A piece of American music seldom stays fresh, even surprising, to succeeding generations of audiences. Datedness sets in so quickly, while nostalgia takes a long time to show up. George Crumb’s “Black Angels” is an exception. Written almost 40 years ago during the height of the Vietnam War, “Black Angels” is scored for electric string quartet and is subtitled “Thirteen Images from the Dark Land.” The score is structured on theories of numerology and includes references to Schubert’s “Death and the Maiden” and the “Dies Irae”...

The concert hall in the woods just outside Woodstock is fondly known as The Maverick. But its summer presentations are often rather traditional servings of chamber music and solo recitals. This Saturday night, pianist Pedja Muzijevic will present a program wildly varied enough to be described as mavericky. Along with Schumann’s “Carnaval” and some little sonatas by Scarlatti, there will be transcriptions of Wager and Strauss and sampling of mid-century Americans like Henry Cowell, Morton Feldman and John Cage. “It’s a natural combination, wouldn’t you say?” deadpans the Bosnian-born...

“The Golden Gate” is the latest opera from San Francisco native and Manhattan resident Conrad Cummings. It’s based on the novel by Vikram Seth and was most recently given a staged workshop at Lincoln Center’s Rose Studio. This here new website presents excerpts, synopsis and more.

Get ready for more horses in Saratoga Springs. This time on the ballet stage. In his latest piece, “Estancia,” choreographer Christopher Wheeldon directs members of the New York City Ballet to buck and bray like wild colts. The piece opens Saturday’s annual gala at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. “It’s a cowboy ballet, set on a ranch in Argentina,” says Wheeldon, who will be on hand for the performance.  Acknowledging that a western theme isn’t exactly new to ballet, he says the piece is more reminiscent of Agnes de Mille’s “Rodeo” than Balanchine’s “Western Symphony.” “It’s...

violinist Matt Albert and clarinetist Michael MaccaferriJennifer Higdon – winner of the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Music – just had her latest major premiere, “On A Wire.” It’s a concerto for the contemporary ensemble Eighth Blackbird and was premiered last week with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and conductor Robert Spano, who’s been a longtime champion of Higdon. The performers have already recorded the work and Eighth Blackbird will perform it soon with the eight other orchestras that participated in the commission, including the Cincinnati, Cleveland, and...

Love and classical music were both in abundance at the commitment ceremony of Karl Brosch and Ralph Thomas on Saturday June 5 in Manchester, Vermont.  Performing at the event was a 70-piece orchestra and 30-member chorus, all friends of the long-time couple.  Myra Herron tells the full story at at  www.HudsonSounds.org.

Composer Melissa Dunphy, a doctoral student at the University of Pennsylvania, has made a choral work out of a World War II veteran’s testimony on marriage equality. The 86-year old Philip Spooner spoke to a committee of the state legislature in Maine on April 22, 2009: Here’s Dunphy’s musical setting “What Do You Think I Fought For At Omaha Beach?” performed by the Simon Carrington Chamber Singers on May 30, 2010, at Blessed Sacrament Church in Kansas City, KS: The piece received the first Simon Carrington Chamber Singers Composition Award, selected from a pool...

AP:  An annual $150,000 prize has been established by the foundation of Tony-winning playwright-director Arthur Laurents and partner Tom Hatcher. The Laurents/Hatcher Foundation Award will be given for an unproduced, full-length play of social relevance by an emerging American playwright. The prize includes a $50,000 cash award for the selected playwright and a $100,000 grant for production costs of the play’s premiere at a nonprofit theater. The foundation said Thursday it’s the first major award for playwrighting to be named in honor of a gay couple. The 92-year-old Laurents...

Peter Orlovsky published five books of poems in his own right, but is famous for having been the long-time lover of one of the 20th century’s greatest poets, Allen Ginsberg. He died in Williston Vermont on May 30 at age 76. Make my grave shape of heart so like a flower be free aired and handsome felt. Grave root pillow, tung up from grave & wigle at blown up clowd. Ear turnes close to underlayer of green felt moss & sound of rain dribble thru this layer down to the roots that will tickle my ear. Hay grave, my toes need cutting so file away in sound curve or Garbage grave, way above...

Fort Worth Texas might be the most conservative area of the country after Orange County California. Last June one of its few gay bars, the Rainbow Lounge, was raided by members of the Fort Worth Police Department and Texas Alcoholic Beverages Commission. Seven people were arrested for drunkenness, though numerous reports say that the individuals were pulled from the crowd randomly and violently.  A 26-year old man was hospitalized with head injuries. The event occurred on the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots in New York. Reports from Dallas Voice on the arrests and the ensuing investigations...