On Tuesday night, local dance company BIODANCE presented “BIO/DANCE & Social Justice” at Geva Theatre Center’s Fielding Nextstage in a program devoted to works that highlighted the struggle against inequality on the basis of race, gender, sexual orientation, and more. The opening piece by Donna Davenport, “Lined Up for Injustice,” began with the dancers speaking […]
Daniel J. Kushner
Posted inMusic
Classical Review: The RPO season opener
To open the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra’s 93rd season and his first full season as music director, Ward Stare selected four popular works that nevertheless seem as though they are not performed often enough. None of these compositions feature a soloist, but that did not prevent their success with the listeners at the RPO’s season opener […]
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The face of the franchise
The RPO and the Buffalo Sabres are
more alike than you thought
Posted inSpecial Sections
Rare music, rarer musicians
If the 2015-16 concert season in Rochester is about one thing, it’s audience engagement. And as a result, local concertgoers will have ample opportunity to experience music and guest performers it rarely hears. What is most encouraging about this approach to classical music programming is that it’s coming largely from the two most prominent institutions […]
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ALBUM REVIEW: “Young & Vain Vol. 2”
MD Woods “Young & Vain Vol. 2” Self-released mdwoods.bandcamp.com For an exceedingly earnest album, MD Woods’s latest EP, “Young & Vain Vol. 2,” starts on an ironic note. Lead singer Nick Moore sounds neither young nor vain when he sings, “And I don’t believe in fate, I don’t believe there’s just that one / But […]
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VOCAL | Megan Hilty
The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra’s 2015-16 Pops series opens in style when Broadway actress Megan Hilty takes the stage with the orchestra — led by Principal Pops Conductor Jeff Tyzik. Hilty first garnered attention when, while serving as a standby for Glinda in Stephen Schwartz’s hit musical “Wicked,” she made her Broadway debut performing alongside Idina […]
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ALBUM REVIEW: “Pipe Dreams”
The Huckleberry Fins “Pipe Dreams” Dadstache Records thehuckleberryfins.com Can a Rochester surf rock band capture the California sound with authenticity and ingenuity? The answer is a resounding “Yes.” The Huckleberry Fins’ album “Pipe Dreams” — released on July 24 via the locally-based Dadstache Records — is as tight and cohesive as anything you’ll hear all […]
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REVIEW: ‘Revival: The Resurrection of Son House’
As I walked through the Geva Theatre Center lobby past the photograph exhibition of bluesman Son House, taken from the archives of his tour manager Dick Waterman, I was struck by the images of House performing. I couldn’t get over the look on his face, his eyes transfixed in an otherworldly mixture of ecstasy and […]
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BLUES | Chris Thomas King
Geva Theatre Center’s fours-day homage to influential bluesman Eddie “Son” House will come to a close in style when Chris Thomas King headlines the festival’s last day on Saturday, August 29. A Grammy Award-winning artist who is also known for his role as Tommy Johnson in the 2000 Coen Brothers film “O Brother, Where Art […]
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The Son also rises
A four-day festival celebrates the life and legacy of blues legend Eddie “Son” House The story of bluesman Eddie “Son” House — who once called Rochester home — is that of a 20th-century Moses. House spent years wandering the desert of obscurity, leading others into a promised land of recognition and cultural popularity that he […]
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ALBUM REVIEW: “Howlo”
Howlo “Howlo” City of Quality Records howlo.bandcamp.com Ben Morey, a grade school music teacher by day, indie rock purveyor by night, has long been making meaningful music in Rochester through such projects as The Wallpaper Singers and Dumb Angel. With his latest band, Howlo, and its self-titled debut — released on July 31 via City […]
