Musing On Busoni: Pianist Gets At Roots Of An Undervalued Master
DIGITAL REVIEW – Pianist Jiayan Sun’s new album Ferruccio Busoni and His Muses looks backward at the personalities who influenced him and forward at the progressive ideas that animated this singular, eclectic, and visionary composer.
In Timely Revelations, Recordings Celebrate The March Of Women
DIGITAL REVIEW – March is Women’s History Month, and two new recordings salute female composers who should be much better known than they are: instrumental works by Fernande Decruck and songs by Agathe Backer Grøndahl.
‘The Shining’ As Opera Is Mad, Brutal, Tragic In A Horrifically Good Way
PORTLAND, Ore – Based on Stephen King’s horror novel, the opera by composer Paul Moravec and librettist Mark Campbell, which underscores the psychological background of its main characters, glowed in Portland Opera's intense production.
As Tradition, Virtuosity Command Center Stage, A Festival Seeks Identity
ADELAIDE – On its third artistic director in as many years, the 2025 Adelaide Festival reverted to a formulaic look that has sustained it through 64 years but still struck sparks with a Saariaho opera and a prodigious avant-garde flamenco work.
A ‘Cosi’ Full Of Laughs (The Girls Are Clued In) But Still Edged With Pain
LOS ANGELES – The San Francisco Opera's screwball 2021 version of Mozart's Cosi fan tutte, now ported over to the LA Opera, offers a refreshingly humorous feminist take with an excellent cast of singers led by James Conlon.
Starry ‘Indigo Heaven’ Concerto Is Principal Clarinet’s Sparkle Time
CHICAGO – Besides delivering clutch solos in big orchestral works, principal players also thrive in the concerto spotlight, as Chicago Symphony clarinetist Stephen Williamson did in the premiere of Christopher Theofanidis' evocative essay.
Music Fest Summons Its Summer Warmth In The Intimacy Of Winter
SUN VALLEY, Idaho – Established three decades ago as a summer enterprise, the Sun Valley Music Festival in recent years has spread its winter wings with indoor chamber concerts, this year curated by and spotlighting pianist Joyce Yang.
IN THE NEWS: MCANA MEMBERS' PICKS
- Shape-shifting Civitas Ensemble reveals buried gem in music of "Mel" Bonis - by Nancy Malitz at
Chicago On the Aisle - This Japanese Sax Polymath Might Be a Postmodern Bach - by Walker Mimms at NYTimes
- After the Fall at Elphi – Víkingur Ólafsson, Tonhalle-Orchester and Paavo Järvi bring John Adams’s terrific new concerto to Hamburg
- by Jari Kallio at AIM - Adventures in Music - Tenor Lawrence Brownlee wows at Matinée Musicale - by Janelle Gelfand at Janelle's Notes
- 5 questions to Saad Haddad (composer) - by Sofía Rocha at I Care If You Listen
- A guide to Bach's St. John Passion - by Bill Bukowski at WETA
- Poetry from classical music; here are the 2025 Inspired By KPAC Written Word entries - by Staff at Texas Public Radio
- DVD review - Zingarelli's "Giuletta e Romeo" - Chateau de Versailless Spectacle CVS181 - by John Gilks at Opera Canada
- In Chicago, a clamor brings a dead music festival back to life - by Graham Meyer at WBEZ
- LA Opera Enters the California Mozart/Da Ponte Sweepstakes - by Richard S. Ginell at Musical America
- Jacksonville Symphony receives record $15 million donation - by Max Marbut at Jacksonville Daily Record
- A Flowing, Finely Textured Premiere at the New York Philharmonic - by David Mermelstein at WSJ
- Chen, Burton, and Abrams Reward BSO Listeners - by Goeffrey Wieting at Boston Musical Intelligencer
- Andras Schiff cancels the U.S. tour over Trump "bullying" - by Javier C. Hernández at NYTimes
- Breaking barriers through music: Philadelphia Orchestra's assistant conductor, Naomi Woo - by Nadia Han at 6ABC
- Douglas Moore Fund for American Opera Presents Douglas Moore’s ‘Giants in the Earth Rediscovered’ - by Afton Markay at OperaWire
- Jazz composer, Terence Blanchard, talks elevating Black culture via opera, Super Bowl 2025, and African Americans' impact on society - by David Pierce at IPM News
- After political uproar, Noseda, NSO showcase Russian drama - by Charles T. Downey at Washington Classical Review
- Andras Schiff cancels the U.S. tour over Trump "bullying" - by Javier C. Hernández at NYTimes
- Classical Album Review: Handel’s Oratorio “Jephtha,” in All its Highly Dramatic Glory - by Ralph P. Locke at The Arts Fuse
- After JD Vance is booed, Kennedy Center head urges ‘diversity and inclusion’ - by Kelsey Ables, Michael Andor Brodeur and Travis M. Andrews at WashPost
- A warm send-off to the NSO starts with a frigid welcome to JD Vance - by Michael Andor Brodeur at WashPost
- In Memoriam: Sofia Gubaidulina (1931-2025) - by Béatrice Cadrin at Ludwig Van Montreal
- Vigor and virtuosity: NY Phil glows under Gustavo Dudamel - by Susan Stempleski at Bachtrack
- State-of-the-art theatre, joint initiative between Tapestry Opera and Nightwood Theatre, set to open - by Richie Assaly at Toronto Star
- Not Bad for a Kid. Dudamel at the NYPhil - by Zachary Wolfe at NYTimes
- Muti, Vienna Phil, deepest expression of European culture - by Fotios Kaliampakos at Broadway World
- In Chicago Symphony's new season, highlights mined by scoopful - by Lawrence B. Johnson at Chicago on the Aisle
Around the US
A Powerful ‘Moby-Dick’ Seizes The Met Stage (Don’t Call Him Ishmael)
NEW YORK – Tenor Brandon Jovanovich heads the cast as the vengeful and obsessive Capt. Ahab in composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer's adaptation of Herman Melville's novel. But the adventure's sole survivor has been renamed.
A MESSAGE FROM OUR PRESIDENT
Welcome to Classical Voice North America, the online journal of the Music Critics Association of North America. CVNA was launched in 2013 to provide an outlet for music criticism at a time when the market for traditional print journalism was shrinking. Over the past decade this trend has continued. Yet concert societies and opera companies remain vibrant and enthusiasm for what they do is undiminished. The need for informed commentary is as pressing as ever.
The mission of CVNA is to meet this need with expert coverage by members and occasional guest contributors. If you are a writer with experience in classical music, please consider joining the association. If you are a reader with thoughts to share, please write us at info@mcana.org. We believe in criticism!
AROUND CANADA
INTERNATIONAL
DISC AND STREAM
Another Scarlatti Takes Limelight In Oratorio Of Daniel In The Lion’s Den
DIGITAL REVIEW – The imaginative work by Francesco Scarlatti, in its premiere recording by the Armonico Consort under Christopher Monks, displays the influences of Handel as well as the composer's famous older brother Alessandro.
PARLANDO: VIVIEN SCHWEITZER'S PODCASTS
The composer, pianist and climate activist Gabriela Lena Frank talks about the environmental damage caused by the music industry, how her significant hearing loss has impacted her career, and more.
ISSUES IN THE ARTS
Historically Apt Practice Spreads Across Epochs, Adding Musical Insights
PERSPECTIVE – Is there anything to be discovered from historical-instrument performances of Wagner's Ring Cycle or Mahler’s Symphony No. 9, or from music so ancient that any performance is a speculative act of co-composition? Yes, plenty.
MCANA HOSTED BLOGS
Prototype Festival 2020: Iron and Coal
The Prototype Festival of new opera offers a mid-winter adrenalin booster for New York opera lovers.
