Early Menotti Comedy Accents Stage Offering At Diverse Spoleto Fest
CHARLESTON, S.C. – The festival is celebrating America's 250th anniversary with 17 days of events including Menotti's The Old Maid and the Thief, Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, and the Scottish Ballet’s Mary, Queen of Scots (pictured at right).
After 20 Magic Years, James Conlon To Exit LA Opera With ‘Flute’
LOS ANGELES – Mozart's opera will be the sign-off for the company's popular artistic leader, who also has shone as podcaster, pre-performance lecturer, and program essayist. "I liked everybody here," he said of his long-ago first impression.
Worlds And Time Apart, Works Of Two Cultures Create Concert Bridge
NEW YORK – When Lou Harrison's 1959 gamelan-based violin concerto met Nathalie Joachim's Le présent éternel, exploring her heritage as the American daughter of Haitian immigrants, the two works connected at a NY Phil new-music event.
That’s A Wrap: Dudamel Closes His LA Run With A Spectacular ‘Walküre’
LOS ANGELES – Capping 17 years at the LA Phil's helm, before departing for the NY Phil, Gustavo Dudamel led a visionary, timeless, and superbly cast semi-staged production, one of the most thrilling events in Disney Hall’s storied history.
‘The Post Office,’ Opera Tied To Gay Issues, Has Ring Of Dead Letter File
NEW YORK – Laura Kaminsky’s new opera, seen at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, boasted a fine cast of singers and well-crafted music. Touting conciliatory social awareness, it portrays the gay-marriage debate with nothing new to say.
Maestro Subs In Mahler, And The Effect Conjures An Orchestra’s Bloodline
SAN FRANCISCO – When Herbert Blomstedt, conductor laureate of the SF Symphony, was unable to lead performances of the Mahler Ninth, David Robertson (pictured) stepped in with an account that would have honored the late MTT.
Pintscher Turns Debut Into Fanfare Event With Copland 3rd Symphony
PORTLAND, Ore. – Conductor Matthias Pintscher made a splash of sonic delights with the Oregon Symphony in Copland’s symphony (with its "Fanfare for the Common Man") and, with soloist Alessio Bax, Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3.
On An Opera Canvas, Artists Dream In Color, But Drama Isn’t So Rosy
NEW YORK – Despite sumptuous staging, a lush score, and strong performances, Gabriela Lena Frank's El Ultimo Sueño de Frida y Diego (The Final Dream of Frida and Diego) at the Met never quite fulfills the promise of catharsis and resolution.
Like Back In The Day: Two Opera Stars Unite For A Dazzling Recital
NEW YORK – In an old-fashioned, high-energy, and much-applauded event, beloved Met Opera regulars soprano Erin Morley and tenor Lawrence Brownlee sang 19th-century Italian and French arias and duets with pianist Malcolm Martineau.
Post-Minimalist Threads Reveal Wide Range Of Influence On New Music
BROOKLYN – The diversity of fresh works at Bang on a Can's Long Play Festival illustrated how minimalism descended from encounters among American composers, jazz musicians, and improvisers in the classical traditions of India.
Recalling Van Cliburn’s Moscow Triumph With Melodrama And A Wink
KALAMAZOO, Mich. – For its 35th anniversary, the Gilmore International Piano Festival unveiled American Sputnik, with music by Evan Mack and libretto by Mark Campbell and built on Cliburn-linked works by Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff.
Dudamel, Approaching NY Phil Directorship, Displays A New Poise
NEW YORK – No longer the 20-something whiz kid who put El Sistema on the map, Gustavo Dudamel showed a more contained podium demeanor in his Philharmonic program featuring Ellen Reid's Earth Between Oceans and Stravinsky's Firebird.
Mozart’s ‘Idomeneo’ Gets Regal Treatment, Even In Semi-Staging
BOSTON – The Boston Baroque orchestra plus chorus and a half-dozen soloists, led by David Bates and focused by Bill Barclay’s insightful direction, explored the king's return from the Trojan War and the effect of his vows en route.
Ultimate Monodrama: Singer Also Conducts Tragic ‘Voix Humaine’
NEW YORK – In Poulenc's orchestral setting of Cocteau's intimate scenario of a woman breaking up with her lover by telephone, Barbara Hannigan successfully pushed the risk factor by doubling as vocalist on the podium with the NY Philharmonic.
Sleeping Beauty Opera Is A Wake-Up Call For An Intrusive Smoocher
PHILADELPHIA – In the Disney version of Sleeping Beauty, the curse is cast, but one kiss changes everything, and everyone lives happily ever after. In Gregory Spears' Sleepers Awake, the girl and townsfolk ask what this guy's doing in their story.
Flamboyant Virtuoso, Wang Lights It Up As Pianist-Plus-Conductor
COSTA MESA, Calif. – Leading the Mahler Chamber Orchestra from the keyboard, in a program highlighted by Prokofiev's fierce Second Piano Concerto, Yuja Wang displayed the envelope-pushing that seems to be her larger career goal.
Like Second Nature: Danish String Quartet, Choir Explore Thoreau
NEW YORK – The Danish National Girls' Choir joined the string foursome in a concert capped by David Lang's in wildness, with a text based on American philosopher H.D. Thoreau's 1851 essay "Walking" plus lines by Hans Christian Andersen.
Amid Boston Symphony Upheaval, Mälkki Leads Needed Break For Music
BOSTON – The premiere of Andrew Norman’s double piano concerto Split with pianists Lucas and Arthur Jussen, on a program under Susanna Mälkki, offered relief from the public outcry over the termination of music director Andris Nelsons.
Revisiting An Old Haunt, Nomadic LA Ensemble Takes On A Fresh Sheen
LOS ANGELES – Since its founding in 1968, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra has been a bit of a vagabond, with no single venue to call its own. But in an intimate performance with violinist Anne Akiko Meyers, the group sounded right at home.
Shape-Shifting ‘Canto’ Converts Concert Into Austere, Heady Ritual
SEATTLE – Since its premiere in 1979, Simeon ten Holt's Canto Ostinato for four pianos has taken on other forms while becoming a cult classic. A version with the quartet Sandbox Percussion bespoke the minimalist work's ineffable charm.
