Music
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Monteverdi's Orfeo at Boston Early Music Festival
Timeless Moral: Don't Look Back
By: - Nov 26th, 2012Aaron Sheehan in the role of a lifetime as Orfeo, in the oldest work in the opera repertory. Boston Early Music Festival cast shines with youthful commitment. Although Orfeo was his first opera, Monteverdi had an innate sense of drama. He chose a simply dramatic story to set, and his music in its variety of form and mood, added to the drama.
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Massenet's Werther at Lyric Opera of Chicago
Matthew Polenzani Wows in Title Role
By: - Nov 24th, 2012Debussy wrote in his obituary of Massenet that he was the most beloved of musicians, but his colleagues never forgave him his power to please. He painted in pastel colors and whispered melodies in works composed. In this mounting at the Lyric, Werther's suave melodies, the intimacy of his characters, and the elegance of the music were realized in a fresh, apt and highly entertaining production.
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Joyce DiDonato Captivates Carnegie Hall
Il Complesso Barocco Accompanies Our Premier Mezzo
By: - Nov 20th, 2012Joyce DiDonato returned to Carnegie Hall to perform scenes and arias of Drama Queens from Cleopatra to Poppea. Sweeping onstage in smashing power red silk, her bustle suggesting an important avoir du pois. DiDonato, like current pop star Beyonce, appears to have attended every detail of her performance.She then focuses on her songs on stage. She is both imposing in her talent and her demeanor.Warm, inviting the $10 student rush attendees in the rafters to enjoy.
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Michael Tippett's The Midsummer Marriage
Conrad Susa's Transformations
By: - Nov 18th, 2012Two midcentury operas played on Boston stages with mixed results. Tippett's early opera brought down by his ponderous text. The text-centered Susa/Sexton collaboration downplays the terror at the heart of her poetry.
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Sir John Eliot Gardiner's Beethoven Ninth
Revolutionnaire et Romantique Triumphs at Carnegie Hall
By: - Nov 17th, 2012Beethoven's Ninth Symphony has been compared to the greatest of all human achievements: the pyramids, Machu Pichu, and Angkor Wat. None of the myriad of appropriations by popular media, "A Clockwork Orange" among them, has diminished Beethoven's testament to man’s freedom.
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Thomas Pasatieri's World Premier at DiCapo Opera
Catherine Malfitano Sings On
By: - Nov 10th, 2012A compelling monopera with libretto by Daphne Malfitano is mounted by Di Capo. In a small setting, but with big music, words writ large and the score beautifully sung, a great evening of opera as it should be.
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Boston Lyric Opera's Flawless Madama Butterfly
Yunah Lee Soars as Butterfly
By: - Nov 09th, 2012Over the past five years "Madama Butterfly" is the seventh most produced opera internationally. Many opera goers have had enough. But there are never enough Butterflys of the quality of the BLO's production. What’s extraordinary about Lee’s performance is not so much the singing, although that is all you could wish for, but her acting at the micro-level. Every movement, every gesture is not hers, but Butterfly’s.
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Rita Coolidge at the Clark Nov. 30
Annual Holiday Walk Weekend in Williamstown
By: - Nov 08th, 2012Like all of her musical endeavors, A Rita Coolidge Christmas is a project that comes straight from the heart, reflecting the love she feels for the holiday and the many memories it evokes. Memorable Coolidge chart-toppers include “Fever,†“We’re All Alone,†“One Fine Day,†“(Your Love Has Lifted Me) Higher and Higher,†“The Way You Do the Things You Do,†“All Time High,†“Superstar,†and many others.
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Arlo Guthrie at the Colonial Theatre November 16
Celebrating Woody's Hundreth Birthday
By: - Oct 30th, 2012Arlo Guthrie will play the Colonial on November 16 at 8pm to honor his father, Woody Guthrie, and all that he contributed to Folk Music. For this concert only, Arlo will be accompanied by his family, to celebrate Woody Guthrie's life and music.
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Simon Boccanegra Rules at the Lyric Opera of Chicago
Lessons in Superior Opera Production
By: - Oct 29th, 2012Elijah Moshinsky directs, Sir Andrew Davis conducts, and the singers, each and every one, including Thomas Hampson, Krassima Stoyanova, Ferruccio Furlanetto, Frank Lopardo and Quinn Kelsey keep you in their thrall. A report on Lyric Opera of Chicago.
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Charles Dutoit Conducts the Boston Symphony Orchestra
Stravinsky's Le Rossignol and L’Enfant et les sortileges of Ravel
By: - Oct 29th, 2012With its French and Russian traditions, the BSO seemed the ideal orchestra to present these two rarities. But the Stravinsky had never been done before, and the Ravel only 3 times. Both works are oddities within the composers’ oeuvre, but that makes them even more of a delight to encounter.
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World Peace Orchestra Celebrates Solti Centennial
Lady Solti Presents Solti's Life in Music
By: - Oct 21st, 2012Prince Charles writes of his admiration for George Solti, a committed humanitarian and passionate advocate of the cause of international peace and understanding. Carnegie Hall was the setting of his centennial celebration.
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Handel Rarity Partenope by Boston Baroque
Amanda Forsythe and Owen Willetts Shine as Vocal Soloists
By: - Oct 21st, 2012Partenope is the Queen of Naples in this comic romp by George Frideric Handel. Playing the queen like a reality series star, Amanda Forsythe leads cast in comic and vocal bravura. It’s hard to believe but as recently as 25 years ago the Italian-language operas of George Frideric Handel were rarely heard, while his English-language oratorios were a mainstay in Anglo-Saxon countries.
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The MET Orchestra at Carnegie
Slow Flows the Don Under Semyon Bychkov
By: - Oct 17th, 2012A world-reknowned conductor, Semyon Bychkov, led the Met Orchestra in Wagner and Strauss. James Levine has been announced as conductor of the May Carnegie concert. Fabio Luisi has said he is not available as a back up.
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The Vespers At Eagle Hill Cultural Center
Nashville Band a Solid Hit.
By: - Oct 16th, 2012What began as a delicate and subtle seeking of a fragile melody on the dobro by Bruno Jones, was shattered as the group’s hoyden, Callie Cryar, stepped to the microphone and let loose...
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Riverside Blues and Barbecue Festival
Greenfield Hosts 2nd Annual Contest
By: - Oct 12th, 2012Part I - Blues In this subculture, mention the three B's and everyone knows you are talking about Blues, Beer and Barbecue. Riverside served up plenty of each. First, about the music.
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B.U. Fringe Festival Presents Massenet Rarity
Explores Theme of The Ladies of the Camellias
By: - Oct 08th, 2012Risk-taking annual Fringe Festival goes beyond normal student production formula. Three-part festival looks at tragic role of the courtesan in 19th century art, focusing here on Manon Lescaut and Marguerite Gautier in works by Massenet, Dumas and Verdi. The theme is “The Ladies of the Camellias,†and it attempts to probe how 19th century French and Italian playwrights and composers dealt with the role of the fallen woman.
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The Chicago Symphony at Carnegie II
Muti Continues Our Musical Education
By: - Oct 08th, 2012School has never been more fun and moving than it is with tutor Riccardo Muti introducing his native composers, Martucci and Respighi, and also Dvorak, who helped to jump start his career.
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Crescedo Performances Nov. 10 and 11
La Lombardesca--The Golden Era of the Baroque in 17th Century Poland
By: - Oct 08th, 2012On November 10 and 11 Lakeville’s music organization Crescendo, with support from the Polish Cultural Institute of New York, presents “La Lombardesca--The Golden Era of the Baroque in 17th Century Poland.†The program will be presented in Lakeville, Conn. and Great Barrington, Mass.
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Muti Magic at Carnegie Hall
Chicago Symphony Precise, Passionate, Compelling
By: - Oct 07th, 2012Riccardo Muti and his Chicago Symphony Orchestra opened the Carnegie Hall Season. And what a splendid welcome. Featured was Carl Orff's Carmina Burana. When Muti conducted it in 1980, the composer declared the performance a "second premier." Orff went home and made changes which he autographed and then sent to Muti. Such is Muti’s gift.
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Jazz Diva Eliane Elias at Eagle Hill Cultural Center
Paul Overton Assumes the Helm for Season V
By: - Oct 04th, 2012Eliane Elias, fresh from Lincoln Center performances last weekend is here to launch the fall schedule at Hardwick's Eagle Hill Cultural Center. Eliane’s new CD “Swept Away†was released last week as well.
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Madama Butterfly at Boston Lyric Opera
Puccini Classic Nov. 2-11
By: - Oct 04th, 2012Boston Lyric Opera (BLO) opens its 2012/13 Season with a new production of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, Nov. 2 – 11, 2012, starring soprano Yunah Lee in her BLO debut in her signature role of Cio-Cio San. Performances take place at the Citi Performing Arts Center Shubert Theatre (265 Tremont St., Boston.. The production stars soprano Yunah Lee in her BLO debut as Cio-Cio San, a role for which she has received widespread critical acclaim and which Opera News recently declared her “signature role.â€
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Gotham Chamber Opera at Poisson Rouge
Neal Goren Combines East and West
By: - Oct 03rd, 2012The stage at Poisson Rouge thrust out for the meeting of East and West. The performers were in thrust mode too. From the first pavonne danced bare-chested instead of bustled up in the back, a contrarian view to classic forms was often on display. When the dancers from Company XIV accompanied the singers, they added a visual line to the musical one, and emphasized the emotion of an aria or recitative. The effect was delightful, moving and, at the right times, frightening. The erotic and exotic in a special mix.
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2nd Annual Fresh Grass Bluegrass Festival
A Sellout for MoCA
By: - Sep 30th, 2012I was, as always, delighted and energized by Joy Kills Sorrow. Leyla McCalla’s Sunday morning performance captivated me and her afternoon session with the Carolina Chocolate Drops sealed my appreciation. The festival achieved capacity sales for the intended venue a week before opening night, and while there were a few hiccups, on the whole, the staff ran a very successful and satisfying event.
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BSO Porgy and Bess
Concert Version Conducted by Bramwell Tovey
By: - Sep 29th, 2012The BSO's performance of George Gershwin's classic American "folk opera" was sumptuously played and well sung, but it tried to make Gershwin a late Romantic like Strauss or Puccini. The production is musically rich, bringing out the complexities of the score with a clarity that only underscores how great the work is. It is the first time the orchestra has performed “Porgy,†which opened in Boston in 1935 as a try-out for its New York premiere, in Symphony Hall.
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