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Austin Opera's Otello "in concert". Photo: Erich Schlegel

Otello “in concert” a Major Victory for Austin Opera

By Paul E. Robinson on 21 November 2018 Classical, Opera, Vocal, World Music

Verdi: Otello. A Festive Staged Concert Event. Issachah Savage (Otello); Marina Costa-Jackson (Desdemona); Michael Chioldi (Iago); Derek Taylor (Cassio). Concert Stage Director: Rebecca A. Herman Lighting Design: Thomas Hase Austin Opera Orchestra and Chorus/Steven White Long Center for the Performing Arts Austin, Texas November 15, 2018 Austin Opera has been presenting fully staged professional opera to audiences in Central Texas for the past 31 years, averaging three productions per season and maintaining a remarkably high standard; it came as a bit of a shock, then, when the company chose to open its 2018-2019 season with Verdi’s Otello in a concert…

Soprano Hyunah Yu in the middle, flanked by players from Piffaro and Prism, at the premiere of “The Anchoress” at the Kimmel Center (Philadelphia); photo by Pete Checchia/Philadelphia Chamber Music Society

“The Anchoress” – Songs of a Soul in Solitude

By Charles Geyer on 4 November 2018 Art Song, Baroque and Early, Chamber Music, Classical, Classical Music, Concert Reviews, Contemporary, Experimental Jazz, Interviews, La Scena Online, Music Competition, Musical Theatre, Opera, Theatre, Vocal, World Music

REVIEW: of The Anchoress, a world premiere of a new musical monodrama/song cycle composed by David Serkin Ludwig with text by Katie Ford, performed by soprano Hyunah Yu, accompanied by saxophone quartet PRISM and ancient-instrument ensemble Piffaro; on Wednesday, October 17, at the Perelman Theatre of Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center, and on Thursday, October 18, at New York City’s DiMenna Center for Classical Music (the latter performance reviewed here); and INTERVIEWS: with composer David Ludwig and poet Katie Ford. The impulse to retreat from the world in search of spiritual insight or purity has manifested throughout human history. Twenty-one centuries of Christianity…

Rumi Symphony Project : Shahram and Hafez Nazeri present Untold

By Hassan Laghcha on 4 October 2018 World Music

In October, the Nazeris (father and son, Shahram and Hafez) tour Canada with Untold, the latest chapter of the great Rumi Symphony project, an original fusion of occidental classical music and Persian traditional music presented by this famous family of Iranian artists. The project aims to promote love and peace by setting the widely appreciated works of the 13th-century mystic poet, Rumi, to music. “When I began this adventure, I imagined bringing together the distinctive personality and freedom of Persian music, the music of my culture, and the formal and very different expression of Occidental classical music,” says artistic director…

Quintette Kleztory: A Mosaic of Influences and Emotions

By Benjamin Goron on 1 October 2018 Folk, World Music

Kleztory is a stunning example of the power and the universal nature of the language of klezmer music. Strange to say, this internationally renowned quintet does not have any members of Jewish origin. From Russia, Western Canada and Quebec, the five musicians came together for their shared love of traditional klezmer music – into which, however, they do not hesitate to take the liberty of weaving their diverse personalities. Their return from Trondheim, Norway, where they will participate in a festival of Jewish culture, will mark the beginning of a rich season of travel and gatherings. Sidewalks to Studios Clarinettist…

Game On! Cerise Jacobs Boots Up PermaDeath, the First Video Game Opera

By Charles Geyer on 25 September 2018 Interviews, La Scena Online, Musical Theatre, Opera, Theatre, Uncategorized, Vocal, World Music

PREVIEW: of the new opera, PermaDeath, by Cerise Lim Jacobs and Dan Visconti, which will play Boston’s Cutler Majestic Theatre for three performances, September 27, 28 and 29, 2018. The theater dims. A martial blare and glistening orchestral clamor suddenly rives the murmuring darkness, and a bewildering vista of strange, vast landscape floods the stage. Two beautiful, luminous, titanic beings – the sibling gods Apollo and Artemis – are in pitched battle with the massive, earthen Niobe and her fourteen grotesque offspring. The stuff of mythic dreams? Yes. But it’s also the planned dazzler of an opening for the new…

World Music

By Hassan Laghcha on 11 September 2018 World Music

Montreal’s reputation as a major platform for the promotion of world music has only been enhanced by the proliferation of musical gatherings that celebrate cultural collaboration. Here is an overview of some highlights of the 2018-2019 season. Nuits d’Afrique Nuits d’Afrique opens the season on Sept. 5 with a varied We MusiK program at Club Balattou animated by artists Élété and Ilam with the participation of several invited artists. The next day, the Rythmes au féminin (Feminine Rhythms) series presents an evening of traditional Guadeloupean music with the Lanmou Fanm Ka group. On Sept. 18, guitarist and author-composer Hampaté presents…

A scene from DEMON by Anton Rubinstein; Bard SummerScape; photo by Stephanie Berger.

Rubinstein’s Demon Lover Stalks Bard SummerScape 2018

By Charles Geyer on 2 August 2018 Classical Music, Interviews, La Scena Online, La Scena Spotlight, Opera, Romantic, Vocal, World Music

REVIEW: of the 2018 Bard SummerScape production of Anton Rubinstein’s 1871 opera Demon; and INTERVIEW: with Dr. Leon Botstein (American Symphony Orchestra founder and SummerScape festival artistic director). A warning to all princes of the Caucasus – lock up your daughters! The devil is on the prowl, and he’s feeling amorous. Russian composer Anton Rubinstein’s 1871 opera, Demon, weaves a fascinating yarn of ultimate forbidden love. Based on an earlier, censored poem by Russian poetic genius Mikhail Lermontov, a demon (depicted as the very model of the proud, lonely, passionate Byronic tragic hero) finds himself smitten by the beauty of…

Le Chimera Project Winterreise at domaine forget : A Winter journey in Summer

By Adrian Rodriguez on 23 July 2018 Art Song, Chamber Music, Classical, Concert Reviews, Vocal, World Music

A warm summer evening at Domain Forget provided the setting for the premiere of Canadian baritone Phillippe Sly’s latest musical venture: Schubert’s Winterreise (A Winter Journey) Klezmer version. The show also marked the debut of his newly formed band “Le Chimera Project” featuring Karine Gordon (trombone), Jonathan Millette (violin) Samuel Carrier (accordion), Félix de l’Étoile (clarinet and bass clarinet) and Roy Rallo (staging). The band was formed about two years ago. Sly was inspired after hearing Samuel Carrier and Félix de l’Étoile perform one piece from Winterreise in an informal setting. He was also fascinated by the theme of an…

Small World Music Festival: Huge changes for Small World

By Gregory Finney on 8 June 2018 World Music

In the mid-to-late-1990s, the music scene in Toronto was growing more aware of what was happening multiculturally. Toronto, known as one of the most diverse cities on the planet, is home to the Small World Music Festival. Alan Davis started Small World to engage more in this trend. “I don’t have any academic training in music,” Davis says. “However, music has always been a constant in my life.” Now in its 17th year, the Small World Music Festival has undergone remarkable growth. Starting “from home,” it has expanded into a 10-day concert series with its own venue as well as…

Capital Ukrainian Festival: A Global and Artistic Experience

By Hassan Laghcha on 8 June 2018 Dance, Folk, Multimedia, Popular Music, Theatre, World Music

From July 20 to 22, Ottawa will welcome the fourth edition of the Capital Ukrainian Festival. More than 500 artists from all corners of the country as well as the United States and Ukraine will converge for this three-day weekend event. Jane Kolbe, the organizing committee’s president, wants the event to be a truly global and multicultural experience. There will be traditional music to be heard, songs to be sung and dances to be seen. But the program also offers a wide array of cultural activities for young and old, including a village market, a food court, a beer garden,…