The upcoming concert “HEX” at Studio 180 is the end of the beginning for the contemporary classical collective Sound ExChange. Formed by Eastman School alumni in 2011, the chamber ensemble has long been engaging the community with innovative programming that rejects the traditional concert paradigm in favor of a more interactive experience with audience members. […]
Daniel J. Kushner
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CLASSICAL | Winterfest
Just in time for the holidays, the Eastman Community Music School (ECMS) presents Winterfest, an all-day extravaganza packed with performances by ECMS students. And with a diverse range of ensembles from a flute choir and brass ensembles to jazz groups and guitar ensembles, you’re sure to find the right concerts to suit your ear. If […]
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Theater review: “The Game’s Afoot” at Blackfriars
On paper, “The Game’s Afoot” has all
the trappings of an enjoyable play. On stage, it’s a different story.
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CLASSICAL | OSSIA
OSSIA – Eastman School of Music’s student-led ensemble dedicated to contemporary classical repertoire — is no stranger to interpreting works by living composers. On Friday, OSSIA will present a concert that highlights Japanese composer Jo Kondo, who will be in-residence at Eastman for five days as a Howard Hanson visiting professor. Kondo’s expressive compositional style […]
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PERCUSSION | TIGUE
Fresh off the release of its debut album, “Peaks,” on indie classical label New Amsterdam Records, the innovative Brooklyn-based percussion trio TIGUE makes its way to the Bug Jar for a homecoming of sorts. All Eastman School of Music alumni, Matt Evans, Amy Garapic, and Carson Moody bring an unforced cool to the genre of […]
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Vive la France
In a performance dedicated to the victims of the recent terrorist attacks in Paris, the Society for Chamber Music in Rochester presented a cogent (though far from comprehensive) overview of French music Friday night, focused on woodwinds. Titled “Colors of France,” the program was the first in a series devoted to notable composers of various […]
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Concert review: RPO performs Wagner, Barber, and Sergei Prokofiev
In its concert in Kodak Hall Thursday night, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra interpreted the works of important composers who, despite their undeniable mastery, are not included frequently enough in orchestral programs. By adding a guest appearance from a young American phenom to the mix – Simone Porter – the recipe for success was complete. Opening […]
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ROCK | KDNY Benefit Show
This fall, local musician Phil Pierce put together the compilation “KDNY” to support his sister Glori Alexander, who had just received a successful kidney transplant. Friday marks the official CD release with a benefit show at the Bug Jar. The jam-packed bill features several of the album’s contributing artists: Harmonica Lewinski, Pleistocene, Passive Aggressives Anonymous […]
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CLASSICAL | RPO performs “Romeo and Juliet”
Music Director Ward Stare returns to the podium to lead the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra in the last Philharmonics program of 2015. The program is chock-full of melodically sumptuous works, from the charismatic bravado of Wagner’s act three prelude in the opera “Lohengrin” to the consummate refinement and vivid orchestral colors of excerpts from the ballet […]
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CLASSICAL | Ying Quartet
The Ying Quartet — Eastman School of Music’s quartet-in-residence — returns to Kilbourn Hall on Sunday at 3 p.m. as part of the Eastman-Ranlet concert series. The popular chamber ensemble will look and sound slightly different this concert season, as siblings Janet, David, and Phillip Ying are now joined by first violinist Robin Scott. Concertmaster […]
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Opera Review: Eastman Opera Theatre’s “Hydrogen Jukebox”
Eastman Opera Theatre on Friday presented the second of four performances in Kilbourn Hall of Philip Glass’s music theater work “Hydrogen Jukebox,” featuring the words of Beat poet Allen Ginsberg. What transpired was more like a stream of surreal and illusory fragments than anything approaching traditional opera: An imposing hall, like some forbidden church sanctuary. […]
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“Hydrogen Jukebox” bends the opera genre
In 1966, Allen Ginsberg penned ecstatic yet defiant words in his poem “Wichita Vortex Sutra”: “I claim my birthright! … Joy reborn after the vast sadness of War Gods! A lone man talking to myself, no house in the brown vastness to hear, imagining the throng of Selves that make this nation one body of […]
