Reviews & Previews

Kennedy Center Honors Musicians Brubeck, Bumbry, Brooks, & “Bruce the Boss”

December 8, 2009
Thumbnail image for Kennedy Center Honors Musicians Brubeck, Bumbry, Brooks, & “Bruce the Boss”

2009 Kennedy Center annual gala honors musicians Brubeck, Bumbry, Brooks & “Bruce the Boss” for a lively evening of jazz, opera, musical comedy, and rock.

Read the full article →

GRACE BUMBRY: Singer as Athlete

December 8, 2009
Grace Bumbry

“A superb singer is really a highly trained athlete. You must stay in training.” – Grace Bumbry. Transforming herself from mezzo to high soprano proved her point.

Read the full article →

Hiding in the Spotlight: A Musical Prodigy’s Story of Survival 1941-46

December 8, 2009
Hiding in the Spotlight

A gifted 14-yr.-old Ukrainian pianist adopts a new identity after escaping from a Nazi death march, but fears informants and the enemy officers who force her to entertain them. A terrifying and true story with a triumphant message of hope.

Read the full article →

Ben Stevenson: Texas Ballet’s Big Gun

December 5, 2009
Ben Stevenson

Ben Stevenson, celebrating a 40-year career as one of the most acclaimed figures in American ballet, continues to supercharge the Texas Ballet, after turning the Houston Ballet into a worldclass company.

Read the full article →

On the Transmigration of Souls: A Musical Response to 9/11

November 30, 2009
John Adams

John Adams’s Pulitzer Prize-winning work combines orchestra, chorus, & children’s choir with recorded sounds of 9/11, including victims names and cell phone calls.

Read the full article →

BAKE YOU A PIE: A Tasty Treat on Musical Styles

November 16, 2009
Pie

Baby, don’t cry. It’s time for pie! Pies and music are the ultimate comfort food, for little ones of every ilk, in Bake You a Pie, a hardback book and CD by Ellen Olson-Brown & Brian Claflin, illus. by Jeffrey Ebbeler. This story-song book with CD introduces some pretty silly pies, with clever rhyming verses, [...]

Read the full article →

Tom Paxton’s The Marvelous Toy

November 16, 2009
the Marvelous Toy

Legendary folksinger Tom Paxton’s latest children’s book/CD evokes wonder with The Marvelous Toy. CD has vocal & instrumental versions, plus 2 other songs.

Read the full article →

B.B. King Sings the One Shoe Blues

November 14, 2009
One Shoe Blues

Sandra Boyton’s humorous book & DVD starring B.B. King & the Singing Sock Puppets is a great intro to the blues. And who doesn’t get the blues when you lose your shoes! A great sing-along with the King of the Blues.

Read the full article →

Where The Wild Things Are: At The Opera!

October 27, 2009
Where the Wild Things Are Opera

“Where the Wild Things Are” & “Higglety Pigglety Pop!” offer a kid-friendly intro to opera. “Let the wild rumpus start” in these fantasy operas by composer Oliver Knussen & author/artist Maurice Sendak.

Read the full article →

Symphony Events & News: Follow the HUB

August 31, 2009
Thumbnail image for Symphony Events & News: Follow the HUB

For daily news of musical events, competitions, concerts, and industry buzz, keep up with the latest from the League of Symphony Orchestras’ online site: THE HUB.

Read the full article →

What did Proust really hear? Imaginary music of Fictional Composers

August 30, 2009
Thumbnail image for What did Proust really hear? Imaginary music of Fictional Composers

What did Proust really hear in the musical phrase that recurs obsessively to his fictional character Swann? Listen to a whimsical speculation by Alex Ross.

Read the full article →

SUMMER OPERA 2009: USA Schedule

June 3, 2009
Summer Opera

What better way to spend your summer evenings? Here are a few picks for what looks good around the United States, in roughly chronological order.

Read the full article →

YOU TUBE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: How to get to Carnegie Hall in the Computer Age

May 21, 2009
Carnegie Hall

Musicians from around the world auditioned on You Tube then came together to perform a ground-breaking concert at Carnegie Hall.

Read the full article →

THE BACH PROJECT: Documentary Film by Michael Lawrence

May 8, 2009
Joshua Bell in The Bach Project

Preview video clips of The Bach Project (DVD to release summer 2009) to see how the “Bach effect” touches musicians, scholars, writers, and scientists.

Read the full article →

THE SOLOIST: A Lost Dream, an Unlikely Friendship, and the Redemptive Power of Music

April 10, 2009
The Soloist

Nathaniel Ayers, homeless ex-Juilliard student and subject of the book and movie “The Soloist”, meets LA Times reporter Steve Lopez. Witness the power of music and friendship to change both their lives.

Read the full article →

Next Entries →