Music
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News from the Metropolitan Opera
Firing the Imagination, or Not.
By: - Feb 01st, 2012Tosca is now terrific, thanks to Tomer Zvulun, Angela Meade is more firmly planted in the wings and on stage, but the Ring ends up in the beheading of bobble-headed statues, a bore and a visual insult.
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Ear Say: Ana Popovic and Candye Kane.
Recent CDs By Women Blues Singers
By: - Jan 31st, 2012Here are two contemporary releases by women with whom the blues have had their way, Ana Popovic and Candye Kane.
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Rienzi Takes Avery Fisher Hall Under Eve Queler
Opera Orchestra of New York Demolishes Rome
By: - Jan 30th, 2012Rienzi, Wagner's third opera, was scheduled for an OONY concert performance in 2009, but the economic crisis cut it. Now Eve Queler returns with one of her signature pieces, and the staging was wonderful indeed.
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Tanglewood Jazz Festival Cancelled
Labor Day Weekend Events To Be Announced
By: - Jan 28th, 2012As tickets go on sale for the 2012 Tanglewood season we are saddened to learn of the demise of the annual Tanglewood Jazz Festival. The BSO at a later date will announce plans for the now open slot of Labor Day Weekend. But it is encouraging to learn of new dates for jazz masters Chick Corea and Gary Burton as well as a date for bass player Christian McBride.
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La Dame Pique Peaks at the Paris Opera Bastille
Vladimir Galouzine, a Great Hermann
By: - Jan 25th, 2012Singer after singer, in role upon role, hits a home run at the Opera Bastille. You might think this is the way Opera should be delivered, but we don't get it at the Metropolitan Opera, so consistent performance is a thrill in Paris.
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Opera Bastille's Smashing Manon by Massanet
Natalie Dessay and Giuseppe Filianoti Enchant
By: - Jan 19th, 2012Let us hope that there will always be Paris, because at the Opera Bastille, there will always be opera as it is meant to be: big, thrilling, musically completely in step and in tune. Even punk and Emo seem just right on stage with the descending staircases of Kings.
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Florian Hecker “MIT Projectâ€
Music to Challenge and Entertain the Senses
By: - Jan 16th, 2012The artist Florian Hecker primary interest is in sound and music as well as the interplay between acoustics, software development, composing and the different circulation of material in sound. Chimerization is the piece he specifically created and performed during his artist in residency at MIT . It hybridizes many disciplines - philosophy, typography, music, technology, science and more. “It is an attempt to find a materialization and exchange qualities for a utopian longing.â€
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Catherine Russell at Mass MoCA February 18
Jazz Singer to Appear in the Hunter Center
By: - Jan 16th, 2012Catherine Russell, who has earned comparisons to jazz icons such as Ella Fitzgerald and Bessie Smith, will share her soulful blues on Saturday, February 18, at 8pm in MASS MoCA's Hunter Center in a concert sponsored by Amtrak.
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Jane and Jeff Hudson Rock Mass MoCA
Re-release of 30-year-old LP Flesh
By: - Jan 15th, 2012Some 200 senior citizens stayed up late last night at Mass MoCA to cheer on their peers Jane and Jeff Hudson. They were cool to the point of stoic performing loud synthrock with pulsing, robotic, rhythm tracks. The occasion marked the re-release of their 30-year-old indy album Flesh. It was a fun night.
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Le Comte d'Ory Seduces Our Gal in Zurich
Camareno, Bartoli and Olvera Scintillate at the Opernhaus
By: - Jan 13th, 2012Zurich proves that opera can be live and freshly-minted in apt productions, beautifully sung and acted and true to the composer and the form without twisting itself out of shape to satisfy. When it first opened in Paris almost two hundred years ago critics said Le Comte d’Ory was a mess, too vaudeville, and too much of a pastiche of Rossini’s previous work.
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Wilco Solid Sound Festival a No Go
Set To Return in 2013
By: - Jan 13th, 2012Cancel your hotel reservations and put away the tent and camping gear. Damn. There will be no Wilco Solid Sound Festival at Mass MoCA this June as there has been for the past two years. That's tough darts for fans and merchants alike. The rock band will perform a benefit for MoCA on a date TBA and return with the festival in 2013.
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Otello at the Zurich Opera House
Thomas Hampson, Barbara Frittoli and Jose Cura
By: - Jan 09th, 2012Americans turn up their noses at Reggie Theater and Eurotrash, but certainly in Zurich, the directors understand what the implied deconstruction means. The setting may be changed, and the costumes made to match stage time, but the heart of a wonderful story remains the same. Intelligent opera designers understand that jealousy, temptation and the impact of missing handkerchiefs don't change over time. The Zurich Otello mounted by noted British stage director Graham Vick is wonderful.
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Rufus Wainwright's Prima Donna
Urgent Plea For New York City Opera
By: - Jan 04th, 2012Parts of this opera are available in a terrific documentary, Rufus Wainwright, Prima Donna, the Making of an Opera. City Opera plans to give the US premier at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, but they have not resolved problems with unions. Rufus's letter tells you all about it.
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The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Channels Bach
All the Brandenburg Concertos Presented with Aplomb
By: - Jan 03rd, 2012The Chamber Music Society knows what it is doing. Under the artistic direction of Wu Han and David Finkley, they have become the go to group of the heavy-duty institutions of Lincoln Center. But while three big houses often paper to get a plausibly filled hall, the CMS is packed. We learned some of the reasons why in their Baroque December.
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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 Amore Opera Presents The Barber of Seville
A Delightful Production of Rossini's Legendary Opera
By: - Jan 02nd, 2012Although the Metropolitan Opera is committed to driving audience from live performances in the House by mounting rehearsals for HD broadcasts, where singers often call in performances, opera is live and thriving in America, even though Opera Boston closed. The Amore Opera in New York is heir to the Amato Opera, famous for giving an opportunity to talented young performers and also for mounting unusual fare. The Amore is terrific, under the helm of Nathan Hull.
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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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