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The Arts Intel Report

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

Goldberg-Variationen

Apr 26 – May 29, 2023
Opernring 2, 1010 Wien, Austria

In 1971, Jerome Robbins bedazzled the dance world with a most unexpected instant classic: a 90-minute ballet set to Bach’s monumental Goldberg Variations for solo keyboard. In 1993, the Swiss choreographer Heinz Spoerli, little known west of the Atlantic, followed suit on his own terms, creating one of the signature works of his repertoire to the same music. This is the version that graces the stage of the Vienna State Opera, complemented by Ohad Naharin’s Tabula Rasa, performed to Arvo Pärt’s numinous double concerto for two violins, strings, and prepared piano. Commissioned in 1986 by the Pittsburgh Ballet, the Naharin is a classic, too. The pianist William Youn is heard in the Bach; Christopher Koncz, a violinist with the Vienna Philharmonic who is also on the rise as a conductor, leads the Pärt. —Matthew Gurewitsch