Drama attends the music of George Crumb— in this case literally, when the Lang Concert Hall's sound system blew out at Orchestra 2001's tribute to his 80th birthday. Not to worry: The acoustic versions were beautiful and plenty loud, as Crumb prefers.

The Chamber Orchestra opens its season with a program that provokes ruminations: Who was Hubert Schoemaker? Why do we tend to equate fame with importance? And would you rather be an elephant or an antelope?

The composer George Crumb, now approaching 80, is a true American individualist who created his own style during the years when American composers mostly seemed to be writing for the approval of their academic promotion committees. Orchestra 2001: Crumb, selections from American Songbooks. Ann Crumb, Jamie Van Eyck, Barbara Ann Martin, vocal soloists; James Freeman, conductor. September 25, 2009 at Volumes I, II, III: Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center. Volumes IV, V, VI: September 27, 2009 at Lang Concert Hall, Swarthmore College. 267-687-6243 or www.orchestra2001.org.

Two new operas are impressively played and sung in a double-bill by Center City Opera Theater. But The Always Present Present is plagued by awkward vocal writing, and Darkling suffers from a static story.

Dan Coren, liberated from his obligations to orchestral music for the first time in years, previews a sumptuous season of chamber music, jazz, and contemporary music.

When my adolescent buddies and I embraced rock ‘n' roll in the mid-‘50s, our parents assumed it would fade with other teenage fads. But we knew instinctively that we were on the winning side of a revolution.

Melissa Dunphy's Gonzales Cantata uses actual transcripts of a 2007 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing to transform the tedious machinations of politics into a brilliant work of art. The only thing missing, alas, is a point. Alberto Gonzales facing Arlen Specter isn't exactly Christ confronting Pontius Pilate.

I used to sneer when that superficial crowd-pleaser Horowitz sat down to play Beethoven. But getting reacquainted with the “Appassionata” through Horowitz recordings lately made me think more about the circumstances that brought Beethoven's groundbreaking sonata into being.

Juilliard taught me almost everything I needed to know about playing the piano, and almost nothing about promoting myself. Why are we classical musicians so hesitant about tooting our own horns?

The Orchestra's summer series at the Mann may be strapped for cash, but the last three concerts introduced a conductor who deserves an unqualified rave, showcased a rising young soprano, and added another chapter to Lang Lang's artistic development.