Review: JUDAS MACCABAEUS at Riverside ChurchDecember 22, 2023Leon Botstein, Music Director of the American Symphony Orchestra, has made it the orchestra’s mission to present lesser-known orchestral and choral works. Dr. Botstein, President of Bard College, decided that this year’s holiday presentation would be Georg Friedrich Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus from 1746, performed on Thursday December 14.
Review: 'O HOW GOOD' Choral Concert at Central SynagogueMarch 30, 2023It's truly amazing that one can walk by a place and be unaware of it, no matter how important it may be. Or what it looks like inside. I, for one, am not one of those people. I have been curious about New York City's Central Synagogue (in Midtown East) for a long time. And just recently I had the chance to go in and experience not a traditional service but something that surely was a transcendent spiritual moment in a transcendent, historic space.
Previews: PARK AVENUE CHAMBER SYMPHONY AND MAHLER'S FIFTH recorded at DiMenna CenterOctober 25, 2022There are those out in the ether who, upon hearing the name Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) on the radio will immediately switch the station. Mahler is boring. Mahler is long-winded. Mahler tunes wander all over the place. While these things can subjectively be true, given half a chance Mahler's music is none of those things.
Review: 'CLASSICAL JOURNEY' at DiMenna CenterOctober 10, 2022While wearing a shirt inside out could earn some curious stares, attending a classical music concert with the words “Inside Out” in the title could earn some out and out confusion. How can music, or an orchestra producing such music, be “inside out”?
BWW Review: PARK AVENUE CHAMBER SYMPHONY's Mahler's Fifth at DiMenna CenterMay 23, 2022When some people hear the word 'community' before the word(s) chorus, theater, band, or orchestra, they really hear 'amateur.' Although amateur means to do something for the love of it, the word also seems to have a negative connotation when it comes to quality. After all, if there's no money involved, how can it be good? Doesn't money equal quality? So goes that reasoning. However, not all community performing arts groups are created equal. Some groups accept all comers. Some accept members strictly by audition, some by recommendation. But no matter how they are chosen, every single person no matter their ability level has in common with the rest; a love of the art they share.
BWW Review: A JOYFUL NOISE at Carnegie HallDecember 11, 2021Under the direction of their superb artistic director and conductor, Tony Award winner Ted Sperling, MasterVoices’ 100+ members presented “A Joyful Noise” as their 80th Season opener. T
BWW Review: ORPHEUS AT LOTS OF STRINGS at Morris Museum, Morristown NJOctober 12, 20202020 has not exactly been a stellar year for…very much at all. One casualty has been live classical music. While some people have barely noticed its absence, there are still many, many people who have, and much to their relief the long dry spell seems to be abating...