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>
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>
Between work, concerts and theater, I’ve been so busy that I’ve generally avoided blogging about the things I’ve been attending over the past five weeks or so. This is a catch-up posting, briefly mentioning that things I haven’t had time to write about in longer posts. This post details the musical events (including opera). In another, I’ll address the theatrical ones.
Beginning at the beginning, with Richard Goode, and – surprise – ending with him … <Read More>
Herewith some observations about two encounters with art song in recent days: a wonderful concert of new songs presented by the New York Festival of Song at the Jerome Robbins Theater at the Baryshnikov Arts Center, and a new recording of Franz Schubert’s song cycle, Winterreise, by baritone Tom Meglioranza and pianist Reiko Uchida.
The New York Festival of Song, which presents an extensive series of song recitals at Merkin Concert Hall (north of Lincoln … <Read More>
One of my favorite singers is baritone Jesse Blumberg. I first heard him sing at a Wolf recital at the Austrian Cultural Forum many years ago. I had gone because another singer who had recently attracted my attention, Tom Meglioranza, was on the program. I came away from the event a Blumberg fan as well, and began to look out for his other concert appearances. Over the past month, I’ve attended three of them!
On … <Read More>