Maestro, Sound System Both Take First Bow On Londoners’ Tour Of U.S.
BERKELEY, Cal. – The Finnish conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali, leading the Philharmonia Orchestra, made his Bay-area debut at UC Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall, which touted the first orchestral outing of its upgraded sound system.
Birthday Concert Turns Into ‘Living Room’ Party For Esperanza Spalding
PORTLAND, Ore. – The singer, bassist, and composer, a Portland native and five-time Grammy winner, celebrated her 41st in grand style with the Oregon Symphony, drawing a nearly full house to the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall.
Flowing Robes, Fluent Performance, And Fresh Approach To J.S. Bach
NEW YORK – Pianist Christopher O'Riley, looking a bit messianic in flowing white attire designed for maximum comfort, pedaling with bare feet, offered a thoroughly considered, highly personal account of Book II of The Well-Tempered Clavier.
At Indigenous Art Show, Composer Offers Works For The Eye And The Ear
BOSTON – Raven Chacon accepts many different descriptors: visual artist, performance artist, sound artist, composer. Two of his graphic scores and a sonic installation appear in a new exhibition at Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art.
A Sleeper Awakes: Met ‘Sonnambula’ Roused By Some Glorious Singing
NEW YORK – Two decades after his house vocal debut in La traviata, Rolando Villazón makes his directorial debut with a puzzling view of Bellini's problematic opera enlivened by some of the most splendid singing heard at the Met in a long time.
Women Rule In Concert That Co-stars Piccolo, Pergolesi ‘Stabat Mater’
CHICAGO – It wasn't quite an all-women affair, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's concert conducted by Daniela Candillari, but close to it as Jennifer Gunn soloed in Thea Musgrave's Piccolo Play on a program with a Baroque paean to the Virgin Mary.
Capturing Magic Spell Of Ravel’s Pluperfect Portrait Of A Little Brat
SAN DIEGO – Rafael Payare led the San Diego Symphony Orchestra in a musically lustrous and visually resourceful concert version of L'enfant et les sortilèges, with mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard as the naughty kid who is fantastically reformed.
Australian Brings Baton, Charm, Ranging Taste To New Post In America
GREENSBORO, N.C. – Christopher Dragon, the affable, buoyant, and enthusiastic new music director of the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra, readily embraces pop and film music – everything: "Orchestras need to adapt to this modern time."
Scaling Grand Premiere, Dudamel Begins Final Ascent With His LA Phil
LOS ANGELES - With a resounding account of Ellen Reid's new Earth Between Oceans and a bracing assault on Strauss' An Alpine Symphony, Gustavo Dudamel opened his last season as music director before taking over the NY Philharmonic in 2026.
Hands Made For Baton Shaped Conductor Who Takes Reins In Seattle
SEATTLE – Xian Zhang's teacher in China thought her hands were too small to major in piano, says the woman newly installed as the first female music director of the Seattle Symphony. But conducting, Zhang adds, '"just came naturally."
An ‘Amazing’ Operatic Adventure At The Met Distills An Epic Novel
NEW YORK – The world premiere of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, by composer Mason Bates and librettist Gene Scheer, featured sophisticated graphics in a rewarding reduction of Michael Chabon's sprawling Pulitzer Prize winner.
Baritone Braves Illness To Celebrate The Spirit Of Greenwich Village
NEW YORK – At the eighth Village Trip festival, honoring the community's arts, both historical and current, James Martin powered through three world-premiere song cycles, including a diverse group of Americana by David Amram, 94 (right).
A Maverick As Virtuoso Inaugurates New Organ With Irrepressible Flair
NEW YORK – Almost a quarter century after the devastation of Sept. 11, Manhattan’s Trinity Church dedicated its new pipe organ with a recital by Anna Lapwood, the “TikTok organist" and an ascendant champion of the king of instruments.
Seattle’s New Maestro Makes Cautious Debut With Hits, Some Misses
SEATTLE – Xian Zhang began her tenure as Seattle Symphony music director with a concert designed to please, joining pianist Simon Trpčeski in a glorious account of Grieg's Concerto in A minor. Works by Smetana and Wagner fared less well.
Dudamel Gives NY Phil Audience Zesty Preview Of Directorship Ahead
NEW YORK – Gustavo Dudamel doesn't officially become New York Philharmonic music and artistic director until 2026, but his season-opening concert with the orchestra Sept. 11, mixing Ives and a premiere, was the sort of fare I'd hoped for.
Celebrating Art Song, Concerts Honor Music Quieted In Modern Era
CHICAGO – Amid shrinking music education and changing tastes, the audiences for art song have dwindled. But in programs titled War and Peace, Art Song Chicago, with tenor and guiding spirit Nicholas Phan (right), renewed its advocacy.
Evocation Of The Andes Takes Listeners To Peak In Summer Fest Concert
PORT ANGELES, Wash. – Gabriela Lena Frank's 2001 string quartet, Leyendas: An Andean Walkabout, which reflects her mother's Peruvian heritage, was a highlight of the 2025 Music on the Strait, held in this small city northwest of Seattle.
Fest Within A Festival Touts Chamber Music At A Passionate Pitch
PORT TOWNSEND, Wash. – Over the last decade, the Olympic Music Festival has run a two-week chamber program mixing young musicians with professionals. This year's fare boasted heated whirls with works by Franck and Rachmaninoff.
A Classical Guitarist’s Unlikely Concert Tour Unveils A Chinese Star
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – A national solo tour by any classical guitarist, let alone a Chinese female guitarist, is unusual. But not far into a recital that swung from Albéniz to popular Americana, the virtuosic Xuefei Yang was drawing whoops.
Martinů’s Dreamscape: Revisiting The Creepy Comedy Of ‘Julietta’
ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON – The extra focus of minimal stage trappings allowed this prodigious, complex opera to succeed at the Bard Festival of Music, with a young cast and the American Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leon Botstein.
