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Burden: The officers were appalled.

Opera Philadelphia's "Silent Night' (1st review)

When the fighting stopped

Kevin Puts's Silent Night is based on a remarkable true incident during the first Christmas Eve of World War I, when enemy soldiers in adjoining trenches spontaneously agreed to a brief truce, in defiance of their commanding officers. It‘s the kind of compelling story that's too often missing from today's operas.
Steve Cohen

Steve Cohen

Articles 4 minute read
FrÓ¼hbeck knew Carmina better than the composer. (Photo: Ignacio Gil.)

Orchestra's "Carmina Burana'

Who can argue with FrÓ¼hbeck?

Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos looks frail these days, and older than his 79 years, but he conducted Carmina Burana from memory in a gorgeously persuasive interpretation.
Steve Cohen

Steve Cohen

Articles 2 minute read
Montalbano: The mezzo upstaged the soprano.

Choral Arts sings Rossini's "Petite Messe'

Joyful Christianity, for a change

Rossini, a master of comic opera, gave us a good-natured, beautiful mass for Saturday night— a piece that offers all the charm and grace of a romance with a happy ending.
Tom Purdom

Tom Purdom

Articles 4 minute read
'Gravity and Grace': Out of African exploitation, beauty.

El Anatsui at Brooklyn Museum

Lesson from Nigeria: The process matters more than the product

The extraordinary African artist El Anatsui crafts huge, richly beautiful works from ordinary but highly symbolic debris.
Marilyn MacGregor

Marilyn MacGregor

Articles 4 minute read
Papageno's birdcatcher song gave me the perfect image of a chase.

Composer's quandary: Ideas vs. music (Part III)

Composer's quandary (continued): When the idea says ‘Yes,' but the music says ‘No'

Throwing out music is one of the composer's most necessary jobs. People ask composers how we get ideas, but ideas are easy. The hardest part is throwing out every idea except the one that's perfect.
Kile Smith

Kile Smith

Articles 6 minute read
Ngo (left) and Stanton-Ameisen: Lighting trumps story.

Schulner's "Infinite Ache' at Theatre Horizon

It's later than you think

David Schulner's An Infinite Ache speeds us through the lives of a man and woman from their first date to their old age in 90 minutes.
Steve Cohen

Steve Cohen

Articles 2 minute read
Win or lose, 'exterminate the vermin.'

Elem Klimov's "Come and See'

The greatest anti-war film (and also the least watchable)

Elem Klimov's searing account of the genocidal massacres by Nazi troops in Byelorussia in 1943 has been called the greatest anti-war film ever made. But Come and See is almost beyond critical categories. No one who does see it will ever forget it.
Robert Zaller

Robert Zaller

Articles 9 minute read
Kirschschlager: A voice from toe to head.

Hugo Wolf's "Spanish Songs': Dual recital

This composer was depressed?

The charming British tenor Ian Bostridge and the pitch-perfect Austrian mezzo Angelika Kirchschlager make something of an odd couple. But they found their chemistry toward the end of a recital of Hugo Wolf's delightful Spanish Songs.

Articles 3 minute read
'Revelations': Beyond reaching arms. (Photo: Andrew Eccles.)

Alvin Ailey at the Merriam

Fresh blood for an old legacy

Can new director Robert Battle breathe new vitality into the iconic Alvin Ailey troupe? This month's programs suggest the answer is yes— if he relies on the spiritual work of Ronald K. Brown and Rennie Harris.
Jonathan M. Stein

Jonathan M. Stein

Articles 3 minute read
Roberts: Like a cheerful human whistler.

Tempesta di Mare's Bach with alterations

Bach without his organ

Tempesta di Mare sustained an old Baroque tradition, remodeling six of Bach's organ works to suit other instruments.
Tom Purdom

Tom Purdom

Articles 3 minute read