Music

OperaHub’s Christmas Dinner

December 8, 2012

I’M late with a report on OperaHub‘s recent production of Hindemith’s The Long Christmas Dinner, based on a libretto by Thornton Wilder. I haven’t caught up with OperaHub in a while, whose youthful, witty, intelligent, and savvy spirit manages to make opera pretty damn cool and accessible. Their productions are free (not to say they […]

Music

The Midsummer What?

November 18, 2012

Highest props to the formidable Gil Rose to picking up a production of Tippet’s Midsummer Marriage left in the dust by Opera Boston’s demise and putting it on in a not unambitious semi-staging at Jordan Hall. I’ve long maintained that Gil Rose and his band, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, is the one classical (perhaps […]

Music

My Weekend at Tanglewood

August 8, 2012

Itook last Friday off work, rented a car, and drove out to Lenox with my girlfriend for a relaxing weekend in the Berkshires, where the clean air and small town quaintness made it difficult to return to urban apartment life. We booked two nights at the Summer White House, a small B&B pleasantly situated on […]

Music

Kicking It with K2

March 1, 2012

A Far Cry’s recent program featured string duo K2 (A Far Cry bassist Karl Doty and his childhood friend Kip Jones) in the premiere of Jones’ concerto “Three Views of a Mountain.”

Music

Puppets & Performance Art: 69°S (The Shackleton Project)

February 9, 2012

Antarctic artiness at the Paramount.

Music

Three Pianos and a Little Schubert at the A.R.T.

December 17, 2011

The A.R.T. throws a killer Schubertiade.

Music

Boston Premiere of Laurie Anderson’s “Delusion”

September 28, 2011

John Stephen Dwyer reviews Laurie Anderson’s new touring show Delusion.

Music

Audio Slideshow: Discovery Ensemble

September 25, 2011

Marisa Gjurgevich speaks with Discovery Ensemble’s Music Director Courtney Lewis.

Music

On Porgy and Bess

September 11, 2011

On the A.R.T.’s “Porgy and Bess” and adaptation.

Music

Midsummer Dreamscapes: Boston Lyric Opera’s “Dream”

May 6, 2011

BLO closes out its season with a lucid production of Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Music

Sex and the City (of Rome): BLO’s “Agrippina”

March 17, 2011

Handel’s “Agrippina” describes the title character’s attempt to install her son Nero as emperor, or at least heir, to her husband (and uncle) Claudius’ throne. You might remember something similar from the last episode of I, Claudius (and Claudius the God), but Handel’s librettist Cardinal Vincenzo Grimani had his own take on things and it […]

Music

Meta-Minimalism and OperaHub’s “The Four-Note Opera”

March 13, 2011

It’s long past the short run of OperaHub‘s production of Tom Johnson’s 1972 The Four-Note Opera, but I owe a few words to this hilarious show from a company that’s doing big things in the fringe opera scene. This production marked the close of their season, as they move to rename and re-orient themselves (and […]

Music

Death in Atlantis: The BLO”s “Emperor of Atlantis”

February 5, 2011

Boston Lyric Opera is nailing it with its Opera Annex productions. Last year’s Turn of the Screw was a hugely anticipated smash hit and this season’s production of Victor Ullmann’s The Emperor of Atlantis is something of a surprise hit, continuing the record of sold-out runs. Obviously, the BCA’s Calderwood Pavilion doesn’t make quite as […]

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