‘Fallujah’ Addresses Lingering Trauma From The Iraq War
By Richard S. Ginell
LONG BEACH, Calif. – A brave company on a shoestring, Long Beach Opera gives the world premiere of an important work about the consequences of war for those caught up in it. Alas, Canadian composer Tobin Stokes’ score is the weak link.
Salonen, NY Phil Strike Gusher Of Messiaen Ecstasy
By Leslie Kandell
NEW YORK - Performances of Messiaen's Turangalîla-Symphonie by the New York Philharmonic with conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen formed the centerpiece of a diverse series of concerts in tribute to the visionary French composer.
Singer Ailyn Pérez Skyrocketing And Loving The Ride
By Gregory Sullivan Isaacs
DALLAS – Friendly, open and completely unaffected by her current status as one of opera's brightest young stars, the soprano talks about a glittering schedule after her current run in Massenet's Manon at the Dallas Opera.
Font Of Lyricism Flows Again In New Floyd Opera
By William Albright
HOUSTON – Carlisle Floyd’s fifth Houston Grand Opera commission, the ingeniously orchestrated Prince of Players, tells of Edward Kynaston, a Restoration-era male actor who took female roles until Charles II outlawed his craft.
Apollo’s Fire Set To Tour Gripping ‘St. John Passion’
By Daniel Hathaway
SHAKER HEIGHTS, Ohio – Artistic director Jeannette Sorrell led her Cleveland Baroque Orchestra and stellar soloists in an urgent account of Bach's masterpiece, which they next take to New York, Purchase, and Ann Arbor.
Salonen’s ‘Pelléas’ Frames Drama Of Rarefied Finesse
By Rodney Punt
LOS ANGELES – Learning by trial and error how to best convey the delicate essence of Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande, Esa-Pekka Salonen and the LA Phil, in their third effort, created a semi-staged version, narrated and dramatically lit.
Lockout Memories Fade As Atlanta Looks To Future
By James L. Paulk
ATLANTA - The comeback from near death by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, which Robert Span intervened to help save, is both a cautionary tale of near collapse and an inspiring saga of cooperation and leadership revival.
Salonen Conducts Modernist Thriller With Chicago SO
By Kyle MacMillan
CHICAGO – Guest Esa-Pekka Salonen led a rich account of Lutosławski's elusive Third Symphony, plus Salonen’s own Foreign Bodies and the Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 1, with transcendent playing by soloist Yo-Yo Ma.
Kennedy Center’s New Music Series Is Bates’ Jukebox
By Charles T. Downey
WASHINGTON, D.C. – While the programming is solidly contemporary and American, extra-musical trappings of colored lighting, video program notes and smoke machines seem little more than bells and whistles.
Pittsburgh SO, Celebrating 120th, Honors Directors
By Robert Croan
PITTSBURGH - With conductors ranging from Victor Herbert to Manfred Honeck at the helm, the Pittsburgh Symphony has been an important American ensemble with many reasons to savor a milestone this week.
‘Reef’ Is Splash-Up Of Musical Styles And Surfer Videos
By Richard S. Ginell
LOS ANGELES – The Australian Chamber Orchestra played far-flung excerpts ranging from Beethoven and Rachmaninoff to grunge rock in accompanying director Mick Sowry's film centered on daredevil surfer Derek Hynd.
Met’s Quick Study Alagna Leaps Into Its ‘Manon Lescaut’
By Leslie Kandell
NEW YORK – Latvian soprano Kristine Opolais played the young temptress Manon and Roberto Alagna made a last-minute role debut as des Grieux in Richard Eyre's new staging of the Puccini tragedy, set in occupied France.
Proust Reflection Caught In ‘Sonata’ Of Diverse Facets
By William Albright
HOUSTON - Pianist Sarah Rothenberg led a chamber ensemble in the world premiere of her own musical collage A Proust Sonata: 7 tableaux en musique, her homage to Marcel Proust's Remembrance of Things Past.
Alpha And Omega: Shostakovich Seen By Rozhdestvensky
By Kyle MacMillan
CHICAGO - Conductor Gennady Rozhdestvensky has forged a career-long bond with Shostakovich, and it showed in his pairing of the First and Fifteenth Symphonies with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, a revelatory night of music.
Young Composers Hone Their Craft And Hear Results
By Susan Elliott
MINNEAPOLIS - At the 13th Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute, seven fresh-faced aspirants worked through a week of rehearsals, then heard their music in a concert by the orchestra under music director Osmo Vänskä.
Fine Festival Fare: ‘Des Canyons Aux Étoiles’ Illustrated
By Richard S. Ginell
LOS ANGELES – Invited by the St. Louis Symphony to gather video of U.S. locales that inspired Messiaen's From the Canyon to the Stars, Deborah O'Grady's work opened the City of Light Festival with the touring St. Louis orchestra.
Jacaranda Series Highlights Music Of British Isles
By Richard S. Ginell
SANTA MONICA, Calif. – The series' program on Jan. 30 of British music from the last third of the 20th century – entitled "Expectancy" – included savory works by Thomas Adès, Gerald Barry, and Peter Maxwell Davies.
Timeless ‘Antiphons’ Melds Antiquities And Street Groove
By William Albright
HOUSTON – Pierre Jalbert's Street Antiphons, which received its Houston premiere by the Montrose Piano Trio and clarinetist Richie Hawley, contrasts a contemporary urban drive with a serene aura of the Middle Ages.
At Age 92, Pressler Remains A Wizard In Magical Recital
By Kyle MacMillan
CHICAGO - Pianist Menahem Pressler, who holds a special place in 20th-century chamber music for his 53 years with the Beaux Arts Trio, continued his late-career renaissance with a prodigious, entrancing, even mystical solo recital.
