‘American Tragedy,’ In Trimmed Form, Still Lacks Edge
By George Loomis
COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. – In the first professional revival since its 2005 Metropolitan Opera premiere, Tobias Picker's An American Tragedy, about a young man who is destroyed by his own ambition, fails to convince at Glimmerglass.
Patricia Racette Scores At Ravinia In ‘Salome’ Debut
By Dorothy Andries
HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. -- Backed by the Chicago Symphony under the baton of festival music director James Conlon in a dazzling evening of fiery emotion, Racette triumphed in her role debut as the spoiled Judean princess.
Challenging Music Recharges Spirit At Cabrillo Festival
By Jeff Dunn
SANTA CRUZ – Under music director Marin Alsop, this year's contemporary music festival brought the tonic of truly new works that offered hitherto unimagined soundscapes, rather than the same old new-eclecticism.
John Luther Adams Melds Music, Open Air Milieu For ‘Sila’
By Gail Wein
NEW YORK – To kick off the Mostly Mozart Festival, 80 musicians gathered in and around Lincoln Center's plaza pool for the premiere of Sila: The Breath of the World as the audience roamed. Spectacular weather played its part.
Tuba To Tennies, Youth Orchestra Ready To Rumble
By Marvin J. Ward
LENOX, Mass. – The 2104 edition of the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America, featuring 120 of the nation's top teenage musicians, began its U.S. tour at the Tanglewood Festival and is heading west this week.
Ohio Light Opera Stages Gems From Tuneful Treasury!!
By Donald Rosenberg
WOOSTER, Ohio – Drive past the corn and the cows and you eventually arrive at the College of Wooster, where major generals and merry widows have long been in residence. Among this summer's treats: Jerome Kern's Oh, Lady! Lady!!
Corigliano ‘Lullaby’ Sets Gentle Accent On NC Music Fest
By Roy C. Dicks
GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Eastern Music Festival benefits from a 10-year commissioning project for a new American work each season. This year John Corigliano created an orchestration of his 2010 "Lullaby" for violin and piano.
Puts’ ‘Silent Night’ Gleams Darkly At Cincinnati Opera
By Janelle Gelfand
CINCINNATI – Within days of the centennial of the Sarajevo assassination that triggered World War I, Kevin Puts' Silent Night, about the Christmas Eve truce of 1914, took place here. The company's resonant staging is the opera's fourth.
MCANA Reports: Riccardo Muti, Chicago Symphony Host Critics
CHICAGO -- The 2014 Annual Meeting of the Music Critics Association of North America, held in Chicago from June 17-19, centered largely on the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, which graciously hosted our too-short visit.
Cincinnati Opera’s ‘Calisto’ Is Stylish Baroque Venture
By Mary Ellyn Hutton
CINCINNATI – It was the right place at the right time for 94-year-old Cincinnati Opera’s first Baroque opera, Cavalli’s La Calisto. The new Corbett Theater seats 750 and early-music ensemble Catacoustic Consort was ready to play.
Nelsons and iPad Lawncasting Make Tanglewood Debut
By Leslie Kandell
LENOX, Mass. – The Boston Symphony Orchestra looks toward the future, welcoming music director-designate Andris Nelsons to Tanglewood while pioneering a lawncast app that lets viewers choose among various camera angles.
Ehnes Fans Flame Of Chamber Music At Seattle Festival
By Philippa Kiraly
SEATTLE – James Ehnes is busy. Artistic director of the Seattle Chamber Music Society's Summer Festival, the 38-year-old violinist is up to his eyebrows rehearsing, welcoming new musicians and putting out brush fires.
Cleveland Chamber Fest, In 3rd Year, Has Convivial Vibe
By Daniel Hautzinger
It may seem audacious to celebrate a third anniversary, but in the case of ChamberFest Cleveland, it's justified. The festival has blossomed with adventurous programming in novel spaces and this year many concerts sold out.
Community G&S Troupe In Seattle Celebrates At 60
By Philippa Kiraly
SEATTLE — Members of the local Gilbert & Sullivan Society remain well into retirement after jobs as diverse as engineer and British sergeant major. Their 60th-anniversary production, complete with hand-painted fans: The Mikado.
Tilson Thomas Forges Creative Salute to Britten
By Richard S. Ginell
SAN FRANCISCO – The 2013 Britten centenary spilled well into 2014 – notably with the San Francisco Symphony as Michael Tilson Thomas keyed on two big works, the familiar Peter Grimes and the obscure Prince of the Pagodas.
Conductor Revisits Recovery of Bach ‘St. Mark Passion’
By David Stabler
EUGENE, Ore. – Scholars have long known about a 1731 St. Mark Passion, but only its text survives. The Oregon Bach Festival's new artistic director Matthew Halls collaborates on a reconstruction based on Bach's funeral ode BWV 198.
To Visitor’s Ears, Chicago SO’s Hall Detailed, Coherent
By Richard S. Ginell
CHICAGO – What does a good concert hall sound like? I pondered that as I made my way toward venerable -- some would say fabled -- Orchestra Hall to hear this city's orchestra on its home turf for the first time.
Muti, Chicago SO Dazzle In Pairing Schubert, Mahler
By Ken Keaton
CHICAGO – Their Schubert was all loving warmth, the Mahler a long journey to an overwhelming climax. As a visitor I wondered: Do they consistently produce work of such quality? If so, Chicagoans are indeed fortunate.
Chicago Symphony Bassoonist Shines In Mozart Concerto
By Mike Telin
CHICAGO – Before bidding Riccardo Muti and his colleagues farewell, David McGill confirmed his stature as a great wind player of our time with a performance of musical refinement and insight that was one for the memory book.
