Oct 26, 2024 · Don’t meet your heroes, Flaubert once cautioned – they often have feet made of clay. For a good segment of The Philadelphia Orchestra’s current audience, Riccardo Muti stands as a mythic figure: after serving as Music Director for a decade in the period immediately following the Ormandy era, he has made only infrequent returns as a guest conductor.

Dec 15, 2024 · Like many, I was growing tired of the version that had been presented since 2010 and particularly its unseasonably spartan second act set and have looked forward to the advent of this eleventh ENB Nutcracker – and the first to be choreographed by artistic director, Aaron S. Watkin (in collaboration with Arielle Smith).The good news is that it is a distinct improvement on its predecessor ...

Jan 31, 2025 · Cellos and double basses, dyspeptic and impatient, rebuked and rejected every timid suggestion from the rest of the orchestra until quietly but firmly offering the Ode to Joy melody. The orchestra blustered in response but Andrè Schuen rose to forcefully chastise them, then took up the melody himself. With the chorus singing from memory and giving its sonorous all and a quartet which not only ...

Nov 24, 2023 · The leading music site for worldwide reviews and listings of classical concerts, opera, ballet and dance, 12,000 upcoming events, and 200 new reviews each month.

Jan 22, 2025 · Liszt had long-standing operatic ambitions, and considered both The Corsair and Manfred as operatic subjects and began, but did not finish, an opera based on another Byron drama, Sardanapalus (of which eleven operas are known).The impressive Act One of Liszt’s projected three-act Sardanapalo was edited in 2017 by musicologist David Trippett, and a recording issued of this marvellous torso.

Dec 13, 2024 · Swan Lake was the basis of a sea-change in the status of Bourne’s company.Since its inception it has been seen all over the world, garnering rave reviews and sold-out houses everywhere it goes. As always, Bourne’s gentle but highly effective sense of humour shines through it, alongside his humanity and willingness to avoid sugar-coating threat or tragedy.

Dec 12, 2024 · Cecil Sharp, who died 100 years ago this year, was equally active, sometimes finding alternative tunes to similar text. He found another melody for The Truth Sent from Above, sung to him by Seth Vandrell and Samuel Bradley of Donnington Wood, Shropshire, and published in his 1911 English Folk Carols, a collection of 21 melodies and texts found in Worcestershire, Shropshire, Gloucestershire ...

Jul 16, 2024 · Opening with Haydn’s Piano Sonata in B minor, he eschewed severity and solemnity in favour of pace and excitement.The Allegro moderato was thrillingly close to a Presto, yet clarity was never sacrificed and intelligent voicing shone through.Long lines were sustained even when playing staccato, although some ornamentation …

Nov 8, 2018 · Music competitions have always been an important part of the human experience. In the ancient world, Greek and Roman societies considered them a central part of the worship of their gods, usually pairing them up with a religious procession and a sacrifice.

Sep 11, 2023 · Unsurprisingly, Central European orchestras fared strongly: the Berlin Philharmonic was one of three German orchestras in our top ten, joined by the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (3rd) and Leipzig Gewandhaus (9th); the Budapest Festival Orchestra punched well above its weight at 8th; and the Vienna Philharmonic were the …