Landfill Harmonic

Turning trash into hope

The story of the Landfill Harmonic is inspiring, but the question remains — what is the true value of music in these children's lives? Playing those instruments seems to have given some of them a sense of meaning and hope. But in the long run, does that matter when their adulthood will probably include little time for practice, doomed as most of them are to lives of picking up garbage?

Maria Thompson Corley

Apr 07, 2015 · Articles · 5 minute read

Three concerts by the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society

From the rage of Prometheus to the horn player’s lament

The Philadelphia Chamber Music Society crowded a busy week with concerts that presented a good sample of the variety hidden behind the chamber music label.

Tom Purdom

Mar 31, 2015 · Articles · 4 minute read

Regina Carter at the Annenberg Center

When roots music soars

I dutifully listened to Regina Carter's Southern Comfort album in preparation for her recent Annenberg concert and found it listenable but not particularly interesting. I was thus a little nervous about the concert, but the live music magic kicked in, and the evening was phenomenal.

Judy Weightman

Mar 31, 2015 · Articles · 2 minute read

Batiashvili and Lewis with the PCMS

Musical greatness without Sturm und Drang

The recent performance of the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society emphasized lyrical beauty over struggle, power, and tension, yet in its own way it achieved a measure of greatness and depth of feeling.

Victor L. Schermer

Mar 29, 2015 · Articles · 4 minute read

Gianandrea Noseda conducts the Philadelphia Orchestra

Mahler, more or less

Conductor Gianandrea Noseda led a somewhat rocky performance of Mahler’s Fifth Symphony with the Philadelphia Orchestra, along with the orchestra’s premiere of an unusual piece: a concerto for tuba.

Robert Zaller

Mar 27, 2015 · Articles · 4 minute read

The Chamber Orchestra with Sean Chen

A Sunday afternoon musicale

A musical world citizen led the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia through four thoroughly enjoyable pieces from the core of the 19th-century repertoire.

Tom Purdom

Mar 24, 2015 · Articles · 3 minute read

Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg with the Philadelphia Orchestra

A celestial celebration

Perhaps to celebrate the solar eclipse, the Philadelphia Orchestra presented an out-of-this-world concert.

Linda Holt

Mar 24, 2015 · Articles · 2 minute read

40 Voices Singing

Singing the names of the stars

The Chestnut Street Singers surrounded their audience with fascinating sounds.

Tom Purdom

Mar 22, 2015 · Articles · 2 minute read

Temple University Concert Choir: Frank Martin's Mass for Double Choir

Contrasting expressions of the sacred

This youthful choir performed difficult scores with great skill and glowing voices. George Bernard Shaw bemoaned that “Youth is wasted on the young,” but these gifted and devoted singers remind us that such is not always the case.

Victor L. Schermer

Mar 20, 2015 · Articles · 5 minute read

'La Bohème' at AVA

Tomorrow's opera stars today

The prestigious Metropolitan Opera National Auditions last week announced 17 semifinalists who will compete for the top prizes onstage at the Met on March 22. Not only were four of them resident artists at the Academy of Vocal Arts, three of them sang the lead roles in the AVA’s recent La Bohème.

Steve Cohen

Mar 20, 2015 · Articles · 3 minute read