Reexamining opera, one classic at a timeDavid Lang’s “Prisoner of the State” reworks Beethoven for the New York Philharmonic. Aug 29 26August 29, 2026Article at Washington Post
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra musicians officially locked outManagement makes cancellation of summer season official by canceling players’ salaries and health care until Sept. 9. Aug 28 26August 28, 2026Article at Washington Post
Opera plays its Trump card: Yes, the president is showing up in VerdiIn Europe, Australia and even the U.S., you can see the blond wig and long red tie onstage Aug 28 26August 28, 2026Article at Washington Post
Building diversity into the mandate: How NOI trains for 21st-century orchestrasFrom new recordings to a quartet in a bar, works by Piston, Gershwin and Jessie Montgomery point the way. Aug 28 26August 28, 2026Article at Washington Post
The Soulful Symphony reinvents itself, elevating music’s American rootsVisionary founder Darin Atwater on his orchestra’s new home at Merriweather Post. Aug 28 26August 28, 2026Article at Washington Post
At the Forever Mozart mini-festival, beloved composer makes everyone look goodThe National Symphony Orchestra showcased excellent principals to start the three-part concert series. Aug 28 26August 28, 2026Article at Washington Post
Dame Margaret Price, Welsh leading opera soprano of the late 20th century, dies at 69Anne Midgette’s obituary of the great Welsh soprano Dame Margaret Price. Feb 29 24February 29, 2024Article at Washington Post
Leon Fleisher, sublime pianist undaunted by mysterious hand malady, dies at 92Leon Fleisher, the brilliant American pianist who was in his 30s when fingers in his right hand suddenly stopped working — a fateful twist that cut short his playing career — and for three decades was one of the great enigmas of the classical-music… Aug 03 20August 03, 2020Article at Washington Post
Furloughed Musicians and A New Digital Frontier: Performing Arts in the COVID-19 ShutdownGo online and you’ll find them, the artists on your screen. Theaters and concert halls are dark across the globe, but in apartments and parks and empty churches, people are performing and streaming the results online. Established companies from the… Apr 27 20April 27, 2020Article at Vanity Fair
In classical music it was a year of building, deconstructing and, occasionally, rescuingEvery year has highs and lows. Sometimes they’re even connected. In 2019, classical music wrestled with topical issues and economic concerns that were reflected in some of the year’s most significant triumphs. It was the year of new flexible,… Dec 10 19December 10, 2019Article at Washington Post
Michael Tilson Thomas was once the ‘bad boy of classical music.’ Now, at 74, he still conducts with childlike delight.He wears his elder-statesman mantle lightly, even with a kind of incredulity. He’s “MTT,” music director of the San Francisco Symphony, co-founder of the New World Symphony in Florida, sometime-leader of dozens of major orchestras around the world,… Dec 06 19December 06, 2019Article at Washington Post
It’s my last review as The Post’s classical music critic. Here are my parting thoughts on the NSO.“The magic word tonight is ‘Intermezzo,’ ” said Gianandrea Noseda, with the air of a “Sesame Street” host announcing that this episode was brought to you by the letter C — the same mixture, that is, of mild, clean humor and didactic clarity. Some… Nov 22 19November 22, 2019Article at Washington Post
National Symphony Orchestra’s ‘Tristan’ was lacking in D.C. They made up for it in New York.Sometimes ensembles just need a trip to New York to focus. This is a perennial problem at the Kennedy Center, where touring orchestras often turn in very good performances just before they go to Carnegie Hall and give truly terrific… Nov 18 19November 18, 2019Article at Washington Post
A new leader and new sounds at the Met: Philip Glass’s striking ‘Akhnaten’On Friday afternoon, the Metropolitan Opera announced insider news with a huge impact on the audience’s experience. Jonathan Friend, the company’s artistic administrator for more than three decades, will step down at the end of this season, and… Nov 17 19November 17, 2019Article at Washington Post
During ‘In War & Peace,’ Joyce DiDonato offers an unconvincing recital masked as theaterIn today’s opera world, singers — even famous ones — can feel like cogs in a wheel. It’s not an uncommon scenario to have a young director with limited experience pontificating on what an opera means and how it should be acted to singers who have… Nov 10 19November 10, 2019Article at Washington Post
An ailing Jonathan Biss valiantly works his way through program of Beethoven sonatasBeethoven’s 32 piano sonatas are a library of masterworks spanning a lifetime of styles and artistic growth. In recent years, it has become popular to hear them all at one go, either in a sequence of concerts or a single marathon day. The pianist… Nov 04 19November 04, 2019Article at Washington Post
Maurice Sendak’s ‘Magic Flute’ brings storybook flair — and familiarity — to WNOThe opera repertoire, for its fans, is what picture books are for children: stacks of much-loved tales worn soft from numerous retellings. Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” is opera’s most beloved fairy tale — a prince and princess and a dragon; light… Nov 03 19November 03, 2019Article at Washington Post
Whistles, rumbles, bleeps: New Icelandic music sounds like no string quartet you’ve ever heardAnna Thorvaldsdottir’s music is about spaces. The Icelandic composer creates small worlds for the ear to inhabit, rather than musical narratives for an audience to follow. It’s music of meditation, less driven by lines than by individual sonic… Oct 30 19October 30, 2019Article at Washington Post
Russell Thomas headlines bleak ‘Otello’ at WNO“Esultate,” exult: It’s the first word out of the mouth of Verdi’s Otello, a passionate tenor with lungs of steel, and a benchmark for one of the hardest roles in the repertory. At the Kennedy Center’s Opera House on Saturday, Washington National… Oct 27 19October 27, 2019Article at Washington Post
Neglected visionary Agnes Denes altered our landscape with her art. At 88, she’s finally getting her due.The signature image of the artist Agnes Denes shows her standing in a field of golden grain, with skyscrapers in the background. It’s not just a snapshot; it’s a record of a work of art. “Wheatfield — A Confrontation” involved planting and tending… Oct 24 19October 24, 2019Article at Washington Post
