This week, Jared Bowen gives us a preview of Boston Lyric Opera’s “Street Stage” and brings news from the ICA regarding the 2022 Venice Biennale.
“BLO Street Stage,” presented by Boston Lyric Opera, with locations announced via the BLO website
The Boston Lyric Opera is taking the show on the road! Given that indoor performances are virtually impossible during the coronavirus pandemic, the BLO has commissioned a roaming, custom-built trailer that opens into a performance stage. This mobile venue, dubbed “BLO Street Stage,” will bring small, pop-up opera performances to Boston and beyond, with social distancing and health and safety measures in place at each location. Interested parties can follow the BLO Street Stage and learn more about future concerts via the opera company’s website.
“There's so many musicians and singers just trying to make it work,” says Zaray Rodriguez, a mezzo-soprano performing with the BLO Street Stage. “We are a very resilient kind. We’re used to just innovating and creating music in one way or the other.”
“ICA commissions Simone Leigh for the 2022 Venice Biennale.”
Simone Leigh will be the next artist to represent the United States at the 59th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, one of the most prestigious contemporary art exhibitions in the world. Boston’s own Institute of Contemporary Art has been commissioned by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs to present Leigh’s work — an effort that will be led by Director Jill Medvedow and Chief Curator Eva Respini.
The New York-based artist has built a career primarily in sculpture and ceramics, creating large-scale works that address the experiences and history of Black women. Leigh will create a new body of work for the U.S. Pavilion in Venice, Italy, which will be on view from April 23 to Nov. 27, 2022. The ICA will present a comprehensive survey of the artist’s decades-long career in Boston the following year.
“Simone’s work speaks directly to our time,” says Medvedow. “I think at this moment, her disruption of a 400-plus year narrative of U.S. history that has excluded Black women from the story is just critically valuable.”
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