The Classical Review

Grosvenor scales the heights with a trio of blockbusters for Chamber Music Maryland

The Finale, one of the oddest movements Chopin penned, is a blur of notes in octaves between the two hands moving in lockstep. Grosvenor played it with surprising clarity, using the soft pedal and ...
The Classical Review

Florida Grand Opera’s “Silent Night” proves a rich and moving tale of common humanity

Alex DeSocio (Audebert), Kyle Albertson (Horstmayer) and Elijah William Brown (Jonathan Dale) in Kevin Puts’ Silent Night, presented by Florida Grand Opera at the Arsht Center in Miami. Photo: Lewis ...
The Classical Review

Santa Fe season of rarities rounded out by a “Rusalka”of probing psychological depth

Ailyn Pérez performed the title role in Dvořák’s Rusalka at Santa Fe Opera. Photo: Curtis Brown/SFO As if there were not enough reasons to visit Santa Fe Opera this summer, the fifth opera of the ...
The Classical Review

Dubious “Dutchman” and trenchant “Tosca” refract two classics through modern lenses at Santa Fe Opera

Nicholas Brownlee and Elza van den Heever in Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman at Santa Fe Opera. Photo: Curtis Brown/SFO General director Robert Meya has given Wagner fans cause to rejoice: Santa Fe Opera ...
The Classical Review

No slowing down for Gerard Schwarz, South Florida’s busiest conductor

Gerard Schwarz conducting the Palm Beach Symphony at a 2024 concert. Photo: IndieHouse Films When Gerard Schwarz was a teenage trumpet student, he dreamed of being a member of the New York ...
The Classical Review

Met’s “Kavalier & Clay” mixes stunning production with largely lightweight music

Andrzej Filończyk (left) and Myles Mykkanen in Mason Bates’ The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay at the Metropolitan Opera. Photo: Evan Zimmerman / Met Opera The best works of art, in any medium, ...
The Classical Review

Santa Fe Opera rounds out comeback season with brilliant Verdi and Wagner

Quinn Kelsey stars in the title role of Verdi’s Falstaff at Santa Fe Opera. Photo: Curtis Brown The most complex works on the stage this summer at Santa Fe Opera came at the end of the first full week ...
The Classical Review

Ma & Stott close long musical partnership in generous style in Boston

Yo-Yo Ma and Kathryn Stott performed Tuesday night at Symphony Hall. Photo: Robert Torres/Celebrity Series Yo-Yo Ma and pianist Kathryn Stott offered a fitting tribute to the myriad beauties of ...
The Classical Review

American Wang is a standout in first night of Cliburn Competition finals

Angel Stanislav Wang performed Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 on the first Finals night of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition Tuesday night in Fort Worth. Photo: Ralph Lauer After two ...
The Classical Review

Santa Fe Opera crashes with Bates’ musically inert “(R)evolution of Steve Jobs”

The focus of this season at Santa Fe Opera is the world premiere of The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, the first opera composed by Mason Bates. When the company announced, two years ago, that it was ...
The Classical Review

Santa Fe Opera returns with courageous yet musically flawed premiere of “M. Butterfly”

Kangmin Justin Kim as Song Liling and Mark Stone as René Gallimard in the world premiere of Huang Ruo’s M. Butterfly at Santa Fe Opera. Photo: Curtis Brown The Santa Fe Opera is back. After 2020, the ...
The Classical Review

A beautiful, riveting tragedy with Chicago Symphony’s Mahler Sixth

Jaap van Zweden conducted the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Mahler’s Symphony No. 6 Thursday night. Photo: Todd Rosenberg With multiple street closures and exits off the Drive shut down for a race in ...