Tokyo String Quartet at Convention Center

The excellent Tokyo Quartet, like most brand-name chamber groups, has retooled itself over the years. Its two newcomers are actually the best musicians in the group, especially first violinist Martin Beaver.

Tokyo String Quartet: Haydn, Beethoven Shostakovich. With Lydia Artymiw, piano. Presented by Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, March 11, 2008 at Pennsylvania Convention Center, 13th and Cherry St. (215) 569-8080 or

Robert Zaller

Mar 15, 2008 · Articles · 6 minute read

Curtis Opera's 'Ainadamar'

Ainadamar, "the fountain of tears," is a beautiful piece of music. But you must come equipped with some prior knowledge of the life and times of the poet Federico Garcia Lorca and the Spanish Civil War.

Ainadamar. Opera by Osvaldo Golijov; libretto (in Spanish) by David Henry Hwang; directed by Chas Rader-Shieber; Corrado Rovaris, conductor. Curtis Opera Theatre production March 14-16, 2008 at Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center. (215) 893-1999 or

Steve Cohen

Mar 15, 2008 · Articles · 4 minute read

Tempesta di Mare with puppets

Tempesta di Mare presents a half-successful attempt to create the spectacle of Baroque opera with puppets.

Tempesta di Mare Baroque Orchestra: Monteverdi, Il Combattimento di Tancredi e di Clorinda. Handel, Tra la Flamme; Marguerite Krull, soprano; Aaron Sheehan, tenor, David Allan Newman, baritone. Richard Stone, music director. Mock Turtle Marionette Theater: Doug Roysdon, stage director and master puppeteer. March 7-9, 2008 at Plays and Players Theat

Tom Purdom

Mar 11, 2008 · Articles · 3 minute read

Orchestra's "Eirene' and "Carmina Burana"

Music isn’t limited to the simple expression of feelings. And peace is just as dynamic as war— and much more complex. Willi’s Eirene, like Orff’s Carmina Burana, lets us see old subjects in a new light.

Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia: Tomasi, Fanfares Liturgiques. Ignat Solzhenitsyn, conductor. February 24, 2008 at Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center. (215) 545-5451 or

Tom Purdom

Mar 08, 2008 · Articles · 3 minute read

Sonata-form (part 6): Mozart the juggler

In the sixth in his series of essays on sonata-form, Dan Coren shows how Mozart, in the course of riding his own piano concertos to fame and fortune, adapted the sonata-form exposition to his own dramatic ends.

Dan Coren

Mar 04, 2008 · Articles · 6 minute read

Vienna Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall

The Vienna Philharmonic is sold out at home for the next six years, and for good reason. It’s an orchestra of virtuosi, one by one, who together play with the best precision and passion that I’ve ever heard.

Vienna Philharmonic. Verdi, Tchaikovsky, Liszt. Valery Gergiev, conductor. March 1-2, 2008 at Carnegie Hall, 57th St. and Sixth Avenue check, New York. www.wienerphilharmoniker.at.

Be'eri Moalem

Mar 04, 2008 · Articles · 4 minute read

Chamber Orchestra plays the Moderns

The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia offered two works for brass by relative unknowns in its latest concert, and two for strings by recognized masters of the 20th Century. Both sections of the orchestra played their respective works with feeling and panache.

Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia: Gross,
Watchman, tell us of the night; Tomasi, Fanfares liturgiques; Berg, Lyric Suite: 3 Pieces; Bartók, Divertimento. Ignat Solzhenitsyn, co

Robert Zaller

Feb 26, 2008 · Articles · 4 minute read

Chestnut Brass turns 30

The globetrotting Grammy winner that resurrected the special sound of 19th-Century brass instruments returns to the city of its origin for a 30th anniversary celebration.

Chestnut Brass Company: Works by Praetorius, Weber, Morton, Rossini, Clark, Conner, Foster, Gershwin, Berlin, Vierk, Schickele, Krzywicki, Higdon. Bruce Barrie and John Charles Thomas, trumpets; Marian Hesse, horn; Larry Zimmerman, trombone; Jay Krush, tuba. February 18, 2008 at Ethical Society, 1906 S. Ritte

Tom Purdom

Feb 26, 2008 · Articles · 4 minute read

The tango and young musicians

Can a pair of tangos tell us something about the direction of our culture? You don’t need Rudolf Valentino when musicians play the tango the way Mimi Stillman and Astral’s young artists play it.

Dolce Suono: Piazzolla, Canto un Tango. Mimi Stillman, flute; Allan Krantz, guitar. February 13, 2008 at First Unitarian Church, 2125 Chestnut St. (267) 252-1803 or www.dolcesuono.org.

As

Tom Purdom

Feb 26, 2008 · Articles · 5 minute read

Orchestra plays Mozart and Strauss

How could you expect Mozart's greatest symphony to make sense as an opener, in the shadow of an imposing mountain journey? In the hands of Charles Dutoit and the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Jupiter has never sounded so insignificant. But Strauss’s Alpine Symphony was fantastic.

Philadelphia Orchestra: Mozart, Symphony No. 41 (Jupiter); Strauss, An Alpine Symphony. Charles Dutoit, conductor. Feb. 21-23, 2008 at Verizon Hall, Kimmel Center. (2

Be'eri Moalem

Feb 23, 2008 · Articles · 4 minute read