An Arts-Focused New Year’s Eve

Too often, New Year’s Eve in the city means paying for overpriced, underwhelming meals, jostling through crowded bars, or freezing in weather-inappropriate finery while competing for cabs. Often overlooked are New York’s cultural institutions, which ring in the new year with their finest performances and usually end in plenty of time to get audiences to parties or home for Dick Clark.Dance lovers won’t want to miss Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s annual New Year’s Eve performance, which marks the end of the company’s five-week run at New York City Center. The company leaves for a 26-city nationwide tour in January, so the New Year’s Eve performance, which ends in a shower of confetti at roughly 9 p.m., is always emotional, both for performers and devoted fans, according to a veteran dancer, Renée Robinson.“New York City knows the company,” Ms. Robinson, who has been with Ailey for 26 years, said. “They make you feel like, ‘We know you and we love you. We’re glad you’re home.'”As a result, dancers want to make the New Year’s Eve show memorable for fans. “They’re seeing it for the last time this year, so there’s that feeling of wanting to make it extra special, extra clear, extra sparkly,” Ms. Robinson said.For the first time this year, Ailey’s New Year’s show is composed of highlights from the season’s new ballets, including “Firebird” and excerpts from “The Groove to Nobody’s Business,” followed by “Revelations,” the company’s beloved signature piece.“It feels like the whole five weeks come together in that last performance of ‘Revelations,'” Ms. Robinson said.An emotional end to 2007 can also be found uptown at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, where the annual Concert for Peace will feature a New York City Opera soprano, Lauren Flanigan, conductor Glen Cortese, and — if the audience is lucky — songbird Judy Collins, who in past years has appeared to sing “Amazing Grace,” the cathedral’s Reverend Canon Thomas Miller said.The free, peace-themed concert, conceived in the 1980s by Leonard Bernstein, also will feature fiddle-based quartet Rani Arbo & Daisy Mayhem, cello protégé Lindsay Mac, and a performance of Aaron Copland’s “Lincoln Portrait” narrated by the cathedral dean, the Very Reverend James Kowalski.Rev. Miller said the Copland piece, which includes excerpts from Abraham Lincoln’s speeches, was fitting, as Lincoln was a wartime president. “It’s inspiring at a time when we as a country want to be inspired,” he said.The concert ends at 9 p.m. with a rousing chorus of “This Little Light of Mine,” followed by “Auld Lang Syne.” Each of the 1,200 attendees will receive a candle as they enter the Gothic cathedral.“There’s a great sense of space and dramatic lighting and all this glorious music,” Rev. Miller said. “Twelve hundred people all holding candles and just standing as a joyful witness to hope for the new year and peace. It’s very moving.”Families looking for an arts-related activity that extends until midnight may want to visit the Big Apple Circus.“It’s a wonderful way for parents to spend New Year’s Eve with children who are old enough to stay up past midnight, but not ready to go out on their own,” spokesman Philip Thurston said. In recent years, he added, groups of college students have come to ring in the new year at the circus. “They seem to like avoiding the madness that is Times Square.”In honor of its 30th birthday this year, the circus has brought back some industry legends: Swiss juggler Kris Kremo and the Russian acrobats of the Kovgar Troupe. At 11:45 p.m. on New Year’s Eve, the audience will join the performers for dancing in the ring, while noisemakers, champagne, and sparkling cider are passed around.Just a few feet away at the Metropolitan Opera, General Manager Peter Gelb has reinstated the annual New Year’s gala, with a $1,000-a-plate supper dance following the evening’s 7 p.m. production of “Roméo et Juliette.” In future years, Mr. Gelb said, he hopes to have the premiere of new operas on New Year’s Eve.“It’s a great celebratory occasion,” he said. “There’s nothing more glamorous than having a great star in a new production open at the Met on New Year’s Eve.”This year’s show, headlined by opera stars Anna Netrebko and Matthew Polenzani, is more than an opportunity to get dressed up, the Met’s director of special events, Wendy Westwood, said. For opera fans, she said, “there’s no better place to be on New Year’s Eve.”“There’s a wonderful feeling in the opera house,” she said. “It’s emotional. They borrow each other’s handkerchiefs.”Lincoln Center is equipped with plenty of parking and taxis, Ms. Westwood said, so it’s a convenient place to be as 2007 winds down. But art-lovers intimidated by the chaos of New Year’s Eve in the city may choose to spend the day at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The museum is usually closed on Mondays, but it will be open December 31 from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. In addition to the new Greek and Roman galleries and the Dutch masters exhibit, the Met’s 20-foot-tall Christmas tree is lit at 4:30 p.m. daily until January 7.

An Arts-Focused New Year’s Eve

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