Music
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Michael Feinstein and Barbara Cook Back Home in Indiana
Celebrating The American Songbook at Carmel’s Palladium
By: - Mar 26th, 2013During our meeting of the American Theatre Critic's Association we visited Carmel, Indiana for an evening of The Great American Songbook with its Ambassador, Michael Feinstein and guest artist, Barbara Cook. For the audience of 1,600 filling the Palladium it was a love fest.
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A Wagner Miscellany at the BSO
Orchestra Commemorates Bicentennial
By: - Mar 25th, 2013The BSO has entrusted Italian maestro Daniele Gatti to conduct programs devoted to Wagner and Verdi during their bicentennial years. Gatti reveals himself to be a fine-tuner of a conductor, interested in the smallest elements of the work. The result can be impressive but a little cold.
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Crescendo Concerts April 13 and 14
Interpreting Nature in China and the US
By: - Mar 23rd, 2013The first choral work commissioned for Crescendo is an original musical compostition based on the "West Lake" poem cycle by the Chinese poet and statesman Ouyang Xiu, who lived from 1007 - 1072 CE. The performances will occur at First Congregational Church, 251 Main St., Great Barrington, MA and Trinity Church - Lime Rock, 484 Lime Rock Rd., Lakeville, CT.
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Joan Baez and Indigo Girls at Tanglewood
Shed Performance on Sunday, June 23
By: - Mar 18th, 2013American folk singer Joan Baez, and folk rock duo the Indigo Girls, have been added to the 2013 Tanglewood line-up, with a special concert in the Shed on Sunday, June 23, 2013, at 2:30 p.m. Joan Baez and the Indigo Girls last performed at Tanglewood on August 30, 1990. Also performing this year will be Barenaked Ladies, Ben Folds Five and Guster with support from Boothby Graffoe as part of their 30 city “Last Summer on Earth Tour†on Tuesday, July 23, 2013, at 7 p.m.
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EarSay-Emma Jane & Christopher Crosby Morris
Another Best of 2012 and an Echoing Refrain from Decades Past.
By: - Mar 17th, 2013In this posting the pairing may seem unlikely at first. One artist is male, a senior citizen, an experienced artist with a well developed aesthetic while the other is female with the 21st century making up the majority of her life, little experience in comparison yet an aesthetic that while still evolving is already firmly anchored in the soul of a visionary artist.
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Modern Lovers vs Aerosmith
Roadrunner or Dream On for Massachusetts State Song
By: - Mar 16th, 2013A well-meaning state representative introduced a bill that would have made Modern Lovers’ “Roadrunner†the official state rock song of Massachusetts. Now, a pair of Boston-area representatives have introduced a rival bill to make Aerosmith’s “Dream On†the official Commonwealth rocker. Here's a bit of vintage show and tell about the bands.
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Joe Rosen Showcases Piano Prodigy
Maxim Lando Plays Like a Developed Musician
By: - Mar 14th, 2013Another fantastic afternoon concert at generous Joseph Rosen’s, just around the corner from Carnegie. Rosen, in addition to innovative programming which often introduces deserving but not well-known composers, also showcases up and coming talent.
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Freihofer’s Saratoga Jazz Festival
Program for June 29 and 30
By: - Mar 12th, 2013Following the successful celebration of the festival’s 35th anniversary in 2012, this year’s festival headliners include Tony Bennett, Buddy Guy, David Sanborn & Bob James, McCoy Tyner Quartet featuring special guest John Scofield, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Kevin Eubanks, Gregory Porter, and Rudresh Mahanthappa among others.
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April Is Jazz Appreciation Month
Berkshires Jazz, Inc. Announces Special Events
By: - Mar 12th, 2013Berkshires Jazz, Inc. announces several new events that celebrate April as Jazz Appreciation Month, a long-standing initiative of the Smithsonian Institution. The spring programming spans the timeframe from late March to early May, and includes CD release concerts featuring the Claire Daly Quartet and the Jeff Holmes Quartet.
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Norma Arrives at the Washington National Opera
Angela Meade and Dolora Zajick Mesmerize
By: - Mar 11th, 2013Norma is the long distance run for great bel canto sopranos and mezzos too. By that high standard, Angela Meade and Dolora Zajick hit their marks as the Washington National Opera mounted a new production of the Bellini opera.
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Wilco By Request June 22
Will Perform Songs That Stump the Band
By: - Mar 08th, 2013On Friday, June 21 at the Solid Sound Festival at MASS MoCA in North Adams, MA, Wilco will perform a unique concert comprised exclusively of fan-requested songs, including covers. The band will take song submissions in advance and promises to learn fifty of those songs for the festival.
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British Rocker Alvin Lee Dead at 68
Inspired Birth of Gonzo Journalism
By: - Mar 07th, 2013A 1970 concert at Harvard Stadium by Ten Years After inspired the first published use of the word gonzo. We recall the birth of Gonzo Journalism on the occasion of the passing of British rock star Alvin Lee at 68.
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The Hit Men at Colonial March 21
Original Stars from Frankie Valli & The Four seasons
By: - Feb 27th, 2013Bringing beloved classics to life on the Colonial Stage, The Hit Men, featuring original stars from Frankie Valli & The Four seasons, perform live at The Colonial Theatre on March 21 at 7:30pm.
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Met Live in HD Features 10 Productions Next Season
James Levine Returns with Falstaff
By: - Feb 27th, 2013Met Music Director James Levine returns to the podium, leading a new production of Verdi’s Falstaff (December 14), directed by Robert Carsen, and the first Live in HD performance of Mozart’s Così fan tutte (April 26). The series opens on October 5 with Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, starring Anna Netrebko, Mariusz Kwiecien, and Piotr Beczala in a new production conducted by Valery Gergiev and directed by Deborah Warner.
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The Philadelphia Orchestra at SPAC
Saratoga Performing Arts Center August 7 to 24
By: - Feb 25th, 2013The Philadelphia Orchestra, one of the preeminent orchestras in the world, will return to its summer stage at Saratoga Performing Arts Center from August 7 – 24, to present an extraordinary season of classical and contemporary programs. Highlights of the season
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A Meistersinger for the Ages at Lyric Chicago
Johan Botha Shows His Stuff
By: - Feb 22nd, 2013David McVicar’s Meistersinger, produced originally at Glynebourne and shared by San Francisco and the Lyric Opera of Chicago, is a smashing presentation of this Wagner opera, often cited as one of the great works of world culture, and for good reason. In its humanity, wit, the wonderful orchestral sounds and its evocation of the longest day of the year in Nurnberg in the early 19th century Meistersinger is glorious.
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Green Valley Recreation Concert Series
Providing Arts To The Arizona Community
By: - Feb 20th, 2013In the last three years in which I have returned to reviewing performances I have seen a number of different nonprofit venues each different from any other. But this month, I confess, I came upon one whose origin I find stranger than most. It all started when I was working on my recent review of the latest Good Lovelies CD .
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A Great Parsifal at the Metropolitan Opera
Rene Pape is Brilliant
By: - Feb 17th, 2013Wagner called his last opera Parsifal a stage consecrating festival play, not an opera at all. In this brilliant staging at the Metropolitan Opera, a joint effort with the Opera National de Lyon and Canadian Opera Company, just the right tone is struck for Parsifal’s quest. Francois Giraud clearly understands opera, the mission of a designer to put the music front and forward.
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The Solid Sound 2013 Update
Wilco at Mass MoCA June 21 to 23
By: - Feb 16th, 2013Joining the three-day Wilco celebration at Mass MoCA will be the acclaimed singer and songwriter Neko Case, indie-rock heroes Yo La Tengo, jazz adventurists Medeski, Martin and Wood, Duluth's low-fi darlings Low and a reunited Dream Syndicate whose Solid Sound performance will mark the full band's first North American concert in 25 years.
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Saratoga Chamber Music Festival
Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) August 4 to 20
By: - Feb 11th, 2013The Escher String Quartet – hailed by the Washington Post “as one of the top young quartets†in the world today will open the 2013 Season of the Saratoga Chamber Music Festival on Sunday, August 4 in the Spa Little Theatre.
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Andris Nelsons at the New York Philharmonic
On Wish List for Boston Symphony Orchestra
By: - Feb 08th, 2013Andris Nelsons, who helms the Birmingham Symphony in England, is everywhere these days. He can pick and choose his venues, but the big, tantalizing question is Boston. He conducted there last week and early this week and reports that the acoustics in Symphony Hall are superb. Members of the BSO do not hide their enthusiasm for this thoroughly musical young man.
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Boston Lyric Opera' s Clemency
No Mercy for James MacMillan's New Work
By: - Feb 07th, 2013In a seriously mistaken co-commision, Boston Lyric Opera, presents a parable about Abraham and Sarah by the Scottish composer James MacMillan that suggests that suicide killing is okay, if the victims are sinners.
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Ear Say: More CDs
The Haunted Windchimes and Bellowhead
By: - Feb 04th, 2013Two wild extremes each in their own way quite satisfying CDs comprise the pair we report on today. One hails from the mountains of Colorado and the other from the British Isles.
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The Steve Miller Band Tanglewood July 29
Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me! August 29
By: - Feb 04th, 2013Steve Miller Band performs on July 29. The witty and fast-paced radio program Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! appears in the Shed on Thursday, August 29. Let the good times roll.
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Renee Fleming and Susan Graham Sing French Songs
Two Reigning Divas Reduce Symphony Hall To Their Personal Salon,
By: - Feb 04th, 2013In a program of French salon music, Renée Fleming and Susan Graham give the vocal recital a shot of adrenalin. Both Fleming and Graham are endowed with big warm voices, creamy or buttery or honeyed - whatever comparison you prefer. They sing together like a hand in a glove, their voices intertwining so that you can’t tell where one ends and the other begins.
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