Grand Dame Von Stade Makes New Recording, And Declares It Her Last
PERSPECTIVE – Frederica von Stade, 79, made her first recording in 1975 with Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic. She says her latest, new works with Musica Viva NY led by Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez, will close that long chapter.
Bryce Dessner’s ‘Solos’ Recording Is A Paradox: It’s About Connections
DIGITAL REVIEW – The guitarist-composer's latest project is deeply personal, a series of solo works that Dessner calls an “intimate diary.” These miniatures represent special rapport – with a musician, a city, family, all honoring collaboration.
Ambitious Album Casts Light On The Composer Inside Conductor MTT
DIGITAL REVIEW – With Michael Tilson Thomas' 80th birthday looming in December, his far-ranging compositions are finally being unleashed upon the world in a handsomely produced four-CD, five-hour set containing most of his music.
Musical Cultures Meld In Renaissance-Based CD Creatively Spiced
DIGITAL REVIEW – Although the music on Pilgrimage: Musical Journey of Kryštof Harant to Jerusalem / circa 1600 is almost 500 years old, the album’s message of cross-cultural parallels and joyous interaction is a needed balm today.
A Singer Sees The Light In Dark World Of Music Suppressed By Nazis
PERSPECTIVE – "I fell into a rabbit hole learning about 20th-century composers who found themselves marginalized due to the events of the Second World War,” said tenor Ian Koziara of his new recording devoted to songs once silenced.
Día De Los Muertos: Supercharged Concert Rings With Festive Life
LOS ANGELES – Día de los Muertos (Day of The Dead) is a Mexican holiday Nov. 1-2 that's catching on north of the border. The LA Phil offered a celebratory program of colorful, propulsive music led by Gustavo Dudamel.
Project To Celebrate New Music Outshines Compositions It Honors
MONTREAL – Prizes offered by the Canadian-based Azrieli Foundation are generous, the juries impressive, the performances first-rate. And the applicant pool is international. The prizewinning works at a gala choral concert were hit and miss.
Youthful Mozart Opera, With Some New Twists, Is Glittering Vocal Show
BOSTON – Mitridate, written when Mozart was 14, consists mainly of a parade of arias notable for their punishing tessitura and relentless coloratura. The starry cast at Boston Lyric Opera met every challenge with uniform brilliance.
Weinberg Opera Rarity And ‘Hamlet’ In Concert Score High At Salzburg
SALZBURG – This year’s Salzburg Festival boasts an impressive variety, from a new staging of Weinberg’s The Idiot, the summer's hit, to recitals and a concert treatment of Thomas’ opera Hamlet – in which the melancholy Dane is crowned king!
Britten Opera Revels In Dream Al Fresco Setting, And In Midsummer, Too
WORMSLEY ESTATE, U.K. – A Midsummer Night’s Dream, with its intimate forest setting, is the perfect summer-festival opera. How fitting to see it at Garsington Opera, an al fresco enterprise located in a woods between London and Oxford.
Not Quite Traditional: ‘Ring’ Without The Rhine, But Rewards Are Golden
ZURICH – At its best, live opera is a visceral experience. Zurich Opera delivered just that with Wagner’s full Ring cycle. Conductor Gianandrea Noseda led the Philharmonia Zürich with a fine cast headed by Tomasz Konieczny's Wotan.
Batons, Bowings, Beats: A Maestro’s New Guide To Modern Masterworks
BOOK REVIEW – Leonard Slatkin’s new book belongs to a distinguished tradition, reflecting a lifetime of study and podium experience at the highest level. And it can be absorbed by anyone with a working knowledge of how to read music.
Quasi-Robotics Concert, Where AI Perhaps Stood For Almost Involved
SAN FRANCISCO – The 10th season of the San Francisco Symphony's SoundBox series ended with a conceptually fascinating program called “Press Play,” curated by “Carol Reiley and her robots.” But it needed more AI compositions.
An Oboe Ode To Joy: Youth Meets Diversity In A Profusion Of Delights
SEATTLE – Artistry and camaraderie shared top billing at Oboe / Oboe, a high-spirited concert presented by Emerald City Music, whose creative series aspires to open classical music to younger and more diverse audiences and performers.
To Orchestra In Need, Guest Conductor Brings Affinity Of An Old Friend
SEATTLE – in its search for a new music director, the Seattle Symphony has played under the wide-ranging styles of seven different conductors this season, but the high-level playing under David Robertson conveyed an aura of mutual comfort.
Energized Spoleto USA Runs Brash Gamut From Barber To Balloon Pops
CHARLESTON, S.C. – An imaginative revival of Barber's Vanessa was the 2023 festival highlight, but the offerings around town also included edgy and outré works along with standards like The Rite of Spring and the New World Symphony.
On Portland’s Vibrant Music Scene, New Is Nourished Everywhere
PORTLAND, Ore. – This city has become a busy hub for new music. Its vigorous creativity ranges from chamber ensembles dedicated to contemporary music to companies that explore the latest operas. The place is jumping.
A Ring Of Authenticity: ‘Das Rheingold’ Played On Period Instruments
PERSPECTIVE – Kent Nagano led the early-music ensemble Concerto Köln in
a version based on lengthy research by a special committee that sought the sound Wagner might have hoped for when composing the piece in the 1850s.
Michael Tilson Thomas Returns To SF Podium In Warm Homecoming
SAN FRANCISCO – His characteristic erect posture unaltered by the recent physical and emotional challenges of brain-tumor surgery, MTT, who turns 77 on Dec. 21, led the San Francisco Symphony in his own music and Schumann's.
Hail, Bright Abode! Life (And Art) Reaffirmed At The Resurgent LA Opera
LOS ANGELES – Defiantly back in business after a long pandemic-induced hiatus, the LA Opera took a giant step toward normalcy by staging Wagner’s Tannhäuser, the company’s first production of anything by Wagner in eight and a half years.
