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Purdom's picks for 2007-08
Tom Purdom
Something old, something new:
One critic's choices for 2007-08
TOM PURDOM
Rejoice in the blessings of word processing, desktop publishing and the World Wide Web. I’ve known seasons when reviewers didn’t receive the schedules for important musical series until late October. But this year just about every music organization in the city managed to announce its schedule, via brochure and/or website, before Labor Day. Here’s a brief, highly personal list of events that arouse above-average anticipation in a reviewer whose tastes tend to oscillate between the extra old and the relatively new.
The Opera Company’s East Coast premiere of Cyrano, the first opera by the director of the Michigan Opera Theater, David DiChiera, whose previous work as a composer is noted for its melodious romanticism. Can you think of a better story for a big, flamboyant opera complete with a balcony love scene, comedy turns, rousing military songs, and a romantic final death aria? (Feb. 8-17, 2008.)
Piffaro’s premiere of a new work by Philadelphia composer Kile Smith. One of the under-noticed developments on the music scene is the overlapping audience for new music and early music. Smith is a successful composer with an interest in early music, and his new piece is a complete Epiphany Vespers for a Renaissance wind band and chorus. (Jan. 5-6, 2008.)
The full seasons of Dolce Suono, Lyric Fest, the Philadelphia Classical Symphony, and Tempesta di Mare. These four organizations have all brought fresh visions and extra zest to the music scene in the last five years. Dolce Suono is a lively, high quality chamber music series organized by flute phenomenon Mimi Stillman; it will continue to be admission-free in its new home at First Unitarian Church. Lyric Fest is a series of Sunday afternoon art song fêtes that reflects the enthusiasm and good humor of the three musicians who founded it. The New Classical Symphony is conductor Karl Middleman’s resurrection of an older group, and it continues the Middleman tradition of special events such as a series of commissions for notable local musicians. Tempesta di Mare rounds out the early music scene with a group that can field a full size period instrument orchestra and mount larger scale works.
The Philadelphia Orchestra’s first performance of Schumann’s 1843 secular oratorio Das Paradiese und die Peri. I’ve never heard this piece— few have— but it looks to me like it has just about everything: six vocal soloists, an eight-part choir, and a text based on a Persian poem about the struggles of an outcast. Persia is, of course, Iran, which makes the text topical, and the focus on outcasts makes it a perennial. My only reservation is the conductor. Sir Simon Rattle can deliver the big moments with maximum impact, but he sometimes nods when a score calls for a gentler touch. (Nov. 29-Dec. 2.)
The Philadelphia Singers opening concert. The Singers have been regrouping for the last couple of seasons, but they seem to be emerging from the musical equivalent of Chapter XI. Their opener features violist Roberto Diaz and Philadelphia Orchestra percussionist Don Liuzzi in a program that includes a noted French Requiem, and the premiere of a new work by Andrea Clearfield, who bagged a big win with the violin concerto she penned for Orchestra 2001 last season. (Oct. 20.)
The Vox Amadeus Good Friday performance of Bach’s Mass in B Minor. Bach’s masterpiece is one of my short-list candidates for the greatest piece of music ever written, and Valentin Radu’s orchestra and chorus usually turn it into the event it should be. (March 21, 2008.)
These are, of course, merely the items that looked extra intriguing when I piled up the brochures and web printouts and filled in my engagement book. Over the next nine months, Philadelphia music organizations will add a hundred afternoons and evenings to my musical memories— and I could probably take in another 50 if I had more time and managed to overcome the perennial difficulty of being two places at once. As a writer for the old Philadelphia Bulletin once noted, in the city spring comes in September.
For Dan Coren's choices for 2007-08, click here.
One critic's choices for 2007-08
TOM PURDOM
Rejoice in the blessings of word processing, desktop publishing and the World Wide Web. I’ve known seasons when reviewers didn’t receive the schedules for important musical series until late October. But this year just about every music organization in the city managed to announce its schedule, via brochure and/or website, before Labor Day. Here’s a brief, highly personal list of events that arouse above-average anticipation in a reviewer whose tastes tend to oscillate between the extra old and the relatively new.
The Opera Company’s East Coast premiere of Cyrano, the first opera by the director of the Michigan Opera Theater, David DiChiera, whose previous work as a composer is noted for its melodious romanticism. Can you think of a better story for a big, flamboyant opera complete with a balcony love scene, comedy turns, rousing military songs, and a romantic final death aria? (Feb. 8-17, 2008.)
Piffaro’s premiere of a new work by Philadelphia composer Kile Smith. One of the under-noticed developments on the music scene is the overlapping audience for new music and early music. Smith is a successful composer with an interest in early music, and his new piece is a complete Epiphany Vespers for a Renaissance wind band and chorus. (Jan. 5-6, 2008.)
The full seasons of Dolce Suono, Lyric Fest, the Philadelphia Classical Symphony, and Tempesta di Mare. These four organizations have all brought fresh visions and extra zest to the music scene in the last five years. Dolce Suono is a lively, high quality chamber music series organized by flute phenomenon Mimi Stillman; it will continue to be admission-free in its new home at First Unitarian Church. Lyric Fest is a series of Sunday afternoon art song fêtes that reflects the enthusiasm and good humor of the three musicians who founded it. The New Classical Symphony is conductor Karl Middleman’s resurrection of an older group, and it continues the Middleman tradition of special events such as a series of commissions for notable local musicians. Tempesta di Mare rounds out the early music scene with a group that can field a full size period instrument orchestra and mount larger scale works.
The Philadelphia Orchestra’s first performance of Schumann’s 1843 secular oratorio Das Paradiese und die Peri. I’ve never heard this piece— few have— but it looks to me like it has just about everything: six vocal soloists, an eight-part choir, and a text based on a Persian poem about the struggles of an outcast. Persia is, of course, Iran, which makes the text topical, and the focus on outcasts makes it a perennial. My only reservation is the conductor. Sir Simon Rattle can deliver the big moments with maximum impact, but he sometimes nods when a score calls for a gentler touch. (Nov. 29-Dec. 2.)
The Philadelphia Singers opening concert. The Singers have been regrouping for the last couple of seasons, but they seem to be emerging from the musical equivalent of Chapter XI. Their opener features violist Roberto Diaz and Philadelphia Orchestra percussionist Don Liuzzi in a program that includes a noted French Requiem, and the premiere of a new work by Andrea Clearfield, who bagged a big win with the violin concerto she penned for Orchestra 2001 last season. (Oct. 20.)
The Vox Amadeus Good Friday performance of Bach’s Mass in B Minor. Bach’s masterpiece is one of my short-list candidates for the greatest piece of music ever written, and Valentin Radu’s orchestra and chorus usually turn it into the event it should be. (March 21, 2008.)
These are, of course, merely the items that looked extra intriguing when I piled up the brochures and web printouts and filled in my engagement book. Over the next nine months, Philadelphia music organizations will add a hundred afternoons and evenings to my musical memories— and I could probably take in another 50 if I had more time and managed to overcome the perennial difficulty of being two places at once. As a writer for the old Philadelphia Bulletin once noted, in the city spring comes in September.
For Dan Coren's choices for 2007-08, click here.
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