VIENNA – Austria will allow group rehearsals starting June 1 under tough – some artistic directors say unrealistic – distancing rules. Vienna’s opera houses plan to reopen this fall as usual. Meanwhile, television provides a lifeline.
BOOK REVIEW – Why is the iconoclastic composer Louis Andriessen so admired? This tribute, a collection of conversations transcribed from documentaries and new essays by composers he mentored, closes the case.
DIGITAL REVIEW – The searching, wide-ranging musical persona of French pianist Lucas Debargue, who first drew attention in the 2015 Tchaikovsky Competition, is profiled in a new documentary by his friend, Martin Mirabel.
BOOK REVIEW – From the 1930s to her death in 1953, Price’s talent brought her wide notice. Then, being black and a woman brought her neglect. A new biography by Rae Linda Brown sets the composer's life in historical context.
DIGITAL REVIEW – Great sacred vocal music abounded in the Baroque period. Happily, there always seems to be more of it to discover, as two recent recordings – one with music of Germany, the other of Spain – demonstrate.
DIGITAL REVIEW - To coincide with the Metropolitan Opera's first-ever staging of Handel's comic masterpiece in February, Erato issued a splendid new recording of the entire piece starring the same leading lady, Joyce DiDonato.
COPING WITH CRISIS – The coronavirus pandemic has forced music schools across the nation to move instruction online. They’re making the best of a bad situation, and taking a few innovative strides forward at the same time.
DIGITAL REVIEW — Last month, as the coronavirus brought rehearsals for a new Theater an der Wien staging by the actor Christoph Waltz to a standstill, the theater decided a virtual audience was better than no audience.
DIGITAL REVIEW – From concert broadcasts at the mid-century's cutting edge to musical bio-pics and fledgling livestream efforts by today's entrepreneurs (of necessity), the internet remains a source of discovery for our critics.
