Yannick's homage to Stokowski (2nd review)

Stokowski's excitement, rekindled

At last weekend's Stokowski's celebration, the performances justified the palpable excitement. Yannick Nézet-Séguin has set the bar for the Philadelphia Orchestra very high indeed.

Steve Cohen

Jun 26, 2012 · Articles · 4 minute read

Yannick's homage to Stokowski (1st review)

Yannick's Stokowski quandary: Showmanship or artistry?

In four memorable concerts this past weekend, the Philadelphia Orchestra's new leader, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, paid homage to the showmanship and musicianship of its late conductor Leopold Stokowski. He also demonstrated that he still has a thing or two to learn from Stoky.

Victor L. Schermer

Jun 26, 2012 · Articles · 6 minute read

Stokowski's forgotten Youth Concerts

The maestro who listened to teenagers

Leopold Stokowski may have terrorized his musicians, audiences and board members, but he forged a genuine connection with teenagers that the Philadelphia Orchestra hasn't achieved since his departure.

Steve Cohen

Jun 19, 2012 · Articles · 3 minute read

Muhly's "Dark Sisters' by the Opera Company

If gays can marry, why not…..?

Dark Sisters, a new opera based on a 1953 federal raid on polygamists, briefly raises a tantalizing issue but fails to explore it.

Steve Cohen

Jun 18, 2012 · Articles · 3 minute read

Capanna and Maneval works at Curtis

The sonata today: Dull copy, lively music

The differences between Robert Capanna and Philip Maneval demonstrated, once again, the difference between the music that composers turn out today and the academic music that audiences endured for too many years of the 20th Century.

Tom Purdom

Jun 17, 2012 · Articles · 4 minute read

Michael Ching's "Slaying the Dragon'

Can't we all just get along?

Michael Ching's Slaying the Dragon, based on the true story of a friendship between a Ku Klux Klansman and a rabbi, generates plenty of good feelings. But it lacks the essential ingredient in opera: dramatic conflict.

Steve Cohen

Jun 17, 2012 · Articles · 3 minute read

Spratlan's "Hesperus' by Network for New Music and The Crossing

Spratlan's afterlife, with a dash of irony

For Hesperus Is Phosphorous, Lewis Spratlan created musical settings of three witty prose vignettes on the afterlife taken from Sum, an odd little international bestseller by the neuroscientist David Eagleman.

Tom Purdom

Jun 11, 2012 · Articles · 4 minute read

"Il Postino' by Center City Opera

Is there a Hispanic in the house?

Center City Opera Theater has launched an ambitious initiative to mount Hispanic opera productions. It got off to a good start this month with Daniel Catán's Il Postino. Just one quibble: Il Postino isn't very Hispanic. Il Postino. Opera by Daniel Catán; conducted by Andrew M. Kurtz; Leland Kimball directed. Center City Opera Company production May 17-20, 2012 at Prince Theater, 1412 Chestnut St. (215) 238-1555 or www.operatheater.org.

Steve Cohen

May 26, 2012 · Articles · 5 minute read

Of composers and bridges

Imagining early music: What I've learned by crossing bridges

Once no bridges crossed the Delaware River; now 120 do. There's a lesson here for composers like me, since we build bridges all the time.

Kile Smith

May 22, 2012 · Articles · 5 minute read

Tempesta di Mare's survival formula

Thriving through 9/11 and recession too: Secrets of musical survival

Tempesta di Mare finished its celebration of its successful completion of ten full seasons— an achievement based on its founders' application of a secret formula, known to a select few.

Tom Purdom

May 22, 2012 · Articles · 4 minute read