Capital Region, chamber music, classical, Gay ComposersApr 1st, 2012 | No Comments

As part of its 29th appearance in the Union College Concert Series in Schenectady on Sunday afternoon (4/1/12), the Emerson String Quartet brought a recent work by the acclaimed British composer Thomas Ades. “The Four Quarters” was written in 2010 for the Emerson and commissioned by Carnegie Hall, during Ades’ tenure as its composer in residence.
Get used to Ades’ name, if you don’t already know it. Next fall,...
chamber music, dance, experimental, Lesbian Composers, percussion, piano, vocal musicFeb 27th, 2012 | 1 Comment

Two years ago I interviewed conductor Jeannine Wager and subsequently wrote on this site what seems to still be the only complete account of the last years of composer Eleanor Hovda (1940-2009). During our conversation Wager, her companion of 20 years, was forthcoming but obviously still grieving.
She told me that she would soon be leaving their Arkansas home and was planning to begin archiving Hovda’s studio in New...
Capital Region, chamber music, classical, Gay ComposersJan 29th, 2012 | No Comments

Close Encounters with Music, the chamber series in the Berkshires, is in the midst of its 20th anniversary season and has six more concerts between now and the early summer. The line-up of programs is typically thoughtful and varied with a healthy sampling of mainstream classics from the Romantic era performed by the ensemble members, plus a guest appearance by the fine young Dedaelus Quartet on May 19. There are also several...
Capital Region, chamber music, orchestral, Troy NY, vocal musicMay 2nd, 2011 | No Comments

Orpheus Chamber Orchestra
Thursday April 28, 2011
Troy Savings Bank Music Hall
There was magic to be heard, but little slight of hand to watch on Thursday night at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall. The occasion was a concert of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, in a return presentation by the Troy Chromatics.
With up to 33 players onstage but no official leader, one expected to see more demonstrative gestures — nods of the...
Capital Region, chamber music, classical, Troy NYFeb 7th, 2011 | No Comments

Jennifer Koh, violin, & Shai Wosner, piano
presented by the Friends of Chamber Music, Troy NY
Saturday February 5, 2011
Most of the titles down the list of works read “Sonata.” But that hardly indicated the broad range of styles, colors and flavors that come from the fine violinist Jennifer Koh on Saturday night. Her recital with pianist Shai Wosner was presented by the Friends of Chamber Music at Emma Willard School.
The...
chamber music, choral, classical, dance, Gay ComposersJan 7th, 2011 | No Comments

Nico Muhly
“A Good Understanding,” Los Angeles Master Chorale, Grant Gershon conductor (Decca)
“I Drink The Air Before Me” (Decca/Bedroom Community)
New music’s Boy Wonder Nico Muhly. It’s not enough that he landed a commission from the Metropolitan Opera while still in his 20s (Two Boys, premieres in London in June at the English National Opera and shows up in New York in the 2013-14 season), but now he’s...
Capital Region, chamber music, classical, Troy NY, viiolinNov 11th, 2010 | No Comments

Don’t be fooled by the pictures of Lara St. John, the violinist who’s giving a recital Sunday afternoon at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall in a presentation by the Troy Chromatics. With shoulder-length hair and a fresh open face, she appears to be about 17 years old. In fact, she’s just one year shy of turning 40.
Middle age may be encroaching but a disarming spontaneity and playful sense of humor came through in...
Capital Region, chamber music, orchestral, Saratoga SpringsAug 22nd, 2010 | No Comments

Philadelphia Orchestra
Saratoga Performing Arts Center
August 4-21, 2010
After the Philadelphia Orchestra abruptly parted ways in 2008 with its seventh music director, Christopher Eschenbach, it turned to Charles Dutoit to fill in as chief conductor. It’s a mighty long interim status for Dutoit, who will depart in 2012 with the arrival of Yannick Nezet-Seguin.
The connection that made the Dutoit-Philly alliance a natural...
Capital Region, chamber music, string quartets, vocal musicJul 25th, 2010 | No Comments

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...
blue grass, chamber music, classicalMay 17th, 2010 | No Comments

It’s difficult categorizing the new disc “Three Fervent Travelers” from the young string trio Time for Three, on E1 Entertainment. Is it blue grass or country, jazz improvisation or some new kind of classical? One thing’s for certain. It’s fabulous.
Time for Three is made up of violinists Zachary De Pue and Nick Kendall and bassist Ranaan Meyer. They started improvising together in the halls of the Curtis Institute...