post and pics by Marc Evan (with Janina Stegmeyer)
This weekend at the World Financial Center’s Winter Garden, the Knickerbocker Chamber Orchestra along with very special guests (author Neil Gaiman and tenor Jason Danieley) took the stage to provide a well-rounded and highly entertaining evening for fans of music, art, and culture of all ages.
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In fact, this free event truly did cater to fans of all ages. The audience included many children who were gathered in front of the stage to hear Neil Gaiman narrate a wonderful rendition of Sergei Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf.” Neil came out to much applause and after some playful banter with composer Gary Fagin (who also happens to be Gaiman’s cousin), Neil announced that the day before he had become engaged to indie singer Amanda Palmer. The award-winning author’s voice lent a sometimes spooky quality to the tone of the sometimes playful and other times tense orchestral piece. Gaiman wonderfully played off of Fagin’s cues along with the rest of the Knickerbocker Orchestra. Seeing this classic performed live made me feel like one of the many kids gathered before the stage. Each character in the story was expertly performed by a different section of the orchestra. The string section representing Peter was a sharp, hopeful contrast to the silly duck on oboe, the helpful bird’s flute song, and especially to the evil wolf’s tense three french horns.
Composer Gary Fagin also introduced us to the world premiere of his orchestral piece “And Bold To Fall Withal - Henry Hudson in the New World.” Tenor Jason Danieley gave a heartfelt performance as he sang the lyrics accompanying the composition. The song commemorates the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s famous voyage to the New World, a voyage in which he sailed through what is now New York, trying to find passage East, to the Orient. Danieley’s voice complemented the themes and emotions of the piece, exhibiting the sense of adventure, kindness, tragedy, and triumph in the tale of Hudson’s voyage.
“Up and Down, Up and Down,” a piece originally written by Duke Ellington and inspired by the characters of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, was a great, fun warm up for the orchestra and the audience early in the show. It was cleverly orchestrated by Fagin and also reminded me of a subtle connection to Gaiman (he won the World Fantasy Award for an interpretation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in his classic long form graphic novel series, Sandman).
The performance was bookended by two of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s compositions, Polonaise and Waltz. For Waltz, Fagin invited all the audience to join in on the fun and dance, turning the Winter Garden into a 19th century Russian ballroom. Kids, adults, and an author with his new fiance all began to waltz (or the best as they could), creating such a fun feeling as the show ended that I felt like my evening had just begun. To think that this was a free performance made me very thankful for all the other great events theWorld Financial Center has lined-up for the rest of this season. Check their website for the full schedule. Since 1998, they have been bringing us free cultural events including the River to River festival each summer. The Winter Garden, with its amazing acoustics and stunning ceilings, stands just feet away from the site of Ground Zero. The World Financial Center’s programming continues to shine like a beacon in an area of Manhattan that is still often a reminder of our city’s tragedies this past decade.
Check out some pics from the show:
