Shedding Words, Two Ensembles Articulate Charm Of Early Music
DIGITAL REVIEW – On imaginative CDs featuring instrumental arrangements of vocal works, Lautten Compagney Berlin and Concerto Scirocco display more differences than similarities. And both of these endeavors are worth hearing.
New England Dreaming: Small City’s Dedication Has Orchestra Thriving
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Can a city of 155,000 support a professional orchestra? The Springfield Symphony, which has flourished for more than 80 years, tapped its regional roots in a winning concert led by artistic adviser Mei-Ann Chen.
Recording, Reassessing Saariaho Opera Whose Worth Is Still Unknown
DIGITAL REVIEW – The late composer was crestfallen when her second opera, Adriana Mater, got a modest reception. A new recording by the San Francisco Symphony under Esa-Pekka Salonen promises to recharge the conversation.
In Concerto ‘Fandango,’ Violin Spins Old Forms Into Bright New Dances
VANCOUVER – With the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra led by Andrew Litton, violinist Anne Akiko Meyers energized Mexican composer Arturo Márquez’s traditionally fashioned concerto and its wealth of idioms expressive of Latin America.
Conductor Eun Sun Kim, Emerging Wagner Star, Leads Dazzling ‘Tristan’
SAN FRANCISCO –The San Francisco Opera's music director, just signed to an extension through 2031, shaped a knockout performance in her first go at Tristan und Isolde with Simon O'Neill and Anja Kampe in the ill-fortuned lovers.
Greek Wins Conducting Competition; Japanese Hosts Merit Gold, Too
TOKYO – Kornilios Michailidis captured the 2024 Tokyo International Conducting Competition with a heated turn in Shostakovich’s Tenth Symphony. British conductor Riley Court-Wood was runner-up in this superbly organized triennial event.
Death Of Garcia Lorca, More Gritty Than Grand, Brings Flamenco To Met
NEW YORK – Osvaldo Golijov’s entrancing Ainadamar is really a chamber opera, maybe not an opera at all, with flamenco dancers and non-traditional voices. But it belonged in this grand opera house, even in less than ideal conditions.
IN THE NEWS: MCANA MEMBERS' PICKS
- Unique orchestra Minnesota Sinfonia and conductor Jay Fishman say goodbye - by Michael Anthony at MinnPost
- Opera on the brink: Can new compositions return the art to its popular roots? - by Nicholas Liu at Salon
- Recording review: Going solo with Viadana - by Anne E. Johnson at Early Music America
- Chicago classical music's best-kept secret: A 'speakeasy' in a humdrum office building - by Graham Meyer at WBEZ
- Madison Symphony Orchestra summons the supernatural in 'Visions' - by Noah Fellinger at Cap Times
- Kevin Puts: The Hours - by Ralph P. Locke at The Arts Fuse
- How the golden age of rail travel transformed American classical music forever - by Brian Wise at BBC Music Magazine
- Backstage at SF Opera: From the make-up table to the prompter's box - by Lisa Hirsch at San Francisco Classical Voice
- New leaders, fresh perspectives: Priscilla Herreid and Liza Malamut - by Kyle MacMillan at Early Music America
- The Chicago Temple is turning 100. Its birthday gift to itself? Fixing its historic organ. - by Hannah Edgar at Chicago Tribune
- Harrowing and uncomfortable: “The Handmaid’s Tale” at San Francisco Opera - by Angela Allen at Oregon ArtsWatch
- Joyce Hatto: Fantasia for Piano - by Mark Singer for The New Yorker
- A Philip Glass concerto turns an ear toward the timpani - by Michael Andor Brodeur at Washington Post
- First-Ever Recording of “Shamus O’Brien” — A Long-Forgotten Delight by One of Britain’s Savviest Composers - by Ralph P. Locke for The Arts Fuse
- The hardest-working countertenor in the biz makes ‘Figaro’ all his own - by Michael Andor Brodeur at Washington Post
- The Servant: An encounter with Hans Messner, Pierre Boulez's personal assistant - by Thomas von Steinaecker at Van Magazine
- 'We didn't know' - The young musicians chosen for secret premiere of lost Mozart work - by Kyle Macdonald at Classic FM
- San Antonio Philharmonic postpones October concerts - by Staff at The Violin Channel
- 10 composers from across Latin America we're celebrating this month! - by Holly Chung at KDFC
- Backstage at SF Opera: From the make-up table to the prompter's box - by Lisa Hirsch at San Francisco Classical Voice
- Music in the mountains at the Sun Valley Music Festival - by James Bash at Oregon Arts Watch
- Cleveland Chamber Music Society celebrates 75 years - by Zachary Lewis at The Land
- Professional clarinetist performs highest recorded classical music concert in Colorado Rocky Mountains - by Jennifer Mulson at The Denver Gazette
- Emily D'Angelo will sing for 100 minutes straight: She opens the Met season with Jeanine Tesori's 'Grounded' - by Justin Davidson at The Cut
- Previously unknown Mozart music unearthed in German library - by Chris DeVille at Stereogum
- New leaders, fresh perspectives: Priscilla Herreid and Liza Malamut - by Kyle MacMillan at Early Music America
- Always beginning: Interview with Max Richter - by Sophie Leigh Walker at The Line of Best Fit
- Letter From Sun Valley: New Music by Quinn Mason and James Ehnes’s Brahms Concerto - by Katelyn Simone at San Francisco Classical Voice
- Nurturing new ensembles in the Arizona desert – by Anne E. Johnson at Early Music America
- Two-piano transcription of Debussy's "Jeux," iconoclastic tour de force - by Gary Lemco at Audiophile Audition
- The cellist of Auschwitz - by Alex Ross at The New Yorker
Around the US
Spirituals Are Bountiful But Drama Is Slight In Opera On Fisk Singers
SEATTLE – Creator and director Tazewell Thompson stitched together a generous collection of 40 spirituals for Jubilee, something of a quasi-operatic theater piece that lacked a solid narrative arc as it unfolded to begin a run at Seattle Opera.
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!
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DISC AND STREAM
Robeson Compendium: Like Trailblazing Artist, CD Set Is Monumental
DIGITAL REVIEW – A package of 14 CDs plus a 158-page coffee table book includes every recording from 1925-'58 by Paul Robeson, a towering figure who also had a major stage and film career and was a prominent labor and civil rights activist.
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
After Opening Plaudits, Even Best New Operas Face An Unsure Future
PERSPECTIVE – Awards are great, says one recipient of the annual prize for best opera from the Music Critics Association of North America, but more performances are the goal. A follow-up revealed some winners surging, others stalled.
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.