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The Arts Intel Report

A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler
A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler

Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker: The Goldberg Variations, BWV 988

Feb 22–24, 2024
566 LaGuardia Pl, New York, NY 10012

Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker began The Goldberg Variations in New York, while at work on Ivo Van Hove’s high concept West Side Story. The Belgian kept at it until suddenly sent home, like the rest of us in that terrible first year of Covid. The solo, to the whole hour of Bach, reflects the influence of both places on her four-decade career: New York for the plainspoken materials and inexorable repetitions of its dance and music minimalists, and Europe for the old music. Her steps tend to be rudimentary: skipping, walking, turning, running. The music is layered with effort towards God. The athletic, somber 63-year-old is dancing the solo herself: a treat. Onstage with her is the 34-year-old pianist Pavel Kolesnikov, whose take on the Bach is so charming and complete that for once you forget about Glenn Gould. —Apollinaire Scherr