Los Angeles Doffs Cap To Its Own At HEAR NOW Fest
By Richard S. Ginell
VENICE, Calif. - The three-day annual event focusing on local talent this year fielded an amazing range of composers and music, including a quintet by 15-year-old Andrew Moses and songs by 94-year-old Walter Arlen.
In Brief Encounter, Met Affectionately Recalls Noted Rake
By Leslie Kandell
NEW YORK - With Stephanie Blythe as Baba the Turk, the outrageous bearded lady whom Shadow entices Tom to marry, the Met offers Stravinsky’s The Rake's Progress in a short run of Jonathan Miller's 1997 staging, led by James Levine.
Jacaranda Stitches Musical Patchwork On Expat Theme
By Richard S. Ginell
SANTA MONICA, Calif. - The contemporary ensemble's slogan “music at the edge” is literally true since Jacaranda's home base is a few steps from the palisades Pacific overlook. Its latest themed program is typically out there, too.
Eric Owens’ Debut In Philly ‘Don Carlo’ Another Bold Feat
By Lesley Valdes
PHILADELPHIA - The bass-baritone, continuing to add roles to his repertory, sang King Philip II with Opera Philadelphia as part of a strong cast that included soprano Leah Crocetto, portraying Elisabeth for the first time.
Houston ‘Walküre’ Showcases Two Starry Sopranos
By William Albright
HOUSTON - When casting Mozart’s Così fan tutte, Houston Grand Opera probably didn't think of the frothy, fidelity-testing comedy as a potential breeding ground for future Wagnerians. But that’s what it has turned out to be.
Gardiner Applies Special Touch To Sacred Monument
By Geoffrey Simon
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Opening a tour through the U.S. with the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists, John Eliot Gardiner led a dramatic account of Monteverdi's Vespers, which inspired him to found the choir in 1964.
Denk And Bartók: Nothing But Love Since Student Days
By John Fleming
TAMPA - Jeremy Denk's season-long focus on Bartók's Piano Concerto No. 3 includes a recent visit to the Florida Orchestra and a prior stop at the pastoral Asheville inn where Bartók penned its bird songs. Cleveland is next.
Alabama SO Adds Indie Star Dessner To Rock Collection
By Michael Huebner
BIRMINGHAM - When rock guitarist Bryce Dessner isn't touring with The National, he writes for ensembles world-wide. At a recent Alabama Symphony Classical Edge event featuring his work, he also played electric guitar solo.
Cav/Pag Miss/Hit In Met’s Debut Of McVicar Stagings
By David Shengold
NEW YORK - Replacing the garish Zeffirelli double bill of Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci at the Metropolitan Opera, David McVicar's production — with tenor Marcelo Álvarez doing double duty — proves a mixed affair.
Haitink Revels In Many Wonders Of Mahler’s Seventh
By Lawrence B. Johnson
CHICAGO - Bernard Haitink has been a champion of the Mahler symphonies for decades, and nowhere was this more evident than in his subtly authoritative performance of the Seventh Symphony with the Chicago Symphony.
Ample Passion Animates Bach For H+H Bicentennial
By Sarah Bryan Miller
BOSTON - Bach's St. Matthew Passion received its first complete American performance in 1879 by the Handel and Haydn Society, which recently gave the work a splendid reading to mark its 200th anniversary.
Handel and Haydn Exhibit Provides 200-Year Overview
By Marvin J. Ward
BOSTON - The Handel and Haydn Society is marking its bicentennial with concerts, publications, and an exhibition at the Boston Public Library tracing its transformation from amateur choral organization to professional leader.
Scheherazade Newly Alluring In Adams Premiere
By Susan Elliott
NEW YORK — Leila Josefowicz wove wondrous tales as soloist in John Adams' colorful Scheherazade.2, a "Dramatic Symphony for Violin and Orchestra" she performed with the New York Philharmonic under Alan Gilbert.
Boston Pulls Out Stops For Bold ‘Ascending Light’
By Daniel Hathaway
BOSTON - Armenian sources pervade Michael Gandoli's sonorous work for organ and orchestra, which organist Olivier Latry, the Boston Symphony Orchestra and music director Andris Nelsons brought to blazing life.
Boulez, ‘Vif’ At 90, Changed Music As Modern Pathfinder
By Ken Keaton
Among the most notable events in honor of Pierre Boulez and his impact on our artistic world was a revelatory institute, film and concert at the Chicago Symphony that traced how far Boulez traveled from early modernists.
Savannah Festival Embraces Opera, And It’s A Stretch
By James L. Paulk
SAVANNAH - Now opera's part of the mix at Georgia's biggest music festival. Mark Delavan was Gianni Schicchi in a Puccini double bill that also gave a boost to young singers in a voice program launched by the legendary Sherrill Milnes.
Free-Form Operas Share Space With Met Museum Art
By Judith Malafronte
NEW YORK - No need for proscenium stages, as the Metropolitan Museum of Art proves in places normally quiet. La Celestina, a video opera, resounded in the Vélez Blanco Patio. There was song at the Temple of Dendur, too.
Opera Monodrama By Mazzoli Shows Promise In Concert
By William Albright
HOUSTON - Inspired by words of Isabelle Eberhardt, a Swiss nomad who died in an Algerian flood in 1904, Missy Mazzoli's chamber opera, bound for LA Opera, was showcased by Da Camera with Abigail Fischer as the bold but ill-fated explorer.
2 Young Singers, Paired In Recital, Are Twin Delights
By David Shengold
NEW YORK - Countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo and soprano Nadine Sierra, who won George London prizes in 2010, sang at Palm Beach Opera in 2011 and shared digs at Glimmerglass in 2013, were a duo at Morgan Library.
