Comic Additive Helps Revive Early Bernstein Flop ‘Trouble In Tahiti’
MINNEAPOLIS – As foil to the dark misery of the couple in Tahiti, Minnesota Opera paired it in a double bill with Service Provider, a very funny take on cellphone mania that also deals with the same marital problem of a failure to communicate.
On Outside, Looking In: Music Honors Cultures At Margins Of Society
NEW YORK – Life is a cabaret. For outsiders, it’s also a struggle that has long acted as creative inspiration. The American Composers Orchestra explored that inspiration in a concert at Carnegie Hall called America in Weimar: On the Margins.
Sound Of Nordic Music Echoes Through Festival Touching Diverse Styles
BOSTON – The Boston Symphony Orchestra’s Music of the Midnight Sun Festival, with four concerts spanning two weeks, explored music of Scandinavia ranging from Grieg's Peer Gynt to works by Sibelius and Anna Thorvaldsdottir.
Sampling The Century, Music From Japan Goes On Generational Venture
NEW YORK – In its third live festival in New York City since lockdown, the organization celebrated its 49th season with a survey of “Japanese Contemporary Music: Past and Present,”
including five composers spanning more than a century.
From Rear Perspective, Rotterdam Philharmonic Creates A Potent Sound
ORLANDO – Led by principal conductor Lahav Shani, the visiting orchestra proved to be a powerhouse of calibrated precision in Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet. It was my first time sitting in the grand-tier chorus section, facing the conductor.
Cage’s Opera Potpourri: Mixed Bundles Of Hits Offered In Playful Vibe
DETROIT – Detroit Opera's Yuval Sharon bravely staged John Cage’s Europeras 3 & , in which singers perform arias of their choice, pianists play opera transcriptions, and record players provide instrumental sections, all determined by chance.
Sounding The Long Fall Of Belle Epoque, From Bruckner To Schoenberg
NEW YORK – In three March concerts at Carnegie Hall, conductor Franz Welser-Möst led the Vienna Philharmonic in programs that outlined a sea-change course from the Bruckner Ninth though the Mahler Ninth to the Second Viennese School.
Pipa, Amid Color Riot, Stars In Concerto That Casts A Wide Spotlight
NEW YORK – Soloist Wu Man joined The Knights chamber orchestra under Eric Jacobsen in the world premiere of Du Yun's Ears of the Book, a work bristling with instrumental combinations in a personalized series of 10 "Polaroid" movements.
Myth Remade As Opera: Eurydice Rules The Tale, Leaves Orpheus For Dad
BOSTON – The collaboration between composer Matthew Aucoin and playwright Sarah Ruhl turns the legend into Eurydice's story. A condensed Boston Lyric Opera production features Sydney Mancasola as Eurydice with a mind of her own.
Classical, Jazz Orbits Cross In Visionary Art Of Mary Lou Williams
MIAMI – Slowly but surely, the music of the multitalented jazz pianist-arranger-composer is inching its way into the American classical canon. A New World Symphony festival exploring the Harlem Renaissance marked a big step forward.
Finesse, Subtlety Shape Music On CDs Devoted To Danish Composers
DIGITAL REVIEW – A delicate, ambiguous sound world of silence and pale light, evident in works by Hans Abrahamsen (right), Per Nørgård, and Bent Sørensen on three discs, evokes a contemporary shadow play on the music of Sibelius and Nielsen.
Met Resurrects ‘Forza’ In Stark New Look, And A New Force Is With It
NEW YORK – Once a staple at the Met, Verdi's La forza del destino, his most tragic and ambitious opera, has lost favor. But it returns recharged in Mariusz Treliński's apocalyptic production with the electrifying Lise Davidsen as Leonora.
Oratorio ‘Émigré’ Recalls Jews Fleeing Germany Into Chinese Embrace
NEW YORK – Fashioned as a love story, the new work by composer Aaron Zigman (right) and librettist Mark Campbell will receive its North American premiere by the N.Y. Philharmonic, chorus, and soloists led by Long Yu on Feb. 29.
‘Days Of Wine, Roses’ As Musical For 2, Seen Through A Glass Darkly
NEW YORK – Like two people stranded at sea, Joe and Kirsten (Brian d'Arcy James and Kelli O'Hara) are blissfully happy in this high-intensity lyric drama by Adam Guettel and Craig Lucas, until their drinking makes their joie de vivre go smash.
Handel With A Cultural Asterisk: Concert Adds Counterpoint Of Slavery
NEW YORK – "Handel: Made in America," offered by an imposing lineup of Black singers and instrumentalists, came with a sharp reminder that the composer's British patrons grew wealthy from the slave trade and that he invested in the trade.
Early Music Ensemble Takes Instructive Trek Through Mozart’s Time
NEW YORK – Keyboardist and conductor Kristian Bezuidenhout presided over a concert by the student period-instrument group Juilliard415 that cross-referenced works by Mozart and two of his contemporaries, Joseph Kraus and J.C. Bach.
After Long Covid Delay, New(ish) Adès Concerto And Champion Hit Town
LOS ANGELES – An early victim of the pandemic was the LA Philharmonic premiere in April 2020 of Thomas Adès’ then-new Piano Concerto led by the composer with soloist Kirill Gerstein. Finally, this classically built virtuoso romp had its local day.
Angst, Misery, Murder, And Loud Orchestra In ‘Elektra’ To Remember
DALLAS – In the title role of Strauss' grisly opera, soprano Marjorie Owens swung her ax with joy and displayed a voice equal to the musical and dramatic demands, though the audience couldn't always hear her in this Dallas Opera production.
Singers Unseen, Sober Tone Unstinting, ‘Passio’ Was Lengthy Challenge
NEW YORK – I wanted to like Arvo Pärt's setting of the Passion according to St. John, but an hour and a half of its stately, non-contrapuntal, gorgeous sonorities, with the Experiential Orchestra and voices led by James Blachly, sapped my energy.
Musical ‘Map’ Explores Byways, Underbrush Of Self-Styled Artist’s Life
NEW YORK – “I don’t want to be part of any movement I didn’t start!” Thus spake Scott Johnson, whose work for soprano and string quartet received its premiere at a tribute event for the composer, who died in 2023 at age 70.
