Classical Music Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations Page 24

BWW Reviews: ADELAIDE FESTIVAL 2015: GAVIN BRYARS ENSEMBLE WITH GUESTS Is A Complex Programme in Three Acts
by Barry Lenny - March 05, 2015

The arrangements were as diverse as the songs, ranging from spine-tingling bowed harmonics on bass, 'cello and violas, to fluid and fluent electric guitar solo...

BWW Reviews: Shaham Surmounts the Challenge of Unaccompanied Bach
by Erica Miner - March 02, 2015

ivolinist Gil Shaham pushed the envelope by programming three of these works in one evening...

BWW Reviews: That Voice, Voluminous and Voluptuous, Marks Mezzo Jamie Barton Debut at Zankel Hall
by Richard Sasanow - February 23, 2015

It's the wrong time of year to expect a hurricane in New York, but that didn't stop mezzo Jamie Barton from taking Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall by storm this week. With her warmth, sly sense of playfulness and a voice that just won't quit, Barton held the audience captive....

BWW Reviews: HGO's MAGIC FLUTE Hits Every Note
by Guest Blogger: Bryan-Keyth Wilson - February 17, 2015

I am taken back to the first Opera I saw as a kid and the pomp and circumstance with wearing a tux and walking to the lavish theatre; this was when I fell in love with classical music. Often times we hear opera and other classical art forms are inaccessible to the people, but Houston Grand Opera's E...

BWW Reviews: NYCB Dancers Prove Their Worth in ALL BACH
by Aaron Fallon - February 16, 2015

What determines an artistic institution's longevity? How does such an institution thrive after the social, political, and economic forces that engendered it have disappeared? Museums, orchestras, theater and dance companies face these questions as they struggle to succeed in the cultural Darwinism t...

BWW Reviews: With Mattei as the Lead and Gilbert at the Helm, GIOVANNI Settles the Score at the Met
by Richard Sasanow - February 09, 2015

I consider Mozart's DON GIOVANNI at the top of my list of favorite operas--the music starts to go through my head without much encouragement and gets stuck there. Yet, it's also one of the most problematic in performance, calling for a large group of A-list singers to do justice to the ripe and some...

BWW Reviews: The DOCTOR WHO SYMPHONIC SPECTACULAR Is A Feast For The Senses Delighting Fans Of All Ages
by Jade Kops - February 07, 2015

The DOCTOR WHO SYMPHONIC SPECTACULAR is just that, Spectacular. This new exploration of the music that has coloured the suspense and mystery of the popular TV drama is the latest live entertainment offering from the Doctor Who creators....

BWW Reviews: JASON ALEXANDER with Baltimore Symphony - What a Gifted Performer
by Charles Shubow - February 02, 2015

Conductor Michael Krajewski subs for BSO Pops Conductor Jack Everly...

BWW Reviews: NY Philharmonic Flexes Its Operatic Muscles with Verdi REQUIEM
by Richard Sasanow - January 28, 2015

With all its money problems, why hasn't the Met thought about doing some lesser known works in concert? Or, for that matter, marshalled some of its glamorous resources to put on the Verdi REQUIEM? For the time being, we have to be grateful for the New York Philharmonic and its Music Director Alan Gi...

BWW Reviews: DOCTOR WHO SYMPHONIC SPECTACULAR Was Almost as Good as a Ride in the TARDIS
by Barry Lenny - January 27, 2015

This was an evening that delighted every Whovian in the vast audience....

BWW Reviews: PENNY Finds Voice at Washington National Opera Premiere
by Jeffrey Walker - January 27, 2015

The idea of finding your voice is a two way street in the world premiere one-hour opera PENNY. Composer Douglas Pew and librettist Dara Weinberg have created a succinct, lyrical piece in which their title character discovers her talent for music and is able to communicate and take charge of her life...

BWW Reviews: CIRQUE DE LA SYMPHONIE Brings Magic to Columbus Stage
by Amanda Etchison - January 26, 2015

The Ohio Theatre's gilded halls were transformed into a dazzling display of majesty and mystery in Columbus Symphony's performance of 'Cirque de la Symphonie' on Saturday, Jan. 24....

BWW Reviews: Hallelujah. The Collegiate Chorale Brings MESSIAH (Not) to Carnegie Hall
by Richard Sasanow - December 20, 2014

A funny thing happened on the way to Handel's MESSIAH: That would be Monty Python's LIFE OF BRIAN, transformed from the film by Eric Idle (the jokes) and John Du Prez (the music) into NOT THE MESSIAH (HE'S A VERY NAUGHTY BOY). This comic oratorio resulted in a very jolly evening, which The Collegiat...

BWW Reviews: TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA Opens 'The Christmas Attic' at Consol Energy Center
by Greg Kerestan - December 17, 2014

The legendary hard rock Christmas spectacular brings two shows for the price of one, plus lasers, dragons and real fake snow....

BWW Reviews: DOHNANYI DOES DVORAK at Avery Fisher Hall
by Peter Danish - December 17, 2014

The only thing missing from the opening week of the New York Philharmonic's 'Dohnanyi/Dvorak' festival was Dohnanyi. The legendary conductor was laid out by a bad case of the flu, causing him to miss the first performance of the series. 32 year old Krzysztof Urbanski, the music director of the India...

BWW Reviews: Heigh Ho, Silver. GUGLIELMO TELL Rides into Carnegie Hall from Turin with Soprano Meade under Noseda
by Richard Sasanow - December 10, 2014

As 'king of the overture,' Rossini certainly knew how to put an audience in a good mood and his GUGLIELMO TELL--better known as WILLIAM TELL--is no exception. With an elaborate introduction that most Americans over a certain age know from “The Lone Ranger” serials and other themes used in decades of...

BWW Reviews: NEW WORLD SYMPHONY Caps a Program of Virtuoso Performances
by Herbert Paine - December 02, 2014

JoAnn Falletta guest conducts the Phoenix Symphony with authority, conviction, and intensity. Dvo?ak's Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95, From the New World., is in the best of hands. Chloe Hanslip delivers a virtuoso performance of Prokofiev's Concerto No. 1 in D Major for Violin and Orchestra, Op....

BWW Reviews:NSO POPS: AN EVENING WITH SUTTON FOSTER at The Kennedy Center
by Ellen Burns - December 01, 2014

Friday's NSO Pops Evening with Sutton Foster brought a bounty of talent to the Kennedy Center's Concert Hall stage, and, wisely, paired it with a program that spanned styles, mediums, and musical genres. Some of the most appealing moments were brought to us care of the charming personalities of Sut...

BWW Reviews: TROUT EN FIN! Presented Youthful Works By Great Composers
by Barry Lenny - November 24, 2014

There is something about certain pieces of music that attract nicknames. Two of these three works have names attached....

BWW Reviews: RELATIVITY Explores Works By Pairs Of Composers Who Are Related In Some Way
by Barry Lenny - November 24, 2014

The change of program necessitated by the new line up was still an impressive evening....

BWW Reviews: TEATRO GRATTACIELO CELEBRATES 20TH ANNIVERSARY at Skirball Center For Performing Arts
by Peter Danish - November 20, 2014

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BWW Reviews: BSO Takes Strathmore on a Journey Through Russia
by Itai Yasur - November 19, 2014

From Tchaikovsky to Rachmaninoff to Shostakovich, the BSO treated the Music Center at Strathmore to a musical journey that bridged romantic and contemporary Russian music....

BWW Reviews: Arizona Opera's RIGOLETTO Is Grand and Gripping
by Herbert Paine - November 18, 2014

Arizona Opera's production of Rigoletto, directed by Fenlon Lamb, is a noble and well-constructed effort in portraying the ironic misjudgments of its main characters. It is gifted with notable performances by Peter Volpe as Sparafucile, the assassin; Joseph Barron as Count Monterone; Beth Lytwynec a...

BWW Reviews: Playful Piano & Puppetry in Debussy's 'La Boîte à Joujoux' at Castleton
by Andrew White - November 13, 2014

The Castleton Festival, a longtime fixture on the classical music scene located a comfortable hour and a half from Washington, DC, recently celebrated Debussy's playful side with a full performance of his piece for piano, La Boite a Joujoux ('The Toy Box'). Pianist Orion Weiss, working with Directo...

BWW Reviews: Winter Opera St. Louis Opens a Brilliant 'Le Nozze di Figaro'
by Steve Callahan - November 12, 2014

Winter Opera kicks off its eighth season with a simply heavenly production of 'Le Nozze di Figaro'. It's the perfect thing for one's first introduction to opera, or for turning a tentative love of opera into a deep and true commitment....