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Classical

Blessings: mixed and otherwise

Boston Baroque’s Amadigi; Opera Boston’s Tancredi; the BSO’s Beethoven; the Borromeo’s Bartók; Brahms from BCMS and BSOCP
By odd coincidence, in recent weeks we’ve had performances of two important operatic rarities, landmark early works a century apart: 30-year-old Handel’s Amadigi (1715) and 20-year-old Rossini’s Tancredi (1813, his 10th opera!).

By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | October 28, 2009

In the swim

Guerilla Opera, von Stade’s farewell, the BSO, Handel and Haydn, the BPO, and that Tosca
My head’s swimming.

By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | October 14, 2009

The roar of the crowd

‘Opening Night at Symphony,’ Russell Sherman, the Discovery Ensemble, Boston Musica Viva, and the Bostonians
I wasn’t there, but the opening-night dissatisfaction with the Met’s new Tosca was widely reported.

By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | October 13, 2009

Leon Kirchner, 1919–2009

In Memoriam
Craggy, tender, passionate, witty, rough-edged, lyrical, uncompromising, Leon Kirchner's music, so like the man himself, made an indelible impression. Even in his recent appearance at a 90th-birthday tribute concert at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the old fire and wit, the frankness and the refusal to sentimentalize, were there.

By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | September 23, 2009

Baroque and beyond

Betting on the best this fall
Ten-best lists usually come at the end of the season, but this year the Phoenix has asked its critics to provide a calendar of 10 events that, at least on paper, might wind up on an end-of-season Top 10. Boston, in case you didn't know it, is a great city for classical music, so it's not easy to keep the list short. But here goes.

By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | September 14, 2009

Midsummer madness

Mark Morris, Yo-Yo Ma, and the Festival of Contemporary Music at Tanglewood, Mozart in Boston, Meyerbeer at Bard
After a relatively quiet summer, I saw Boston Midsummer Opera's Cosí fan tutte at BU's Tsai Center. Then I raced out to Tanglewood for a Mark Morris program accompanied by Yo-Yo Ma and Emanuel Ax, a BSO matinee with Ma, and all six concerts in the annual Festival of Contemporary Music.

By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | September 29, 2009

French kiss

What we don't get in Boston
Productions I attended at the Opéra and Opéra Comique would be rare in New York, let alone Boston — though some of the performers would be familiar.

By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | July 10, 2009

Interview: Keith Lockhart

America's bandleader prepares for another Fourth
"There's always some set of events, positive or negative, that color the lens that people see the Fourth of July through."

By JIM SULLIVAN | July 06, 2009

BSO announces layoffs

Boston Symphony Orchestra blames tanking economy for five-percent staff reduction
Another painful day for the culture industry.

By CARLY CARIOLI | June 23, 2009

Springer vs. Nero!

Monteverdi's Poppea opens the Boston Early Music Festival, plus the Cantata Singers, the Discovery Ensemble, and Barbara Cook at the Pops
Two opera productions overlapping at the Calderwood Pavilion exploit exploitation.

By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | June 10, 2009

Interview: Paul O'Dette and Stephen Stubbs

The BEMF does Poppea
"Opera fans have often puzzled over the fact that Poppea does not appear to have a character the audience wants to root for, since everyone has seriously objectionable traits."

By JEFFREY GANTZ | May 27, 2009

Here comes the bride

Opera Boston's Smetana, the BSO's Berlioz, and Dawn Upshaw
It's been a long time since Bostonians had the chance to see the most popular Czech opera, Bedrich Smetana's The Bartered Bride , but Opera Boston followed its electrifying run of Shostakovich's The Nose with this tuneful folk opera and gave it a sweet and very likable production.

By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | May 12, 2009

Slideshow: Don Giovanni at Boston Lyric Opera

Don Giovanni at Boston Lyric Opera
Boston Lyric Opera presents Don Giovanni

By T. CHARLES ERICKSON | April 29, 2009

A little history

Yehudi Wyner and John Harbison, Susanna Mälkki with the BSO, Natalia Gutman with the BPO, and BLO's Don Giovanni
Two of Boston's most admired and honored composers (both Pulitzer winners) have just celebrated landmark birthdays: Yehudi Wyner his 80th and John Harbison his 70th.

By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | April 28, 2009

Home cooking

The National Philharmonic of Russia at Symphony Hall
If the name "National Philharmonic of Russia" puts you in mind of some provincial Slavic ensemble making the American rounds, you're not alone.

By JEFFREY GANTZ | April 23, 2009

Diva-gations

Mark Wigglesworth conducts the BSO; Renée Fleming returns to Symphony Hall
Last week's Boston Symphony concert was a snaggle of contradictions. British guest conductor Mark Wigglesworth was substituting for the exciting but erratic Russian maestro Yuri Termirkanov, who'd cancelled all his American appearances.

By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | April 21, 2009

Center of gravity

Shi-Yeon Sung and Nelson Freire at the BSO; plus the Schubertiade Music Players and Emmanuel's St. Matthew Passion
If all those young people at last Thursday's BSO concert didn't leave Symphony Hall feeling excited about classical music and eager to come back, then classical music is in even more trouble than I thought.

By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | April 14, 2009

Loved these but not those

Valery Gergiev, Charles Dutoit, Murray Perahia, Ian Bostridge
Of the great international orchestras, perhaps the one that's most unfairly overlooked is the London Symphony Orchestra. Yet a handful of the very greatest orchestral performances I've ever heard have been with the LSO.

By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | April 08, 2009

Mad love

John Harbison's Winter's Tale, Dvorák's Rusalka, Hans Graf with the BSO, Mark Morris's music
The destructive power of jealousy makes a good subject for opera.

By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | March 24, 2009

Slideshow: BLO's Rusalka

Boston Lyric Opera performs Rusalka at the Shubert Theatre on March 31, 2009
Photos of the Boston Lyric Opera's Rusalka at the Shubert Theatre

By JEFFREY DUNN | March 24, 2009

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[ 11/07 ] Tony Savarino @ Magic Room Gallery

[ 11/07 ] Brian Mcknight @ Westin Boston Waterfront Hotel

[ 11/07 ] Little River Band @ Tupelo Music Hall

[ 11/07 ] Chris Brenne + Bertrand Laurence + Chris Florio + Jonathan Keezing @ Arlington Center for the Arts

[ 11/07 ] Underberry’s @ Tommy Doyle's @ Harvard

BLOGS

CLICK TRACKS: Music News Roundup (Walken' on Gaga, Weezer in Snuggies, Bono straddles the Berlin Wall, and more)
On The Download | November 05, 2009 at 4:40 PM

Mp3 of the Week: American Hi-Fi (with bonus Stacy Jones Q&A)
November 05, 2009 at 2:32 PM

VIDEO: Halloween Mash UP
November 05, 2009 at 12:21 PM

Ticket On-Sale Alert: Harry and the Potters, Mario, Passion Pit, The Lion King, more
November 05, 2009 at 10:04 AM

REVIEW: Thao Nguyen and The Get Down Stay Down at Middle East
November 04, 2009 at 4:40 PM