Concert previews
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John Weise of Sissy Spacek, by Amoeba Records NEW MUSIC BOSTONJuly 2015 (Posted July 11, and very much an attempt in progress this month…) We're late, and with more cause than usual. Rather than the characteristic attempt to catalog all of the myriad, wonderful new-music offerings coming up in Boston and the surrounding area,
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Jack DeJohnette (center) and Made in Chicago, by Wes Orshoski/ECM Records Even when looking back, Jack DeJohnette forges aheadBoston GlobeMay 17, 2015 For the featured jazz story in today's Summer Arts Preview issue of the Boston Globe, a brief but event-filled article about jazz drummer, bandleader, and composer Jack DeJohnette, who brings his legend-studded quintet
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Olivia Block, by Richard Termine for The New York Times Newer Music bonus track As reported for my Newer Music column in the Boston Globe yesterday, sound artist Jason Lescalleet is launching a quarterly duo-concert residency at 3S Artspace in Portsmouth, NH, this Saturday night with the world premiere of Sonorous Vessels, a composition jointly
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Jason Lescalleet, by Tim Bugbee "Lescalleet fosters community on CD and new concert series"Boston GlobeApril 14, 2015 The sixth episode in the continuing saga of Newer Music focuses on Jason Lescalleet, a performer whose work made an impression on me years ago and still does. I recall vividly instances of Lescalleet's visceral, almost violent approach
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"A Winged Victory for the Sullen celebrates serendipity"Boston GlobeMarch 21, 2015 The fifth installment of my monthly Newer Music column is out today, and covers the ambient cum post-classical chamber music duo A Winged Victory for the Sullen: Adam Bryanbaum Wiltzie, from Stars of the Lid, and Dustin O'Halloran, of Devics. The duo and their
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Joanna Wallfisch and Dan Tepfer, by Josh Goleman "Wallfisch, Tepfer learn to collaborate on CD and onstage"Boston GlobeMarch 13, 2015 Singer Joanna Wallfisch, who describes herself as having been a "bad student," learns to slow down and pay closer attention to the art she creates. Pianist Dan Tepfer, a self-proclaimed nerd engaged by virtuosity in
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Boston Landmarks Orchestra at Church of the Covenant, August 13, 2014Boston GlobeAugust 16, 2014 Most orchestras don't need any particular excuse to drop a piece as popular as Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 ("From the New World") into a concert program. Still, it's eminently possible to present the piece in an original and edifying context –
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Steve Howe, left, with Yes, by Rob Shanahan "Yes forges ahead with classic albums and new music"The Boston Globe, July 7, 2014 My second Boston Globe byline, and a treat I couldn't resist giving myself, having seen Yes five times since 2004 – the last tour to date with vocalist Jon Anderson and keyboardist Rick
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I start where I am and do what I can, practicing in my inner hearing and on the trombone what I can do, refining it and hearing it as clearly as I can in the time that I have available to me. I show up on Saturday where I am, giving the best that I
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I find the implication that there are “ears” everywhere, at every point in a world, a fascinating concept, even if it is rather hard to imagine. It implies that position might be more important than time in hearing; and that the sounding configuration of a world can be understood (differently) from an infinite number of
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A week of big orchestral concerts ahead for coverage in The New York Times, and, as ever, plenty that I'd like to see were sleeplessness (well, additional sleeplessness) or cloning available options. Wednesday, March 12: New York PhilharmonicAvery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center; 7:30pm; $39–$59 Alan Gilbert and the Phil continue the outstanding cycle of Carl
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After more than a month off the beat—and after a quiet soft-start (in multiple senses) with the very impressive opening event of the new series Music for Contemplation last Saturday night—I'm finally heading back out into concert life. There are three events on my agenda this week: two on assignment for The New York Times,
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Eva-Maria Houben Silence in music was not the cessation of sound, or even a gesture: it was a different sound, one with more density than those sounds made by instruments.—Michael Pisaro If my social-media communities are any indication, Wandelweiser is finally arriving here in New York City. Formed in 1992 by composers Antoine Beuger and Burkhard
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Suzanne Ciani Having taken 2013 off to venture into world domination elsewhere around the globe, the Unsound Festival plants its flag anew in New York City in early April. I wrote about this groundbreaking Polish fest and its founder, Mat Schulz, for The New York Times in 2010, so I'll refer you to that article
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"Tomorrow's Valhalla: Critics Weigh in on Standout Operas of Recent Decades"The New York Times, January 5, 2014 As longtime perusers of this blog already know, I always enjoy features in which all the classical-music reviewers for The New York Times are asked to mix it up on a single topic. I missed posting the recent
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Kate Soper and Gelsey Bell, by Kobi Davis Welcome to 2014—and what a crazy weekend for contemporary American opera in NYC January 11-12 is turning out to be. Not only will the second PROTOTYPE Festival be in full swing (about which more to come), but Morningside Opera will present Here Be Sirens, a new chamber
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Donna Lewis, by Marvin Joseph Donna LewisTime Out New YorkAug 15–21, 2013 Any self-respecting pop star would be delirious to have a hit like “I Love You Always Forever,” an irresistible bit of romantic treacle that launched Welsh singer Donna Lewis to global success in 1996. Same goes for “At the Beginning,” the uplifting
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Christina Vantzou, by Julie Calbert Christina Vantzou + CC CaranaTime Out New YorkAug 8–14, 2013 The ability to write music that can seize attention or fade into the background equally well is a unique skill, and Christina Vantzou has it in abundance—no surprise for a creator who started in visual art, film and animation. Originally
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Jordan Klassen (Photograph: Rachel Pick) Live preview: Jordan KlassenTime Out New YorkAug 1–7, 2013 “Let me give, let me talk, let me live in your pillow / Kill your fear, whisper words in your ear,” Jordan Klassen intones reassuringly on “Go to Me.” Slipping easily between intimacy and grandiosity, the track is the first single from Repentance,
Night After Night 