NASA’s Golden Record, Dash Of Ligeti Help Give Dance Event A Lunar Lift
BERKELEY, Calif. – The earth may hold the moon in place, but that orb exerts its own pull on the earth’s artists, Mark Morris among the latest. His 55-minute dance, titled MOON, revealed its fascinating draw in a performance at UC-Berkeley.
In Mixed Bag At NY Phil, Adès Caps Concert With Gloomy Musical Sermon
NEW YORK – What began as one of the orchestra's most stimulating concerts, led by composer Thomas Adès, ended with his lugubrious vocal work America: A Prophecy, whose lecturing text had these New Yorkers scrambling for the exits.
Concert ‘Daphne’ Etches Beauty, Dramatic Power Of Strauss Opera Rarity
SEATTLE – The assertion by Seattle Opera's first-year general and artistic director James Robinson that Strauss' seldom seen opera is "one of the composer's greatest achievements" was borne out by the quality of this semi-staged production.
Choral Guru Rutter, 80, Celebrates His Birthday In U.S. With Royal Phil
ORLANDO – The concert at Steinmetz Hall, with the British choral director and composer John Rutter leading the orchestra in his own works, was a singular event on the U.S. tour, which will see music director Vasily Petrenko on the podium.
Everything’s Up To Date In Concert ‘Oklahoma!’ As Elan Meets Swing
NEW YORK – A starry cast collaborated with the Orchestra of St. Luke's led by Rob Berman, using Robert Russell Bennett's original orchestrations, in a highly enjoyable, freshly homespun treatment of the evergreen musical at Carnegie Hall.
Well, That’s Just Ducky: Relishing The Absurd In A Wacko, Quacko Opera
BROOKLYN – What to Wear, an avant-garde opera by composer Michael Gordon with a text by Richard Foreman, drew a sold-out crowd ready to revel in having absolutely no idea what was going on. And splash in the middle was this duck.
High-Tide Expectations, But Salonen And LA Phil Only Create A Washout
LOS ANGELES – From the opening work, Sibelius' The Oceanides, the conceptually appealing program fashioned by Esa-Pekka Salonen, newly appointed as the Philharmonic's creative director, suffered from a steady deficit of vitality and flow.
No Rock In Sight, This Brünnhilde Finds A Spot In Orchestra’s Choir Loft
PORTLAND, Ore. – The effect was impressive and glorious when soprano Christine Goerke took her solitary place behind and above the 88-piece Oregon Symphony led by David Danzmayr for a concert program titled 'Wagner's Greatest Hits."
In A Concert Squeeze, Barber’s ‘Vanessa’ Still Flashes Dramatic Edge
BOSTON – While the Boston Symphony Orchestra production combined a crowded stage with two choruses stuffed into the lobby, soprano Jennifer Holloway, left, and mezzo-soprano Samantha Hankey summoned the opera's lyric potency.
Remembering A Fire’s Devastation, Violinist Offers Balm Of Music
PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. – Exactly one year after a catastrophic fire that claimed 12 lives and destroyed 6,833 homes, this community mounted a commemoration concert, an event largely credited to resident soloist Anne Akiko Meyers.
Of Kings And Comets And Diverse Delights: Revisiting ‘Amahl’
NEW YORK – Gian Carlo Menotti's beloved Christmas opera Amahl and the Night Visitors has made a welcome reappearance in a touching chamber production at Lincoln Center starring Joyce DiDonato as a disabled boy's mother.
Mäkelä Affirms Chicago Promise With Thriller Of A Beethoven Seventh
CHICAGO – While Klaus Mäkelä's previous appearances with the Chicago Symphony had been impressive, the music director-designate's first Beethoven, crisp and fluent, struck a new note: the clear augury of a formidable association.
Young Cellist, Pianist Tap Into Depth, Range Of A Concert Adventure
SAN DIEGO – From the classicism of Haydn and Beethoven and the late-Romanticism of Barber to the modernism of Shostakovich, cellist Benett Tsai and pianist Rodolfo Leone delivered a compelling program presented by the La Jolla Music Society.
Elegy For ‘Disappeared’ Transfigures The Horror In Lyrical Remembrance
CHICAGO – Matthew Aucoin's Song of the Reappeared, given its premiere by soprano Julia Bullock and the Chicago Symphony led by Petr Popelka, embraces Chilean poet Raúl Zurita's epic verse commentary on Chile's long reign of terror.
With A French Flourish, Les Arts Florissants Bundles Baroque Noëls
BROOKLYN – New York’s holiday concert season began with the welcome return of William Christie and his Baroque ensemble, a force in the revival of 17th- and 18th-century French music. The program offered a dose of pure French sound.
Ravel’s Impressionism Meets Neoclassical Side In A Celebratory Concert
NEW YORK - The chamber orchestra Pegasus, led by founding director Karén Hakobyan, offered an arc of works that showed Ravel’s many facets and put him in a historical context that reflected the composer’s oddly contradictory melding of styles.
Sugarplum Silly: Musicians Muse On Diet Of Yuletide ‘Nutcrackers’
SAN FRANCISCO – Most people, if they see The Nutcracker, do it once a season. But playing every performance is just the job description for the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, which will play – no, embrace – the enduring hit 35 times in December.
Chamber Series, Rocked By Pandemic, Reaffirms Promise Of New Vitality
GLENDALE, Calif. – The longstanding Dilijan Chamber Music Concert Series, quieted by Covid only to be revived in 2024 under new auspices, confirmed its resiliency and upheld its traditional link to Armenian music in November programs.
Young Artists’ Concert An Embracing View Of ‘Democracy in Music’
NEW YORK – Contemporary Americana was the dominant theme of a performance by members of the Curtis New Music Ensemble, who offered mostly works by living composers representing an extensive range of backgrounds, races, and styles.
Music For Saxophone Evokes Emotional Swirl Summoned By The Wind
SEATTLE – Steven Mackey's concerto Anemology, embracing the way a saxophonist’s manipulation of air and breath can generate whole musical structures, was given its premiere by soloist Timothy McAllister and the Seattle Symphony.
