Russian composer Alexander Scriabin had a condition called synesthesia, which allowed him to see colors as he heard musical pitches. On April 4-6, 2024, music director Andris Nelsons will lead the Boston Symphony in an exploration of Scriabin’s colorful perspective. With help from pianist Yefim Bronfman, the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, and two lighting designers, the […]
On April 4-6, two artists will make their debuts with the National Symphony: conductor Bernard Labadie and bass-baritone Michael Sumuel. Soprano Joèlle Harvey and the Washington Chorus for Fauré’s Requiem. The program opens with Symphony No. 4 by Henri-Joseph Rigel, written in 1774, and Mozart’s Symphony No. 31, Paris, composed four years later. https://www.kennedy-center.org/nso/home/2023-2024/labadie-faure/
The 16th and 21st centuries will be represented equally in the Tallis Scholars’ April 8 appearance at Carnegie Hall. Sacred vocal music by William Byrd, Robert White, and Robert Parsons is paired against works by Nico Muhly and Eric Whitacre, plus the New York premiere of David Lang’s sun-centered, a Carnegie co-commission. https://www.carnegiehall.org/calendar/2024/04/08/the-tallis-scholars-0730pm
On April 11, the Sonic Spectrum series at Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center presents the New York premiere of a new work for violin, piano, and cello by David Ludwig. The imaginative program also includes recent works by Felipe Lara, Kurt Schwertsik, Johannes Maria Staud, and Viet Cuong. https://www.chambermusicsociety.org/our-concerts/at-lincoln-center/events/sonic-spectrum-iii/
The 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Music went to rapper Kendrick Lamar’s album Damn. On April 12, as part of their Fusion series, the Baltimore Symphony will perform Igor DAMN Stravinsky, a program integrating Lamar’s songs with movements from another masterwork, Stravinsky’s Petrouchka. Steve Hackman conducts. https://my.bsomusic.org/overview/18524
Soprano Melody Moore and baritone Lucas Meachem will be the guest soloists on April 18 and 20 when the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra performs a rarely heard work. Alexander von Zemlinsky’s Lyric Symphony sets German translations of texts by Bengali poet and philosopher Rabindranath Tragore. James Conlon conducts this concert, which opens with Beethoven’s Symphony No. […]
Project 19 is an initiative launched by the New York Philharmonic in 2020 to commission works by female composers. The latest creation in that series is Olga Neuwirth’s Keyframes for a Hippogriff — Musical Calligrams, which will receive its U.S. premiere on April 18-20. Neuwirth’s work uses texts by Ariosto, Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, Friedrich […]
Leading the Bamberg Symphony, conductor Jakub Hrůša will make his Carnegie Hall debut on April 24. In an evening of Romantic powerhouse works, the Brahms Third Symphony and Schumann’s Piano Concerto are bookended by Wagner. Hélène Grimaud will play the Schumann. https://www.carnegiehall.org/calendar/2024/04/24/bamberg-symphony-0800pm
At age 91, Sofia Gubaidulina is still an active composer. The Boston Symphony Orchestra will present the American premiere of her Prologue for Orchestra on April 25-27, 2024. With Andris Nelsons conducting, the program also features Thomas Rolfs as soloist in the Trumpet Concerto of another living composer, Detlev Glanert. Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 4 completes […]
Composer Jake Heggie’s new work for string quartet will receive its New York premiere May 2 at the hands of the Miró Quartet as part of the Sonic Spectrum series at Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Hornist David Byrd-Marrow will also be on hand to join the Miró for quintets by Dai Fujikura and […]
Jean-Joseph Mouret (1682-1738) broke with operatic tradition with his ballet-opera Les Fêtes de Thalie, daring to include contemporary characters in the story rather than only historical or mythological ones. Opera Lafayette will present the modern premiere of this opera on May 4 in Washington, D.C., and on May 5 in New York. With music direction […]
On May 5 at Carnegie Hall, Simon Rattle will conduct the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in the U.S. premiere of a new work by Thomas Adès. The program also includes the Prelude and “Liebestod” from Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde as well as Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony, Pastoral. https://www.carnegiehall.org/calendar/2024/05/03/bavarian-radio-symphony-orchestra-0800pm
