To the night To the night

Minutes into “An die Nacht,” the first song Friday night, I realized how much I’d missed being enveloped in that seductive Straussian combination of a soprano (or two or three) rising higher and higher over a surging orchestra.

on February 22, 2022 at 8:00 AM
Virtual gala Virtual gala

Emanuel Ax, Anderson Cooper, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Katie Couric, Renée Fleming, David Foster, Josh Groban, John Lithgow, Kelli O’Hara, Stephen Sondheim, Emma Thompson and John Williams are among the special guests.

on November 19, 2020 at 5:30 PM
The perfect match The perfect match

If only she’d been able to sing more than 10 minutes of Bjork’s music!

on February 23, 2020 at 1:04 PM
Speak loudly Speak loudly

Do we do what we have to do? Or do we have to do what we do?

on February 10, 2020 at 11:09 AM
You tread on my dreams You tread on my dreams

Wednesday night’s New York Philharmonic concert was a high-stakes performance for a number of reasons.

on February 06, 2020 at 8:27 AM
Aestival body Aestival body

Broadway star Kelli O’Hara stepped out of her comfort zone.

on September 20, 2019 at 9:00 AM
In the River Rhine.  In it. In the River Rhine.  In it.

It is always a pleasure to hear a great orchestra take on a major score that might sound half-muffled emerging from the pit of an opera house.

on June 05, 2017 at 12:59 PM
d’Arc victory d’Arc victory

Tonight’s program at the New York Philharmonic, Arthur Honegger’s massive oratorio dramatique Jeanne d’Arc au Bûcher, has been an occasional visitor to the orchestra’s repertoire starting with the performance conducted by Charles Munch in January of 1948.

on June 10, 2015 at 10:40 AM
Rolling along Rolling along

Show Boat continues to communicate, even in the less than perfect circumstances of this latest revival.

on November 12, 2014 at 10:36 AM
Levee duty Levee duty

If you are of the belief that Show Boat can stand on its own as a classic score and thus doesn’t need the trappings of musical production, you’ll love the New York Philharmonic’s “semi-staged” production.

on November 08, 2014 at 11:17 AM
Blood types Blood types

“The finale of Sweeney Todd left the stage of Avery Fisher Hall littered with corpses, but the evening, for all its flaws, felt vibrantly alive.”

on March 11, 2014 at 7:08 PM
JJ au naturel JJ au naturel

Our Own JJ has been spending a lot of time outdoors lately, which is such a novelty for him that he felt he really must write about it.

on July 13, 2012 at 10:25 AM

I had every reason to think I’d love the New York Phil’s production of The Cunning Little Vixen as much as I did their staging of Le Grand Macabre with the same creative team.

on July 07, 2011 at 2:32 PM

“A singing crossbreed—a fox with human intelligence—stars in Leos Janacek’s opera, The Cunning Little Vixen. If only the New York Philharmonic’s semistaged performance Wednesday night were as successful a hybrid.” [New York Post]

on June 23, 2011 at 2:09 PM