Classical Music Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations Page 16

BWW Review: ORPHEUS CHAMBER ORCHESTRA at Carnegie Hall
by Joanna Barouch - February 06, 2018

An Orpheus concert can always be counted on to be a rich, exciting experience for the audience. The February 3rd 2018 concert was certainly no exception....

BWW Review: NY City Opera's Moving, Lively CRUZAR and 'What is an Opera?'
by Richard Sasanow - January 31, 2018

In many areas of the arts in New York, January is a quiet month. But in the opera world, the last few weeks certainly have been jumping. It has also been a fine time for asking 'What is an Opera?' For me, January started with Prototype 2018's ACQUANETTA and ended this past weekend--with many in betw...

BWW Review: CANDIDE at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
by Maria Nockin - January 29, 2018

On January 27, 2018, Los Angeles Opera presented the Bernstein work at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion with a cast that included Emmy-winning television star Kelsey Grammer. He is best remembered for his two-decade-long portrayal of psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane on the situation comedies Cheers, Wing...

BWW Review: THE SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA at The Jacobs Music Center
by Ron Bierman - January 27, 2018

Conducting with a combination of precise hand signals and smooth sweeping arm gestures, Jader Bignamini went all-out to please and entertain in his guest appearance with the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, and he succeeded. The familiar works he selected seemed to form a spectacular five-movement conc...

BWW Review: KING'S SINGERS: GOLD at St. Ignatius Loyola
by Cole Grissom - January 26, 2018

Ok, y'all…I'm going to be honest. A cappella - or as my aunt, with her charming ignorance, would call it 'acapulco singing' - is just not my jam. Groups that sing sacred 'hits' without vibrato has never been a way I'd choose to spend an afternoon. Maybe it's because I suck at this type of singing? U...

BWW Review: Jonas Kaufmann Returns to Carnegie and the Audience Rejoices
by Richard Sasanow - January 24, 2018

After a string of cancellations--including the Met's new TOSCA--tenor Jonas Kaufmann made a triumphant return to New York last Saturday at Carnegie Hall, in a recital with his frequent collaborator Helmut Deutsch. Of course, he could have been singing the telephone book and this audience would have ...

BWW Review: JANINE JANSEN at CARNEGIE HALL - The Perfect End to a Weekend Celebrating Women
by Cole Grissom - January 23, 2018

On the weekend of the women's march, it was refreshing to see a female at the helm of Carnegie's Sunday afternoon programming. Janine Jansen owned the stage with strength and conviction, cementing the importance of the female perspective in life, art, and business proving the perfect cap to an imp...

BWW Review: ROYAL CONCERTGEBOUW Brings Wagner & Bruckner to Carnegie Hall
by Peter Danish - January 23, 2018

BWW Review: ROYAL CONCERTGEBOUW WAGNER AND BRUCKNER at Carnegie Hall...

BWW REVIEW: Sydney Symphony Orchestra Presents A Beautiful Backing To MEOW MEOW'S PANDEMONIUM.
by Jade Kops - January 23, 2018

Australian cabaret performer Melissa Madden Gray, otherwise known as Meow Meow, returns to the Sydney Opera House to join forces with the wonderful Sydney Symphony Orchestra (SSO) for MEOW MEOW'S PANDEMONIUM. Under the baton of conductor Iain Grandage, who also worked with Madden Grey to compose a ...

BWW Review: SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY at Jacobs Music Center
by Ron Bierman - January 19, 2018

Venezuelan conductor Rafael Payare opened his San Diego Symphony Orchestra guest appearance with Berlioz's Roman Carnival Overture. Payare conducted with vigorous dramatic motions, and the orchestra responded by bringing the work's romantic themes and stirring gestures to life. Principle English hor...

BWW Review: NEW JERSEY SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, WITH PIANIST GEORGE LI at Bergen PAC
by Peter Danish - January 14, 2018

Occasionally a concert of stalwart popular favorites reminds you of what made them so special in the first place - providing a fresh look at a familiar landscape. The program presented by the New Jersey Symphony, under the baton of Musical Director Xian Zhang, at Bergen PAC on January 13th, did just...

BWW Review: CONTACT! at New York Philharmonic And National Sawdust - A Roll of Duct Tape Made me Cry
by Cole Grissom - January 09, 2018

To be completely fair, modern day compositions, stereotypically, leave me wanting more. I can respect and appreciate the intellectual prowess required for their execution, but usually that's all I'm left with--respect. That, and an acute exhaustion from being led through the densely populated forest...

BWW Review: The Met's New TOSCA Tries for Beauty but Disappoints
by Richard Sasanow - January 05, 2018

The trials and tribulations of the Met's new take on Puccini's TOSCA have been well documented--with all three principals replaced along with two conductors--and it would be nice to be able to say that everything came out happily-ever-after. Alas. There's nothing wrong with the company's surprise-fr...

BWW Review: JAMIE BARTON is the G*ddamned Diva Opera Deserves
by Cole Grissom - December 19, 2017

I've always wondered what it would be like to swim in a pool of maple syrup and now I know. From the minute Ms. Barton opened her mouth, she unleashed a rolling tone that poured over her audience, soaking them in the sugary, maple tones of her delicious mezzo. We were drenched but in the way an i...

BWW Review: DAVID DANZMAYR CONDUCTS THE SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY at Jacobs Music Center
by Ron Bierman - December 08, 2017

Conductor David Danzmayr opened his guest appearance with the San Diego Symphony Orchestra with Mid-20th century Polish composer Gra?yna Bacewicz's Overture of 1943. It was a intelligent choice; her music deserves to be programmed more often. Although she received many awards and commissions during ...

BWW Review: Deck the Halls with Handel's MESSIAH at Saint Thomas's in New York
by Richard Sasanow - December 08, 2017

Nothing says Christmas in New York like a performance of Handel's great sacred oratorio MESSIAH--okay, for some it's the windows at one of the big department stores--with some outings decidedly religious, like this week's pair of wonderful performances at Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue. Featurin...

BWW Review: Vive L'ENFANT! From Juilliard's Troops with Conductor Villaume at Alice Tully Hall
by Richard Sasanow - December 07, 2017

The Juilliard Orchestra and Opera beat the Met to the punch this week, featuring French conductor Emmanuel Villaume in a superb concert of Ravel and Debussy, including a lovely performance of Ravel's short opera, L'ENFANT ET LES SORTILEGES, with its clever libretto by the French novelist, Colette. I...

BWW Review: Seduced by the Music of Love at the TSO's BEST OF TCHAIKOVSKY
by Taylor Long - December 06, 2017

If love had a sound, it would take the form of the colourful melodies pervading the air during the TSO's BEST OF TCHAIKOVSKY. Led by guest conductor Keri-Lynn Wilson, the TSO is showcasing a program of two Tchaikovsky favourites and one rare gem, especially for cellist Joseph Johnson. Wilson demonst...

BWW Review: Charlotte Symphony Demonstrates Their Seasoning in BEETHOVEN
by Perry Tannenbaum - November 30, 2017

An autumn of BEETHOVEN presented by Christopher Warren-Green and the Charlotte Symphony ends triumphantly with his great VIOLIN CONCERTO, played with sensitivity and virtuosity by Benjamin Beilman....

BWW Review: LA STRANIERA at Washington Concert Opera
by Molly Korroch - November 28, 2017

Washington Concert Opera brings a nicely performed La Straniera to Lisner Auditorium nearly two hundred years after its premiere at La Scala Milan. Vincenzo Bellini's first Milanese success took place in 1827 in the form of Il pirata. Two years later, he stood in a shadow of his own making. He neede...

BWW Review: MARIO FRANGOULIS at Rose Theater Jazz At Lincoln Center
by Peter Danish - November 08, 2017

Mario Frangoulis has always defied categorization. After all, what do you call a singer who is equally at home in rock, pop, jazz, latin, swing, Broadway, classical and opera?...

BWW Review: EMMA MATTHEWS, JACQUELINE DARK, AND TAHU MATHESON at Ukaria Cultural Centre
by Barry Lenny - October 31, 2017

Two of Australia's favourite artists, Emma Matthews and Jacqueline Dark....

BWW Review: Forget Springsteen - Argerich Was the Rock-Star in Town at Carnegie Hall
by Richard Sasanow - October 24, 2017

Though the classical music season is still young, it'll be tough for anything that lies ahead to compete with Friday night's performance at Carnegie Hall by Martha Argerich, who seemed to be having the time of her life, while showing total skill and control. The audience was hers from the get-go, st...

BWW Review: CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA IN SAN DIEGO at the Jacobs Music Center
by Ron Bierman - October 21, 2017

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is thought by many to be the best in the United States and among the top five in the world. The orchestra's performance at San Diego's Jacob's Music Center provided absolutely no support for a contrary view. The program consisted of Schubert's 'Unfinished' eighth symph...

BWW Review: TSO Honours Maureen Forrester with Howard Shore Premiere and Mahler Favourite
by Taylor Long - October 20, 2017

One of the greatest Canadian voices in classical music, contralto Maureen Forrester was a legend. The Toronto Symphony Orchestra paid tribute to the beloved singer, in a concert of new works for Mezzo-soprano and one of Forrester's most memorable recital pieces, Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde (The S...