Summer Festivals: Stars, Youth Light Up Evenings At Eastern Music Fest
By John W. Lambert
The 52nd season offers more than 100 events in Greensboro, NC, the heart of "The State of the Arts." Music Director Gerard Schwarz offers music for every taste, ranging from a top-flight professional orchestra to student ensembles that give the pros serious runs for their money.
Summer Festivals: Musical Bounty Cascades Down The West Coast
By Richard S. Ginell
Dudamel and Thomas create musical fireworks at the Hollywood Bowl, the Ring resounds once again in Seattle, and it's Rilling's farewell season at the Oregon Bach Festival. Here's a sampling of musical treats from North to South.
Summer Festivals: Scenic N.C. Resorts Extend Tradition Of Chamber Music
By John W. Lambert
The Highlands-Cashiers Chamber Music Festival, now in its 32nd season, offers pairs of concerts in the nearby communities of Highlands and Cashiers, NC, spread across four days each weekend, starting June 28.
Summer Festivals: Boston Symphony Taps Music Director, Preps Tanglewood Season
By Leslie Kandell
The Boston Symphony Orchestra has named Andris Nelsons as its next music director, but this summer he is to appear only once at Tanglewood, so another season will be spent relying on the experience and talent of guest conductors.
Summer Festivals: N.C. Symphony Under Starry Skies At Summerfest
By Roy C. Dicks
The North Carolina Symphony makes its summer home in Cary’s Regency Park, where Lakeside Booth Amphitheatre accommodates 7,000 in lawn and covered seating. William Henry Curry conducts.
Summer Festivals: Appalachian Fest Imports Variety to Boone, N.C.
By John W. Lambert
An Appalachian Summer Festival began as a summer chamber music series, growing over time to offer a wide range of performing and visual art events at the home of Boone's ASU. Now in its 29th year, the festival still prominently features music performed by large and small ensembles.
Summer Festivals: Opera Everywhere, Early Handel to World Premiere
By Heidi Waleson
Something for every taste, for everyone, all over, from Handel's first opera to a new Terence Blanchard opera "Champion" and other hot-off-the-presses new works - nicely enough timed to permit hopscotching around to hear them all!
Summer Festivals: Chamber Music, Orchestral Fare Fill N.E. Ohio
By Daniel Hathaway
Cleveland's Baroque Orchestra, Apollo's Fire, turns into a hot weather folk band as Blossom Festival marks the 100th anniversary of "The Rite of Spring" with the Cleveland Orchestra and Joffrey Ballet. Here's more from northeast Ohio's summertime classical bounty.
Summer Festivals: Scenic Northwest Also a Wonderland Of Classical Music
By James Bash
The Pacific Northwest is well known as a scenic wonderland that attracts summer tourists, and it harbors a wealth of music festivals that complement the dramatic landscape. Here are several of the best in Oregon, Idaho and Washington:
Summer Festivals: Historic Ravinia Remixes Vivaldi, Honors Goodman
By Nancy Malitz
Billed as the oldest outdoor music festival in North America, the Ravinia Festival since 1936 has been summer home to the Chicago Symphony. Music director James Conlon brings Aida and visits by Vengerov, Lang Lang. But jazz and pop figure in.
Summer Festivals: Chamber Music Riches, New Opera Top Spoleto USA
By John W. Lambert
The American sister of Gian-Carlo Menotti’s Italian festival fills the beautiful and historic South Carolina city that rests just west of Fort Sumter (where the first shots of the Civil War were fired).
Anderszewski Enthralls at Duke – Again!
By John W. Lambert
The return of Polish-Hungarian pianist Piotr Anderszewski turned out to be one of the happiest musical occasions of the season, thus far. Music by Bach and Schumann were here enriched by a great rarity, part of Janáček's magnificent set of character-pieces known as On an Overgrown Path.
Gardiner’s Beethoven Ninth Reaches Celestial Heights at UNC’s Memorial Hall
By Geoffrey Simon
Having collectively held its breath throughout each of the Ninth Symphony's four movements, the audience at the University of North Carolina's sold-out Memorial Hall was on its feet with applause and cheers.
Gergiev’s Gripping Shostakovich with Mariinsky Orchestra in Chapel Hill
By Roy C. Dicks
Carolina Performing Arts presented the Mariinsky Orchestra, conducted by Valery Gergiev, in the second of two back-to-back concerts. The orchestra and the conductor again upheld their well-deserved stature in an all-Russian program.
Outdoor Simulcast of Paris Opéra Ballet Proves Harris Theater, Pritzker Dynamic Duo
By Nancy Malitz
Giselle, performed by the Paris Opéra Ballet and the Grant Park Orchestra in Harris Theater, simulcast at Pritzker Pavilion, points to a multi-media future for Millennium Park.
Cincinnati Music Director-Designate Langrée Shows Charm in NY Concert
By Janelle Gelfand
Louis Langrée’s Mostly Mozart programs at the Lincoln Center might have been called Mostly not Mozart this season. But evidenced by the large, young audience that gravitated to Avery Fisher Hall last weekend, Langrée’s programming concept has been a success.
An Appreciation: Brevard Music Center’s Bruce Murray
By Laura McDowell
To those who attend performances at the Brevard Music Center, he’s the guy in the white shirt fraternizing on the lawn of Whittington Pfohl Auditorium at intermission.
Total Immersion as UNCG Focuses on Fauré
By John W. Lambert
UNCG’s Focus on Piano Literature has, since 1990, drawn pianists, piano teachers, and piano music enthusiasts to Greensboro for in-depth study. This year’s edition focused on the music of Gabriel Fauré.
MCANA Reports: San Francisco Opera’s Ring Cycle
By MCANA Critics
Comprehensive coverage of the 2011 production includes Jeff Dunn on Leitmotifs, John W. Barker on Cosima Wagner and reviews by Susan Brodie, Robert Markow and Jens R. Laurson.
