Dalí Delights in Unfamiliar

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The Dalí Quartet’s Maverick Concerts debut on Sunday afternoon, with pieces exclusively from the Latino repertoire including an in-depth exploration of two works from the mid-century, delighted from start to finish. [continued]

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Paired Pianists Perform Panoply

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Psychopomp Ensemble, duo pianists Xiaopei Xu and Chi Wei Lo,  shared a  plethora of musical styles with Saturday night’s hugely enthusiastic Foundation of Chinese Performing Arts audience. [continued]

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Glories of BSO Summer

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Tanglewood Sunday afternoons shine as social affairs. This one was up to par, starting with charmingly tongue-tied opening remarks by Andris Nelsons, who compensated in spontaneity for what he lacked in eloquence, as he conveyed the importance of rain “for the vegetables” to the lawn throngs, just as the first drops of un-forecast rain began [continued]

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Listening Through Light and Darkness

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Early quartets of Haydn and Schoenberg alongside the premiere of a collaborative commission from Deak-Espaillat wanted rapt attention last night as Newburyport Chamber Music Festival Artists provided high-caliber performances at  St. Paul’s Church. [continued]

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Soothing Optimism Obtained

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The young and starry-eyed cohort ― likely boosted by the fan club of the star pianist Seong-Jin Cho ― noticeably reduced the average age of the audience in the Shed on Saturday night.  Susanna Mälkki, the worldly chief conductor of Helsinki Philharmonic, took the stand. [continued]

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Virtuosic Mastery from a Chopin Competition Finalist

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Hao Rao opened the 2023 concert series of the Foundation for Chinese Performing Arts to a packed Williams Hall this Thursday, excelling in his all-Chopin recital, comprising not only all four ballades, but also other of the master’s fireworks before encoring with jaw-dropping mastery in Horowitz’s Carmen Fantasy. [continued]

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Latino Adventuring at the Maverick

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The Verona Quartet made its Maverick debut on Sunday, with “Italian Adventures,” a programmatic deviation (but not really!) from the Latino emphasis in the rest of the season. This adventure took us to present-day Italy and the origins of Latino—the word and the culture—i.e., Latin, the ancient language that dominated the world throughout the Roman [continued]

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Celebrating Hispanic and Latino Voices

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Peruvian pianist Priscila Navarro lit up the night on Saturday at Maverick with a solo recital of ferociously demanding works from the Latino repertoire of the past and the present. [continued]

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Inmo Yang Mesmerizes

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Inmo Yang’s great performances of Debussy, Janacek, and Franck with pianist Yun Janice Lu at Williams Hall yesterday left an indelible mark on the hearts of all. [continued]

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Tanglewood Affirms Four Women Who Compose

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Four women from different parts of the world and different cultures, who have been widely successful in getting their music performed, were featured at the Festival of Contemporary Music last week. [continued]

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FCM Day 2: Ruminative

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After the electrifying enthusiasm of the music of Gabriela Lena Frank and Béla Bartok on the first day we were transported into the frigid Northern stillness that infuses the music of Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir. [continued]

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Majoring in B-flat

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Held together by a most intriguing common element in the slightly recherché playlist, Sebago-Long Lake Music Festival delivered in grand style on Tuesday. [continued]

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Seen/Unseen: A Reflection

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Christopher Wilkins curated and conducted Boston Landmarks Orchestra’s “The Symphonic Legacy of Black American Women” last Wednesday, placing this repertoire within a rich musical community. [continued]

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Two Queens of Henry VIII

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Quite possibly Saint-Saëns’s  greatest work, the grand opera Henri VIII enjoyed a bracing production this week in the Sosnoff Theater of Bard College as part of the Summerscape Festival for 2023. The run ended with Friday’s show. [continued]

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MCP+ Fung = Delight

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The Woodstock forest rang with glorious music as Manhattan Chamber Players harnessed the Maverick for an irresistible ride. [continued]

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The Knights Close Festival in Grand Style

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The innovative and creative chamber orchestra offered the final concert of Classical Newport’s 54th acclaimed summer festival, as the 15 players produced an enormously rich and lush sound in the resonant acoustic of The Breakers of Sunday. [continued]

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Forbidden Dances, Entrancing Harp, and Then Some

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The Boston (Summer) Festival Orchestra’s “Promenade” featured the world premiere of the three-year-old group’s first commission, the engaging Forbidden Dances by the young Afghani composer-pianist-conductor Arson Fahim. [continued]

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