Cole Grissom - Page 2

Bargemusic took me on a quirky, weird journey that shouldn't have worked, but in a bizarre way, absolutely did – and we didn't even leave the dock!

Abraham Brody is a violinist and vocalist who has recently discovered a wealth of compositional talent. His journey down this path began with an exploration of alternative forms of expression, whose origins were firmly planted in improvisation. From this early manifestation, his compositional language has since found strength and focus with a keen eye on storytelling.

Currently, the New York Philharmonic is presenting the movie masterpiece Amadeus with live orchestrations as part of their Art of the Score series. They have removed the prerecorded orchestral and choral elements from the film and replaced them with live manifestations. It's breathtaking and requires a trip to Lincoln Center.

Check out what's happening this weekend in classical music!

With today's social media feeds providing a variable feast of juxtaposition, it's invigorating to watch Austin McCormick pointedly understand and translate this aspect of modern living onto the stage. He perfectly captures the sensibility of today's generation, one that embraces the ambiguity of life, art, and the pursuit of happiness, at Company XIV - the vehicle for his orgy of artistic creativity.

As classical music presentations continue to innovate in the 21st century, it's paramount that a keen eye remains focused on the purpose of this innovation. Innovation for innovation's sake will fail every time. And, unfortunately, Philharmonia Orchestra of New York (PONY) fell victim to this pitfall with their recent production of La Traviata.

As our current national climate yearns for increasingly definable parameters and ever-distinguishable boundaries - music is experiencing an interesting fuzzy period. Political parties are fractioning, splintering into irreconcilable shards more than ever before, while the genre of classical music, an art form that has so consistently bound itself to structure and definable order, is beginning to see compositional structures that are harder and harder to silo. Classical music is steeped in the tradition of borrowing melodies or stylistic practices from the popular cannon, but rarely, if ever, have these genres shared a sonic landscape - until now.

In the performing arts, people love to talk about the 'it' factor – and it's annoying. Everyone has their own, elusive, definition of what this means, which basically boils down to – you know it when you see it. It's something so intangible and unteachable that being able to pin it down with words is next to impossible. I understand what I'm about to say officially makes me part of the problem, but that is truly the best way to describe the magnitude of Monét X Change. Is she perfect? Hardly. Is she hyper-polished? Nope. Will she text you back? Depends on the day. But does she have the 'it' factor? Abso-f*cking-lutely. And I can't – won't – take my eyes off of her.

Having your artistic brain-children paraded before you in celebration of your life must be a surreal experience - one that John Corigliano is, now, very familiar with. National Sawdust recently hosted his 80th birthday celebration and packed the evening with his compositional gems, peppering the program with videos from colleagues and friends. It was such an honor and treasure to be present-if you still haven't gotten to National Sawdust, you're doing it wrong.

Get yourself to a classical music performance! Check out what's happening this weekend in New York City...

'…your job is to not give a sh*t and concentrate on the music.' It's the line of dialogue that screamed with resounding resonance from the trailer of the upcoming season of Mozart in the Jungle, premiering on Amazon this Friday, February 16th.

Check out what's happening This Week in Classical Music

Years ago, an ex introduced me to a video that changed my life. That video was JbDubs' 'I Hate My Job.'  We've all had those crap jobs and there was something about the lyrics and the heels that lifted me from the depths of my work-depression and placed me atop a glittery mound of fabulous. It was my low-key anthem on a bad day, or my soundtrack as I would strut my ass from one hellacious meeting to the next. It never failed to satisfy.

With the price of tickets at soaring heights, only providing young professionals more fuel for their ill-conceived notion of opera's inaccessibility, the Metropolitan Opera has crafted an exciting counter argument - Fridays Under 40. The event's carefully themed details feature the repertoire slated for performance, creating an immersive evening experience. When I was fortunate enough to attended, Il Trovatore was on the docket.

Ok, y'all…I'm going to be honest. A cappella - or as my aunt, with her charming ignorance, would call it 'acapulco singing' - is just not my jam. Groups that sing sacred 'hits' without vibrato has never been a way I'd choose to spend an afternoon. Maybe it's because I suck at this type of singing? Unclear. But, in this case, I have to concede to the King's Singers and the beautiful, tranquil sea of sound they presented at their delightful concert in New York City. Besides being offensively talented, who couldn't love a group of cute boys singing to you in a gorgeous church? I never stood a chance. The evening was charming.

On the weekend of the women's march, it was refreshing to see a female at the helm of Carnegie's Sunday afternoon programming. Janine Jansen owned the stage with strength and conviction, cementing the importance of the female perspective in life, art, and business proving the perfect cap to an important weekend.

'The most beautiful emotion we can experience is the mysterious. It is the power of all true art and science...' -Albert Einstein If you've ever seen someone in 'flow,' you've been in the presence of this emotion. The ethereal transference of otherworldly energy and focus pulsing through the very essence of being without obstruction. That is flow. That is the elusive emotion of 'the mysterious.' That is watching Brian Nash at the piano.

I'm not going to lie...until this week, I'd never seen a live production of The Phantom of the Opera. I'm intimately familiar with the music and the story, but it was just never an experience I thought I needed to have.

To be completely fair, modern day compositions, stereotypically, leave me wanting more. I can respect and appreciate the intellectual prowess required for their execution, but usually that's all I'm left with--respect. That, and an acute exhaustion from being led through the densely populated forest of the composer's often frustrating psyche. I am thrilled to report--this was not my experience last night at CONTACT!, a collaboration between the New York Philharmonic and National Sawdust.

Sometimes an opera singing drag queen from Kentucky becomes a viral meme sensation. Not frequently, but it happens--at least to Gilda Wabbit.