Two Summer Festivals Arrive, Like Birds of a Feather

We may be seeing the "Angry Birds" effect on summer music festival programming. On Wednesday, two of the New York region’s signature events -- the Mostly Mozart Festival and the Bard Music Festival -- announced their 2012 seasons that will feature themes built around birds and the animal kingdom.

The Mostly Mozart Festival, in its 46th year at Lincoln Center (July 28-Aug. 25), will present an exploration of the influence of birdsong and birds on classical music. There will be performances of Messiaen – including his ornithological pieces Oiseaux exotiques and Le merle noir – as well as John Cage's Telephone and Birds, from 1977, and a number of contemporary works.

There will also be bird walks in Central Park led by the New York City Audubon Society; The Murder of Crows, a multimedia installation by Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller, presented by the Park Avenue Armory; and a screening of the 2001 Academy Award-nominated documentary “Winged Migration.” Only absent from the announcement is Papageno's so-called "Bird catcher's Aria" from Mozart's The Magic Flute (the composer himself owned a starling as a pet, which reportedly sang along with his Piano Concerto in C Major).  Read More