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.
In Light Of Premiere, Ives’ Piquant ‘Question’ Affords A Calm Answer
NEW YORK – George Lewis' colorful and often noisy …ohne festen Wohnsitz, for large orchestra with massive percussion, debuted in a New York Philharmonic concert led by Kwamé Ryan where The Unanswered Question was relatively polite.
Saariaho’s ‘Innocence,’ Viewed At Met Distance, Loses Personal Urgency
NEW YORK – An unflinching dissection of school-shooter trauma, the opera was bound to hit deep levels of identification. Some audience members left in tears. But it's a fragile flower vulnerable to the objectivity of staging in the Met's vast house.
Medieval Combat Game Takes Boston Camerata Down Video Pathways
BOSTON – As leader and narrator, Anne Azéma guides her esteemed cohort across familiar ground of 13th-century music of courtly love and legend, but this time for the strategic computer role-playing game Legends of the Round Table.
3 Glass Operas Played On 2 Pianos, Accented By A Suite Of Scents
LOS ANGELES – As pianists Katia and Marielle Labèque performed arrangements from Orphée, La Belle et la Bête, and Les Enfants terribles, listeners could sniff "scent cards" purported to add another dimension to the musical moments.
Ancient Gilgamesh Epic, Told Across Ages, Finds A Fresh Voice As Opera
CERRITOS, Calif. – This saga of a transfigured king from the second millennium B.C. has animated at least seven operas. An innovative addition, Derrick Skye’s Gilgamesh: The Opera, received its world premiere by Lyric Opera of Orange County.
Fauré Requiem Meets Musical Incarnations Of The Seven Deadly Sins
NEW YORK – “Sins and Grace” was the title of a MasterVoices program that paired the heavenly aura of Fauré’s work with a new choral sequence: Seven: A Cycle of Sins, by seven composers drawn from the realms of jazz, opera, and Broadway.
A Flourish Of Operas Embraced In Intimacy, Committed To Tradition
SARASOTA, Fla. – During Opera Lovers Weeks, Sarasota Opera is mixing a lavish new Merry Widow with remountings of Il trovatore,
Susannah, and La bohème, all reflecting the look and the time intended by the original creators.
Oratorio Of The Oceans Blows Spray Of Imagery Evoking Climate Change
BOSTON – The eight voices of Lorelei Ensemble, augmented by electronics, performed Christopher Cerrone's Beaufort Scales, which mixes terms that describe levels of ocean winds with references to wind and weather by Melville and other writers.
Irish Baroque Orchestra, Countertenor Bring Heat To Early Classical Fare
NEW YORK – Listeners were promised a salacious journey into the picaresque 18th-century world of castrato Giusto Ferdinando Tenducci. What countertenor Hugh Cutting and the band led by Peter Whelan delivered was a knockout concert.
Brave Company Tames Beastly Film/Stage Tale Of Cocteau/Glass ‘Belle’
SAN FRANCISCO – Adding live stage action to Cocteau's 1946 film La Belle et la Bête, the plucky Opera Parallèle had costumed cast members singing Philip Glass' overlay of music for the characters as the movie's progress was paused.
New Music’s In NY Air; Philharmonic Taps That Theme With Variations
NEW YORK – Amid the zeal for new sounds, the Philharmonic led by Gustavo Dudamel premiered orchestrations of Frederic Rzewski's 36 piano variations on "The People United Will Never Be Defeated," written by a group of composers.
An Operetta Confection Revived Amid Splendor Of Song (And Laughter)
NEW YORK – Korngold's The Silent Serenade, a seldom-seen romantic farce with all the silliness and ornateness that befits Viennese operetta, made its U.S. debut in a charming production by students at the Mannes School of Music.
‘Midsummer’ Marriage: Orchestra, Actors Meet In A Shakespeare Romp
HONOLULU – At the Hawai’i Symphony Orchestra’s Sounds of Shakespeare Festival, the orchestra led by Dane Lam combined with the Manoa Valley Theatre to stage A Midsummer Night's Dream featuring Mendelssohn's music.
Fraught With Concepts, Met’s New ‘Tristan’ Is Still One For The Ages
NEW YORK – Amid director Yuval Sharon's visually busy albeit sumptuous production, soprano Lise Davidsen delivered a vocally glorious Isolde to lead a strong cast and a superb orchestral performance under Yannick Nézet-Séguin.
Revival Of ‘Akhnaten’ Attests To Durability Of Glass’ Visionary Opera
LOS ANGELES – LA Opera's radiant remounting of its 2016 production made a case that the third in Glass' "portrait" trilogy of people who changed history in science (Einstein on the Beach), politics (Satyagraha), and religion is made of sturdy stuff.
