CLASSICAL MUSIC THEATER REVIEWS

BWW Review: ROYAL CONCERTGEBOUW WAGNER AND BRUCKNER at Carnegie Hall...

Australian cabaret performer Melissa Madden Gray, otherwise known as Meow Meow, returns to the Sydney Opera House to join forces with the wonderful Sydney Symphony Orchestra (SSO) for MEOW MEOW'S PANDEMONIUM. Under the baton of conductor Iain Grandage, who also worked with Madden Grey to compose a ...

Venezuelan conductor Rafael Payare opened his San Diego Symphony Orchestra guest appearance with Berlioz's Roman Carnival Overture. Payare conducted with vigorous dramatic motions, and the orchestra responded by bringing the work's romantic themes and stirring gestures to life. Principle English hor...

Occasionally a concert of stalwart popular favorites reminds you of what made them so special in the first place - providing a fresh look at a familiar landscape. The program presented by the New Jersey Symphony, under the baton of Musical Director Xian Zhang, at Bergen PAC on January 13th, did just...

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...

The trials and tribulations of the Met's new take on Puccini's TOSCA have been well documented--with all three principals replaced along with two conductors--and it would be nice to be able to say that everything came out happily-ever-after. Alas. There's nothing wrong with the company's surprise-fr...

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 i...

Conductor David Danzmayr opened his guest appearance with the San Diego Symphony Orchestra with Mid-20th century Polish composer Gra?yna Bacewicz's Overture of 1943. It was a intelligent choice; her music deserves to be programmed more often. Although she received many awards and commissions during ...

Nothing says Christmas in New York like a performance of Handel's great sacred oratorio MESSIAH--okay, for some it's the windows at one of the big department stores--with some outings decidedly religious, like this week's pair of wonderful performances at Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue. Featurin...

The Juilliard Orchestra and Opera beat the Met to the punch this week, featuring French conductor Emmanuel Villaume in a superb concert of Ravel and Debussy, including a lovely performance of Ravel's short opera, L'ENFANT ET LES SORTILEGES, with its clever libretto by the French novelist, Colette. I...

If love had a sound, it would take the form of the colourful melodies pervading the air during the TSO's BEST OF TCHAIKOVSKY. Led by guest conductor Keri-Lynn Wilson, the TSO is showcasing a program of two Tchaikovsky favourites and one rare gem, especially for cellist Joseph Johnson. Wilson demonst...

An autumn of BEETHOVEN presented by Christopher Warren-Green and the Charlotte Symphony ends triumphantly with his great VIOLIN CONCERTO, played with sensitivity and virtuosity by Benjamin Beilman....

Washington Concert Opera brings a nicely performed La Straniera to Lisner Auditorium nearly two hundred years after its premiere at La Scala Milan. Vincenzo Bellini's first Milanese success took place in 1827 in the form of Il pirata. Two years later, he stood in a shadow of his own making. He neede...

Mario Frangoulis has always defied categorization. After all, what do you call a singer who is equally at home in rock, pop, jazz, latin, swing, Broadway, classical and opera?...

Two of Australia's favourite artists, Emma Matthews and Jacqueline Dark....

Though the classical music season is still young, it'll be tough for anything that lies ahead to compete with Friday night's performance at Carnegie Hall by Martha Argerich, who seemed to be having the time of her life, while showing total skill and control. The audience was hers from the get-go, st...

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is thought by many to be the best in the United States and among the top five in the world. The orchestra's performance at San Diego's Jacob's Music Center provided absolutely no support for a contrary view. The program consisted of Schubert's 'Unfinished' eighth symph...

One of the greatest Canadian voices in classical music, contralto Maureen Forrester was a legend. The Toronto Symphony Orchestra paid tribute to the beloved singer, in a concert of new works for Mezzo-soprano and one of Forrester's most memorable recital pieces, Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde (The S...

With his signature Rocky entrance jog around Verizon Hall pumping up the crowd,well you know you're in for a unique musical experience....

he San Diego Symphony's opening concert of the season featured a return appearance by Edo de Waart. The program consisted of Liszt's second piano concerto and Richard Strauss's Ein Heldenleben. De Waart has become a favorite guest conductor of orchestra members, and Symphony CEO Martha Gilmer. He co...

From the first notes of Christopher Martin's clarion call trumpet intro, it was clear the audience was in for something quite special. In no time at all Maestro Van Zweden put his own definitive signature on the mammoth five-movement excursion from the deepest darkest recesses to the most reflective...

Sometimes a striking contrast is just what is needed. The Toronto Symphony Orchestra presents Alexina Louie's Triple Concerto for Three Violins and Orchestra and Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem (BRAHMS GERMAN REQUIEM). Frantic tension meets wonderful tranquility in this double bill....

A night of surprises, enthusiastic artistry and brave new compositions graced the Roy Thomson Hall Tuesday night. The TORONTO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA opened its 2017-2018 season with a program that effortlessly mingled the classical with the contemporary. This is a year of big changes for the orchestra. ...

San Diego's waterfront on a cool summer night seems the perfect spot for exciting Latin-flavored music by Alberto Ginastera, Astor Piazzolla and Maurice Ravel. Conductor Sameer Patel opened with Four Dances from Estancia by Ginastera. After an overly careful treatment of the first dance. The slow s...

The heart-pounding 'O Fortuna' fills the Roy Thomson Hall to the brim with the sound of a full orchestra and over one hundred voices. The Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) presents the finale to their 'Decades Project: 1930-1939', CARMINA BURANA by Carl Orff, featuring the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, ...