Soprano Travels Adventurous Road During D.C. Recital
By Charles T. Downey
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Alyson Cambridge tested the boundaries of classical music by performing three new song cyles - two of them world premieres - in a program titled "In Her Voice" in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater.
‘Desert Sorrows’ Achieves Embrace Exceeding Depth
By Garrett Schumann
DETROIT - In its world premiere by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra with Israeli cellist Maya Beiser, Mohammed Fairouz's eclectic work lacked the gravitas suggested by its title, but the audience was thrilled.
‘Dog Days’: Future Bleak For World, Bright For Opera
By Susan Brodie
NEW YORK - David T. Little and Royce Vavrek’s chilling opera, offered in the annual Prototype: Opera/Theater/Now fest, presents a devastating portrait of a rural American family struggling to survive a war in the near future.
‘The Pearl Fishers’ Casts Impressive Net At The Met
By Susan Brodie
NEW YORK - With its new and gracefully updated production of Bizet's "second" opera, the Metropolitan Opera should have a hit on its hands if audiences can be enticed into the theater during the season’s quietest period.
Kahane, Gaffigan Go For The Jocular With Bananas ‘Split’
By Leslie Kandell
NEW YORK — The premiere of Andrew Norman’s rowdy piano concerto, with Jeffrey Kahane the trickster-soloist, was the centerpiece on a playful menu, served with smarts and gusto by conductor James Gaffigan in his NY Philharmonic debut.
Quartets Explore Modern Pathways In ‘Green’ Series
By Richard S. Ginell
LOS ANGELES – Three youthful quartets – expert players who are passionate about new music and don't give a hoot about boundaries – managed to discombobulate Disney Hall in the LA Phil's Green Umbrella series.
In Dallas: Opera On Santa, Women On The Podium
By Mike Greenberg
DALLAS – No longer the dowager duchess of American opera, the Dallas Opera defies expectations with a sassy new Christmas opus about the silk-clad brat who becomes Santa Claus, and a novel program for grooming women conductors.
López-Cruz Opera ‘Bel Canto’ Reveals Stellar New Team
By Nancy Malitz
CHICAGO – It only seems that Chicago's Lyric Opera ripped its newest opera from today's headlines. The plot that circles around a guerrilla attack at an iconic location was inspired by Ann Patchett's novel based on a 1996 siege in Peru.
Handel Talk Show ‘Judas Maccabaeus’ As Lyrical Feast
By Kyle MacMillan
CHICAGO – The Hanukkah oratorio is sometimes faulted for too much talk, but on its own terms it is a masterpiece. Music of the Baroque, under music director Jane Glover, offered a nimble, incisive take on that sweeping work.
Tod Machover’s Latest Symphony Is Detroit Collage
By George Bulanda
DETROIT – “When you listen to a city, you discover there are musical sounds and pitches and rhythms that pop out of nature or even machines,” says Tod Machover of his first valentine to an American city, called Symphony in D.
Serious Nonsense, ‘Karawane’ Glories In Salonen’s Wit
By Richard S. Ginell
LOS ANGELES – The “text” is just nonsense syllables. It's typical of Salonen’s wickedly dry wit that he would be attracted to this sort of thing. As its U.S. premiere reveals, he shapes the bits in soundscapes luminous and wild.
Double Viola Concerto Honors Retiring Player
By Mike Telin
CLEVELAND - A longtime friendship led to the Cleveland Orchestra's world premiere of Richard Sortomme's Concerto for Two Violas featuring retiring principal Robert Vernon and first assistant principal Lynne Ramsey.
‘Die Meistersinger’ Takes Prize After Lethargic Start
By Richard S. Ginell
SAN FRANCISCO - Something happened Nov. 18 at San Francisco Opera that suddenly turned a routine performance of Wagner's magisterial comedy on art and unrequited love into something beautiful and special in Act III.
It’s Opera Spoofa In Mash-Up From Heggie, McNally
By Jason Victor Serinus
DALLAS – In its world premiere at the Dallas Opera, the new farce Great Scott by Jake Heggie with librettist Terrence McNally proved to be an exhilarating, occasionally side-splitting exercise in operatic entertainment.
New Light Shed On Heggie’s Whale Of A Tale Of A Whale
By Richard S. Ginell
LOS ANGELES — The day after Dallas Opera’s world premiere of his Great Scott, Jake Heggie attended LA Opera’s first staging of his Moby-Dick. The work's grandeur, reduced by tight shots on the DVD, was fully apparent when seen live.
‘Wozzeck’ Packs Emotional Wallop At Chicago Lyric
By Lawrence B. Johnson
CHICAGO – It's hard to say which made the more striking impression, the imaginative, brilliant, and devastating new production or the roaring affirmation of the packed house that saw the opening performance Nov. 1.
Phyllis Chen Toys Winningly With Novel Instruments
By James Paulk
NEW PALTZ, N.Y. — The composer-pianist, a member of the International Contemporary Ensemble, proved a consummate performance artist during a recital of her works, including the new and magical Columba.
Brian Eno’s ‘Music For Airports’ Adds Sweetness To Din
By Richard S. Ginell
SAN DIEGO - The composer's attempt to blend music with the ambient racket of a large terminal got its first live U.S. performance as the Bang On A Can All-Stars performed the work for passersby at the San Diego International Airport.
Magical ‘Juditha’ Opens Boston Baroque Season
By Marvin J. Ward
BOSTON – Martin Pearlman and his forces found a gem in Vivaldi’s sole extant oratorio, Juditha triumphans devicta Holofernis barbarie. If the tale of a decapitation might not enchant, the glorious, amazingly varied music does.
