Center City Opera's "ConNEXTions' (2nd review)

Operas that ought to be musicals

Center City Opera Theatre performed parts of three new operas at the recent Philadelphia Fringe Festival. It's an estimable service, but I wonder whether these works stand a chance for future performances.

Steve Cohen

Sep 21, 2008 · Articles · 4 minute read

Critic's music picks for 2008-09

A few highly personal selections from a coming musical season that encompasses six hundred years of styles and passions.

Tom Purdom

Sep 16, 2008 · Articles · 3 minute read

Center City Opera Theater's "ConNEXTions'

From an initial stack of more than 100 submissions, Center City Opera Theater selected three pieces that best presented “new work, new artists,” while building “new audiences.” I can’t speak for the 97 rejected short operas, but on the basis of "ConNEXTions," I’d say contemporary opera faces a tough sledding ahead.

“ConNEXTions.” The Golden Gate: music by Conrad Cummings. Fade: music by Stefan Weisman, libre

Jim Rutter

Sep 13, 2008 · Articles · 6 minute read

Fringe Festival: ""¦And Piano Make Three'

Philip Seward’s short one-act opera serializes the love triangle between a pianist, his girlfriend and… his piano. If only the lyrics had lived up to this unusual idea and Seward’s pleasing melodic lines.

…And Piano Make Three. Music by Philip Seward. Through September 6, 2008 at Painted Bride Art Center, 230 Vine St. (215) 925-9914 or www.livearts-fringe.org/2008/det

Jim Rutter

Sep 02, 2008 · Articles · 1 minute read

The piano teacher's quandary

My daughter, myself

God gave my daughter a professional pianist for a mother. But she detested her lessons. If I forced her to continue, maybe one day she’d thank me. Then again, she might hate me— and the instrument— forever. What to do? I, the holder of a doctorate from Juilliard, was clueless in this area of mothering.

Maria Thompson Corley

Sep 01, 2008 · Articles · 6 minute read

Prokofiev festival at Bard College

Searching for classical music in the summertime? Philadelphia is a certifiable wasteland, but challenging repertory can be found in the hinterlands of New York and New England, as Leon Botstein’s ten-concert series at Bard College, “Prokofiev and His World,” recently demonstrated.

“Sergei Prokofiev and His World.” Weekends through October 25, 2008 at Bard Music Festival, Sosnoff Theater, Richard B. Fisher Center, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y.

Robert Zaller

Aug 23, 2008 · Articles · 6 minute read

Frank Zappa's prophecy

An unexpected and much needed musical kick in the pants stimulates Dan Coren to revisit one of the great musical artifacts of the 1960s: Frank Zappa’s “Trouble Comin’ Every Day.”

Dan Coren

Aug 16, 2008 · Articles · 3 minute read

Nicole Atkins on the cusp

Nicole Atkins writes her own material, and her best compositions are ambitious and demanding in terms of range. But given the absurdly fragmented, modern music scene, she’s in danger of being lost in the shuffle.

Rick Soisson

Aug 16, 2008 · Articles · 4 minute read

Two books on music and the brain

I recently revisited two provocative books about music and the brain. On second reading, Daniel Levitin’s hyperactive This Is Your Brain On Music is actually sloppy and superficial. Oliver Sacks’s thoughtful Musicophilia remains a low-key delight.

This Is Your Brain On Music. By Daniel Levitin. Penguin, 2006. www.yourbrainonmusic.com
Mus

Dan Coren

Aug 02, 2008 · Articles · 6 minute read

Philadelphia Orchestra's Mann roundup

The "other" soloists on the Orchestra’s summer schedule failed to draw the crowds that Yo Yo Ma attracted. But their Fairmount Park audiences heard some first-class music making.

Philadelphia Orchestra: Mozart Piano Concerto No. 22 in E-flat Major: Leon McCawley, piano; Rossen Milanov, conductor. Rachmaninoff Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini: Kirill Gerstein, piano; Thomas Wilkins, conductor. Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor: Jon K

Tom Purdom

Jul 26, 2008 · Articles · 3 minute read