Spontini Opera Revival Preserves Music, Adds Screams, Tosses Story
PARIS – Unheard at the Paris Opera since 1854, La vestale returned to the Bastille stage, entrusted to the fashionable, wildly imaginative American-born director Lydia Steier. She and dramaturg Olaf A. Schmitt clearly felt unbound by the original story.
’10 Days In a Madhouse’ Named Best New Opera By Critics Association
BREAKING NEWS – The work by composer Rene Orth and librettist Hannah Moscovitch, based on an exposé of asylum abuses, is the winner of the 2024 Award for Best New Opera conferred by the Music Critics Association of North America.
Visionary Koussevitzky Will Be Celebrated In Tanglewood Concerts
PERSPECTIVE – Marking the 150th anniversary of Serge Koussevitzky's birth and the 100th of his appointment to lead the Boston Symphony, where he reigned for 25 years, the orchestra will honor his legacy in festival programs July 26-28.
Flourish Of Beethoven’s Last Piano Sonata Gives Pulse To Summer Music
TORONTO – For 19 years, Toronto Summer Music has been filling the off-season gap with chamber music and recitals reflected in Ukrainian pianist Vadym Kholodenko's program fashioned around Beethoven's Op. 111 and accented by Prokofiev.
It’s A Suite Of Brilliance As Conductor, Orchestra Co-star On Dazzling CD
DIGITAL REVIEW – American composer Elizabeth Ogonek's three-part All These Lighted Things fits neatly between famous suites by Prokofiev and Ravel in a recording by the greatly undervalued Antwerp Symphony with its conductor Elim Chan.
Manic ‘Barber,’ Blistering ‘Salome,’ Plus Premiere: Opera In Quiet Iowa
INDIANOLA, Iowa – In an adventurous 52nd season, Des Moines Metro Opera also caught the nightmarish quality of Pelléas et Mélisande (pictured) and offered the world premiere of composer Damien Geter's American Apollo.
In The Rainy Northwest, New Festival Conductor And Breath Of Fresh Air
BELLINGHAM, Wash. – The seemingly complicated business of finding a new music director for the Bellingham Festival of Music turned out to be an easy task. In his first summer here, Brazilian-born Marcelo Lehninger has proved to be a fine fit.
IN THE NEWS: MCANA MEMBERS' PICKS
- Reflections on ‘the gift’ of listening: A farewell column - by Jeremy Eichler at Boston Globe
- John Adams’s Girls of the Golden West Gets a Definitive Recording - by Richard S. Ginell at SFCV
- The Nearly Lost Work of a ‘Born Opera Composer’ Returns - by Will Crutchfield at NY Times
- The Eastern Music Festival, housed at Guilford College in Greensboro, NC, starts 63rd season - by Timothy Lindeman at CVNC
- Chicago SO finale’s convergence of three young stars signaled new energy heading into Mäkelä era - by Nancy Malitz at Chicago On the Aisle
- Cincinnati Opera’s ‘La Traviata’ unmarred by police shooting outside Music Hall - by Janelle Gelfand at Cincinnati Business Courier
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Garsington Opera - music soars in a production that fascinates - by Richard Fairman at Financial Times
- Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Bernard Labadie & Augustin Hadelich at Zankel Hall – Avison, Geminiani, Bach & Pachelbel - by Susan Stempleski at Classical Source
- Béla Fleck and Cleveland Orchestra wow Blossom Music Center with Rhapsody in Blue - by Kevin McLaughlin at Cleveland.com
- Trying to crystallize something: Siwan Rhys prepares three sonatas by Galina Ustvolskaya - by Hugh Morris at VAN
- 'La femme 100 têtes': Max Ernst and George Antheil - by Georg Predota at Interlude
- Ohio prison hosts full symphony concert behind bars - by Precious Grundy at Corrections 1
- Making Aston Magna Great Again - by Dan Stepner at The Boston Musical Intelligencer
- 'The Jamie Raskin Oratorio': Life of Maryland congressman interpreted in classical music piece - by Neil Augenstein at WTOP
- Houston Grand Opera sees significant growth despite industry's 'existential crisis' - by Chandler France at Houston Business Journal
- In Boulder, music director Peter Oundjian is driving the Colorado Music Festival into the future - by Ray Mark Rinaldi at The Denver Post
- Ravel was the only composer of 'Boléro,' court rules after six-year co-writer dispute - by Maddy Shaw Roberts at Classic FM
- Radiohead X Brahms: Steve Hackman takes a fascinating turn with classical and alt - by Christina Fuoco-Karasinski at Pasadena Weekly
- The best contemporary classical music on Bandcamp, June 2024 - by Peter Margasak at Bandcamp
- Opera Carolina makes historic hire for director - by Herbert L. White at The Charlotte Post
- Opera legend Renée Fleming pens new book on harnessing the arts for health and wellness - by Jason Fraley at WTOP
- ‘Dazzling, beautiful and vital,’ Mishka Rushdie Momen on Tudor keyboard masterpieces - at The Guardian
- Listening Through the Life of George Crumb - by David Weininger at NYTimes
- Wolf Trap’s bright and breezy ‘Così fan tutte’ is just goofy enough - by Michael Ando Brodeur at Washington Post
- Discord at the Symphony: Losing a Star, San Francisco Weighs Its Future - by Robin Pogrebin and Javier C. Hernández at NY Times
- This ambitious new Canadian opera shines a light on a forgotten music icon - by Joshua Chong at Toronto Star
Around the US
In Leadership Turmoil, Oregon Bach Festival Showcases Its Vitality
MOUNT ANGEL, Ore. – Though dogged by a seven-year interlude without an artistic director, the 54-year-old festival reveled once again in joyful performances of the music of Bach and a generous display of audience enthusiasm.
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
New Video Of ‘Rusalka’ Is Appealing Evidence Of Its Rising Popularity
DIGITAL REVIEW – There are now several plausible video versions from which to choose. Opus Arte's new version, filmed at London's Royal Opera in 2023 and starring Asmik Grigorian with Semyon Bychkov conducting, has considerable virtues.
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
20th-Century American Operas Receding From View On Nation’s Stages
PERSPECTIVE – Even as the presence of new operas has expanded, and works from the distant past endure, what has gotten squeezed out are classic American operas from before the 1987 premiere of John Adams' Nixon in China.
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.