Daniel Garber at PAFA and the Michener

Daniel Garber's work reminds us anew that there's something to be said for beauty in art. Far from trying to capture life on the run, Garber slowed life to a halt with his simple but carefully worked out poses.

Daniel Garber: Romantic Realist (1897-1925).
Through April 8, 2007 at Pennsylvania Academy of the Arts, 128 N. Broad Street (at Cherry). (215) 972-7600 or www.pafa.org.

Daniel Garber: Romantic Realist (1930-1955). Through May

Andrew Mangravite

Jan 30, 2007 · Articles · 3 minute read

Sidney Goodman at Seraphin Gallery

What does it mean? Who cares? Sidney Goodman’s art is in the work itself; read into it whatever you want. Goodman is not a narrative painter. He is a visual artist.

Sidney Goodman: Recent Works. Through February 25, 2007 at Seraphin Gallery, 1108 Pine St. 215-923-7000 or www.seraphingallery.com.

Anne R. Fabbri

Jan 30, 2007 · Articles · 4 minute read

Walnut's "Of Mice and Men' (1st review)

Is this 1937 work still relevant for affluent audiences that never lived through the Depression, if they’ve even heard of it? Oh my, yes.

Of Mice and Men. By John Steinbeck; Mark Clements directed. Through March 4, 2007 at Walnut Street Theatre, 825 Walnut St. (215) 574-3550 or www.wstonline.org.

Dan Rottenberg

Jan 28, 2007 · Articles · 3 minute read

1807 & Friends play Brahms and Mozart

Dan Coren's mania for chamber music was more than satisfied by the Mozart and Brahms performed by 1807 & Friends. Our critic also believes he may have found the secret behind the mysteriously unchanging demographics of Philadelphia's chamber music audiences.

1807 & Friends: Brahms C minor Piano Quartet, Op. 60, and Mozart E-flat major Piano Quartet, K. 493. January 22, 2007 at Academy of Vocal Arts, 1920 Spruce St. w

Dan Coren

Jan 27, 2007 · Articles · 5 minute read

Kim and Denk play Charles Ives

Soovin Kim and Jeremy Denk have never sung hymns in church or attended a Protestant revival. Yet they played the sonatas with the understanding of people who carried 19th Century New England in their genes. Perhaps we American have more of a common culture than we sometimes think.

Philadelphia Chamber Music Society: Four violin sonatas by Charles Ives. Soovin Kim, violin; Jeremy Denk, piano. January 18, 2007 at Fleisher Art Memorial, 719 Catherine St. 215-569-8080 or

Tom Purdom

Jan 27, 2007 · Articles · 3 minute read

InterAct's "House With No Walls'

As a play of ideas and a rumination on the use and abuse of cultural memory, Thomas Gibbons’s new black-themed play about the Liberty Bell Center controversy and the struggle for cultural memory in America hits its marks deftly if with no great subtlety. What it foregoes, perhaps inevitably, is any real penetration of character.

A House With No Walls. By Thomas Gibbons; directed by Seth Rozin. InterAct Theatre production through February 18, 2007 at Adrienne Th

Robert Zaller

Jan 27, 2007 · Articles · 4 minute read

The Orchestra plays "Lady Macbeth'

Have you ever heard the Shostakovich opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District? Neither have I. But James Conlon’s performance of his suite from that work was one of the events of the season.

Philadelphia Orchestra: Mozart Overture to The Impresario; Mozart Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major with Jonathan Bliss; Shostakovich/Conlon Suite from Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District. James Conlon conducting. January 11, 2007 at Verizon Hal

Tom Purdom

Jan 20, 2007 · Articles · 4 minute read

Conductors Marin Alsop and JoAnn Falletta

Instead of scouring the globe for a music director with a big reputation, the Philadelphia Orchestra might do well to look at promising young talent closer to home. Two such prospects recently passed this reviewer’s test with flying colors— both of them women.

Philadelphia Orchestra: Wagner Prelude to Act 1 of Tristan and Isolde; Harbison Concerto for Bass Viol and Orchestra with Harold Robinson; Copland Symphony No. 3. Marin Alsop conducting. January 9, 2

Tom Purdom

Jan 20, 2007 · Articles · 7 minute read

Eschenbach conducts Vivaldi and Bruckner

Vivaldi and Bruckner don’t jibe at all; they represent not only different styles but different sonic universes. This is why programming is best left to music directors. But if the Bruckner Ninth is the standard by which Eschenbach’s successors are measured, their work is cut out for them.

Philadelphia Orchestra: Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, Bruckner’s Ninth Symphony. Christoph Eschenbach conducting. Jan. 17-20 at Verizon Hall. (215) 893-

Robert Zaller

Jan 20, 2007 · Articles · 4 minute read

Richard Alston Dance Company

This is no pretty dance display; it’s diamond-hard post-Balanchine modernism. And many in the audience found it exhausting.

Richard Alston Dance Company. Presented January 18, 2007, by Dance Celebration, at Annenberg Center, 3680 Walnut St. (215) 636-9000 or www.dancecelebration.org.

Lewis Whittington

Jan 20, 2007 · Articles · 2 minute read