Susan Hall
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Recent Articles:
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Nelsons Exodus from the BSO Front Page
Is a New Directorial Model Being Created
By: - Apr 14th, 2026Andris Nelsons will leave the Boston Symphonhy in 2027. Everything about his departure is guesswork until Chad Smith, President and CEO, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra board speak publicly.
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Barbara Hannigan Returns to the NY Phil Front Page
Hannigan sings Poulen's Human Voice
By: - Apr 13th, 2026Barbara Hannigan arrives at the New York Philharmonic on April 23. Her memorable debut was in Grigor Ligetti’s opera Le Grand Macabre under conductor Alan Gilbert fifteen years ago. It sold out. The production was the Philharmonic's first opera, directed by Doug Fitch with a multimedia set and backdrop. Hannigan will sing and conduct Poulenc's Human Voice.
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Saariaho's Innocence Beautiful at the Met Opera Front Page
The Composer's final opera is a Masterpeice
By: - Apr 07th, 2026Innocence, Kaija Saariaho’s searing meditation on collective guilt, received its New York premiere at the Metropolitan Opera. Many of the artists from its world premiere at the Aix-en-Provence Festival five years ago are present here: Susanna Mälkki conducts, bringing her close collaboration with Saariaho to bear, alongside the brilliant director Simon Stone. Stone makes a work live in the moment, a powerful invitational tool for audiences.
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Dimitri Krymov at La Mama Front Page
A Russian's Interpretation of the New Play
By: - Apr 06th, 2026Dimitri Krymov's Play on the Chekov play, Uncle Vanya, is a trickster's reckoning and wonderfully inventive.
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Krymov Lab NYC at LaMama Front Page
Uncle Vanya Turned on Its Head
By: - Apr 03rd, 2026The Krymov Lab NYC is presenting its unique, lively version of Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov at La MaMa in New York. Krymov had more than five plays running in Moscow when he planned a visit to New York in 2022. Putin invaded Ukraine just as he left, and Krymov decided not to return to Russia. New York is fortunate to have him staging work here. There is much to learn from his gift for drawing in an audience and helping them live within his productions.
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Saariaho's Innocence Arrives at the Metropolitan Opera Front Page
Will the 21st century Masterpiece Succeed in New York
By: - Apr 02nd, 2026Innocence, a twenty-first century masterpiece, has its Metropolitan Opera debut on April 6. Many of the artists attached to the world premiere in Aix five years ago come with this production, first and foremost, the composer Kaija Saariaho.
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Jazz at Carnegie Hall with Gerald Clayton Front Page
Langree Conducts the Orchestra of St. Luke's
By: - Mar 28th, 2026St. Luke’s Orchestra under the baton of Louis Langree gave a splendid performance of classic American music on March 26. Starting with Charles Ives’ Unanswered Question (on the solo trumpet that begins the work and is answered indefinitely by flutes) Duke Ellington’s iconic works which had their premieres at Carnegie Hall over a half century ago followed. They still feel fresh.
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Mannes Opera Presents a Korngold Premiere Front Page
A Silent Serenade Given its Delicious US Debut
By: - Mar 14th, 2026Mannes Opera mounted the United States premiere of Erich Korngold’s The Silent Serenade at the Gerald Lynch Theater in New York. Korngold set the standard for film scoring during his decade in Hollywood, and the insights he gained while scoring Robin Hood are evident in this charming blend of Johann Strauss and Jack Warner.
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Christian Petzold at Lincoln Center Front Page
FLC Presents Iconic Filmmaker's Signatre Works
By: - Mar 12th, 2026Film at Lincoln Center announces “Christian Petzold In Person,” a seven-film showcase of the German director’s signature works, with most films presented on 35mm. Christian Petzold has said that he always wants to work in Kodak color, the only film stock that can convey his concepts. March 16-19 in advance of the US premiere of Petzhold's Miroirs No. 3.
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Tristan and Isolde at the Met Opera Front Page
A Musical and Visual Treat
By: - Mar 10th, 2026The Metropolitan Opera is proposing a future with its new production of Tristan und Isolde. Directed by the now middle-aged enfant terrible Yuval Sharon, it is in part a test of his suitability for the Der Ring des Nibelungen, which will follow in 2027. Do we imbibe Richard Wagner’s musical potion in Sharon’s new take on the mythic love story?
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Everyone Digs Bill Evans in Berlin Front Page
Grant Gee Wins Silver Bear for Best Direction
By: - Feb 25th, 2026Bill Evans, as portrayed in the film Everybody Digs Bill Evans—which earned Grant Gee a Silver Bear for Best Director at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2026—is inarguably one of the greatest jazz pianists of the last century.
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The Recipe at La Jolla Playhouse Front Page
The Magic of Julia Child
By: - Feb 23rd, 2026Julia Child was one of America’s most beloved chefs. Her cooking show, The French Chef, which aired originally on PBS can still be found on the internet. Who was Juia Child? How did she come to be this exalted personality?
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Yo, or Love Is a Rebellious Bird, by Anna Fitch and Banker White Front Page
Silver Bear for Documentary In Berlin International Film Festuval
By: - Feb 21st, 2026Yo, the only documentary in the main competition at the Berlin International Film Festival, was shown at the Berlin Palast with "the team" in attendance. Banker White, co-director, cradled a puppet rendition of Yo, the film’s lead character, in his arms as he helped her “sign” a poster hung above the red carpet. Winner Silver Bear for Artistic Achievement
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The Red Hangar at the Berlin International Film Festival Front Page
A Resonating Story
By: - Feb 19th, 2026The Red Hangar (Hangar Rojo), a 2026 Chilean historical thriller directed by Juan Pablo Sallato, is being shown in the Perspectives section at the Berlin International Film Festival. Captain Jorge Silva is forced to choose between obeying orders and listening to his conscience. This uncomfortable dilemma does not arise only in the present moment of the 1973 Chilean military coup, but also from his past.
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A Prayer for the Dying Premieres in Berlin Film
Dara Van Dusen is a Superb Filmmaker
By: - Feb 19th, 2026A film adaptation of Stewart O’Nan’s novel A Prayer for the Dying premiered at the Berlin Film Festival. The director, Dara Van Dusen—Hollywood royalty as the granddaughter of Baby Doll’s Carroll Baker—is a creature of the world, countering America’s current image of backsliding into the past. Van Dusen studied film in Poland and now lives in Norway.
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Weinberg's Passenger at Opera Frankfurt Front Page
We Must Not Forget
By: - Feb 10th, 2026Opera Frankfurt gives a commanding and deeply engaging performance of The Passenger by Mieczysaw Weinberg, with a libretto by Alexander Medvedev. Dmitri Shostakovich, a close friend of the composer, read Zofia Posmysz’s novel and immediately saw its potential as an opera. Weinberg agreed and went on to write what he considered the best of his seven operas. The Soviet government suppressed it
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Love is Destiny at Frankfurt Opera Front Page
R.R.Schlater Directs Agostino Steffani
By: - Feb 08th, 2026Opera Frankfurt is mounting Amor Vien dal Destino (Love Is Destiny) by the late 17th-century composer Agostino Steffani. An Italian who masterfully blended bel canto lyricism with the German counterpoint tradition, Steffani was a major influence on Handel, who frequently glommed onto his work, sometimes quoting it directly.
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Heartbeat Opera Gives Us Manon Front Page
Opera Lives in New York
By: - Feb 02nd, 2026Heartbeat Opera is offering a striking new Manon, cut and shaped into a taut hundred minutes, restoring much of the original wit and allowing it to sharpen—rather than soften—the opera’s tragic ending. This one-act chamber adaptation features a new English translation by Jacob Ashworth and Rory Pelsue. Directed by Pelsue with meticulous attention to detail and an unerring sense of pace. Conducted by the inimitable Dan Schlosberg, the production is terrific from start to finish
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Woodie King, Jr. of New Federal Theatre Front Page
King's Death Announced
By: - Jan 31st, 2026Woodie King, Jr., founder of New Federal Theatre and a prolific producer and director who dedicated more than five decades to providing opportunities for minorities and women in the performing arts, died January 29 at Weill Cornell Medical Center of complications from emergency heart surgery. He was 88.
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The Cleveland Orchestra Delivers Verdi's Requiem Front Page
Welser-Most Conducts at Carnegie Hall
By: - Jan 21st, 2026Franz Welser-Möst arrived at Carnegie Hall on January 20 with the Cleveland Orchestra and Verdi’s Requiem. Asmik Grigorian, well known for her dramatic operatic singing, took the soprano solo role. She was joined by Deniz Uzun (mezzo-soprano), Joshua Guerrero (tenor), and Tareq Nazmi (bass), all of whom added vocal pleasures. Lisa Wong directed the chorus.
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Tiergarten, a Cabaret at Prototype Front Page
Andrew Ousley Gives Decadent and Provocative Evening
By: - Jan 19th, 2026The Prototype Festival, founded by Beth Morrison and the producers of HERE twenty years ago, has been at the forefront of new opera since its inception. This season, a cabaret evening created by another new-performance impresario, Andrew Ousley, took a special place in Prototype.
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Met Opera Chamber Ensemble at Weill Hall Front Page
Carnegie Hosts Erin Morley and Lawrence Brownlee
By: - Jan 13th, 2026A chamber ensemble, comprised of members of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, performed a Brahms Trio and accompanied premiere singers in Schubert Lieder and a Donizetti duet. The intimate Weill Concert Hall, seating around 250 people, gave the audience a taste of the individual talents that come together in the grand opera house and rarely get a chance to display their solo skills. James Levine cooked up this idea, and it makes for an exciting and inviting evening.
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One Battle After Another, Best Picture Front Page
Paul Thomas Anderson's Take on Pynchon's Vineland
By: - Jan 05th, 2026One Battle After Another comes out of the starting gate in first place, a position it deserves to keep. It has just won the Critics’ Choice Best Picture Award, along with Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay.
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Timothee Chalamet as Marty Supreme Front Page
Josh Safdie's Film Enthralls and Sucks
By: - Dec 19th, 2025Marty Supreme starring Timothee Chalamet goes into wide release on Christmas Day. It is the Safdie Brothers “Uncut Gems" redux. Shot by the fabulous Darius Khondji in zoom close up, with the camera moving with the figures and placing us right beside characters we may not want to know so well, we are gripped for two and a half hours.
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Ginny Williams, Art Whisperer Front Page
A Moving Film
By: - Dec 10th, 2025Director Flemming Fynsk's moving film The Art Whisperer is in contention for awards this year. Its subject, Ginny Williams, was an art collector and gallery owner of remarkable instinct and vision.
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