Last night I attended the first concert for this season’s Orpheus Chamber Orchestra series at Carnegie Hall. The OCO, which operates without a conductor, performed nine of Johannes Brahms’s Liebeslieder Waltzes, originally written for vocal quartet and piano duo but orchestrated by the composer, a set of variations for piano and orchestra by jazzman Brad Mehldau, and Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony. The juxtaposition of works on this program was a bit unfair to Mehldau, putting him … <Read More>
Music
The New Season Begins – Opera, Symphony, Film, Theater
My new culture season is duly launched. As of last night, I’ve taken in: “Anna Nicole,” apparently the last production of New York City Opera, presented in collaboration with the Brooklyn Academy of Music on September 21; the new film “Don Jon” by Joseph Gordon-Levitt at the AMC Theater on Broadway at 84th Street on September 29; a memorial celebration for my friend, the late Ari Joshua Sherman, at the DiMenna Center for the Arts … <Read More>
Salon/Sanctuary’s Production of “The Heirs of Tantalos”
Last night I attended the first performance of “The Heirs of Tantalus” presented by Salon/Sanctuary Concerts, a relatively new organization that puts on early music events in New York City. I had attended one of their concerts last year – a music/dance program starring countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo that was really wonderful – but all their other events last season posed calendar conflicts for me, so this as my first return.
The location was a … <Read More>
A Minimalist Monteverdi Production for the 21st Century: Opera Omnia’s “The Return of Ulysses”
Last week Opera Omnia, a tiny company that is the brainchild of Baroque opera enthusiast Wesley Chinn, presented its third production in New York, Claudio Monteverdi’s “The Return of Ulysses,” at the Baryshnikov Arts Center. I attended the final performance on Thursday, September 12. I was particularly drawn to attend this because one of my favorite musicians, baritone Jesse Blumberg, was singing the role of Ulysses. But I was also intrigued to see what Opera … <Read More>
David Afkham Debut at Mostly Mozart Festival, Lincoln Center
Last night I attended my second (and last) Mostly Mozart Festival Concert for this summer. The big news, as far as I am concerned, is the New York conducting debut of David Afkham, a young (b. 1983) German conductor, who led the orchestra in an all-Brahms concert.
Mr. Afkham, born in Freiburg and educated there and in Weimar, has had some prominent mentors: Bernard Haitink and Valery Gergiev (with whom Afkham served two years as … <Read More>
A Mozart & Beethoven Evening at Mostly Mozart 2013
In recent years I have attended many of the annual Mostly Mozart Festival Concerts at Lincoln Center, but my schedule this year has made that difficult, since I was away the first week of August for Glimmerglass Opera Festival, and I will be away the last weekend in August for the Lavender Law Conference in San Francisco. But I am squeezing in two Mostly Mozart concerts, mainly because I particularly enjoy their Music Director, Louis … <Read More>
Glimmerglass Festival 2013 – My Annual Visit to Cooperstown
This was my fourth year attending the Glimmerglass Festival in Cooperstown, NY, with my usual theater/opera-going companion. As we did last year, we signed up for all four presentations, although this time we spread it out over four days instead of trying to cram it all into three days with a Saturday matinee. One program a night proved an enjoyable, civilized pace, with plenty of variety, leaving us free for rest, relaxation and exploration during … <Read More>
Lincoln Center Festival’s production of Toshio Hosokawa’s “Matsukaze”
Last night I attended the New York premiere of Toshio Hosokawa’s one-act opera, “Matsukaze,” presented as part of this summer’s Lincoln Center Festival at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, which is located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan a few blocks from Lincoln Center. To the best of my recollection, this is the first time I’ve been in this theater. It’s a bit out-of-the-way, several long blocks … <Read More>
A “Multicultural” Weekend in NYC: The Yankees, City Center Encores!, and “The Lone Ranger” Movie
I use the term “multicultural” in a special sense here, not referring to different ethnicities but rather to different forms of our modern entertainment culture – major league baseball, musical theater, and major Hollywood motion pictures! My Friday and Saturday this past weekend combined these three different cultural experiences.
First up: Major League Baseball. As a delayed birthday present, my usual theater and concert-going companion arranged to buy skybox tickets at Yankee Stadium for Friday’s … <Read More>
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra’s Final 2012-13 Season Concert Terminated Early by Rain
Last night I attended the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra’s final concert of the season, an appearance at the Naumberg Bandshell in Central Park that proceeded in defiance of adverse weather forecasts for the evening. In the event, the orchestra was able to play the first three numbers on the program, albeit with a brief delay between movements of a Haydn symphony due to a brief burst of light rain. However, a stronger downpour terminated the concert … <Read More>