Chamber Music Offers Welcome Respite From Hong Kong Hurly-Burly
HONG KONG – Amid the hustle and bustle of cars, trucks, and jackhammers, a concert of works by Locatelli, Tartini, Vivaldi, and Beethoven felt like a breath of fresh air. Added to the mix was soothing Satie and the calm moves of flow artist Chris Lam.
Elegy For ‘Disappeared’ Transfigures The Horror In Lyrical Remembrance
CHICAGO – Matthew Aucoin's Song of the Reappeared, given its premiere by soprano Julia Bullock and the Chicago Symphony led by Petr Popelka, embraces Chilean poet Raúl Zurita's epic verse commentary on Chile's long reign of terror.
As Season Winds Down, Spirit Of The New Buoys South American Music
PERSPECTIVE – This year has seen the emergence of new musical leadership in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Santiago, Chile. The latter city has also seen the opening of a new concert hall. The end of the season was fascinating in both centers.
With A French Flourish, Les Arts Florissants Bundles Baroque Noëls
BROOKLYN – New York’s holiday concert season began with the welcome return of William Christie and his Baroque ensemble, a force in the revival of 17th- and 18th-century French music. The program offered a dose of pure French sound.
Ravel’s Impressionism Meets Neoclassical Side In A Celebratory Concert
NEW YORK - The chamber orchestra Pegasus, led by founding director Karén Hakobyan, offered an arc of works that showed Ravel’s many facets and put him in a historical context that reflected the composer’s oddly contradictory melding of styles.
Sugarplum Silly: Musicians Muse On Diet Of Yuletide ‘Nutcrackers’
SAN FRANCISCO – Most people, if they see The Nutcracker, do it once a season. But playing every performance is just the job description for the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, which will play – no, embrace – the enduring hit 35 times in December.
Out, Out, Viol Spots: Bach’s Luster Dulled In Antique Transcriptions
MONTREAL – The modern piano is a common vehicle for Bach performance, and Stokowski's arrangements still hang on. But the antiquarian effect on sundry pieces by a consort of viols was a walrussy sameness, the tempo usually moderato.
Hanging On Every Note And Tantalizing Silence Of String Quartet Cycle
NEW YORK – Deploying extended techniques that produced sundry effects of grinding, scraping, and squeaking, augmented by lots of silence, the JACK Quartet played three works by German composer Helmut Lachenmann, who turns 90 in November.
With Buoyant Concerto For Orchestra, Marsalis Hits All The Right Notes
LOS ANGELES – Wynton Marsalis' latest creation for symphony orchestra, which received its U.S. premiere at the Hollywood Bowl under Rafael Payare, is a lot of fun. And for now, the familiar influence of Duke Ellington seems to have fled.
Poiesis Quartet Wins Competition, But Just Getting There Is A Win
BANFF, Alberta – While the Cincinnati-based foursome hauled away some $500,000 (Canadian) in prizes at the triennial Banff International String Quartet Competition, the event is a reliable career boost for every ensemble invited to participate.
Midsummer Bach Fest Flits From Mendelssohn To ‘Art Of Fugue’ In Bits
CARMEL-BY-THE-SEA, Calif. – With the magical opening bars of A Midsummer Night’s Dream overture, the Carmel Bach Festival launched its 88th season, ushering its audience into a world far from the summer's heat, storms, and politics.
Philip Glass At Large: From Knowing Hands, Music Grand, Intimate
NEW YORK – Philip Glass, 88, is best performed by those who haven’t known a world without him. One such, Gustavo Dudamel, led Glass’ Symphony No. 11 with the NY Philharmonic. Another qualifier, Brooklyn Rider, played Glass quartets.
Mahlerpalooza: 10-Day Fest Drew 5 Orchestras, Fans From…Everywhere
AMSTERDAM – For the third time in its history, the Concertgebouw presented Mahler's complete symphonies, this time played by high-profile ensembles from Budapest, Tokyo, Chicago, and Berlin as well as the Concertgebouw Orchestra.
Marsalis Adds Personal Flair To Film Honoring Jazz Legend Armstrong
SAN DIEGO – At a screening of the 2010 silent film Louis, fellow New Orleans-bred trumpeter Wynton Marsalis sat in with a 13-member band to play music he'd written or arranged from originals by Duke Ellington, Jelly Roll Morton, and others.
A Powerful ‘Moby-Dick’ Seizes The Met Stage (Don’t Call Him Ishmael)
NEW YORK – Tenor Brandon Jovanovich heads the cast as the vengeful and obsessive Capt. Ahab in composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer's adaptation of Herman Melville's novel. But the adventure's sole survivor has been renamed.
In Dreamscape Concert, French Maestro Weaves Legends And Mysteries
NEW YORK – In an evocative program of Romantic songs and choruses titled "My Dream," 40-year-old countertenor-turned-conductor Raphaël Pichon led the Orchestra of St. Luke's, soprano Ying Fang, and baritone Christian Gerhaher.
2 Composer-Performers Merge Personalities In Rarefied Concert Fare
ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Multi-talented composers Caroline Shaw (who sings and plays viola) and Gabriel Kahane (singer-pianist) showcased their new, albeit well-traveled, collaborative work Hexagons, on Jorge Luis Borges' fanciful text.
Northern Lights: Polished Singers Spark Two Canadian Concerts
VANCOUVER – Vancouver Recital Society offered exceptional vocal programs back to back: a local premiere by soprano Barbara Hannigan with pianist Bertrand Chamayou and Schoenberg by Hila Baggio with the Israeli Chamber Project.
‘Dream Of Red Chamber’ In Revised Opera Guise Delivers New Intimacy
MINNEAPOLIS – Bright Sheng's opera based on an epic Chinese novel received a lavish production for its San Francisco Opera premiere in 2016. A scaled-down version, newly staged at the University of Minnesota, refocuses the story.
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.
