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We've all got a lot on our minds tonight, it seems safe to guess, so I'll keep this brief: I'd been waiting a long time to hear Liebeslied, a delightfully mysterious, frequently sumptuous piece for amplified vocalist and orchestra by Alex Temple, so thank you, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, for making this something of a super
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Once in a while – more often than I'd like, unfortunately – I'll receive details for an eminently worthy, possibly mind-blowing event juuussstt ever so slightly too late to pitch it for possible inclusion in the Goings On About Town section at the New Yorker, where I beat the drum for such events on a
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Monday on Twitter, Dr. Andrea Ramsey posted a straightforward question: Favorite string quartets composed by women? — 𝔻𝕣. 𝔸𝕟𝕕𝕣𝕖𝕒 ℝ𝕒𝕞𝕤𝕖𝕪 (@ramseyandrea) February 17, 2020 Dr. Ramsey, a composer, conductor, and teacher based in Kansas City (you know, the one in Missouri), received dozens of enthusiastic responses. I won't lie, I definitely jumped in. But I
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Jon Christensen, a deft, sensitive drummer who embodied the "ECM Sound" and an enormously influential musician, has died at age 76. Read Ethan Iverson's tribute, here, for as beautiful a succinct summary of Christensen's contributions to music as you possibly could want, and then watch this live video of Christensen playing in Keith Jarrett's storied
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Going back to the Yeats poem… I would like the audience to think about Project 19 in that way: that they're going to hear 19 new pieces by people who sometimes don't feel like they can have a voice, who are being given an opportunity to have a voice—and for audiences, once again, to tread
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Various authoritative sources are reporting the death of Rush drummer and lyricist Neil Peart, who died on January 7 in Santa Monica after a closely guarded three-and-a half year battle with glioblastoma. Being an American drummer of a certain age, I can't overstate the impact Peart's spectacular virtuosity and precision had on me and my
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Say hello to my first obsession of 2020: "King of Thumbs," a selection from Reality Rounds, a new album by the composer and vocalist Alex Dowling. I find this realization of a cybernetic vocal consort – created by four singers individually equipped with AutoTune and other effects, and synthesizer accompaniment – completely mesmerizing. In this
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The eminent Hungarian composer György Kurtág turns 90 today, and — it's reported by his publisher, Editio Musica Budapest — remains hard at work on a magnum opus, the Beckett-based opera Fin de partie. In wishing him robust health, I offer in tribute a small handful of useful links, including an outstanding Jeremy Eichler profile
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Shared on Facebook by Larry Appelbaum, here's a video I've never seen before: a documentary about Ornette Coleman's 1966 Parisian trek to record the soundtrack for Who's Crazy? with bassist David Izenson and drummer Charles Moffett. Happy 84th birthday, Ornette, with profound thanks for the music and its message.
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John Orfe of Alarm Will Sound, by Hiroyuki Ito Alarm Will Sound at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, November 16, 2013The New York Times, Nov. 19, 2013 Finally getting around to posting two reviews that ran in the Times last Tuesday. Both concerts were events I specifically requested, and neither disappointed. This Alarm Will Sound
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Fred Frith and Evelyn GlennieMoers Festival, May 19, 2013
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Charles Gayle in 'Rising Tones Cross' JazzizJuly 1999 The early 1980s were a period of transition for the avant-garde fringe in New York. The loft scene – the days in which Ornette Coleman's hom on Prince Street and Sam Rivers' Studio Rivbea provided workshops for experimenters to develop their art –was drawing to a close,
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Ken Thomson, by James Hirschfeld Ken Thomson and I first crossed paths back in 1997, when I was the publicist for the Knitting Factory and its first-annual [sic] Texaco Jazz Festival (formerly What Is Jazz?), and he was part of an intrepid team broadcasting multiple events for Columbia University's invaluable radio station, WKCR-FM. Since then,
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Lauren Worsham, by Kristin Hoebermann Interview with Lauren Worsham [link missing]Time Out New York, Feb. 21–27, 2013 An excruciatingly short snippet from a lengthy, wide-ranging and brilliantly fun conversation with Lauren Worsham (full name: Lauren Worsham Jarrow), who plays Flora in New York City Opera's stylishly spooky production of Benjamin Britten's opera The Turn of
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Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain, by Hiroyuki Ito/The New York Times Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain at Carnegie Hall, October 17, 2012The New York Times, Oct. 22, 2012 My only Times review so far to include Eddie Vedder and Zooey Deschanel in the lede graf. (Felt good to sneak in a Buke and Gase mention,
Night After Night 