‘Rite of Spring’ festival coming to L.A.’s Music Center in 2013

Igor Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring” will turn 100 next year. To celebrate the occasion, music groups around the world will hold festivals and special performances in honor of the piece’s tumultuous 1913 premiere in Paris.

In Los Angeles, the Music Center downtown will hold a “Rite of Spring” festival that will include performances and other events all tied to Stravinsky’s masterpiece. The festival, titled “L.A.’s Rite: Stravinsky, Innovation, and Dance,” will unfold over several months beginning in February.

The festival will include the previously announced Joffrey Ballet’s staging of “Rite” based on the 1913 production choreographed by Vaslav Nijinsky for the Ballets Russes. The performances will be held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion Feb. 1-3.

An interactive, multimedia installation called “Re-Rite” will be one of the highlights of the festival, running Aug. 1-11. The installation, created by London’s Philharmonia Orchestra, will take place on the stage of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

Audiences for “Re-Rite” will enter the installation from the loading dock area of the Chandler, said Thor Steingraber, vice president of programming at the Music Center. They will make their way through a series of screens and other digital installations that are intended to give the impression of being in the middle of the orchestra as it plays Stravinsky’s piece.

“Re-Rite,” featuring the virtual presence of conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen, who conceived the project, premiered in London in 2009 and will make its U.S. debut in Los Angeles. Salonen is the former music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and made the “Rite” a central part of the orchestra’s repertoire.

General admission for “Re-Rite” will be $15.

In October, Nederlands Dans Theater will present “Chamber,” a new dance work inspired by the “Rite.” The piece, which is co-commissioned by the Music Center, is scheduled to run Oct. 18-20.

The American Ballet Theatre’s previously announced July engagement at the Dorothy Chandler will include performances of Stravinsky’s “Apollo,” choreographed by George Balanchine.

The festival also will include an exhibition about Stravinsky and early L.A. dance pioneers, with photographs and other artifacts. The exhibition is set to run Feb. 1-17 at the Chandler. Various symposiums and student performances are also on the festival schedule.

“L.A.’s Rite” is being funded by the Music Center, but budgetary figures were not immediately available, according to a spokesman.

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