The Boy Mozart’s Riot Of Royalty, Vocal Bling: ‘Mitridate’ Video Glitters
DIGITAL REVIEW – This December 2022 taping of the 14-year-old composer's first important opera, a vocal high-wire act, features Les Musiciens du Louvre led by Marc Minkowski at the Staatsoper Berlin. Its lofty musical values deserve notice.
With Just Piano, Mozart In Vast Space, Yundi Li Strikes A Personal Note
VANCOUVER – Some presenters might have hesitated over Li's all-Mozart recital in the cavernous old Orpheum Theatre, a refurbished 1920s movie palace seating 2,780, but the pianist managed to create an atmosphere of intimacy.
Saint-Saëns Immersion Showcases Orchestra Aglow In Spiffed Up Hall
SAN DIEGO – Nearly half a season into upgrades at Jacobs Music Center, the San Diego Symphony displayed its musical growth in Saint-Saëns' Organ Symphony with soloist Weichang Zhao and Violin Concerto No. 3 with concertmaster Jeff Thayer.
‘Emperor’ Meets Kings: Beethoven, Ellington With Towering Fanfare
PORTLAND, Ore. – Under the banner "Leaders and Pathbreakers," the Oregon Symphony bundled Ellington's Three Black Kings and Beethoven's Emperor Piano Concerto with Joan Tower's Sixth Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman.
In Whirligig Of Time, Opera Spins Together Crises Of Generations
NEW YORK – Several truths were revealed at the world premiere of the chamber opera Eat the Document at the HERE Mainstage: Everything changes. Everything stays the same. Opera and musical theater are not strictly separate genres.
Chi-cago, Chi-cago, That Musicological Town: Let Me Show You Around
CHICAGO – Amid highlights of a vibrant autumn season was the convergence of more than 1,700 historians, theorists, composers, and recording artists, even as Lyric Opera and Chicago Opera Theater staged two versions of the Fidelio story.
Renaissance Man Looks Into Music’s Mirror And Sees Humanity’s Image
BOOK REVIEW – In his book We Are Music, the polymath John Sharpley grapples with the meaning of music, and the multicultural embrace of his process poses an invitation to examine who we are through this timeless, pervasive medium.
IN THE NEWS: MCANA MEMBERS' PICKS
- The Met's 'Aida' star, Angel Blue, talks travel and opera - by Shivani Vora at Forbes
- Two new operas focus on the Black female experience - by Olivia Hampton at NPR
- 100-year-old Ruth Slenczynska is the last surviving pupil of Sergei Rachmaninov - by Maddy Shaw Roberts at Classic FM
- Schoenberg archive incinerated in historic blaze - by Michael Vincent at Ludwig Van
- Did the BSO just find its groove? Look at ticket sales - by Jasmine Vaughn-Hall at The Baltimore Banner
- At home with Simon Rattle: 'There are still things I fear are beyond me' - by Fiona Maddocks at The Guardian
- Otto Schenk, director known for traditional opera productions, dies at 94 - by Ronald Blum at AP News
- Lara St. John is exposing sexual abuse in classical music with a new doc - by Tom Power at CBC
- A guide to Greater Boston's numerous winter classical music events - by Lloyd Schwartz at WBUR
- Film concerts: Performing movie music live - by David Pogue at CBS News
- A guide to Bang on a Can's revolutionary minimalism - by George Grella at Bandcamp Daily
- Opera is for everyone - by Annie Levin at Current Affairs
- Video: The technology powering the iconic Sydney Opera House - by staff at BBC
- Heart-wrenching, joy-inducing and irrepressibly thrilling: our classical critics’ highlights of the year - by writers at The Guardian
- At the Met, a troubled new 'Aida' struggles to rediscover itself - by Michael Andor Brodeur at Washington Post
- Klavierhaus Presents Zeze Xue in Review - by Rorianne Schrade at New York Concert Review
- Bass baritone Christian van Horn stays true to himself - by Victoria Looseleaf at SF Classical Voice
Around the US
Explorers And A Mixed Vocal Troupe Dig Into New ‘Aida’ At The Met
NEW YORK – Required of a good Aida are lavish pageantry and strong voices. This politically aware production, dotted with modern explorers, offers spectacle but some uneven singing. Yet with more performances, the show could reach its potential.
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
Profile Of A Monk, Cast In Resonant Lines Of Renaissance Polyphony
DIGITAL REVIEW – Over the course of its 30 tracks, augmented by texts and printed program, the Brabant Ensemble’s new recording, A Monk’s Life, unfolds as a luminous and intriguing biography of a nameless monk in late-Renaissance Germany.
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
Challenging Art Of Ives Launches New Podcast Hosted By Gail Wein
PERSPECTIVE – The still-controversial composer, born 150 years ago, believed that "music should not come easily," says Donald Berman, president of the Charles Ives Society, the debut guest on Wein's Classical Gas series on our website.
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.
