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Classical

BLO illuminates Peter Maxwell Davies’s The Lighthouse

Beams of light and fright
What better place for an opera set mostly at a lighthouse than in a room with a vast curved window looking out onto Boston Harbor?

By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | February 10, 2012

Vive la France

French music at the BSO; French opera at Boston Conservatory; plus, Peter Wispelwey, Judith Gordon, Russell Sherman and Frank Kelley, and Collage New Music
French music is tricky. It has an unmistakable accent, inflection, scent.

By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | February 08, 2012

Helios Early Opera's Charpentier; plus, the BSO's Mendelssohn Lobgesang

Hello, Helios!
There's a new group in town doing Baroque opera — not an easy ambition.

By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | February 01, 2012

Photos: Boston Symphony Orchestra & Claremont Trio

Good musical news
The Claremont Trio inaugurated the Gardner Museum’s new Calderwood Hall, and John Harbison's Symphony No. 6 performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of David Zinman.

By STU ROSNER AND MICHAEL J. LUTCH | January 31, 2012

Some good musical news in troubled musical times

Pain and pleasure
What a turbulent time we've been having in Boston's musical life.

By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | January 26, 2012

Shuffling conductors at the BSO, and 10 concerts you should hear

Musical chairs
There's lots of music to look forward to as we approach the end of winter.

By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | December 30, 2011

2011: A very mixed year for classical music in Boston

Valedictions and salutations
Classical news good and bad.

By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | December 21, 2011

Ludovic Morlot's second week with the BSO; plus, Boston Early Music Festival's Charpentier

Hi-Def
In his second week with the BSO, Ludovic Morlot led another stunning program originally designed for James Levine.

By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | November 29, 2011

Ludovic Morlot at the BSO; Philippe Jaroussky with Apollo's Fire

Morlot's fire
Former BSO assistant conductor Ludovic Morlot has returned for two programs planned by and for former music director James Levine.

By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | November 21, 2011

Boston Lyric Opera opens with Verdi's Macbeth

Double double
There's too much tinkering here with Verdi's first serious attempt to capture Shakespeare.

By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | November 15, 2011

Review: George Li, plus Gidon Kremer and Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos with the BSO

Lightness of being
Sixteen-year-old Boston pianist George Li is prodigious in more than one way. He's not merely a technical wizard, but a thoughtful and serious musician.

By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | November 02, 2011

Opera Boston's Béatrice et Bénédict, plus Masur at the BSO, Boston Baroque's Creation, and Andréas Scholl

Merry war
Opera Boston began its season of relative rarities (two of them based on Shakespeare) with Berlioz's enchanting last opera, Béatrice et Bénédict, centered around the two most compelling characters in Much Ado About Nothing — witty antagonists who, in their "merry war," renounce love, until they are forced to admit they love each other.

By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | October 27, 2011

Yo-Yo Ma at the BSO, Gidon Kremer at Longy, Ilya Kaler with the Boston Philharmonic

Stringing along
For a moment, it seemed as if the Boston Symphony Orchestra was back in its full ripeness.

By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | October 19, 2011

Anne-Sophie Mutter, Susan Davenny Wyner, and Courtney Lewis

Popularity contest
The season-opening concerts I've been going to have made me think about two kinds of musicians: those whose performances become transparent, who allow the listener into the heart of the music; and those for whom their own abilities — technical marvels — seem an end, not a means to a higher end.

By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | October 06, 2011

Photos: Huntington Theatre Company's Candide

At Boston University Theatre through October 16
This production of Leonard Bernstein's ambitious satirical operetta is three hours of fun with bite.

By HUNTINGTON THEATRE COMPANY | September 29, 2011

Emmanuel Music's B-minor Mass; Lexington Symphony's Debussy and Holst

Celestial voices
Johann Sebastian Bach wasn't the first composer to recycle previous material, but he might have been the first to put together his own greatest-hits album.

By JEFFREY GANTZ | October 03, 2011

Huntington's Candide hits more than just the high notes

Candidissimo!
How could a musical with a dazzling score and a perfect cast have been such a dismal flop on Broadway?

By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | October 05, 2011

Guerilla Opera's Loose, Wet, Perforated

Huh?
Australian born, Harvard-educated Nicholas Vines is a compellingly original composer, and his new Loose, Wet, Perforated (through September 25) is full of fascinating music.

By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | September 20, 2011

The 10 can’t-miss classical concerts of 2011

From Boston Baroque to the Discovery Ensemble: More classical concerts than you’ll know what to do with
Here are 10 classical events I'm particularly eager to hear--just the tips of our many musical icebergs.

By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | October 03, 2011

Boston Midsummer Opera's The Italian Girl in Algiers

Dream Girl ?
This year Drew Minter and BMO gave us the young Rossini's The Italian Girl in Algiers , composed when he was 21 (it was his 11th opera!). It's an energetic comedy about a wily young woman who outwits the warlord who wants to add her to his harem.

By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | August 02, 2011