classical music
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Gian Carlo Menotti's The Saint of Bleecker Street at Dicapo Opera TheatreThe New York Times, February 26, 2011 Small caveats aside, this really is one of the best productions I've seen at the Dicapo Opera, a company that seems to be finding an identity of its own in part by preserving and celebrating mainstream American…
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Israel Philharmonic Orchestra at Carnegie HallThe New York Times, February 24, 2011 Images of the street protest mentioned in my review can be seen at Adalah-NY. I've posted my sole iPhone snap here, but I wish I'd gotten close enough to see the clever violin-shaped signs visible in the linked slideshow. Playlist: ProjeKct Three –…
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Tune-In Music Festival: Inuksuit at the Park Avenue ArmoryThe New York Times, February 22, 2011 Some scenes from the performance: The drill hall, viewed from the east end. John Luther Adams (left), rapt. David T. Little at work. Nicholas Photinos of eighth blackbird in a stairwell. Looking down from behind Steven Schick, west-end gallery.
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The Juilliard Orchestra with John Adams at Carnegie HallThe New York Times, February 21, 2011 The night after this concert, I finally got to see the Metropolitan Opera's new production of John Adams's opera Nixon in China, presented in the original 1987 staging by Peter Sellars–more or less. Many reviews appeared after the premiere earlier…
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"At Tully Hall, the Norm Is a Festival"The New York Times, February 20, 2011 A very short preview of Lincoln Center's Tully Scope Festival, which celebrates the diverse range of things that Alice Tully Hall already does well, while also suggesting some of the ways in which Lincoln Center is trying to make better use…
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CD REVIEW: Ben Johnston: String Quartets 1, 5, 10Kepler QuartetNew World Records 80693-2; CD.The New York Times, February 20, 2011 Amazon / Ariama / ArkivMusic / Forced Exposure / H&B Recordings Direct A review of the second volume in an invaluable series devoted to the complete string quartets of Ben Johnston, an amazing, undersung…
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The New York Philharmonic with Branford Marsalis at Avery Fisher HallThe New York Times, February 19, 2011 I rarely receive feedback on my reviews from strangers, directly, but every time I do, I learn something valuable. After this review appeared in print this morning, I got an e-mail from someone who attended the matinee performance…
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Fritz Wunderlich and Hubert Giesen perform Schumann's Dichterliebe. "Getting to Know Schumann Again, with Some Favorites"The New York Times, December 17, 2010 Here's another of those occasional roundups in which the classical-music critics of The New York Times pick their favorite recordings to represent this or that composer: here, Schumann, whose 200th birthday was celebrated…
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Leon Fleisher: In Focus at the 92nd Street YThe New York Times, December 15, 2010 In preparing for this review, I read several sizable chunks from Leon Fleisher’s newly published memoir, My Nine Lives, co-written by my friend and colleague Anne Midgette. What little part I managed to read confirmed what I’d already suspected: the…
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Steven Isserlis and Jeremy Denk at the 92nd Street YThe New York Times, December 13, 2010 Needless to say, and unsurprisingly, this was terrific: a perfect example of two intelligent, inquisitive artists finding common ground in a recital that covered a lot of unfamiliar and worthwhile territory. Erin Baiano's terrific photograph brilliantly captures the energy…
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Pierre-Laurent Aimard at Carnegie HallThe New York Times, December 11, 2010
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Photograph by Eric Calvi "Unleashing a Creative Deluge"The New York Times, December 7, 2010 A preview story regarding the composer, performer and director Mikel Rouse, whose latest stage creation, Gravity Radio, opens tonight at the BAM Harvey Theater with additional performances on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. For many folks, the Thursday performance will be the…
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The Risør Chamber Music Festival at Carnegie HallThe New York Times, December 6, 2010 As linked in this review, here’s a video of the dazzling clarinetist Martin Fröst playing his brother Göran Fröst’s arrangement of klezmer giant Giora Feidman’s “Let’s Be Happy” at the Verbier Festival.
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Andrea Bocelli at Madison Square GardenThe New York Times, December 4, 2010 Andrea Bocelli presents "My Christmas" at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ tonight, and there's no reason to think that things won't go just a bit more smoothly than they did on opening night: a Garden show less engaging than that of Justin…
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Darmstadt Essential Repertoire at Issue Project RoomThe New York Times, December 3, 2010 Night one of this vital young festival featured a sterling cast of local luminaries in Berio's first ten Sequenzas. I only wish I could have spilled more ink on the performers bunched together at the end, as every participant brought something unique…
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Stockhausen and Boulez at Darmstadt in 1962. Photo from The Guardian. The Week Ahead: Nov. 28-Dec. 4The New York Times, November 28, 2010 As plugged in this week's Arts & Leisure, the fine folks who bring you Darmstadt "Classics of the Avant-Garde" events sporadically throughout the year will open their third-annual Darmstadt Essential Repertoire festival…
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New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players: Utopia, Limited at Symphony SpaceThe New York Times, November 23, 2010
Night After Night 