CLASSICAL MUSIC THEATER REVIEWS

Well-aware of the Peter Shaffer implications of programming MOZART'S REQUIEM with a Salieri symphony, Charlotte Symphony flipped the script, revealing a happy-go-lucky Salieri and a fearsome Mozart....

There's lots to enjoy in the Met's revival of DIE WALKURE, the second part of Richard Wagner's great tetralogy, DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN, better known simply as Wagner's Ring Cycle, which had its first performance of the season on Monday night--all five hours of it!--under the pulsating control of Ph...

Since my days as a pothead are long gone (LOL)—did anyone ever watch 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY without a little help from a friend?--I came to the Boston Symphony's (BSO) concert at Carnegie Hall the other night more interested in hearing the excerpts from Richard Strauss's CAPRICCIO, including Renee ...

Washington National Opera's (WNO) Eugene Onegin is exquisite! The entire evening soars like a dream with pitch-perfect performances led by the immaculate Anna Nechaeva as Tatiana....

Edo de Waart began his official tenure as The San Diego Symphony Orchestra's Principal Guest Conductor with a program of three 20th Century works of, to receptive listeners, quiet reassuring beauty. The concert opened with 'The Walk to the Paradise Garden,' a between-scenes interlude from British co...

BWW Review: 100 YEARS OF BERNSTEIN: CZECH NATIONAL SYMPHONY, CONDUCTED BY JOHN MAUCERI, MEZZO SOPRANO, ISABEL LEONARD at Tilles Center, CW POST University...

On March 3, 2019, Pacific Opera Project (POP) presented its more-than-a-little-bit-zany version of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's THE MAGIC FLUTE (DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE) at Los Angeles's El Portal Theatre. POP Director and Designer Josh Shaw and Baritone E. Scott Levin premiered a new English version of Emanu...

Composer, conductor and pianist Andre Previn has died at the age of 89 on February 28. Previn was composer of the opera versions of Tennessee Williams's A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE and Noel Coward's BRIEF ENCOUNTER, dozens of orchestral works, film scores, jazz works and the score for Tom Stoppard's ...

After suffering a hand injury several years ago and a subsequent three year break from concertizing, Israeli-born pianist Benjamin Hochman made his successful re-entry onto the New York musical scene on February 17, 2019...

This is a well known story: Don Giovanni - addictive seducer - struggles with live in temptations to meet consequences. Classic Opera from 18th century is still watched all over the world. 'Opera buffa' as Mozart described it himself should be comic but in this version the world „comic' doesn't co...

????Mr. Kavakos and Ms.Wang are frequent collaborators in concert and on recordings. There is such a rapport between them that an easy flow of ideas and emotions inform all of their performances....

A magical world comes to life in the Grand Rapids Symphony's updated version of the classic children's tale, Hansel & Gretel, featuring Grand Rapids Ballet.  Set to music from 'The Wand of Youth' by Sir Edward Elgar, our modern-day Hansel and Gretel go out into their neighborhood, looking for adven...

This energized concert shook the pillars of Olympus with a powerhouse performance of two very popular and dynamic pieces of music.The concert hall was filled to the rafters with the voices of a massive choir. The power behind such a collection of voices and music was breathtaking....

British conductor Michael Francis is known to San Diego concert goers as the music director of the city's Mainly Mozart Festival. Since taking the job four years ago he has embarked on an ambitious chronological survey of the music of the composer who inspired the festival's name. On this evening he...

Rafael Payare's initial concert as Music Director Designate of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra featured four familiar and easily appreciated pieces, including Mozart's Overture to Don Giovanni and the topically related Don Juan by Richard Strauss. In a different program two nights later Payare repe...

Are you wondering what you and your love should to do on Valentines Day? Ballet Arizona is presenting the world premiere of Ib Andersen's THE FIREBIRD to music by Igor Stravinsky at Symphony Hall from February 14 to 17, 2019....

Aida has been called the grandest of grand operas and the production that has graced the Met stage for the last (unbelievably) 30 years still looks absolutely amazing - towering columns, massive sandstone blocks, etc. Oddly, the audience did not applaud the sets (as they have in every other performa...

Talk about baptism by fire! That's what Gustavo Dudamel--that wunderkind of the classical conducting world--faced as he reached the podium of the Met for the first time Friday night. Not only was he conducting Verdi's great opera, OTELLO, but he was doing so with a last-minute substitute in the titl...

On Sunday, December 9, cellist Steven Isserlis brought his ebullient style to the 92nd Street Y in a concert with members of the string section of Orpheus Chamber Orchestra....

No one can accuse countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo of sitting around and waiting for projects to fall into his lap. GLASS HANDEL was first produced by the singer with Visionaire and Cath Brittan at Opera Philadelphia's (OP) O18 Operafest in September and presented in NY by OP and National Sawdust ...

If you have ever attended an opera and thought 'all of these sets and costumes are so incredibly distracting' then Washington Concert Opera would be right up your alley. Stripping away the grandiose of an opera production, WCO presents their works in their most raw form: with just an orchestra, a ch...

BWW Review: THE PARK AVENUE CHAMBER SYMPHONY PERFORMS ROSENHAUS, WEBER AND DVORAK...

On the 4th of November, the Philharmonic Orchestra of Monte-Carlo (OPMC) invited the audience on a beautiful tour of 'Les Maitres du Classicisme' with not just one performance on the program, but two. With guest conductor Gabor Takacs-Nagy at the helm and guest soloists Pablo Ferrandez (violoncello)...

On the 4th of November, the Philharmonic Orchestra of Monte-Carlo (OPMC) invited the audience on a beautiful tour of 'Les Maitres du Classicisme' with not just one performance on the program, but two. With guest conductor Gabor Takacs-Nagy at the helm and guest soloists Pablo Ferrandez (violoncello)...

Guest Ccnductor David Danzmayr led the San Diego Symphony with unusual intensity in a program of one new work and two familiar favorites. Forceful skyward thrusts demanded full power when needed, and an active left hand called for expressive playing. The orchestra responded with performances that br...