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Cristian Măcelaru led a no-holds-barred performance.

Cristian Măcelaru conducts the Philadelphia Orchestra

Pastoral days and sleepless nights

Rising star Cristian Măcelaru led the Philadelphia Orchestra in a performance that was stronger on gusto than nuance.

Linda Holt

Mar 17, 2015 Articles 3 minute read

The Composer (Lauren Eberwein) doesn’t want his work trivialized — but would it be? (All photos by Cory Weaver via Opera Philadelphia)

Strauss’s 'Ariadne auf Naxos' by Curtis Opera

The lady left behind

Love is, by turns, the human problem and its solution, and Richard Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos, in the Curtis Opera Theatre’s excellent production, shows its facets — and its extremes — brilliantly.

Robert Zaller

Mar 14, 2015 Articles 5 minute read

The synagogue of Siegen, Germany, burning during Kristallnacht

Philadelphia premiere of Stephen Paulus's 'To Be Certain of the Dawn'

Toward healing our collective wounds

In recognition of two important anniversaries — the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camps and the 50th anniversary of the publication of the Vatican II decree condemning anti-Semitism —the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia is premiering Stephen Paulus’s Holocaust memorial oratorio, To Be Certain of the Dawn.

Victor L. Schermer

Mar 10, 2015 Articles 4 minute read

Scenes in a marriage: Robert and Clara Schumann

An odyssey through Philadelphia's lively music scene

From Schumann on marriage to Liszt on Jerusalem

An eight-day journey through the Philadelphia music calendar, with reflections on marriage and a stop at a Baroque theater.

Tom Purdom

Mar 10, 2015 Articles 5 minute read

The Philadelphia Orchestra premieres Vaughan Williams's Fourth Symphony

Long time coming

Haydn and Beethoven never take second billing to anybody, but the long-delayed Philadelphia premiere of Ralph Vaughan Williams’s great and gripping Fourth Symphony was the centerpiece of this week’s orchestra concerts.

Robert Zaller

Mar 10, 2015 Articles 5 minute read

Composing 'In This Blue Room'

Seagulls are everywhere. But when I see one away from the ocean, I still get this odd thrill, even though I know better. And so that’s why I put jazz chords into my song cycle In This Blue Room.

Kile Smith

Mar 03, 2015 Articles 5 minute read

The central atrium at the Barnes Foundation. (Photo via architects Tod Williams Billie Tsien, twbta.com)

Four premieres by Network for New Music

Networking at the Barnes

Network for New Music presented four premieres in a space that invited some of the informality Michael Lawrence advocated in his latest Broad Street Review post.

Tom Purdom

Mar 03, 2015 Articles 5 minute read

Take it to the streets, please. (Photo by Nathan Keirn, via Creative Commons/Wikimedia)

Anti-Putin protests at the Metropolitan Opera: a response

Making a fuss at the opera

If it’s not okay to shout “fire” in a crowded theater, why is it okay to shout anything else that has nothing to do with the show?

Robert Zaller

Mar 03, 2015 Articles 3 minute read

Ticciati and Spano conduct the Philadelphia Orchestra

Debussy and his devotees

While the cat’s away the mice will play — Debussy, in this case. Guest conductors during two weeks programmed three compositions by Claude Debussy and two that were influenced by him.

Steve Cohen

Feb 28, 2015 Articles 3 minute read

Mahler: not just out to make a lot of noise.

Chamber arrangements of full symphonies

The fine art of downsizing

The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society presented a pair of small-scale transcriptions that produced a large-scale impact.

Tom Purdom

Feb 24, 2015 Articles 4 minute read