Tanglewood Flush With Fresh Music To Honor Center
By Leslie Kandell
LENOX, Mass. – For its 75th anniversary, Tanglewood Music Center commissioned a whopping 34 new pieces. Most are slated for this summer season, reaching critical mass during the annual Festival of Contemporary Music.
‘Ghosts,’ ‘Ginsburg’ Given Justice As Summer Delights
By Charles T. Downey
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Two festivals have done their part to program beyond the familiar, with a boutique revival of Marie Antoinette's Versailles and a premiere comic opera on Supreme Court Justices Ginsburg and Scalia.
Like Old Aerosol, New Opera ‘Fallout’ Lacks Some Punch
By Robert Croan
PITTSBURGH – “DDT is good for me-e-e.” That’s the ironic jingle in A New Kind of Fallout, by Gilda Lyons and Tammy Ryan, starring Lara Lynn Cottrill as a zealous fighter against chemical hazards. It's a Pittsburgh Opera premiere.
Yarn/Wire Weaves Off-Beat Blend In Close-Up Setting
By Jackson Cooper
NEW YORK – When two pianists and two percussionists formed a quartet in 2005, they arranged traditional music at first. Spawning new music is now Yarn/Wire's mission. At Lincoln Center Festival, they offered three world premieres.
Cactus Pear Fest Popular Balm In San Antonio Heat
By Mike Greenberg
SAN ANTONIO – It seemed a quixotic adventure, 19 years ago, to launch a chamber music festival in San Antonio in mid-July, when the very streets melt and brains fry. But Cactus Pear was an immediate hit, and it's again underway.
Conlon Will Close Ravinia Run With Reprise Programs
By Kyle MacMillan
CHICAGO - After 11 years as music director of the Ravinia Festival, where he leads Chicago Symphony Orchestra concerts, 65-year-old James Conlon will step down this summer. The maestro muses on his new horizons.
Feat Of Endurance Revisits Beethoven Night Of Premieres
By Jeff Dunn
SAN FRANCISCO – On the same date that Belgium fielded a Battle of Waterloo re-do, Michael Tilson Thomas re-created Beethoven's marathon Akademie concert of 1808, allowing a few extra breathers for his 21st-century audience.
Native American Songs Lend Spirit To New Symphony
By Kyle MacMillan
CHICAGO - Kenji Bunch's Symphony No. 3: "Dream Songs," an atmospheric work drawing on texts from the Sioux, Chippewa and Navajo nations, was premiered by the Grant Park Orchestra and Chorus under Carlos Kalmar.
‘Troyens’ Triumphs In San Francisco’s Splendid Staging
By John Rockwell
SAN FRANCISCO - David McVicar's striking production, which moves the action to the time of the Crimean War, is ignited by two powerhouse singers: Anna Caterina Antonacci as Cassandra and Susan Graham (right) as Dido.
‘Two Women’ Melds Cinema, Verismo In SF Opera Debut
By Susan Brodie
SAN FRANCISCO - Marco Tutino’s new opera is a flashy hybrid of verismo opera and neorealist cinema that tells of war crimes in an Italian village after Mussolini's fall. Vivid staging and a strong cast helped lift a listenable score.
Gilbert, NY Phil Light Fire Under Honegger’s ‘Joan’
By George Loomis
NEW YORK - Alan Gilbert and the Philharmonic typically have mounted a major production at the end of the season. Their presentation of the French composer's oratorio about Joan of Arc may be the most spectacular so far.
Ojai Festival Hails Boulez Amid Blitz Of 47 Composers
By Richard S. Ginell
OJAI - This year's music director, percussionist Steven Schick, has programmed works by 34 living composers, including Pulitzer winner John Luther Adams, who'll be represented by two pieces in their West Coast premieres.
Bird’s Bebop Life Blows Too Mellow In Opera Premiere
By Lesley Valdes
PHILADELPHIA - Daniel Schnyder’s chamber opera Charlie Parker's Yardbird could use tightening, but the Opera Philadelphia production benefits from tenor Lawrence Brownlee's stellar performance as the revolutionary jazz great.
Baroque Band Aims To Secure Place In Chicago
By Kyle MacMillan
CHICAGO - The Windy City has struggled to maintain a period-instrument orchestra, but the much-admired Baroque Band, founded in 2007 by British violinist Garry Clarke, is making a bid to change that.
Premieres Abound As Festival Salutes American Creators
By Richard S. Ginell
LOS ANGELES - The Los Angeles Philharmonic's Next on Grand Festival, running through May 31, features seven world premieres and programs led by music director Gustavo Dudamel and creative chair John Adams.
Sexy Comic Opera, 350 Years Young, In Spoleto Revival
By Paul Hyde
CHARLESTON, S.C. - Vivica Genaux is Spanish queen Veremonda. She's frustrated about her stalled war against the Moors. What’s to account for the delay? Cavalli would sympathize. His Veremonda had been shelved since 1652.
One Mezzo, Two Texas Orchestras Do Mahler’s Third
By Mike Greenberg
DALLAS AND HOUSTON - In the same week, the Dallas and Houston orchestras performed Mahler's Symphony No. 3, both with mezzo-soprano Kelley O'Connor, highlighting differences in the orchestras, their conductors, and halls.
Salonen’s Splendid ‘Turangalîla’ Wraps Chicago SO Fest
By Lawrence B. Johnson
CHICAGO – It was a large cap, but fitting: Messiaen’s Turangalîla-symphonie that topped off Chicago's French Reveries & Passions Festival led by Esa-Pekka Salonen. The entire three-week affair was indeed a fête to remember.
Spoleto Presents Operas New And Very, Very Old
CHARLESTON, S.C. - The world premiere of an opera by Chinese-born American composer Huang Ruo shares billing with Francesco Cavalli’s Veremonda, which hasn’t been heard in 350 years, at the 39th Spoleto Festival USA.
