Music
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Boston First Night Celebratory Party
An Enchanting Happy New Year 2012
By: - Jan 02nd, 2012Fist Night Boston events span numerous artistic activities from art, music, dance, comedy, and theater to ice skating on the Frog Pond, ice sculptures, parade and fireworks. The works of 1,000 various artists in 200 performances and exhibits are offered. A delightful welcoming for 2012.
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The Enchanted Island Live in HD January 21
Joyce DiDonato and David Daniels Shine
By: - Dec 29th, 2011This is first opera Met General Manager Peter Gelb has conceived from stem to stern. The music is not original. Instead it is a mash up of composers from the Baroque period, put together to sound one like the other and provide continuity for a mash up of two Shakespeare plays. The set and costume designers deliver as do the singers.
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Paul Geremia Live At Bull Run
With Marylou Ferrante
By: - Dec 28th, 2011It had been some forty or so years since seeing Paul Geremia perform. During that time he became a cult icon. Even Dave Van Ronk, in his autobiography, speculated that Paul, might be the best blues performer extant. Marylou Ferrante who opened for him is yet to record. That should change soon. We look forward to her future performances and since she resides in the Worcester area..
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Christmas at Carnegie Hall with Bella Hristova
Jaime Laredo Leads the New York String Orchestra
By: - Dec 26th, 2011What better way to end the old year and start the new than a concert led by veteran violinist and conductor Jaime Laredo at Carnegie Hall. In his hands, the young solo violinist and the entire orchestra of the best students in the US shone.
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Cesaria Evora Took Her Final Bow
Cape Verde's Barefoot Diva
By: - Dec 20th, 2011The music world mourns the morna ballads of cape Verdian queen Cesaria Evora. Her unforgettable legacy leaves our world richer. She will be remembered for her barefoot stage arrival, a bit provocative, singing passionately then sometimes stopping for a sip of cognac or a cigarette, transporting her audience from laughter to tears. Before tiptoeing in great discretion and humility to another universe, she leaves us with words of wisdom: “Life goes on, I came towards you, I did my best, I had a career that many would like to have.â€
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The Belle Epoque of Massenet
An Exhibition at Opera Garnier, Paris
By: - Dec 19th, 2011On the occasion of the centennial anniversary of Jules Massenet’s death, an exhibition is being held at the Paris Opera Garnier. Displayed are Jules Massenet’s reconstructed workshop, his glasses, and an inkwell set on his piano/desk, his manuscripts and opera posters.
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Jeff and Jane Hudson
Antique Rockers to Perform at Mass MoCA January 14
By: - Dec 19th, 2011Today Jeff and Jane Hudson are antique dealers with a shop at Mass MoCA. On January 14 their presence at Mass MoCA will explore a different approach. Back in the day they performed as The Rentals and later simply as Jeff and Jane. At least for one night they plan to knock the rust off the pipes and polish their rock n roll shoes. Should be a hoot.
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Iestyn Davies Delights at Carnegie
Foremost Among Countertenors Following David Daniels
By: - Dec 17th, 2011The Weill Hall at Carnegie is intimate and a wonderful acoustical venue. It was a particular treat to hear countertenor Iestyn Davies here after his commanding presence in the Metropolitan Opera's production of Rodelinda and his smashing New York debut at the City Opera.
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Baroque Collection by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
18th Century Music Here and Now
By: - Dec 14th, 2011David Finckel and Wu Han are funny, warm, talented and consummate musicians too. This is the magic mix for institutions bringing classical music into the present and future. It is not hard to see why his contemporaries loved CPE Bach for his daring, turbulent music, which agitates with volcanic harmonies and distinctive rhythms.
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Opera Notes: Faust in HD December 10
Broadcast to the Clark and Mahaiwe
By: - Dec 09th, 2011The production is so disappointing that we simply are not going to comment. Some of the singing can not be called singing. But Jonas Kaufmann in the title role and Rene Pape in his iconic Mephistopheles role, make this Gounod Faust from the Metropolitan Opera worth watching.
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The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Brings Us Bach
John Harbison Selects Unfamiliar Cantatas
By: - Dec 07th, 2011John Harbison is familiar to Bostonians as the conductor of Emanuel Music, which has a commitment to perform all of Bach's 200 cantatas in cycles. At Alice Tully Hall, four of them were presented for an unusual and exciting evening.
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The Barra MacNeils at Clark Art Institute
A Celtic Holiday Concert
By: - Dec 05th, 2011The Barra MacNeil band from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia has performed and recorded for the past 25 years. They returned to the Clark Art Institute after a lapse of seven years. The sold out audience delighted in a traditional Christmas celebration. Now and then we joined in with the merry singing.
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Occupy Wall Street Occupies the Metropolitan Opera
OWS Shouted Out Over a Dozen Times Before Act III of Faust
By: - Dec 04th, 2011Occupy Wall Street was banned from the Lincoln Center Plaza, city owned property leased to Lincoln Center, on December 1, as Philip Glass read from the Ghandi libretto in front of the Met. On December 3, a protester succeeded in getting into the house and calling out his message, by and large favorably received by audience claps, but quelled by Met staffers.
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Stephanie Blythe Joins the New York Festival of Song
Stephen Blier's Humorous and Touching Take on Goyishe Christmas
By: - Dec 02nd, 2011Assimilation is not the point. Celebrating a national holiday that is more culture than religion is something all Americans do, some with more angst and guilt than others. Noel anxiety was part of this evening's fun.
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The Collegiate Chorale Performs Moise et Pharaon
An Unexpected and Glorious Rossini Opera on the Exodus
By: - Dec 01st, 2011This not often performed opera brought down houses in Naples and Paris when it was first put on in various versions. Stendhal, who hated Biblical subjects and the lead soprano, attended to laugh and ended up extraordinarily moved. So was the audience at Carnegie Hall.
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Ian Bostridge and Thomas Ades at Carnegie Hall
Blissful Music Making
By: - Nov 29th, 2011Taking on the challenge of the dark and painful places of life, tenor Ian Bostridge and pianist (composer and conductor) Thomas Ades presented an evening of wrenching beauty.
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Opera Notes: Jesus Christ Superstar and More
Rodelinda at Neighborhood Theaters on December 3
By: - Nov 29th, 2011It is heartening to think that people who love and make opera, even if they don't know what they are doing or saying, come up with dramas that heightened our every day. Rodelina at the Clark and Mahaiwe December 3rd, followed by Faust on December 10. Both poperas are bound to be fun.
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Orpheus Doesn't Look Back
Boston Early Music Festival Presents French Rarity
By: - Nov 28th, 2011Marc-Antoine Charpentier wrote an adaptation of the Orpheus myth, but the third act is missing. The BEMF's Gilbert Blin shot-gun weds it to another work, and the result is delightful.
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The Guthrie Family Rides Again at the Colonial
Thanksgiving Tradition Continues in Pittsfield
By: - Nov 22nd, 2011At one point I counted 13 Guthrie Family members on stage all at the same time. There may have been more, but some were small and scampered around a bit. The first time I and most of the audience heard Arlo, was also the first time we heard Alice’s Restaurant. Within a short time, Arlo had the entire room in the palm of his hand.
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Opera Notes from New York and Chicago
What is Opera? The Metropolitan and Lyric Operas Disagree
By: - Nov 22nd, 2011A new production of Faust is coming up at the Met, and the company held a discussion on Monday with the artists responsible. It was very revealing. In the heartland, Ariadne Auf Naxos, the great Strauss opera about the role of music in life, spelled out in every detail that music drives the form. Why should this even be a subject for debate?
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Santyagraha by Philip Glass
Gandhi Inspired Opera Sung in Sanskrit
By: - Nov 21st, 2011The genius of Philip Glass, viewed as our greatest living composer, is to create transformative, trance inducing meditations on the greatest figures in our history and culture. Mahatma Gandhi, and his twenty year non violent struggle against racism in South Africa informs the opera Satyagraha. This past weekend we experienced an absorbing but frustrating experience of the opera Live in HD at the Clark Art Institute.
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Sam Amidon at Alt Cabaret
Indy Rock at Mass MoCA
By: - Nov 20th, 2011Mass MoCA's B-10 is an intimate stage in a tall room, and Amidon flooded it with good-natured whimsy and the haunting voice of a gen-something folk balladeer in full command of his instruments, his idioms and the philosophical logic of the non-sequitur.
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Tanglewood 2012
Summer Schedule Released by BSO
By: - Nov 17th, 2011Tanglewood, one of the world’s most beloved music festivals and the famed summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra located in the beautiful Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts, celebrates its 75th anniversary season, June 22-September 2, with a spectacular lineup of musical guests and programs that spotlight Tanglewood’s rich tradition of presenting summertime concerts at their best since 1937.
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Remembering WBCN The Rock of Boston
25th Anniversary Album February, 1993
By: - Nov 15th, 2011In the process of scanning a vast archive of vintage jazz and rock images we came upon a album shot during the 25th anniversary party of the now off air WBCN. It jogged rusty rock memories. On hand were a heady mix of music celebrities from a golden age.
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Mile High with the Denver Philharmonic
Kolaty, Effinger and Brahms Delight
By: - Nov 14th, 2011Community orchestras when they are successful,and Denver's, started by the great conductor Antonia Brico after she was cast off for being a woman, has thrived by bringing classical music to old and young alike.
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