Mike Hadreas has described his albums as “soundtracks to films that do not exist.” In The Lesson, his new evening-length collaboration with choreographer Kate Wallich, the film finally exists — and MASS MoCA gets a Work-in-Progress showing on Feb. 6, twelve days ahead of the world premiere in Los Angeles.
About the Show
The Lesson reunites Hadreas, performing and composing as Perfume Genius, with Wallich, whose 2019 collaboration with him, The Sun Still Burns Here, fed directly into his 2022 album Ugly Season. This new work was commissioned by Seattle Theatre Group and draws from Elfriede Jelinek’s novel The Piano Teacher and Michael Haneke’s 2001 film adaptation. The subject is repression: “what happens when desire has nowhere to go, and what we’re rehearsed when we practice good behavior,” as the MASS MoCA event description frames it. Roles shift, boundaries blur. Wallich puts it plainly: “We are all drawn to the dynamics between what is good and what is bad…how we’re supposed to behave, and how we aren’t.” Hadreas has said the source material’s “intense, clinical bleakness” appealed to him for its capacity to hold unsettling comedy and tragedy in the same room.
The creative team includes Alan Wyffels (composer, performer, and Hadreas’s husband), Tate Justus (performer and collaborator), and scenographer Amiya Brown. Hadreas and Wallich both serve as directors, composers, and performers on the piece.
Ahead of the premiere, Hadreas released “Natural High” on Sept. 22, 2026 — his first music since the Grammy-nominated Glory (2025). Co-produced by Pascal Stevenson of Fashion Club, the six-minute track moves from moody keyboard figures through gauzy synths and into a full house rave-up. New music from the project is expected in 2027.
Wallich is the founder of Dance Church, an all-levels movement practice operating across more than 12 U.S. markets and supporting more than 50 professional dance artists. Her work has been commissioned by The Joyce Theater, MASS MoCA, and the Walker Art Center, among others.
After North Adams, The Lesson premieres at REDCAT in Los Angeles (Feb. 18–20 and Feb. 25–27), then plays Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York (March 4–6), the Philharmonie de Paris (March 17–18), and the Barbican Centre in London (March 21), with additional dates through April 2027. The Feb. 6 showing at MASS MoCA is the only Work-in-Progress date on the schedule. Pitchfork’s verdict on their 2019 collaboration: “This might be how the music of Perfume Genius is meant to be experienced.”
Venue & Logistics
The Hunter Center at MASS MoCA in North Adams hosts the performance Saturday, Feb. 6 at 7 p.m. Find more Capital Region concerts in our listings.
Tickets
Tickets are $36 advance, $46 week of, $56 preferred, and $20 for students. Buy tickets