David Armstrong’s searching gaze | The New Yorker

sophist pop

In 2005, when singer Niia Bertino was seventeen, she was recognized as one of the top high school jazz singers in the country. Granddaughter of Italian opera singer Bertino, known on stage as niya She was quickly discovered by Wyclef Jean and appeared on his hit single “Sweetest Girl (Dollar Bill)” in 2007. What initially felt like a meteoric rise turned into a slow burn. In 2011, she performed the “James Bond” theme song with an orchestra, and subsequently released the EP “Generation Blue” in 2014. Three years later, her first album came out. You can hear all of her accumulated experience in the five albums she’s released since, delivered effortlessly through elegant pop production and jazzy vocals.Sheldon Pierce (blue note; April 28-29. )

dance

Tiller Peck and Roman Mejia in “Opus 19/The Dreamers” by Jerome Robbins.Photography: Erin Baiano

For the past two decades, Tiler Peck has been new york city ballet The most dazzling dancer; recently, she also revealed that she is an agile choreographer. The second ballet she created for her parent company featured Édouard Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnole, a melodious masterpiece that also served as a showcase for the solo violin. (Maestro Hilary Hahn will perform in several shows.) The spring season also includes the company’s premiere of Christopher Wheeldon’s moody 2002 ballet “Continuum,” set to Ligeti’s piano music, and concludes with a weeklong run of the comedy “Coppélia.” On May 24, the production’s courageous heroine will dance her final dance with the equally courageous Megan Fairchild, who is retiring after 25 years with the company.Marina Haas (David H. Koch Theater; April 21st to May 31st. )

Movie

Ghost Story director David Lowery returns with another ghost story, “Virgin Mary,” The show, which has a cinematic feel, stars Anne Hathaway as the titular pop star, who has been away from the stage for a few years, and Michaela Cole as Sam, a fashion designer who once made clothes for the singer. Although they have long been estranged, Mary barges in on Sam and demands to buy him a new dress for a comeback concert; their tense dialectical argument in Sam’s cathedral-like studio is the bulk of the film. This brief review of Mary’s early concerts is provided for informational purposes only. Another flashback is of a séance where Mary succumbs to self-harming occultism, an event with far more serious consequences that leads to violence at Sam’s studio. The resulting spiritual and emotional catharsis is both vulnerable and mesmerizing.Richard Brodie (Widely distributed.)