My 2015-16 concert season began early this year, with season-opening concerts by the Five Boroughs Music Festival on September 11 and the Brooklyn Art Song Society on September 18.
5BMF decided to start their season in Manhattan, at the National Opera Center’s recital hall, with a program by the American Contemporary Ensemble, a youthful group of composers who perform their own music in ensemble. Group members Caleb Burhans, Timo Andres, Caroline Shaw, Clarice Jensen and … <Read More>
I had a mixed reaction to tonight’s concert by the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, led by Principal Conductor Pablo Heras-Casado, at Carnegie Hall.
The centerpiece of the concert was Benjamin Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings, Op. 31, with soloists Ian Bostridge (tenor) and Stewart Rose (horn). As prelude, the orchestra performed Mendelssohn’s Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream. After intermission, they played Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 9.
The Britten was splendid, as one could … <Read More>
Three-quarters Britten. That was my weekend. On Saturday I attended the afternoon performance of Britten’s opera, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” at the Metropolitan Opera. Then in the evening I attended the first concert of Columbia University’s Miller Theater Early Music Series, by Le Poeme Harmonique, a French early-music ensemble led by Vincent Dumestre, in music by Monteverdi and some contemporaries under the program title “Combattimenti!” On Sunday, I attended two recitals, at 1 and 4, … <Read More>
Being busy with final exams and grading, I haven’t been to as many concerts as usual over the past few weeks, but I wanted to comment about a few:
May 10 in Carnegie Hall I attended one of their “Spring for Music” concerts, a presentation of the four symphonies of Charles Ives by Leonard Slatkin and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. I’ve been an Ives fan since high school days, when I performed the double bass … <Read More>
I’ve been so busy attending interesting musical events over the past few weeks that I’ve fallen behind in noting them here. So, here goes:
The New York City Opera, having foresworn Lincoln Center, is in its second year of wandering, with four operas on the schedule. The first two, which I’ve now attended, were presented at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. I went to successive Saturday performances of “Powder Her Face” by Thomas Ades (music) … <Read More>