Cole Grissom - Page 2

'…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.

Let me begin by saying: Please don't misunderstand these men are 100% responsible for their actions. Our society is currently in upheaval as men in positions of power are being unceremoniously thrown from grace-rightfully. Their actions are deplorable and those responsible must be taken to task. Though, the more I thought on these power-drunk men, it made me wonder-how did we get here? How is there a system in place that supports, lauds, and even protects them? And then I realized-it's because of us. We fostered it and allowed it to thrive. We have perpetuated the demigod system for centuries, and by allowing these conductors, coaches, star performers and composers to be treated in a way that defies human fallibility, we are allowing them to live above the law. And, yes, we are a part of that system. We are a part of it because we have ushered it into the 21st century-and it's time we take a stand against it.

I've always wondered what it would be like to swim in a pool of maple syrup and now I know. From the minute Ms. Barton opened her mouth, she unleashed a rolling tone that poured over her audience, soaking them in the sugary, maple tones of her delicious mezzo. We were drenched but in the way an idyllic bite of pancake is drenched. This recital was like eating a bite of flapjacks so perfectly proportioned soaked in the right amount of syrup, where the butter has mixed with the sweet, gooey, deliciousness to create the perfect balance of fatty substance with sugary indulgence. So perfectly proportioned that, frankly, I may never eat pancakes again.

The first time I saw Ms. Jasmine Rice LaBeija perform she was serving full female fantasy, donning a vibrant set of what MUST have been DD's and that's a conservative estimate. She was scantily clad in a little black number that hugged every one of her curves with exacting precision, bookending the experience with the perfect dramatic wig. She was a visual pastry that demanded consumption and I was there for every crumb. I needed to know more about this enchantress, and when she threw some classical music into her act, I all but stopped the show dead in its tracks demanding a background check.

These days, targeted ads are flying at us at every turn. I find myself in constant inner struggle, because I keep getting pulled in though I never truly enjoy myself, because I know what they're doing to me! So, imagine my surprise when I found myself delightfully lost in the New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players' most recent marketing campaign ayeharmony.com. The site claims to be the '#1 online dating site for the Queen's navy, sisters, cousins, aunts and more,' with dating profiles featuring a variety of characters from the show. The usernames and profiles are filled with Gilbert and Sullivan inside jokes, but are so deftly handled that the layman won't be left out in the cold. Simply put this is a genius campaign no matter how you slice it. Even if I wasn't a G&S fan, I would check this production out.

The Grammy nominations are here! It's such a fun awards show, chock-full of accolades for mediocre pop songs sung by artists with nodules bigger than my fist-a true example of folks living the American Dream. Each year I hope for the best, thinking that, maybe, the nominating committee, or the performers, will surprise me-flipping the script on my shockingly low expectations. This year, to see if they'd accomplished that feat, I headed over to the Grammy's website to peruse the list of nominees.