The late composer Aaron Copland created a signature American sound in just a few distinctive orchestral works, including Appalachian Spring, Rodeo and Fanfare for the Common Man.  Pungent excerpts from these pieces are a part of every presidential inauguration. But his catalog is deep and not everything in it was one for the ages.  His only full length opera “The Tender Land,” which is currently playing at Glimmerglass...

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...

“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. share: Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Recommend on Facebook Buzz it up Tip on Hyves Share via MySpace Share on Orkut...

Last month composer SCOTT PENDER attended a two-week summer music intensive known as the John Duffy Composers Institute, part of the Virginia Arts Festival. But it may as well be called Opera Camp. According to Pender, the sessions are for composers of opera and musical theatre to bring alive their works and get feedback from the collaborating artists and senior composers.  The musical staff consisted of founder John Duffy...

Within moments after the curtain rises on Jorge Martin’s “Before Night Falls,” the hero collapses into his deathbed.  It’s an obvious allusion to all those consumptive operatic heroines of the romantic era and reinforces why the memoir of Cuban writer Renaldo Arenas was such a good choice for a staged adaptation. The Fort Worth Opera premiered the work in two performances at Bass Hall, as part of an early summer...

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...

For 33 years composer Gerald Busby has been a resident at the Chelsea Hotel in Manhattan.  That means he’s pretty much outlasted every other artist who lived there or just passed through, from his mentor Virgil Thomson to Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Patti Smith, Leonard Cohen, and Sid Vicious. Journalists and authors love to write about the famous hotel and Gerald is always there to give them a good interview. He’s...

With its ever growing arts district, the City of Dallas continues to think big. The same can be said for the Dallas Opera and its new Winspear Opera House. For the second half of its first season in the new house, the company commissioned and premiered Jack Heggie’s “Moby-Dick.” I attended the performance on Saturday May 8. The massive scale and varied themes of Melville’s classic novel have flummoxed many who’ve...

They’re a small town family. Robert, Tony and Annamaria. Maggio is on the faculty at West Chester University, outside Philadelphia. His partner Tony La Salle is an artist. They’ve been together since 1991 and adopted a daughter, Annamaria La Salle Maggio in 2001, when she was one month old. In 2003, they settled in Lambertville, New Jersey. “We wanted to live in a small community where we’d be known by everyone,”...

“Moby Dick,” the latest opera from Jake Heggie (“Dead Man Walking”) premieres Friday April 30 at the Dallas Opera in its spiffy new Winspear Opera House. Ben Hepner leads the cast as Capt. Ahab.  Libretto is by Gene Sheer.  Patrick Summers conducts. Stage direction by Leonard Foglia. I’ll be attending a performance on May 8, as part of the annual convention of the Music Critics Association....