lighting Design

Minna Tiikkainen

Sound

Alban Moraud

Assistant to the Artistic Director

Martine Lange

Artistic Coordination and Planning

Anne Van Aerschot

Technical Director

Thomas Verachtert

Technical Coordinator

Thomas Verachtert

Costumes coordinator

Alexandra Verschueren

assisted by Els Van Buggenhout

Sewing

Emmanuelle Erhart

Wardrobe

Alexandra Verschueren

Technician

Jan Balfoort

Production

Rosas

Coproduction

Wiener Festwochen, Concertgebouw (Bruges), De Munt / La Monnaie (Brussels), Théâtre de la Ville à Paris – Théâtre du Châtelet (Paris), Internationaal Theater Amsterdam / Julidans, Sadler’s Wells (London), Montpellier Danse

World Premiere

26.08.2020, Wiener Festwochen

Special thanks to

Takeshi Sakai, Anke Loh, Kees Van Houten, Leen Decin, Cynthia Loemij, Jacob Storer

Duration 2h, technical break included. Please do not leave your seat during this technical break.

Piano provided by Yamaha

This production is realized with the support of the Tax Shelter of the Belgian Federal Government, in collaboration with Casa Kafka Pictures –Belfius.

Rosas is supported by the Flemish Community and by the Flemish Commmunity Commission (VGC).

ABOUT NYU SKIRBALL

NYU Skirball holds close James Baldwin’s dictum that “artists are here to disturb the peace.” Our mission is to present adventurous, transdisciplinary work that inspires yet provokes, confirms yet confounds, and entertains yet upends. We proudly embrace renegade artists who surprise, productions that blur aesthetic boundaries, and thought-leaders who are courageous, outrageous, and mind-blowing.

A roster of international artistic visionaries command our stage, often with North American or World Premieres, including directors Milo Rau and Toshiki Okada; choreographers Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker, Florentina Holzinger, and Faustin Linyekula; composers Du Yun, George Lewis, and John Zorn; the theatre ensembles Elevator Repair Service, Forced Entertainment, Gob Squad, Wooster Group, and Teatro La ReSentida; along with the dance companies A.I.M by Kyle Abraham, Big Dance Theater, and Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance. Eminent scholars, authors, and paradigm shifters headline our events and have included Kwame Anthony Appiah, Judith Butler, David Chalmers, Angela Davis, Zadie Smith, and Slavoj Žižek.

NYU Skirball’s engagement programming supports the University’s academic mission with conjunctions of cutting-edge live art and practical, experiential curricular resources, including artists’ conversations, workshops, scholarly essays, and diverse public events. Our work promotes encounters with boundary-pushing art forms, enhances critical thinking, nurtures imaginations, and employs the performing arts as an essential means of teaching, researching, and lifelong learning.

We are NYU’s largest classroom. We want to feed your head.

NYU Skirball Funding

NYU Skirball’s programs are made possible in part with support from the National Endowment for the Arts; the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature; and by Howard Gilman Foundation; FUSED (French U.S. Exchange in Dance), a program of FACE Foundation in partnership with Villa Albertine; General Delegation of the Government of Flanders to the USA; Collins Building Services; Korean Cultural Center New York; Marta Heflin Foundation; Harkness Foundation for Dance; Van Cleef & Arpels; as well as our valued donors through memberships, commissioning, and Stage Pass Fund support.

Up Next @ NYU Skirball

NYU SKIRBALL MEMBERS ARE FRIENDS...WITH BENEFITS

FRBenefits include:
• Up to 30% off one ticket per show
• Advance notice of upcoming events
• Exclusive pre-sale tickets
• Subscription to NYU Skirball’s e-newsletter
• Personalized NYU Skirball Member card
• Member offers at local Greenwich Village restaurants and shops
(Fully tax-deductible)

Sidekick $125All of the benefits Friends receive plus:
• Up to 30% off two tickets per show
• Complimentary NYU Skirball tote bag
• Complimentary ticket exchanges
• VIP reserved seating for select NYU Skirball humanities events
($110 tax-deductible)

Comrade $250All of the benefits Sidekicks receive, plus:
• Up to 30% off four tickets per show
• Waived ticketing fees (savings of up to $6 per ticket)
• Exclusive access and invitations to meet artists
• Invitations to private dress rehearsals
($235 tax-deductible)

Bosom Buddy $1000All of the benefits Besties receive, plus:
• Two complimentary drinks at the Lobby Café per Skirball Presents production
• Two passes to all Skirball humanities event receptions
• Enhanced pre-sale, prior to Member pre-sale
• Dedicated patron line for personalized customer service
($955 tax-deductible)

JOIN AS A BOSOM BUDDY MEMBER

 

Soul Mate $2500All of the benefits Bosom Buddies receive, plus:
• Four passes to all NYU Skirball humanities event receptions
• Ability to secure premium house seats
($2455 tax-deductible)

NYU SKIRBALL ACADEMIC ADVISORY COUNCIL

Sheril Antonio
Senior Associate Dean, Strategic Initiatives, NYU Tisch

Ulrich Baer
University Professor

Una Chaudhuri
Divisional Dean for the Humanities &
Vice Dean for Interdisciplinary Initiatives

Anna Deavere Smith
University Professor

Michael Dinwiddie
Associate Professor, NYU Gallatin

Georgina Dopico
Interim Provost, NYU

Karen Finley
Arts Professor, NYU Tisch

Faye Ginsburg
David B. Kriser Professor, NYU Arts & Science

Lynn Gumpert
Director, NYU Grey Art Gallery

Sylvaine Guyot
Professor of French Literature, Thought, and Culture,
NYU Arts & Science

André Lepecki
Professor; Chair of Performance Studies, NYU Tisch

Julie Malnig
Associate Professor, NYU Gallatin

Judith Graves Miller
Professor Emerita of French and Collegiate Professor, NYU Arts & Science

Pamela Pietro
Arts Professor; Chair of Dance, NYU Tisch

Rubén Polendo
Associate Dean, Institute Of Performing Arts, NYU Tisch

J. Ryan Poynter
Associate Vice Provost for Academic Affairs & Chief of Staff

Karen Shimakawa
Associate Professor; Academic Associate Dean, NYU Tisch

Catharine Stimpson
University Professor

Justin Townsend
Arts Professor; Chair of Graduate Design for Stage & Film, NYU Tisch

Tomi M. Tsunoda
Associate Arts Professor; Chair of Drama, NYU Tisch

Bryan Waterman
Associate Professor, English Literature, NYU Arts & Sciences

Deborah Williams 
Clinical Professor, Liberal Studies

Julia Wolfe
Professor of Music Composition; Artistic Director of Music Composition, NYU Steinhardt

NYU SKIRBALL ARTISTIC ADVISORY COUNCIL

Kyle Abraham

Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker

David Lang

Elizabeth LeCompte

Eiko Otake

Annie-B Parson

Philippe Quesne

Alex Timbers

NYU SKIRBALL STAFF

Jay Wegman
Director

Emily Anderson
Supervisor, Lighting And Sound

Cliff Billings
Ticket Operation Specialist

J De Leon, PhD
Associate Director, Engagement

Brian Emens
Theater Technician

George Faya
Theater Technician

Angie Golightly
Theater Technician

Jenny Liao
Manager, Operations

Craig Melzer
Box Office Manager

Kimberly Olstad
Director, Development

Jordan Peters
Front of House Supervisor

Alberto Ruiz
Production Manager

Don Short
Senior Supervisor, Lighting And Sound

Caroline Grace Steudle
Administrative Coordinator

Ian Tabatchnick
Director, Operations

Julia Thorncroft
Marketing Manager

Helene Davis 
Press Representative

Pentagram Design
Graphics