What’s New in Classical Music (U.S.)
Many have valid claims to be among the country’s best – in terms of wealth, popularity and, of course, sheer ability – but there is one particular group that will forever be known as the ‘Big Five’…
Principal oboe Liang Wang and Associate principal trumpet Matthew Muckey have been placed on unpaid leave after a 5-month investigation.
Music directors from abroad have had an avenue for advancement unavailable to most homegrown aspirants. One result: a tradition of foreign-born maestros leading U.S. orchestras.
The Metropolitan Opera announced Saturday night that it would open an investigation into its famed conductor, James Levine, based on a 2016 police report in which a man accused Mr. Levine of sexually abusing him three decades ago, beginning when the man was a teenager.
Two of the world’s most important opera companies, the Metropolitan Opera in New York and the Bolshoi Theater here, will collaborate on three stagings in coming years
The media mogul David Geffen, one of the cultural world’s leading philanthropists, attacked wealthy New Yorkers on Wednesday for what he called a “shameful” record of failing to donate to the city’s concert halls and allowing these institutions to downsize their ambitions.
During the second intermission of William Tell, musicians reported a man sprinkling a powdery substance into the orchestra pit.
Classical music news and gossips from Southern California, updated several times a week…
Colburn student musicians perform in a contemporary Santa Monica home, designed and built by LA based architectural design group, Ramirez Design, Inc.
Soka Performing Arts Center in Aliso Viejo has acoustics by renowned acoustician Yasuhisa Toyota of Nagata Acoustics…
These music appreciation courses are designed for all LA Phil audiences, from those who know very little about classical music and its history, to those who are lifelong listeners…
The Santa Barbara-based Camerata Pacifica is poised to resume live concerts in February, thanks to dwindling Covid cases.
Requirements are: enough room for 125 guests (indoor and outdoor), cocktails (cash bar), hors-d'oeuvre (reception style), guest artists, a silent auction, musical ensembles, and more.
When complete, The Grand will include a 20-story hotel, retail and entertainment, and a 39-story residential tower with 128 condos, 214 market-rate apartments, and 86 affordable housing units.
After receiving approval from the County Board of Supervisors in Decembe, the 53-year-old plaza is poised for a major transformation into a new, modern outdoor gathering space.
Classical music news and gossips from Northern California, updated several times a week…
Bruce Liu, winner of the 2021 Chopin International Piano Competition in Warsaw, joins conduct Rafael Payare and the San Francisco Symphony to perform Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3, May 11–13
San Francisco Opera’s Centennial Season continues at the War Memorial Opera House from June 3–July 1, beginning with Caroline H. Hume Music Director Eun Sun Kim conducting a new co-production of Giacomo Puccini’s Madame Butterfly
Rarely Seen Costumes and Artifacts from Company's First 100 Years on Display at SFO Museum, Harvey Milk Terminal 1.
Conductor Laureate Herbert Blomstedt returns to lead the San Francisco Symphony in concerts at Davies Symphony Hall, February 3, 4 & 6
In a new collaboration with the acclaimed Flamenco Society of San José, dance, singing, and drama will come together to tell the passionate tale of a defiant heroine..
On September 26, 1923, Gaetano Merola inaugurated his new resident company for the opera-loving metropolis of San Francisco with a performance of Puccini’s La Bohème at the Civic Auditorium.
The new protocal is based on health and safety recommendations from the City and County of San Francisco and due to the transmissibility of the Omicron variant.
Conductors Earl Lee, Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser, and Akiko Fujimoto will lead the eclectic program, which Morgan planned and was scheduled to conduct.
After 35 seasons, 342 productions, and thousands of individual performances, Robertson is preparing to step down from his role as chorus director.
Classical Music News from Abroad
Japan's Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako attend an official dinner banquet in Mongolia where the emperor gives a toast in Mongolian and plays the viola.
The wave of Asian interest and excellence in classical music is giving the art form a global lift, which translates into new audiences, something classical music is always seeking…
Gustavo Dudamel announced his resignation as music director of the Paris Opéra on Thursday, a surprise decision two seasons into a six-year contract scheduled to run through the 2026-27 season.
Leonard Bernstein talks about Nadia Boulanger in this 1977 Bruno Monsaingeon documentary.
Irish violin-maker Padraig O’Dubhlaoidh has developed the first ever Vegan Society certified violin. The instrument has all the qualities of a classic Italian violin, but is entirely free of animal products.
His nine symphonies, five piano concertos, and sixteen string quartets – boasted a few significant Jewish episodes, including one composition based on a Jewish melody and another on the work of a Jewish poet.
For Tsujii, it’s a process governed by extremely careful listening and, as he described it in 2017, “sensing what’s around me.”
A spontaneous reaction to a classical music performance went viral and led to a search for the boy responsible for the heartwarming moment.
Reviews
Sydney Mancasola gave the finest singing of the evening as Pamina…Her effortless, crystalline voice and clear, pellucid tone carried the words in the most musical and expressive way.
Gustavo Dudamel, the LA Phil’s departing Music Director, conducted his final opera in a hall designed by the late architect Frank Gehry (who also designed the opera’s sets.)
Each half of the concert began with a video of Mr. Conlon’s career overview and congratulatory messages from his colleagues (including, surprisingly, Placido Domingo!)
The LAMC’s singers moved with easy assurance between the oratorio’s lament and consolation. In the two major choral numbers, their blend was immaculate…
The production itself is a happy resurrection of the late Lee Blakeley's 2013 staging; it is handsome, well-crafted, sensitive, straightforward, and without an ounce of directorial pretention.
Alisa Weilerstein took the stage with her 1723–1730 Domenico Montagnana cello – the "Mighty Venetian" – which produced what was possibly the most beautiful, bewitching cello sound I have ever heard in any hall.
The Dallas Symphony Orchestra hadn't visited Orange County in over fifty years. During this time, the orchestra has transformed into a world-class ensemble, currently led by world-renowned Music Director Fabio Luisi…
Incredibly, not one, but two such maestros came through L.A. in as many weeks to lead the orchestra in superlative readings of Beethoven, Brahms and Tchaikovsky…
Nadine Sierra is, without a doubt, a fine mistress of belcanto singing. But what sets her concert apart was her down-to-earth demeanor as a ‘Miss Congeniality’ diva…
Countertenor John Holiday as the titular pharaoh, an otherworldly figure both physically and vocally. Holiday's instrument is a marvel.
On the heels of its Carnegie Hall triumph in Mahler’s Second, the Philadelphia Orchestra returned home to play the music of another forgotten genius – a homegrown female American composer.
The BSO musicians responded to Blomstedt's direction and vigorous arm and hand gestures with supple ensemble playing and a notably rich string sound.
The single set was a pleasing almost realistic rendering of the village square. Adding to the continuity of place, some of the singers from the second opera were onstage as extras in the first.
Russian soprano Elena Pankratova makes her company debut in the enormous title role…She has the right kind of large powerful voice and forceful energy to really bring Elektra to life.
This suite, the first of the evening’s eight pieces, was written in 2025 by Richard Jennings…
I saw the opening performance on Sunday April 19 and was swept away by the staging, the drama, the music and the singing…
The energy and general “buzz” on the night I went—the third performance of eight—was palpable even before the opera started. There were Chinese dragons performing in the lobby…
The hall was decked out with festive wreaths, garlands, giant lit trees and nutcrackers, as well as a hot chocolate cart. Outside, brass players from the Symphony treated passers-by to Christmas carols.
The orchestra was in the most capable hands of Music Director Eun Sun Kim. Her energy and mastery of the music is quite remarkable and the orchestra was in very good form.
The SF Jazz Center was well transformed into a tennis court with Howard Cossell, (played by Mark Hernandez) the well-known sportscaster in a box way up high. He represented ABC’s Wide World of Sports, to tie the two pieces together.
The staging was quite spectacular and varied…There were several memorable symbols that changed dramatically with the expert lighting design of Pablo Santiago.
Tonight’s conductor, Eun Sun Kim, an up-and-coming young (39) Korean. She will be the first Asian music director of a major U.S. opera company and the first female music director in San Francisco.
There are various children’s activities in conjunction with the opera, including a gingerbread scavenger hunt!
Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducted with the kind of white-hot conviction that makes you forget to breathe.
The hero of the evening was the chorus, due in part to its radiant tone, but due primarily to the superlative leadership of its director, Tilman Michael and his musical prepararion.
The players, in various combination, showed incisive attention to their colleagues, where to support them, and where to let them (and the music) make a virtuosic display.
The extended silence Mozart asks for, just before the Countess forgives her husband was especially moving, giving the necessary dramatic weight that Susanna Phillips’ singing alone might not have carried.
The idea of an additional character, a person in mourning for Müller’s protagonist, reading his poems as from a journal, is an ingenious one, giving the text a fresh new tone, and making it reasonable that a woman rather than a man is singing the lines.
Nina Stemme is unquestionably the finest dramatic soprano of the present time, and it was proven many times over in her work tonight.
The sumptuous sound of the orchestra - who must be thrilled at being freed from the Met’s orchestra pit and placed on the stage of Carnegie Hall, facing what many an artist call the gates of heaven - was in full force.
All three offerings of the evening underscored the many virtues of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Their traditional pristine entrances, deft intonation, and flawless ensemble have never been more evident.
Tenor Ilker Arcayürek and his remarkable accompanist, Simon Lepper, presented a program of Schubert songs in the newly restored Board of Officers Room at New York’s Park Avenue Armory.
Propulsive energy is carried along by the guest turn of MacArthur Fellow, Leila Josefowicz, performing Stravinsky’s modernist Violin Concerto in D. An infectious example of a soloist model meets rock star.
People
It is an unprecedented phenomenon in operatic history that as Maria Callas began her premature and swift vocal decline, public adulation exponentially increased…
Soon to be demolished, the Frick Collection’s historic music room hosted the debut of many prominent artists. Raymond spoke to its retiring music director Joyce Bodig and recounts its storied history.
Classical Voice’s Raymond Beegle chats with Berlin-based Italian conductor Antonello Manacorda two weeks before his Metropolitan Opera debut, conducting Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro.
Bob Bernard talks to LA Opera’s Rodolfo, the Albanian tenor Saimir Pirgu, over dinner at the Trump Golf Club restaurant in Rancho Palos Verdes.
Raymond interviews maestro Fischer on the eve of his American tour with the Budapest Festival Orchestra.
In January, Raymond chatted with the busy maestro between two concerts on a variety of topics, including Beethoven, Toscanini, Mravinsky, cello and Hollywood music.
Educated in the U.S. and Austria, now residing in Hanover, Germany, the globe-trotting, multilingual maestro is an ideal candidate to present the multicultural facets of the Taiwan Philharmonic.
Now in his 60s, Ma is offering here his third complete recording of the Bach Cello Suites…the years of experience tell in the way that added depth of expression.
He was a singular American talent and one of the great orchestra conductors of his generation.
Classical Voice talks to baritone George Gagnidze on the eve of his LA Phil debut singing Iago at the Hollywood Bowl.
Audiophile Corner
With AudioQuest's DragonFly USB DAC, music appreciation and exploration are limitless: Plug into an Apple or Windows computer or connect to an iOS or Android mobile device.
The new Lincoln Aviator features one of the most immersive sound systems in the industry.
The HP-3 utilizes 52 mm “free-edge biodynamic drivers” that the company states results in “high efficiency, low distortion, and full range sound.” It’s a semi-open design...
Sony A1E is among the finest TVs available today. With super-deep blacks, bright highlights, rich colors, razor-sharp detail, superb motion processing, mostly excellent shadow detail, good (though not perfect) off-axis performance
Sony’s HT-ST5000 is fantastic – pairing a real sense of height with a sophisticated sound quality. If you’ve been looking for a fuss-free way to get Dolby Atmos into your home, this is the best we’ve seen so far.
With the price tag of almost $4000, the Focal Utopia costs more than the AKG and Sennheiser together, but it is worth every penny...
LG's new and improved flagship OLED TV is $2,000 cheaper than last year's flagship and will start shipping next month. Improvements from last year: greater color gamut, 100 more nits brightness, HDMI 2.0, supports HDR-10 and Dolby Vision.
The R-15PM powered monitors deliver room-filling sound without taking up much space, and feature five inputs: USB, Bluetooth, optical digital, RCA analog stereo (with phono), and 3.5mm analog stereo
DirecTV will launch its 4K channel by broadcasting the Masters Tournament golf classic from Augusta National Golf Club April 7-10, 2016.
Listening to classical music is a bit different from listening to modern pop music. The music is built differently—most recordings aren’t performed by their composers…
Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony release Berlioz's Romeo et Juliette on SFS Media November 30, 2018
$7.99/month gives access to vast catalog including Warner Classics, Sony Classical, Universal Music Classics, Deutsche Grammophon, Decca and EMI.
Top Blu-ray titles of 2015, courtesy of Ralph Potts of AVS Forums. It's a great site for seasoned and budding hi-res AV enthusiasts alike.
The Third Symphony, under review here, is specially successful in the depth and breadth of its recorded sound
The latest recording by the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, is released in Dolby Atmos sound: what can this extended surround format bring to our musical enjoyment?
Foodie’s Corner
Brookfield Properties has converted Wells Fargo Center atrium into a food hall with big name eateries. 330 S. Hope St., Downtown LA.
The restaurants below were chosen based on their close vicinity to the concert venues. They are either on-site or less than 15 minutes by car.
When Richard Wagner built his Festspielhaus in Bayreuth, he probably underestimated the torrents of pilgrims that would inundate and overwhelm the sleepy Bavarian village
Transcribed from Paganini's own handwritten recipe, the 'Devil's Ravioli' is filled with beef, veal, sausage, butter and... calf's brain!
Filet mignon pan-fried in butter, served on a crouton, and topped with a hot slice of fresh whole foie gras briefly pan-fried at the last minute. The dish is garnished with slices of black truffle and finished with a Madeira demi-glace sauce
The center canceled its “Mostly Mozart” festival in favor of more “inclusive” fare — sponsoring rappers, pop groups and an LGBTQ mariachi band