Reviews
Fierce and Tender Schubert
by Anne Davenport
Pianist Sergey Schepkin launched the sixth season of Glissando at First Church Boston last night with Schubert’s Eight Impromptus, nicely introduced by the short Allegretto in C Minor, D.915, which Schubert composed in 1827, a month after Beethoven’s death.
Roger Tapping’s Legacy Feted
by Julie Ingelfinger
The twinkling intelligence and grace of Roger Tapping pervaded Jordan Hall with much love. While the sounds evaporated, memorial commissions in his honor will enrich the viola repertoire for many years.
A Dreary Midnight with Webs of Nitre
by Lee Eiseman
Webs of nitre chillingly surrounded us at Nightingale Vocal Ensemble’s fascinating mashup of Poe and Gesualdo; it repeats tomorrow night at Old North Church.
Robust Reimaginings From A Far Cry
by Julian Gau
With fine musicianship and precise ensemble A Far Cry’s compelling “Reimagined” opened its season last night at Jordan Hall.
Saving Butterfly ?
by Lee Eiseman
Boston Lyric Opera’s well-sung and very-well-played up-to-date production of Puccini’s Madame Butterfly continues at the Colonial Theater through next weekend.
Quartet Met “Latin Voices” Mandate
by Mary Fairchild
Pianist Ursula Oppens joined the Cassatt String Quartet in Sunday’s concert of Tania León, Mozart and Shostakovich which closed the Maverick season.
VALIS at MIT: Potent Ambiguity
by Ruth Hertzman-Miller
Jay Sheib’s dense and difficult new production of Tod Machover’s 1987 VALIS interestingly blurred fantasy and reality at MIT last weekend.
A Guerilla Impromptu
by David Patterson
Composer and sound designer Elisabet Curbelo, Urban Jazz Dance Company, poetry of Federico García Lorca, and American Sign Language (ASL) met at Mosesian Center for the Arts Sunday in “Ululations and Gurgles of the Invisible,” a fairytale music-making and dance along with artistic sign language, projections, motion sensor technology, and sound engineering that went by timelessly.
Grecian Formula Gins Up Historic Church
by Lee Eiseman
The Freisinger Chamber Orchestra opened the Boston concert season with a pleasing, mostly NEC student contingent on Saturday afternoon at Old South Church.
Masterworks by Hometown Hero and Others
by Mary Fairchild
The Ames Piano Quartet took the stage with familiar masterworks that we don’t hear often enough, and a newer example by George Tsontakis.
Romancing the Walcker
by Geoffrey Wieting
The renowned summer series of organ recitals at Methuen Memorial Music Hall concluded on Wednesday with Crista Miller’s accomplished program based on plainsong and hymntunes.
Opulent and Elegant
by Mary Fairchild
With rigor, the Borromeo String Quartet brought two important and indispensable pieces to the Maverick on Sunday.
Maverick Chamber Orchestra’s Revelations
by Mary Fairchild
Saturday afternoon’s concert, a gift from Simone Dinnerstein and the Caroga Arts Ensemble, dazzled with works rarely head at the Maverick.
Glamorous Mercury and Li
by Chi Wei Lo
2023 Fou-Ts’ong International Competition winner, pianist Che Li, a Chinese-born recent graduate from New England Conservatory of Music, joined conductor Channing Yu and the Mercury Orchestra at Jordan Hall for the 1879 version of the Tchaikovsky’s First Piano concerto Saturday night in the stimulating final concert of the Foundation for Chinese Performing Arts’s 2023 summer festival.
Charming Chelsea Guo Sings and Plays
by Lee Eiseman
… but what about this poised artist who self-partnered in Schumann’s Frauenliebe und Leben for the Foundation of Chinese Performing Arts at Williams Hall last night?
Wagner in Vermont
by Lee Eiseman
Tundi Productions’ Walküre in Brattleboro last night at the 750-seat, zodiacally classical Latchis Theater missed nothing essential and often hit its marks.
Harp Trio Debuts
by Ruth Hertzman-Miller
Trio Oko’s first public performance, on August 21st at the Scandinavian Cultural Center in Newton, revealed three accomplished individuals playing as a seamless ensemble.
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Incandescent Dialogues with the Piano
by Sibylle Barrasso
Yukiko Sekino performed Debussy, Scriabin, Beethoven and Ravel in the 11th recital of the 2023 concert series for Chinese Performing Arts at Williams Hall this Monday. The Gold Medalist of the 2006 Russian Music Piano Competition and a soloist numbers appearances with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, among her countless noteworthy achievements. Beyond creating music, one
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Resourceful Alchemy from Catalysts
by Mary Fairchild
Sunday’s guest, the Catalyst Quartet, has performed at the Maverick’s rustic “music chapel” a number of times. On this occasion cellist Gabriel Cabezas joined them for a concert that began with Bach’s Suite for Solo Cello No. 3 in C Major (BWV 1009), a foolproof curtain raiser in a tangibly heartfelt performance of a gloriously
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Ensemble Altera Dazzles
by Stephen Martorella
Ensemble Altera shone forth brightly from Providence, Rhode Island’s Blessed Sacrament Church Sunday afternoon. Under Christopher Lowrey, the ensemble blended effervescently in the sumptuous acoustic.
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The BSO’s Unique Sound
by Leon Golub
In Saturday night’s concert at the Koussevitzky Shed Leonidas Kavakos joined Nelsons in a stunning interpretation of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto followed by. Prokofiev’s massive Symphony No. 5.
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Bringing It All Back Home
by Leon Golub
After hearing Tanglewood Festival Chorus prelude concert underlining committed humanism last night, we enjoyed works on a vaster canvas in the shed celebrating both brotherhood and art for art’s sake.
Harmonious Blacksmith Hammers Red-hot Metal
by Lee Eiseman
The broadly repertoired, and competition-honed pianist Han Chen made last night’s selections at Williams Hall feel like inevitable concertmates.
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Deep Keyboard Probing and Virtual Puppetry
by Sibylle Barrasso
Ensemble132 with featured pianist Sahun Sam Hong essayed Beethoven and Stravinsky at NEC’s Williams Hall last night in the eighth concert of the 2023 Chinese Performing Arts Summer Festival.
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