2020 Season
To view the 2020 Season Brochure, click here.
Hamlet
Canceled: June 2–August 15, 2020
"Robert Icke's production of Hamlet remains extraordinarily, heartbreakingly beautiful."—The Guardian
Following sold-out runs at London's Almeida Theatre, award-winning director Robert Icke brings his acclaimed production of William Shakespeare's Hamlet to the Armory in this not-to-be-missed theatrical event. From June through mid-August, the Wade Thompson Drill Hall will house Icke's modern interpretations of Shakespeare's Hamlet and Aeschylus' Oresteia, placing these two ambitious works in repertory.
Oresteia
Canceled: June 11–August 15, 2020
"A magnificent Lia Williams…[Icke's] exhilarating adaptation is in part a demolition…It dispenses with stage conventions. Yet this is not destruction, but revelation."
—The Guardian (UK)
Director Robert Icke updates and condenses Aeschylus's classic Greek trilogy into a single performance, treating the work as a bold family drama starring Lia Williams in the role of Klytemnestra. From June through mid-August, the Wade Thompson Drill Hall will house Icke's modern interpretations of Shakespeare's Hamlet and Aeschylus' Oresteia, placing these two ambitious works in repertory.
The Second Violinist
Canceled: September 25–29, 2020
"An extraordinary modern opera."—The Irish Times
Winner of Best Opera at The Irish Times Theatre Awards, The Second Violinist depicts parallel lives in a brooding thriller with an otherworldly, almost compulsive score. Composed by Donnacha Dennehy, directed and written by Tony Award-winning playwright Enda Walsh, conducted by Ryan McAdams, and featuring Ireland's Crash Ensemble, the opera tells the story of a life falling apart and unfolds like an unnerving page-turner.
Doppelganger
Canceled: October 16–20, 2020
"Mr. Kaufmann's continues to be one of the most sought-after tenors with the stamina and heft for Wagner and the ardent warmth for Italian opera."—The New York Times
In a rare solo performance, tenor Jonas Kaufmann takes on the Wade Thompson Drill Hall in a theatrical staging of Franz Schubert's Schwanengesang (Swan Song) directed by Claus Guth, designed by Michael Levine, and featuring pianist Helmut Deutsch.
Enclosure
Postponed: December 9, 2020–January 10, 2021
"Creating order out of chaos is a particular strength of Rose's, not least because her subject matter is vast, wide, and deep."—W Magazine
In this commissioned work, visual artist Rachel Rose offers Enclosure—a heist film about survival in the 17th-century agrarian English countryside during a period of radical transformations that left the disenfranchised in a state of uncertainty and fear.
Recital Series
January 13–November 9, 2020
"With the exquisite renovation of the Board of Officers Room…the Armory now has a space for chamber music which marries excellent acoustics and an austerely elegant Gilded Age interior."—The New York Times
Hear thrilling North American and New York debuts and artists that are bridging the gap between classic and contemporary musical works in the chamber canon in the austerely elegant Board of Officers Room, with the pristine acoustics and intimate scale originally intended by many composers while invoking the salon culture of the Gilded Age.
Artists Studio
March 3–October 22, 2020
"…it was a block of music that made you think, as the room does: Take note. Listen deeply. The rest of the world is not like this…that sublime and exclusive room, almost too opulent for this world."—The New York Times
Curated by jazz pianist, composer, and MacArthur Fellow Jason Moran, this series of interventions in the Veterans Room includes a diverse mix of artists and musicians whose practices defy categorization and expressly mirror the innovative spirit of the exceptional young artists present at the room's inception.
Interrogations of Form
February 15–December 10, 2020
"[it was]…a massive convening…filling the gilded, schizo-baroque rooms and halls with a dazzling mix of artists, thinkers, and impresarios…I felt lucky to be in attendance."—Artforum
These insightful conversations and salons bring together artists, community leaders, and social trailblazers to explore today's social and cultural landscape. In addition to talks with the creative voices presented throughout the season, programs include in-depth collaborations with artist Fazal Sheikh, Reverend Dr. Alfonso Wyatt, artist Shani Jamila, and 100 Years | 100 Women—a centennial marking of the ratification of the 19th amendment.
Maria Vespers
Canceled: March 21–29, 2020
"A spell-binding ritual…Beauty, suffering, mystery, heaven and earth—Monteverdi's ravishing Marian Vespers embodies all of these, as did this production."—Opera Today
Originally written in 1610, Claudio Monteverdi's magnificent Marian Vespers will be performed in the Wade Thompson Drill Hall in a fresh visual and spatial interpretation directed by the Armory's Marina Kellen French Artistic Director Pierre Audi and featuring world-renowned orchestra and choral ensemble Pygmalion under the baton of conductor Raphaël Pichon.
Deep Blue Sea
Canceled: April 14–25, 2020
"the most written-about figure in the dance world of the last quarter century"—The New York Times
Director, choreographer and dancer Bill T. Jones creates a massive, highly personal work expanding on his recent examination of the interplay between single and group identities. The Armory's Wade Thompson Drill Hall will be transformed by Elizabeth Diller of renowned architecture firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro and projection designer Peter Nigrini.
2020 Season Sponsors:
Support for Park Avenue Armory's artistic season has been generously provided by the Charina Endowment Fund, The Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, the Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, the Howard Gilman Foundation, the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, The Emma and Georgina Bloomberg Foundation, the Marc Haas Foundation, the Juliet Lea Hillman Simonds Foundation, the Leon Levy Foundation, the May and Samuel Rudin Family Foundation, the Richenthal Foundation, and the Isak and Rose Weinman Foundation. The artistic season is also made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. Additional support has been provided by the Armory's Artistic Council.
Enclosure is supported in part by a generous gift from Ken Kuchin and Tyler Morgan.
The Recital Series is supported is supported in part by The Reed Foundation.
The Artist-in-Residence Program is supported is made possible by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Deep Blue Sea and Interrogations of Form are supported in part by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the city council.