From ‘Liebesverbot’ To ‘Ring,’ Wagner Echoes in Leipzig
By James Paulk
LEIPZIG - Oper Leipzig, in the composer's home town, presented the first three installments of its new Ring cycle, along with performances of Parsifal, Tannhäuser, and from Wagner at age 23, the rarely done Das Liebesverbot.
Dresden Fest’s Varied Programs Sizzle And Chill
By Rodney Punt
DRESDEN - "Fire Ice" is the theme of the 2015 Dresden Music Festival, an extravaganza of eclectic offerings devised by German cellist Jan Vogler, who has transformed the event since taking over in 2009.
Premieres Abound As Festival Salutes American Creators
By Richard S. Ginell
LOS ANGELES - The Los Angeles Philharmonic's Next on Grand Festival, running through May 31, features seven world premieres and programs led by music director Gustavo Dudamel and creative chair John Adams.
Rihm’s Thorny Concerto Leaves Listener In Lurch
By Robert Battey
WASHINGTON, D.C. - His music toys with antecedents and expectations; it is full of ideas and contrasts; there is often a dramatic arc. But when all is said and done, Wolfgang Rihm's new piano concerto is much ado about very little.
Marionettes Bring Charm, Finesse On Trek From Austria
By Richard Todd
OTTAWA - The Salzburg Marionette Theatre has toured North America with a playful show built around Schumann’s Papillons and Debussy’s Boîte à joujoux. Remarkably life-like puppets teamed with pianist Orion Weiss. Paris is next.
As Smoke Clears, Atlanta SO Turns To Joyful Sounds
By James L. Paulk
ATLANTA — The orchestra that Robert Shaw made famous finally got down to musical business with belated opening weeks led by music director Robert Spano. Short notice after a nine-week lockout saw 31 substitutes filling in.
Previn At 85 Sees Festive Debut For Double Concerto
By Mary Ellyn Hutton
CINCINNATI — André Previn basked in a Queen City of the West welcome for the sunny violin-cello showpiece he wrote for Jaime Laredo and Sharon Robinson. They'll take it to five North American stops in 2015, then on to Europe.
Six ‘Brandenburgs’: Baroque Moderne From Chicago SO
By Lawrence B . Johnson
CHICAGO - A radiant traversal of Bach's six “concerts avec plusieurs instruments” by the Chicago Symphony under Nicholas Kraemer showed how far we’ve come in assimilating, or perhaps accommodating, Baroque performance practice.
‘Love Potion’ Makes Intriguing Fare In Synagogue Setting
By Benjamin Pesetsky
BROOKLINE, Mass. - For Swiss composer Frank Martin's rarely performed 1940 chamber opera treatment of the Tristan and Isolt myth, Boston Lyric Opera converted Temple Ohabei Shalom into a theater-in-the-round.
Machover ‘Cocoon’ Tunes Listener To Vibe Of The Voice
By Adeline Sire
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - You'll feel your vocal vibrations when you sit in MIT MediaLab's Cocoon and experience the intensity of the oRb, an ostrich-egg-like interactive creation of composer Tod Machover and his team.
Les Violons du Roy Take Regal Sound To Canadian West
By Bill Rankin
EDMONTON, Alberta - An eight-stop tour by the Quebec chamber orchestra has an early romantic flavor, with an arrangement of Schubert's String Quartet in D Minor (Death and the Maiden), plus Mendelssohn and Schumann.
Canadians Twice Remember Fallen With ‘War Requiem’
By David Gordon Duke
BRITISH COLUMBIA - Two cities honored Remembrance Day weekend with Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem. In Vancouver, a great tradition is upheld. In Victoria, under conductor Tania Miller, a first endeavor has shining worth.
LA Phil Launches In/Sight Venture: It’s Outta Sight
By Richard S. Ginell
LOS ANGELES — Remember the light shows of the '60s with live rock music that took you to other places - depending upon your intoxication level? The LA Phil is trying out the idea with a new concert series, minus the chemicals.
Series’ First Play Sees Charlotte SO Thrown For Loss
By Perry Tannenbaum
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The Charlotte Symphony's new Thursday concert initiative faced an early challenge from the NFL, whose Carolina Panthers were at home and on TV Oct. 30. But the orchestra is experiencing good health.
In Berlin, ‘Hélène’ Not So Belle And ‘Tosca’ Is Teutonic
By Rebecca Schmid
BERLIN - The Komische Oper and Staatsoper opened the season with new productions that fell flat. Barrie Kosky's La belle Hélène offered strangely little Offenbach, and 'Tosca,' led by Daniel Barenboim, veered toward Wagner.
Pianist Or Artistic Chief, Buchbinder Is Purist At Heart
By Rebecca Schmid
VIENNA – Rudolf Buchbinder, who will play Stateside with the Boston Symphony under Thierry Fisher Oct. 16-21, is not a man of compromises. For several years, he has made only live recordings and usually travels without scores.
New Music Fuels Carolina Concerts By Pittsburgh SO
By Roy C. Dicks
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - From last year's Composer of the Year program, which was a celebration of local talent, the Pittsburgh Symphony hit the road with Elements, a suite of brief sound portraits by five Steel City composers.
Director’s Insight Sharpens ‘Giovanni’ At Chicago Lyric
By Andrew Patner
CHICAGO - A Robert Falls production with Ana María Martínez and Mariusz Kwiecień sets the action in a kind of free-floating Spain, close enough to our own era to show that the Don and Mozart are ever our contemporaries.
San Francisco SO Ives-Kubrick Fete Bizarre, Well Knit
By Jeff Dunn
SAN FRANCISCO – The plan looked puzzling on paper: two unaccompanied choral works in a bimodal program honoring Ives and Kubrick. But in his concert with orchestral and choral forces, Michael Tilson Thomas made clear his intent.
