Classical Music Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations Page 17

BWW REVIEW: An Interview With Philly Pops Own “Rocky”- MAESTRO MICHAEL KRAJEWSKI at Kimmel Center
by Pati Buehler - October 13, 2017

With his signature Rocky entrance jog around Verizon Hall pumping up the crowd,well you know you're in for a unique musical experience....

BWW Review: SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY at Jacobs Music Center
by Ron Bierman - October 10, 2017

he San Diego Symphony's opening concert of the season featured a return appearance by Edo de Waart. The program consisted of Liszt's second piano concerto and Richard Strauss's Ein Heldenleben. De Waart has become a favorite guest conductor of orchestra members, and Symphony CEO Martha Gilmer. He co...

BWW Review: New York Philharmonic Performs Mahler's 5TH SYMPHONY at Geffen Hall, Lincoln Center
by Peter Danish - October 03, 2017

From the first notes of Christopher Martin's clarion call trumpet intro, it was clear the audience was in for something quite special. In no time at all Maestro Van Zweden put his own definitive signature on the mammoth five-movement excursion from the deepest darkest recesses to the most reflective...

BWW Review: Escape to Serenity with Toronto Symphony's BRAHMS GERMAN REQUIEM
by Taylor Long - September 29, 2017

Sometimes a striking contrast is just what is needed. The Toronto Symphony Orchestra presents Alexina Louie's Triple Concerto for Three Violins and Orchestra and Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem (BRAHMS GERMAN REQUIEM). Frantic tension meets wonderful tranquility in this double bill....

BWW Review: TORONTO SYMPHONY Season Launch Delivers Surprises
by Taylor Long - September 21, 2017

A night of surprises, enthusiastic artistry and brave new compositions graced the Roy Thomson Hall Tuesday night. The TORONTO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA opened its 2017-2018 season with a program that effortlessly mingled the classical with the contemporary. This is a year of big changes for the orchestra. ...

BWW Review: The San Diego Symphony's BOLERO BY THE BAY at the San Diego Embarcadero
by Ron Bierman - August 23, 2017

San Diego's waterfront on a cool summer night seems the perfect spot for exciting Latin-flavored music by Alberto Ginastera, Astor Piazzolla and Maurice Ravel. Conductor Sameer Patel opened with Four Dances from Estancia by Ginastera. After an overly careful treatment of the first dance. The slow se...

BWW Review: A Sensational Night of Music at the Toronto Symphony Orchestra's CARMINA BURANA
by Taylor Long - June 22, 2017

The heart-pounding 'O Fortuna' fills the Roy Thomson Hall to the brim with the sound of a full orchestra and over one hundred voices. The Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) presents the finale to their 'Decades Project: 1930-1939', CARMINA BURANA by Carl Orff, featuring the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, ...

BWW Review: MAINLY MOZART FESTIVAL at Balboa Theatre
by Ron Bierman - June 20, 2017

“Mozart in a party mood,” conductor Michael Francis announced as he introduced the composer's Contra Dances to begin the concert. And the same party mood prevailed throughout much of the evening. The first and third movements of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No.1 owe a lot to the most spirited of Mozar...

BWW Review: Toronto is Head Over Heels for HIBLA GERZMAVA
by Taylor Long - June 09, 2017

Russia seems to be everywhere these days. Conductor and violinist, Vladimir Spivakov and the Moscow Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra performed to an enthusiastic crowd at the Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto, Ontario. The evening was presented by Show One Productions, the same company that recently brought us ...

BWW Review: Netrebko and Mattei Spin Magic from Tchaikovsky's EUGENE ONEGIN at the Met
by Richard Sasanow - April 17, 2017

It's getting near the end of the season at the Met in New York and it's nice to see that they're still bringing out their “A” game, with a splendidly cast run of Tchaikovsky's EUGENE ONEGIN, with the wonderful Met orchestra under the sensitive baton of Robin Ticciati, music director at the Glyndebou...

BWW Review: An Off-Night in Seville with an Unexciting FIDELIO at the Met
by Richard Sasanow - March 27, 2017

Beethoven's only opera, FIDELIO, was the last of three operas this season at the Met to take place in Seville, after CARMEN and BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA. Third time definitely wasn't the charm....

BWW Review: Haitink Captivates Boston - Again
by Erica Miner - March 20, 2017

Boston Symphony Conductor Emeritus Bernard Haitink has sustained a mutually respectful relationship with the BSO and its audiences for over 40 years...

BWW Review: How to Do Beethoven and Mahler, Compliments of NY Philharmonic under Honeck and Soloist Barnatan
by Richard Sasanow - February 20, 2017

Audiences at the New York Philharmonic have been known to come for the soloists and then slip out for the symphony. There didn't seem to be a lot of that at last Thursday's performance led by maestro Manfred Honeck, which began with a wonderful Beethoven Piano Concerto #1 in C Major from Inon Barnat...

BWW Review: SONS OF SERENDIP at Wausau's Grand Theater
by Meredith Kreisa - February 20, 2017

Musical group SONS OF SERENDIP performed at Wausau's Grand Theater on February 17. As fate would have it, they gave an engaging and skilled performance....

BWW Review: AN EVENING WITH JOSHUA BELL AND THE NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
by Elliot Lanes - February 15, 2017

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BWW Review: To the Genius of Oscar Levant - FOR PIANO AND HARPO at Falcon Theatre
by Ellen Dostal - February 13, 2017

Pulling double duty as both playwright and star, Dan Castellaneta portrays Oscar Levant in his latest new work, FOR PIANO AND HARPO. Levant was a concert pianist, and contemporary of George Gershwin, whose genius gave him entree into the glittering worlds of classical music, Broadway, and Hollywood ...

BWW Review: Taking an ELIXIR OF LOVE with Orlando Philharmonic
by Kimberly Moy - February 06, 2017

Just in time for the dreaded Valentine's Day is Orlando Philharmonic's Opera program ELIXIR OF LOVE. This was my first trip to see Orlando Philharmonic and Opera Orlando. I was not disappointed and glad I found this local gem....

BWW Review: Daniel Barenboim and the Staatskapelle Berlin Perform Bruckner's 9th Symphony at Carnegie Hall
by Peter Danish - February 02, 2017

Majesty and Terror: Barenboim conducts Bruckner 9th...

BWW Interview: Jim Owen of CLASSICAL MYSTERY TOUR at Kimmel Center
by Pati Buehler - January 27, 2017

Philly celebrates the 50th Anniversary of The Beatles "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Album" with a special concert performance on Feb. 3, 4, 5....

BWW Review: PORTRAITS OF AMERICA with the National Symphony Orchestra
by Elliot Lanes - January 24, 2017

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BWW Review: BUTTERFLY LADIES BAND – CHINESE NEW YEAR CONCERT 2017 at Dunstan Playhouse
by Barry Lenny - January 23, 2017

It was a privilege to hear such venerable instruments played so extremely well....

BWW Review: Two Nights in Seville, Part 1 - with BARBIERE at the Met
by Richard Sasanow - January 23, 2017

It didn't strike me until the lights were going down for the start of CARMEN last Thursday that this was the second night in a row that Met audiences were being transported to the same town in sunny Spain. Truth be told, “sunny” is hardly an adjective I'd hardly use to describe Bizet's tragedy in th...

BWW Review: I Spy Prototype Festival's Chamber Opera, MATA HARI
by Richard Sasanow - January 16, 2017

The life and times of the spy-as-femme-fatale, Mata Hari, has always attracted the interest of film and stage artists. Now we have the Matt Marks-Paul Peers opera MATA HARI—which opened New York's fifth Prototype Festival last week and continues through Saturday the 14th—though I think of it as more...

BWW Review: Antonio Hart Dazzles Israel at Hot Jazz Series
by Ronit Suzan - January 09, 2017

In this month's 'Hot Jazz' series' jazz concert, 'Cannonball Adderley's Gold Saxophone', saxophonist Antonio Hart brought his alto saxophone to the Haifa stage for a final show after a week of touring the country with a most talented group of both American and local musicians....

BWW Review: CHRISTIAN GERHAHER MAHLER RECITAL at Alice Tully Hall
by Peter Danish - December 21, 2016

Christian Gerhaher Triumphs in all-Mahler recital at Tully Hall....