In Review
Pinned posts
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Treemonisha at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis
Treemonisha at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis
Opera Theatre of Saint Louis’s forty-eighth festival season included works by Joplin, Floyd, Puccini and Mozart.
In review posts
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Ein Deutsches Requiem at Carnegie Hall
Ein Deutsches Requiem at Carnegie Hall
"This was the kind of ideal performance one imagines when contemplating this monumental work, with the highs at their most terrific, the lows at their most serene and the dynamics in between carefully calibrated. It’s rare to hear choral and orchestral forces so well-matched—then again, these ensembles work together year-round."
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Hugh Cutting & Orchestra of St. Luke's at Zankel Hall
Hugh Cutting & Orchestra of St. Luke's at Zankel Hall
"With his unruly mop of blond hair, cherubic face and sweet, milky countertenor, countertenor High Cutting presented a boyish demeanor, but his musicianship during this evening of Bach and Handel was elegant and evolved."
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"Secret Byrd" presented by Death of Classical
"Secret Byrd" presented by Death of Classical
"The singers and instrumentalists all gave excellent performances. It is a real treat to hear five-part polyphony sung one to a part (and well sung) at such close proximity. The ensembles played very well in tune with each other in music that is not always so easy. This was an effective and compelling dramatic presentation, as well as a reminder of our hope for a world in which people’s differences of belief are tolerated and respected."
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The Harlem Chamber Players at Miller Theatre at Columbia University
The Harlem Chamber Players at Miller Theatre at Columbia University
"The Harlem Chamber Players celebrated their fifteenth anniversary at Columbia University’s Miller Theatre. Damien Sneed conducted the diverse, enthusiastic and talented orchestra, accompanying five singers of color who performed a mix of arias from the standard repertoire and works by Black composers."
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Tomasz Konieczny & Lech Napierala at the Kosciuszko Foundation
Tomasz Konieczny & Lech Napierala at the Kosciuszko Foundation
"With deft piano accompaniment, Konieczny brought to bear more legato than he had as the Holländer over an orchestra, and within the realm of the technically possible he observed the sung songs’ dynamic markings. But headiness and swift vocal maneuvering play little part in his voice's current make-up, which limited his effectiveness in some numbers."
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Alcina at Caramoor
Alcina at Caramoor
"This Alcina is not a profound work: it has none of the dramatic complexity of Monteverdi’s contemporaneous operas. But the music is extremely diverting. Caccini’s score works its own kind of sorcery, in lilting dance movements and eloquent recitatives. The composer’s setting of text is especially compelling: the vocal lines are characterful and expressive, and governed by the cadences of human speech."
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“Great” Mass in C Minor & Dhikra at the Mostly Mozart Festival
“Great” Mass in C Minor & Dhikra at the Mostly Mozart Festival
"This year marks conductor Louis Langrée’s twenty-first and final year with the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra. As a nod to one of his first concerts, which paired Indo-Persian music with Mozart’s Requiem, Langrée’s July 25 Mostly Mozart program coupled the composer’s unfinished 'Great' Mass in C Minor with Dhikra, a world premiere by Iraqi–American composer and musician Amir ElSaffar."
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The Met Orchestra at Carnegie Hall
The Met Orchestra at Carnegie Hall
"Does an opera orchestra play a tone poem with more narrative thrust than a symphony orchestra? It seemed so with the Met Orchestra's performance of Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet. Yannick Nézet-Séguin achieved a naturalness in transitions here that was lacking in the performance of Bernstein’s suite of dances from West Side Story, while the premiere of Matthew Aucoin's Heath (King Lear sketches) showed canny spatial manipulation of the orchestral texture."