THE LESSON to Make New York Premiere at Baryshnikov Arts Center

From March 4–6, 2027, Baryshnikov Arts Center will present the New York premiere of The Lesson, a new evening-length music and dance performance work by musician and composer Mike Hadreas (Perfume Genius) and choreographer Kate Wallich. The performance follows the artists' acclaimed 2019 collaboration The Sun Still Burns Here, and its afterlife in Perfume Genius's celebrated album Ugly Season. The score draws from both new and existing Perfume Genius music to be released by Matador Records.

Blending Perfume Genius's emotionally charged experimental pop with Wallich's distinctive choreographic language, The Lesson is a raw and uncompromising performance inspired by The Piano Teacher, Nobel Prize-winning author Elfriede Jelinek's notorious novel later adapted into Michael Haneke's celebrated film.

The Lesson examines what happens when desire has nowhere to go, and what we are rehearsing when we practice 'good behavior.' Moving through repression, longing, authority, and submission, the work unfolds through unstable scenes where roles shift, boundaries blur, and the unsaid becomes manically physical.

Longtime admirers of Perfume Genius will recognize the influence of The Piano Teacher, a work Hadreas has often cited as a touchstone. Its intense psychological landscape, unsettling humor, and capacity to hold tragedy and absurdity simultaneously resonate throughout The Lesson.

Created and performed by Hadreas, Wallich, Alan Wyffels, and Tate Justus, The Lesson continues an ongoing artistic dialogue between music, movement, and performance. The work brings together longtime collaborators and expands upon the creative partnership first explored in The Sun Still Burns Here, which was hailed by critics as 'an otherworldly collaboration' (The Stranger) and prompted Pitchfork to declare, 'This might be how the music of Perfume Genius is meant to be experienced.'

CREATIVE TEAM

• Kate Wallich—Director, Choreographer, Performer
• Mike Hadreas—Director, Composer, Performer
• Alan Wyffels—Composer, Collaborator, Performer
• Tate Justus—Collaborator, Performer
• Amiya Brown—Scenographer

The Lesson was commissioned by Seattle Theatre Group and the STG Performing Arts Series, with commission and creation support from REDCAT, Liquid Music/Northrop, and MASS MoCA.

TICKETING