I’ll just assume my invitations got lost in the mail.  Nevertheless, I’m happy to read, here and there, about the following nuptials: Steve Blier (pianist,

Matthew McCright‘s advocacy of American piano music has brought him into collaboration with lots of composers and his standard bio starts with this list: Pauline Oliveros, Terry Riley, August Read Thomas, Paul Dresher, and Michael Gordon – some experimental and free thinkers, to be sure. So it was an interesting departure for McCright that his latest recording project was of music by Gene Gutche (1907-2000), a German immigrant who wrote some rather vivid works but did hew to a rather old school tonal idiom.  So I asked McCright to tell the story of how he became connected to Gutchë’s...

John Corigliano and William Hoffman’s opera “The Ghosts of Versailles” comes in three sizes.  According to Corigliano’s website, there’s the original Metropolitan Opera version from the 1991 debut, which boasted about 300 performers.  There’s the standard version (“eliminates the onstage orchestra by incorporating those parts into the regular pit orchestra, re-assigns roles played by comprimario singers to choristers, and requires only 10 principals”) that premiered at the Chicago Lyric Opera in 1995.  Most recently is the reduced version (orchestrations...

“Positions 1956″ is called a “self help” opera.  How helpful!  How polite! It was written in 1988 and first heard in concert by the Cummings Ensemble at the Knitting Factory and PS 122 in New York.  The world premiere staged version takes place this month in the Washington DC area thanks to Urban Arias, a two-year old company that’s also commissioned the piece.  Six performances run April 13-22. The music is by Conrad Cummings, whose past operas include “Photo Op” (1989) and “The Golden Gate”  (2006), and lyrics by Michael Korie whose...

Alexander in 2009 (Luanne M. Ferris / Times Union) Cris Alexander, a Broadway actor and portrait photographer, died on March 7 in Saratoga Springs, where he lived full-time since 1991.  His death at age 92 came just two weeks after that of Shaun O’Brien, the New York City Ballet character dancer and Alexander’s companion of 61 years. Alexander starred in the 1944 premiere of “On the Town,” creating the role of Chip, one of the three iconic sailors on shore leave in Manhattan. He can be heard in the original cast album singing “Come Up to My Place,” a duet...

David Del Tredici turns 75 on Friday and celebrations are in full swing. Here’s what’s upcoming in New York: March 15: DDT and Courtenay Budd will perform two song cycles: Lament for the Death of a Bullfighter and Miz Inez Sez (Symphony Space) March 23: Four Hand Piano recital DDT and Marc Peloquin. DDT will premiere the big new solo Ray’s Birthday Suit. (The Barge under the Brooklyn Bridge) March 25-26: American Opera Projects presents Haddock’s Eyes. (Galapagos Arts Space, Brooklyn) March 29: Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony perform Syzygy with soprano soloist Kiera...

Paula Kimper’s first opera, “Patience and Sarah” was subtitled “a pioneering love story.”  Written in collaboration with librettist Wende Persons and based on the historical novel by Isabel Miller, it was also a pioneering opera, depicting a 19th century lesbian couple who settle a farm in upstate New York. As a composer Kimper didn’t have a deep catalog when she undertook to write the evening-length “Patience.”  But the opera was widely hailed when it debuted in the 1998 Lincoln Center Festival and it’s had five subsequent revivals in the...

This blog is not quite 2.5 years-old and the counter says that as of today it’s had 100,000 unique visitors and more than 334,000 total hits! Thanks to all of you, my readers. Or maybe I should say my viewers – hopefully you’re not just dropping by but also reading and listening.  Considering that the primary focus here is a niche within a niche – the GLTB community in classical music – I’m most gratified. What else would you like to see, hear, read?   Should I open up the site and provide an opportunity for GLTB artists to place ads for their new CDs or concerts?  (A...

“Lou Harrison:  A World of Music,” Eva Soltes’ documentary, will have its west coast premiere at the Castro Theatre on Tuesday March 6.  Before the screening starts, Terry Riley will improvise on the theater’s Wurlitzer organ. Then, on Thursday March 8 begins the latest and greatest installment yet of Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony’s American Mavericks program.  Concerts and sundry special events large and small continue through the end of the month at Symphony Hall in San Francisco, in Ann Arbor, Chicago and in New York at Carnegie Hall. The...

“A short, feminist opera about social change” is how composer Marie Incontrera describes her new project.  In short, it’s a “riot girl opera.” “At the Other Side of the Earth” is scheduled to debut May 18 at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center in New York.  The cast features Layla Jasmine Presson, Katherine Cardin, Monica Harte, Scottie Roché and Lisa Difiore.  J. Julian Christopher directs. Here’s the synopsis: Aurora is forced to face who she truly is when she meets Layla, an out-and-proud “riot grrrl” with a bold...