Here’s a look at the Cultural Highlights from the Observer‘s Program section.
Kitchen Rocks
Thomas Bartlett grew up in Vermont, playing the ukulele. By age 5, the piano entered his repertory, and by the time he was a teenager, he got an apprenticeship in London, under the tutelage of the revered classical pianist Maria Curcio. Curcio trained stars like Radu Lupu and Mitsoku Uchida, and it’s no wonder that Mr. Bartlett, whose stage name is “Doveman,” has become one as well. The difference is that Mr. Barlett, who’s not yet 30, performs as often with rock stars as he does with classical musicians. He’s filled in as the keyboardist for Grizzly Bear, David Byrne and the National, while making his own tender, back-country art rock with his own band. (His stellar third album, The Conformist, came out in October.) Mr. Bartlett is a close friend and frequent collaborator with Nico Muhly, who, like Mr. Bartlett, is from Vermont and has become the next best hope to update the minimalist generation sound. Mr. Bartlett and Mr. Muhly show up at the Kitchen this week, playing songs from Mr. Bartlett’s latest album and works they’ve written together for the duo they call Peter Pears-which is something of a classical music insider’s joke: Pears was the lyricist who often collaborated with Benjamin Britten, England’s greatest 20th-century composer. [The Kitchen, 512 West 19th Street; Thursday, March 18, and Friday, March 19, 8 p.m.; $15]
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