Music
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Michael Tilson Thomas Continues with His Mavericks
Carnegie Hall Hosts Partch, Bates, Del Tredici and Harrison
By: - Apr 01st, 2012We have had time to appreciate maverick composers of the 20th century. Now they often seem distinctively beautiful. Instruments are a treat for the eye. The music fully engages. Michael Tilson Thomas is a daring and committed conductor.
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Ahmad Jamal at the Colonial Theatre
New Album Blue Moon and European Tour
By: - Apr 01st, 2012The recently released CD Blue Moon is being hailed by critics as among the best of a recording career that started in 1955. With an amazing rhythm section of Herlin Riley, drums, Manolo Badrena, percussion, and Reginald Veal, bass the iconic jazz pianist performed at the Colonial Theater in Pittsfield. They are about to embark for Italy to launch a European tour in support of the critically acclaimed new album.
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Opera Notes: Peter Gelb Controlling the Message
Does the Met Deserve Great Divas Dessay, Mattila, Blythe?
By: - Mar 29th, 2012Diva after diva arrives at the Met this spring. Their quality is uneven, but if they are thin and pretty, the General Manager., Peter Gelb, hopes can sell tickets. Even if they can't sing, or when they do, occasionally, they are off pitch.
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Michael Tilson Thomas Brings Mavericks to Carnegie Hall
Jessye Norman, Joan La Barbara, Meredith Monk, John Adams, All Live.
By: - Mar 28th, 2012If you wonder how to get young people into a classical concert, just follow the San Francisco Symphony and its peerless leader. If Tilson Thomas was not born into a famous theater family, we probably wouldn't be treated to such exciting concerts.
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Aston Magna Celebrates 40th Season
Gala June 9 at Tanglewood's Ozawa Hall
By: - Mar 27th, 2012Aston Magna Music Festival (Daniel Stepner, Artistic Director) America’s oldest annual summer festival in America devoted to music performed on period instruÂments, celebrates its 40th Anniversary Season in the Berkshires. This summer’s concert series from June 8 through July 7 is devoted to music spanning from the 17th to the 20th centuries.
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St. John Passion at Carnegie with Bernard Labadie
Ian Bostridge a wonderful Evangelist with Les Violins du Roy
By: - Mar 26th, 2012The St. John Passion is always placed after the St. Matthew in Bach's greats. Bernard Labadie led a performance that showed it special and fine features.
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FreshGrass Festival at Mass MoCA
No Wilco But Fiddle Music September 21-23
By: - Mar 26th, 2012With the Wilco Solid Sound Festival on hiatus Mass MoCA is beefing up its now annual FreshGrass Festival. The three day event will occur from September 21-23 with a lively mix of known and emerging bluegrass artists. This is a step in the right direction for extending the shoulder season in Northern Berkshire county. Order early and save on weekend passes on sale April 11.
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Thomas Hampson: Mastersinger
The Metropolitan Opera Guild Honors a Great Baritone
By: - Mar 23rd, 2012Thomas Hampson is committed to music, as a performer, a researcher, a promoter of all American music. The Metropolitan Opera Guild put on an evening honoring him, and his unique contributions to opera and music education.
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Jeff and Jane at Williams Inn April 21
Space is the Place
By: - Mar 20th, 2012If you missed their now legendary gig at Mass MoCA in January there is another opportunity for the senior set to cheer on the antique rockers Jane and Jeff Hudson in a rave-up at the Williams Inn on April 21. Don't miss this vintage, synth/ pop rock, dance music.
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Cosi Fan Tutte at the New York City Opera
Christopher Alden Directs the Opera for Today
By: - Mar 19th, 2012George Steel, general manager of City Opera, remarked that Mozart works best in medium-size theaters. Certainly in the Lynch Theater the current production of Cosi Fan Tutte thrives. Across the boards, it is terrific.
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Boston Lyric Opera's Barber of Seville
Rossini's Masterpiece Finds Human Truths
By: - Mar 16th, 2012Cast, led by Sarah Coburn's Rosina, is uniformly excellent. Production, with borrowed elements, pulled together in the vigorous direction of choreographer Doug Varone
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Messiaen: Quartet for the End of Time
An Important Remembrance in this Season of Renewal
By: - Mar 12th, 2012First performed in a German prison camp where the French composer Olivier Messiaen had written the Quartet, a small group of first-rate musicians gathered to present Quartet for the End of Time in New York..
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The Boston Symphony Conducted by Christoph Eschenbach
A Carnegie Triumph
By: - Mar 09th, 2012A French program that looked at first like your usual fare was turned into an evening of fabulous music by the Symphony, many of its members soloists, an exciting conductor, and a brilliant young French pianist, Cedric Tiberghein.
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Khovanshchina and Opera Notes
In Sync with The New Yorker
By: - Mar 07th, 2012The Metropolitan Opera has put on Khovanshshina, a wonderful opera by Modest Mussorgsky, with a stellar cast including Mr. and Mrs. Abdrazakov, he Ildar, and she the great mezzo Olga Boradina. Boradina has never sounded better, her lower depths are unusually rich. Abdrazakov was positively Buddhist as a priest of the old guard. His voice was magnificent, but his handsome face was marred by an ersatz Marx Brothers beard. Kirill Petrenko conducted with passion and subtlety.
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Handel's Rinaldo Wins at the Lyric Opera
Daniels, Davies, Pisaroni, Prina, Kleiter, Van Den Heever, First Among Equals
By: - Mar 05th, 2012Everyone is excited about opera in Chicago. Rinaldo was in the works before the arrival of Anthony Freud, the new General Manager. Clearly he is poised to continue the great record of his predecessor, William Mason.
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Radvanovsky Arrives at the Met Early
James Levine is still Music Director
By: - Feb 29th, 2012Unexpectedly Met audiences were treated to Sondra Radvanovsky as Aida; in announcing the new season, Mr. Gelb ignored the Levine problem; Chicago announces a world premier, and so it goes.
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Michael Doucet avec Beausoleil at the Colonial
Cajun Sun Brightens Berkshire Gloom
By: - Feb 25th, 2012Garrison Keillor has dubbed frequent guests and multiple Grammy winners Michael Doucet avec Beausoleil “The greatest Cajun band in the world.†During their lively gig at the Colonial Theatre we found out why.
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Los Lobos at Mass MoCA
Prowls North Adams on April 5
By: - Feb 23rd, 2012On Thursday, April 5, at 8 PM for a concert sponsored by Berkshire Gas. Rolling Stone Magazine says, "With the exception of U2, no other band has stayed on top of its game like Los Lobos", and they are touring in support of their acclaimed new album - their first in four years - Tin Can Trust.
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Travis Tritt at the Colonial on March 10
Country Music in Pittsfield
By: - Feb 21st, 2012Travis Tritt, will appear at The Colonial on March 10 at 8pm. With up and comer Lyndsey Highlander as a special guest, this evening of country music will delight audiences with wonderful stories, beloved country music and a rare, personal atmosphere.
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Sneak Preview of the Met 2012-2013
The Met Opera Announces the New Season
By: - Feb 21st, 2012While wonderful singing is planned some singers who haven't been popular at the Met are returning. Good news. Sondra Radvanovsky returns for seven performances as Elisabeth de Valois in Don Carlo. Marina Poplyskaya is gone. Ferruccio Furlanetto returns as Philip and Dmitri Hvorostovsky will sing Rodrigo. This is so promising.
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The Freihofer's Saratoga Jazz Festival
Scheduled for June 30 to July 1
By: - Feb 20th, 2012The Freihofer's Saratoga Jazz Festival, one of the most celebrated and longest-running jazz events in the world, will celebrate its landmark 35th Anniversary at Saratoga Performing Arts Center, June 30 and July 1, with a dynamic lineup of more than 20 acclaimed artists and ensembles on two stages.
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Marriage of Figaro at Opera Colorado
Superb Staging by Comic Opera Expert David Gately
By: - Feb 16th, 2012Just because Marriage of Figaro is a great opera, with 14 of its 26 musical numbers ensembles does not mean that a production will succeed. In Denver attention has been paid to every aspect of this Mozart and the opera gleams. It's fun too.
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Opera Notes from the Met
Ernani, Aida, and the Saga of the Ring Continues
By: - Feb 14th, 2012In support of their great young soprano, Angela Meade, the Met put three great voices on the stage for Ernani. Not your usual fare at the Met, but a thrilling performance, due locally in HD on February 25th.
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New York City Opera Returns with La Traviata
Brooklyn Academy of Music a Hopeful Home
By: - Feb 13th, 2012After months of effort to restore an important opera company to the New York scene, the City Opera found a wonderful venue for La Traviata. Brooklyn Academy of Music is a hopeful venue for the homeless company.
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The Lighthouse by Peter Maxwell Davies
Boston Lyric's Annex Production at the JFK Library
By: - Feb 12th, 2012Three light-house keepers off the coast of Scotland disappear without a trace. Did they succumb to "The Cry of the Beast" or did they just go mad?
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