The moon wears a white shirt: this line from a poem by the Hungarian Sándor Weöres lends its name to an evening of dance with works by Martin Schläpfer, Karole Armitage and Paul Taylor. György Ligeti included it in his Three Weöres Songs – one of the cycles that form the musical basis for Karole Armitage’s Ligeti Essays. Armitage is one of the most brilliant figures in American dance. As a dancer, she has worked with George Balanchine and Merce Cunningham, among others; as a choreographer – initially associated with »punk« – she creates complex connections between dance, visual arts, literature and music.

The poetic, nocturnal metaphors of her Ligeti Essays are preceded by Martin Schläpfer’s Drittes Klavierkonzert to Alfred Schnittke’s composition of the same name: a ballet about a woman’s journey through life between dreamlike and nightmarish states, about freedom and dependence, devotion and separation.

By contrast, Paul Taylor’s Dandelion Wine is bathed in bright light. Set to a violin concerto by Pietro Locatelli, the great American Modern Dance artist unfolds with breathtaking energy and sophisticated insouciance a cheerful homage to summer, a sparkling ode to friendship.

The moon wears a white shirt is dedicated to the 24 dancers of the Vienna State Ballet, who form the corps de ballet of the Volksoper. Under the musical direction of Christoph Altstaedt and with guest pianist Alina Bercu, the Vienna State Ballet will be joined by Stephanie Maitland, Annelie Sophie Müller and Birgid Steinberger, three members of the vocal ensemble, as well as the Vienna Volksoper Orchestra, whose musicians can be heard not only as an ensemble but also as soloists: concertmasters Bettina Gradinger and Vesna Stanković with Locatelli’s highly virtuosic Violin Concerto in C minor op. 3 No. 2, and a quartet from the percussion group with Ligeti’s With Pipes, Drums, Fiddles.