Music
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Stephanie Blythe: Sing America!
Carnegie Hall Hosts Amateur Singers Braving a Blizzard
By: - Jan 24th, 2016The human voice is an instrument we all carry. Fewer than five percent of people are tone deaf and some experts consider the condition correctable. We all can experience the joy of singing together. Live singing is like nothing else under the sun. Stephanie Blythe makes the case with joy and conviction at a Carnegie Hall concert.
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Tanglewood 2016 An Overview
Tickets go on sale on January 24th
By: - Jan 23rd, 2016Tickets for the 2016 Tanglewood go on sale Sunday, January 24th. A diverse schedule of entertainers for the June 19th-September 1st season includes the return of Tanglewood conductor Seiji Ozawa, Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys and local favorite,James Taylor.
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Marilyn Horne: The Song Continues
Master Class at the Weill Recital Hall
By: - Jan 23rd, 2016Marilyn Horne is a wonderful, detailed teacher and it is a privilege to be in her presence. Clearly the singers in her master class were able to incorporate her apt suggestions. Is revelation the reason audiences respond to a great master class? With Horne, the answer is yes.
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Hamilton on PBS
Making of a Musical Masterpiece
By: - Jan 18th, 2016HAMILTON’S AMERICA is produced by Academy Award® and Emmy®-Winning producers RadicalMedia (What Happened Miss Simone?, Keith Richards: Under The Influence, In the Heights: Chasing Broadway Dreams for PBS). The documentary combines interviews with experts and prominent personalities, new footage of the production in New York, and cast-led expeditions to DC, Philadelphia and New York.
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Welser-Möst Conducts Cleveland Orchestra
Pain and Joy at Carnegie Hall
By: - Jan 18th, 2016The Cleveland Orchestra shone in the new and the recent as they gave bells and chimes to Ophelia's descent to madness and drummed up Shostakovich's fury at Stalin's regime.
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Poppea is Crowned in Germany
Delightful Opera as Monteverdi is Staged
By: - Jan 15th, 2016How do smaller houses solve budget issues? Imaginatively in Pforzheim. The curtain which at first appears to be a rich taffeta, drawn back with ropes, decorated with ribbons and bows is painted on a moveable backdrop. Regal is presented with non-imperial efficiency. The costumes, when they are worn, are delightful. Arnalta looks a bit like a nun in stark black in white, in contrast to the brilliant orange feathers of Ottavia. When she ascends with her mistress at the opera’s end, she strips and dresses as the lady-in-waiting of the Empress. This strip is a fun and amusing touch.
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Freihofer’s Saratoga Jazz Festival
2016 Headliners Smokey Robinson and Chick Corea
By: - Jan 12th, 2016The 39th annual Freihofer’s Saratoga Jazz Festival, one of the world’s longest-running major jazz events, will be held on Saturday, June 25 and Sunday, June 26 at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC). This year’s festival will feature headliner Smokey Robinson; Chick Corea Trilogy; Joey Alexander; Steps Ahead Reunion; Pieces of a Dream; Pat Martino Organ Trio plus Horns; and Christian Scott, among many others.
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Die Fledermaus at the Bavarian State Opera
Frothy, Beautiful Strauss in High Spirits
By: - Jan 11th, 2016Opera is so engaging when it is done with perfect casting, conducting, and singing. The opera in Munich is sold out every night. No audience problems when the productions are first-rate. It is hard to believe that Strauss resisted opera until his wife and a Viennese theatre director conspired to set some of his music as songs. Strauss himself was bowled over. Fledermaus is his third operetta. Fledermaus tempts the listener with sweet melody, bouncy rhythms, and thrilling scoring. The music hints at the mistaken identity, gala ball, and humorous plot twists that are to come.
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Bowie's Lazarus: Departing This World with Music
A Final Work by David Bowie and Edna Walsh
By: - Jan 11th, 2016The review of the musical "Lazarus" by David Bowie and Edna Walsh, directed by Ivo van Hove was in the works long before the announcement of Bowie's passing. The author, critic Edward Rubin, has opted to treat this as a note added to the review rather than lead as an obituary. The point is to cover as fresh and current the work of a great genius and unique artist of his generation. Tickets to the off Broadway production sold out almost immediately.
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Jazz Singers at Library of Congress
Exhibition on View in D.C.
By: - Jan 07th, 2016An exhibition opening next month at the Library of Congress will offer perspectives on the art of vocal jazz, featuring singers and song stylists from the 1920s to the present. "Jazz Singers" will open on Thursday, Feb. 11, in the Performing Arts Reading Room Foyer on the first level of the Library’s James Madison Memorial Building, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington, D.C.
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2015 in the Arts
Hiphopera, Tap, Berkshires and Beyond
By: - Jan 02nd, 2016In some of the most exciting and insightful productions and performances of the year there was a notable cross pollination and invention as vernacular street cultures and indigenous art forms conflated into high art. Classic works were not just revived but reinvented from the insight out. The best works of 2016 raised the bar through risk taking and challenging audiences. These rare experiences tend to make the majority of what we experience ordinary and enervating. In an era signified by ubiquitous standing ovations what is truly worthy of special recognition?
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Phil Woods Memorial Concert at Barrington Stage
Grace Kelly With Brian Lynch, Bill Mays, Steve Gilmore and Bill Goodwin
By: - Dec 31st, 2015“Phil and Grace Kelly had a special relationship that evolved from mentor to collaborator to friend,” said Jill Goodwin, Woods’ wife and business manager of 40 years. “From the moment they stepped on stage in Pittsfield, and especially after he passed the torch by putting his cap on her head, their relationship grew. Phil was proud to be a part of ‘Man With The Hat,’ and they appeared together at major festivals around the world. Phil and Grace were in touch frequently, up to the day he died. Joining Phil’s group again will be a very special moment for all of us.”
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Illinois Jacquet
Sweet Nights at Lulu White's
By: - Dec 29th, 2015Born Jean Baptiste Jacquet then dubbed Illinois he became famous for a solo on Flying Home with the Lionel Hampton Band. He was just a teenager at the time. He went on to be one of the great stars of the big band and bop era.
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The Golden Bride by National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene
Museum of Jewish Heritage Hosts Opera
By: - Dec 27th, 2015Inspired immigrants, excited by their new land and still carrying a touch of the old with them, created works for the Second Avenue Theatre early in the 20th century. The joy of the forms they created lives on today, in the original works and the work they inspired in the Broadway musical theatre.
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Muddy Waters
Mississippi Goddam
By: - Dec 27th, 2015Muddy picked it up from Robert Johnson, King of the Delta Blues, and Son House who we saw once dazed and confused at Newport. Muddy came out, joined in, and gently walked him off. That was like him and what we most remember. The Mojo Man had heart and soul.
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Black Ensemble Theater's Dynamite Divas
Soul Music in the Windy City
By: - Dec 26th, 2015Dynamite Divas features appearances (via Mr. Maurice's "Assimilator") by soul singers of the past such as Nina Simone (performing "Mississippi Goddam" and "Young, Gifted and Black"), Dinah Washington ("This Bitter Earth"), and film excerpts of sensational older divas. There's even a cameo by a Beyonce impersonator, asking "Why Not Me?"
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A Christmas Journey Near Carnegie Hall
Holidays at the Rosens
By: - Dec 24th, 2015Joe Rosen celebrated the season with a holiday concert that took us around the world of music, in time, and place and style. Aram Katchaturian’s Trio was a highlight of the concert. The virtuosity of each instrumentalists was on display. The moods of the movements drastically changed, marking gypsy tones and mournful joy.
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Curious Sound Object At Boston Cyberarts Gallery
Hearing and Seeing As Part of the Visual Arts Experience
By: - Dec 21st, 2015Visual art is evolving in wonderful technical directions. Boston Cyberarts is continuing to foster this development. A Fall 2015 exhibition showcased a whole group of artists working not only visually but auditorially. Hearing and seeing was believing.
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Berkshire Theatre Group 2016
Winter/ Spring Schedule
By: - Dec 18th, 2015Music at The Colonial Theatre includes, legendary reggae band, The Wailers (part of the 10X10 Upstreet Arts Festival); Grammy Award-winning pop/rock singer, songwriter, musician, Richard Marx; Grammy Award-winning Walking In Memphis singer, Marc Cohn and “the godfather of British blues,” John Mayall.
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Evgeny Kissin at Carnegie Hall
Daring Interpretations of Music and Poetry
By: - Dec 17th, 2015Evgeny Kissin dares us to share his adventurous take on life, music and poetry. At Carnegie Hall in an evening of Jewish music and poetry, he was full of passion and mournful joy.
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Tanglewood Adds Brian Wilson and Chris Botti
June is Busting Out All Over
By: - Dec 15th, 2015Hey kids get out your calendars. The 2016 season is beginning to shape up. OK James Taylor is returning to Tanglewood over the Fourth of July. But the season will be old by then. The fun starts at MASS MoCA on Saturday, June 11 with The National. That's almost as wicked cool as Wilco. Then Surf's Up on June 19. It's a day gig so no curfew when Brian Wilson presents his iconic Pet Sounds in its entirety. Multivalent trumpet ace Chris Botti slips into Ozawa Hall, where we have seen him before, on June 24. By front loading the season in such a manner July will seem like so over man.
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MASS MoCA Winter Spring
Upcoming Exhibitions and Performances.
By: - Dec 14th, 2015MASS MoCA has many highlights in its schedule for exhibitions and performances. Start to mark our calendars particularly for the June 11 exclusive performance of The National which is sure to sell out in a flash.
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The National To Perform at MASS MoCA
Only East Coast Gig on June 11.
By: - Dec 14th, 2015The National will be in North Adams on Saturday, June 11, at 8pm, in its only Northeast headline show in all of 2016. The concert benefits MASS MoCA and Hawthorne Valley Association, in Ghent, New York. The Ohio-raised, Brooklyn-based band, which consists of vocalist Matt Berninger, plus two pairs of brothers: Aaron Dessner (guitar, bass, piano) and Bryce Dessner (guitar), and Scott Devendorf (bass, guitar) and Bryan Devendorf (drums), have landed on every “best of” list in print.
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New York Philharmonic Entices the Young
Prokovief, Rafael Mostel and Richard Strauss
By: - Dec 14th, 2015You would never know that symphony orchestras had problems reaching a younger audience. Geffen Hall in New York was packed with young people eager to listen and offer their opinions on characters, stories and their expression in music. Theodore Wiprud, the NY Phil's Vice President for Education, was master of ceremonies. Peter, the Wolf, Babar and Celeste and the impish Till Eulenspiegel were a delight.
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Dangerous Liaisons at Manhattan School of Music
Fresh, Impeccable Opera of Classic Story
By: - Dec 10th, 2015Why has Dangerous Liaisons been translated onto the stage and into three movies, including films by Milos Forman and Roger Vadim? Because it's the stuff of which great art can be made. Playing the game of life (and money) is something Wall Street understands well. We can benefit from watching it spin out. But there are no metaphors in the luurious period costumes. The opera by Conrad Susa with text by Philip Littell is an enticing guide.
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