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Currie wth his tools: Closer to rock than to Bayreuth.

Philadelphia Orchestra's percussion virtuoso

Drums to waken Wagner, and Stokowski too

Percussionist Colin Currie starred in a noisy and outrageous performance that discomfited some folks in the Philadelphia Orchestra's audience, just the way Leopold Stokowski's innovations used to do.

Steve Cohen

Mar 26, 2013 Articles 3 minute read

Is our church what Jesus had in mind for Palm Sunday? Actually, yes.

Palm Sunday's musical miracles

Minor miracles of a Palm Sunday

Our church continued our tradition of the chanted Passion this past Palm Sunday. Over the years we've tweaked it to accommodate the singers and musicians, most of whom are amateurs. The result is itself one of the miracles of the Easter season.

Kile Smith

Mar 26, 2013 Articles 2 minute read

Bilgili (left) and Williams: Sweetly befuddled.

Massenet's "Don Quichotte' by AVA

Tilting at Massenet's windmill

Don Quichotte was conceived for Feodor Chaliapin, who possessed a large, deep and expressive bass voice, but Massenet's music asks for understatement and subtlety. Maybe that's why it's so rarely performed. The AVA got the casting right.

Steve Cohen

Mar 23, 2013 Articles 2 minute read

Tempesta di Mare's "Messiah'

Messiah, without the Christmas haze

Tempesta di Mare presented a St. Patrick's Day reminder that there's more to Irish culture than green hats and beer-soaked rowdies.

Tom Purdom

Mar 19, 2013 Articles 4 minute read

Thomas Lloyd's "Bonhoeffer' (2nd review)

A martyr's gamble (and a composer's too)

Thomas Lloyd calls his Bonhoeffer a “choral theater piece,” which is exactly right. It's 70 minutes of choral singing, but this tribute to a World War II martyr doesn't present itself as a choir performance. Watching it is like watching an elaborate church service play out.

Kile Smith

Mar 16, 2013 Articles 4 minute read

Harumi Hanafusa with the Knickerbocker Chamber Orchestra

A shaman, a Frenchman, and a mythical city

The Japanese pianist Harumi Hanafusa, a welcome addition to the New York cultural scene, brought two very different concertos to her Pace University performance with the Knickerbocker Chamber Orchestra: Ravel's familiar Concerto in G and Akira Nichimura's A Shaman, in its debut.

Robert Zaller

Mar 16, 2013 Articles 3 minute read

While Buchbinder played, the real drama unfolded below him.

A moment of crisis at the Orchestra (3rd comment)

One night at the Orchestra: A community and a crisis

Something unusual occurred at Saturday night's Philadelphia Orchestra concert, apparently unnoticed by local music critics. On the surface it had nothing to do with the music. But maybe it did.

Dan Rottenberg

Mar 12, 2013 Articles 3 minute read

The Crossing's disappointing "Bonhoeffer' (1st review)

A heroic martyr who deserved better

The Crossing premiered a disappointing work on a promising subject: A theologian who sacrificed his life by opposing Hitler.

Tom Purdom

Mar 12, 2013 Articles 4 minute read

Dohnányi: Beethoven was once a young man, too.

Dohnányi conducts the Philadelphia Orchestra (2nd review)

The youth of an octogenarian

How do you save a modern orchestra? Restoring public education is the first step. Then, can the gimmicks and play great music as well as conductor Christoph von Dohnányi and soloist Rudolf Buchbinder did this past weekend.