Music

1916 results
Page 149
Drink your tea, and your metaphors.

Tan Dun's "Tea' by the Opera Company (1st review)

Never leave at intermission

The overload of abstractions and metaphors in Tan Dun's Tea sent many operagoers home early. But those who left missed out on the real rarity— even in opera— of the successful melding of total theater.
Jim Rutter

Jim Rutter

Articles 3 minute read
Biss: Four hands, four contrasts.

Richard Goode/Jonathan Biss piano recital (2nd review)

This team is different

Yes, Richard Goode and Jonathan Biss conveyed the requisite precision. But it was the differences between them as artists that raised their recent duo piano recital to a higher level.

Articles 3 minute read
The night's worst performance, or its best?

Dylan at the White House

Dylan at the White House (or was that Shakespeare?)

At the recent White House concert honoring the music of the Civil Rights movement, Bob Dylan again provoked controversy by refusing to hop on any political bandwagon. That's the mark of great artists: They enlarge themselves and enrich their audiences by savoring the world's ambiguities.
Bob Levin

Bob Levin

Articles 4 minute read
Dzubay: Outer space echoes.

Premieres from Orion Quartet and Dolce Suono

Haydn's ghost meets Star Wars

The Orion Quartet and Dolce Suono present two new works that span the gamut from musical farce to starry nights and gentle funeral songs-- just like Haydn did.
Tom Purdom

Tom Purdom

Articles 4 minute read
Pieczonka, Domingo, Morris: How's the family?

Met's "Simon Boccanegra' on simulcast

Domingo and Morris confront eternity

The Met's new production of Verdi's unjustly ignored masterpiece, Simon Boccanegra, had even more impact on a big screen than in the opera house. Imagine Domingo and Morris, in close-up and in the fullness of their maturity, singing beautifully about the end of life.
Steve Cohen

Steve Cohen

Articles 3 minute read

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Radu: Good-natured.

Bachfest by Vox Ama Deus at the Perelman

Bach: One conductor's vision

Valentin Radu's idiosyncratic personal vision shapes a winter Bachfest at “Castle Perelman.”
Tom Purdom

Tom Purdom

Articles 4 minute read
Goode: John Bull no more.

Richard Goode/Jonathan Biss piano recital (2nd review)

Odd couple

On the surface, Richard Goode and Jonathan Biss have little in common. Yet these pianists played together almost as if they were one person.

Articles 2 minute read
Orchestra brochure illustration: Are we having fun yet?

The Orchestra's inane marketing

‘Unexpect yourself!' (And other inanities from the Orchestra's marketing department)

Against his better judgment, Dan Coren reads a mailing from the Philadelphia Orchestra. Looking for something new? Don't open this brochure!
Dan Coren

Dan Coren

Articles 6 minute read
Meade: Authority of a priestess.

AVA's "Norma' and "Trovatore' in concert

Bellini, Verdi and the difference

The recent Academy of Vocal Arts concert offered beautiful, professional-level singing with strong accompaniment by the AVA orchestra, conducted by the school's musical director, Christofer Macatsoris. It also provided inadvertent insight into the difference between Bellini and Verdi.
Steve Cohen

Steve Cohen

Articles 2 minute read
Koen: Striking.

Chamber groups and the Orchestra

Moonlighting sonatas: Our debt to the Orchestra

Two of our local chamber music groups present programs that serve as relevant reminders of our city's debt to the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Tom Purdom

Tom Purdom

Articles 4 minute read