Susan Hall
Bio:
Recent Articles:
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San Francisco Symphony's Michael Tilson Thomas Music
Adams, Prokofiev, Ravel Swoop and Soar
By: - Nov 21st, 2014This program had wonderful sound links one piece to the other. Texture, color and sounds were similar although their composers were separated by centuries.
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Tamburlaine Today at the Theatre for a New Audience Theatre
John Douglas Thompson Rages at the Polonsky Shakespeare Center
By: - Nov 16th, 2014John Douglas Thompson is a great classic actor. As Tamburlaine, he conquers every corner of the stage, and the rafters too before his all-consuming lust for power crashes him. What a piece of work this actor is. At every turn he engages.
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Joyce DiDonato at Carnegie Hall Music
Venice is Evoked
By: - Nov 05th, 2014Venice was evoked at Carnegie Hall, by the light, shimmering touch of pianist David Zobel accompanying the great American soprano Joyce Di Donato. Channeling Vivaldi, Rossini, Faure, Head and Hahn, this dynamic duo created an unforgettable evening.
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Peter Sellars Artist of the Year Music
Musical America Names a Genius
By: - Nov 04th, 2014The idea for "The Death of Kllinghoffer: came from Sellars. He directed the St. Matthew Passion" with the Berlin Philharmonic. At Santa Fe where he has directed he roams the grounds hugging everyone. A warm, brilliant man. He deserves all of his awards.
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The Death of Klinghoffer Arrives at the Met Music
John Adams' Controversial Opera is Smashing
By: - Oct 25th, 2014Months of protesting, picketing and angry letters in the opinion pages of newspapers heralded the first Metropolitan Opera production of John Adams' The Death of Klinghoffer. The production is first rate. The drama compelling. Sets, lighting, singing, the chorus, all top fight. Since the first production of the opera in 1991 there have been no protests, until some citizens of New York rose up this year.
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State of the Art in Arkansas Fine Arts
Crystal Bridges Captures America's Heartbeat
By: - Oct 20th, 2014In Bentonville, Arkansas, a stunning museum by Moshe Safdie houses one of the great collections of American Art, and celebrates the future too in 'State of Art."
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When January Feels Like Summer in New York Theatre
Ensemble Studio & Women's Porject Theater Join Forces
By: - Oct 20th, 2014Originally produced by Ensemble Studio Theatre this terrific play is instantly in revival and deserves any staging it gets. Cori Thomas, the playwright, has taken often stereotyped characters and made them real and full of surprises.
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Abdullah Ibrahim/Dollar Brand at Carnegie Music
Soulful Marabi of South Africa Lofts in New York
By: - Oct 19th, 2014Ibrahim has lived through it all. Apartheid and the liberation. He has always performed music of his beloved country, with Miriam Makeba and others. At Carnegie, in repose, he came to terms with the violent, disruptive past of South Africa in peaaceful contemplation.
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Gotham Chamber Opera Floats Martinu Music
Double Bill Absurd and Delicious
By: - Oct 17th, 2014Some say that Martinu is an acquired taste. Gotham Chamber Opera made the case for acquiring. A spirited, songful pair of one act operas graced the Gerald Lynch stage and young singers full of talent and lyricism filled the hall.
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Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Theatre
Alex Sharp Brilliant as an Autistic Boy
By: - Oct 06th, 2014The title suggests an Oliver Sacks' story, but unfortuntately his humanity is not translated to the stage.
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Simon Rattle at Carnegie Hall Music
Conducts Berlin Philharmonic
By: - Oct 03rd, 2014The texture and tones of the orchestra have been honed over decades and by various music directors. Rattle respects composers and his instrumentalists who interpret them. He works in broad strokes and lets performers do their detail work. An harmonious approach.
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Rene Pape in Concert at the Met Music
His Appetite for Life Colors the Singing
By: - Sep 28th, 2014Pape is a natural. With a large voice that flows easily and a perfect instinct for the phrase, for dynamics and for drama he is one of the most gifted singers performing today. He is completing 2014 in performances in Macbeth and the Magic Flute and also Tristan and Iseult. Noone will ever forget his Gurnemanz in Parsifal.
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BSO Welcomes Andris Nelsons Music
Kristine Opolais ad Jonas Kaufman Join the Maestro
By: - Sep 28th, 2014The BSO deserves the very best, and they have certainly scored with their new Latvian Maestro Andris Nelsons. A gala evening welcomed him to Boston
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The Marriage of Figaro Opens Met Season Music
Noteworthy Ensembles are Pinnacles of Richard Eyre's New Production
By: - Sep 23rd, 2014For the past few months, the Metropolitan Opera's struggle for survival has made the news. Marriage of Figaro, arguably the world's greatest opera, opens the new season. Even the most tame of productions is a treat. While Richard Eyre's take on the opera is bland, Peter Mattei, Ildar Abdrazakov, Marlis Petersen and Amanda Majeski gave noteworthy performances.
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<50% at Fringe Festival Encores, Encores Theatre
Gianmarco Soresi's Hilarious Theatre Piece
By: - Sep 21st, 2014Soresi describes his first moment playing a role like <50%'s in second grade: "I was the Handsome Prince in "The Princess and the Pea" in 2nd grade. My crown was made of gold-spray-painted-Styrofoam. It was a big deal. In the penultimate scene, Pretty Princess said to me "I love you". My response was supposed to be "And I love you". In the heat of the moment, twenty if not thirty parents’ eyes fixed on me, I stuck my index finger down my opened mouth, tongue outstretched and made a gagging sound. The audience approved. I saw those ten-to-fifteen adults roar with laughter, people who under any other circumstance wouldn’t have given me the time of day (my parents were in the audience as well), all of us sharing something." In that moment I became a writer, an actor, and a bit of an asshole all at once.
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Brook and Estienne's The Valley of Astonishment Theatre
Theatre for a New Audience in Brooklyn
By: - Sep 17th, 2014Peter Brook and Marie-Hélène Estienne stage mesmerizing moments at the Polonsky Shakespeare Center. In a program note, Brook makes clear that theatre must both amaze and hit the audience in its gut. Four unusual characters are presented under examination by neuro-scientists. The result is charming, engaging and provocative.
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Table of Silence for 9/11 Dance
Barefoot in Memorial at Lincoln Center Plaza
By: - Sep 11th, 2014The procession is silent, the dancers barefoot circle the fountain at the center of the Lincoln Center Plaza. Carrying plates, they could be the apostles going to the Last Supper. Gestures range from perfectly ordinary steps taken on an ordinary September Day to arms twisted in anguish. Three flutes and three singers, whose voices were magnified by horns, paraded and intermingled with the dancers.
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Joseph Rosen Starts Fall NY Music Season Music
James Cohn, Beethoven and Brahms
By: - Sep 09th, 2014Musicians like Joe Rosen will keep all forms of music alive. Monthly or bi-monthly, in a lovely, open salon that seems to hover over the Hudson and the setting sun, Rosen gathers together special young musicians as they begin their careers in music, or continue them even if they have to have a day job elsewhere.
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Clemente: The Legend of 21 Theatre
Chicago's Night Blue Produces a Dramatic Tale
By: - Sep 03rd, 2014Clemente: The Legend of 21, is a musical drama being developed as it is performed. This work in progress is well worth the effort. Music, videos, Spanish language with subtitles, a bit of this and a bit of that mix wonderfully. Modesto Lacén makes you feel that Clemente lives again, he so captures the vitality of the man.
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My Name is Asher Lev at Timeline Theatre
Chaim Potok's Portrait of an Artist in Chicago
By: - Aug 31st, 2014My Name is Asher Lev is the story of a boy brought up in an insular world with very particular beliefs and practices. Until recently this world has succeeded in keeping its own in the fold. Very few escape or leave behind the families, religious observances and commitment of the Hasidic world. Lubavitcher ambulances rush all over the boroughs of New York today. Live chickens arrive to be properly slaughtered in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Young couples are married as soon as parents can make an arrangement. They don’t have a chance to think about leaving when they are surrounded by a gaggle of young children. You still see teenage mothers aged by their wigs and their nun-like dress and tied down by several kids hanging from their hems.
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Exhibit in Grant Park Addresses Ferguson Opinion
Unspeakable Times Are Soothed by Chicago's Statues
By: - Aug 25th, 2014The figures are iron and aluminum, but to me and many others they stood for black and white. People of all colors are walking and seated in the Georg Solti Park in Grant Park, Chicago. These sculptures invite quiet contemplation of the state of race relations in this country this August.
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Javier Perianes Debuts at Ravinia Music
An Enchanter Beguiles at the Keyboard
By: - Aug 23rd, 2014Javier Perianes has been nurtured by Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos and Charles Dutoit. Already he has appeared at Carnegie Hall and in San Francisco. He performs Grieg with the Atlanta Symphony in November and is scheduled for both the Boston and Chicago Symphonies in 2015-16. At Ravinia you could hear why much is expected of this charming, impish and technically fabulous artist.
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A Welcome Settlement at the Met Opinion
The Unions and Management Both Give Ground
By: - Aug 21st, 2014From inside the Met: "Both sides gave in. This is heartening. The three big unions took income reductions, even though they are not the massive reductions Gelb wanted. One of the good things is having some oversight on Gelb's spending. A big concern house-wide has been Gelb's tendency to over-spend without thinking things through." It appears that by settling with unions there will not be the anticipated lockout and the Metropolitan Opera will launch its season on schedule. We dig below the surface of this news for an understanding of long term implications for the Met and the struggle to sustain opera as an expesnive and viable cultural resource.
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James Conlon Conducts Marriage of Figaro at Ravinia Music
John Relyea and Lisette Oropesa Sublime with the Chicago Symphony
By: - Aug 16th, 2014The Chicago Symphony was red hot when it embarked on the overture to Figaro. They relished the challenge and it paid off for listeners. One of the reasons that you can’t put a B cast to perform familiar music is that the audience knows the music so well. The performance has to be perfect. With Assistant concert master Stephanie Jeong leading, this Mozart was sublime.
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James Conlon's Don Giovanni with Chicago Symphony Music
Singing Along with David Bizic, Tamara Wilson, and Saimir Pirgu
By: - Aug 15th, 2014At first you wonder what the terms of Ravinia’s contracts are. Performance after performance in the opera concerts and semi stagings we get luxury casting, first rate, world class singers across the board. This is the magic of a conductor and music director who singers love. And why not? Up close in an 850 seat theatre, you could see Conlon sing the entire opera, helping the singers as a live prompter and nearby encourager. Too bad the Metropolitan Opera did not catch him when they could. It is hard to imagine the mess the Met is in now if he had been at the helm.
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