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Lupu: Still improving, but what about the Kimmel's lobby?

Lupu and Yannick at the Kimmel (2nd review)

The upside of nationalism

Yannick Nézet-Séguin, returning to the podium for the first time since early December, thoughtfully paired two Czech masters, Smetana and Dvořák, with Bartók’s valedictory Third Piano Concerto in between.

Robert Zaller

Feb 10, 2014 Articles 4 minute read

The Beatles on "The Ed Sullivan Show," February 9, 1964: Everybody but Kile was watching.

Three things I learned from the Beatles

The Beatles have many lessons for us, musicians and fans alike.

Kile Smith

Feb 10, 2014 Articles 5 minute read

Beethoven's Kreutzer sonata would have been the Bridgetower sonata, had the composer not quarreled with the violin virtuoso for whom he wrote it.

Chamber music is strong in Philadelphia

Small forces, big effects

The Philadelphia Chamber Music Society and the Philadelphia Chamber Ensemble present two concerts that capture the variety and liveliness of the Philadelphia chamber music scene.

Tom Purdom

Feb 07, 2014 Articles 4 minute read

Pharoah Sanders in December of 2006; photo by Dmitry Scherbie

Pharoah, Freda, and me

Back in his wayward youth, Bob Ingram met a lot of jazz greats — including, on one memorable night, sax great Pharoah Sanders and "Band of Gold" singer Freda Payne.

Bob Ingram

Feb 06, 2014 Articles 3 minute read

More comfortable, or a man who knows his audience?

Lupu and Yannick at the Kimmel (1st review)

Do clothes make the man?

Yannick Nézet-Séguin has apparently decided to forgo wearing a tie when he conducts. Is that disrespectful or the mark of a someone who’s tremendously connected?

Dan Rottenberg

Feb 03, 2014 Articles 2 minute read

Verdi rarely reached out to others— except in his operas.

Verdi at 200 (Part 2): A private life in public

Scorned by critics, adored by the masses

Between 1849 and 1871 Verdi composed a dozen remarkable operas, many of them drawn from his unconventional personal life. The Italian masses may have been drawn to Verdi’s rejection of bourgeois hypocrisy as much as to his music.

Steve Cohen

Feb 03, 2014 Articles 5 minute read

Renée Fleming sings the national anthem

Sacred melodies

Not everyone appreciates the liberties taken with "The Star-Spangled Banner" — or any other classic song, like "Danny Boy." What makes some embellishments "too much"?

Maria Thompson Corley

Feb 03, 2014 Articles 3 minute read

Tempesta di Mare presents music from the court of Louis XIV

In the chambers of Versailles

Tempesta di Mare showcases an impressive tenor and eavesdrops on the private artistic world of Louis XIV and his courtiers.

Tom Purdom

Jan 30, 2014 Articles 3 minute read

The Curtis Symphony Orchestra (photo by David DeBalko)

The Curtis Symphony Orchestra at the Kimmel Center

Report from a besieged city

The Curtis Symphony Orchestra is top-notch by any standard, as it proved again in a winter concert featuring Glinka, Bartók, and Shostakovich’s massive Seventh Symphony.

Robert Zaller

Jan 30, 2014 Articles 5 minute read

You don't have to be Thelonious Monk to improvise at the keyboard.

How I learned to improvise

In music, as in life, there's nothing worse than someone who talks all the time but never says anything.

Michael Lawrence

Jan 29, 2014 Articles 2 minute read