A popular trend nowadays is the vocal recital “plus”: adding a visual or theatrical element, or at the very least a theme, to the performance of a selection of songs or a song cycle. Tuesday night, the Lyric Theater presented a number of Eastman School voice students in two different approaches to lyric theater — […]
David Raymond
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IRISH FOLK | Aoife Scott Band
Aoife Scott, a Dublin-born singer-songwriter — and member of the legendary Black Family of Irish musicians, lead singer of The Outside Track, and prominent contestant in European music competitions — has got a lot of talent and she is doing remarkable things with it. Her debut album, “Carry the Day,” was recently released, and is […]
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CLASSICAL | “Barbara’s Venice”
The history of classical music made by women is full of interesting characters, and the 17th century Venetian singer and composer Barbara Strozzi was among the more fascinating musicians in a fascinating place and time (not just for her music, but that’s another story). Strozzi’s original, strikingly expressive secular vocal music is not well-known, but […]
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David reviews ‘Dangerous Theatre’ and ‘Marx in Soho’
Hallie Flanagan is not a well-known name today, but in the 1930’s she was vastly influential as the director of the Federal Theatre Project, a WPA initiative that sought to employ actors, writers, designers, and other out-of-work theater professionals by assigning them to “theater enterprises” throughout the United States, many in areas that had never […]
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Classical concert review: RPO season opener
Music Director Ward Stare and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra are embarking on their second full season together, and based on Thursday night’s opening concert, the excitement will continue. The RPO opened with an American rarity, before segueing into two pillars of the concerto and symphonic repertoire, all exceedingly well performed. If you ever wondered if […]
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Fall’s forte
The 2016-17 classical music season includes Grammy winners, Bach’s birthday, and unique composers
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Jon Nakamatsu will be a common sight this classical season
For Jon Nakamatsu, performing in Rochester has been “a lot of fun,” as can be seen by his career. Since his first appearance with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra in January 1999, the prizewinning pianist has returned time after time, performing as a soloist with the RPO and as a chamber musician with the Society for […]
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VOCAL | Perpetual Anticipation
The phrase “perpetual anticipation” is bandied about a good deal in the lyrics of the musical “A Little Night Music.” Now it is the name of a quintet of local singers which started out in a Pittsford Musicals production of that Stephen Sondheim work. Sopranos Myriah Marsh and Kristin Mellema, mezzo-soprano Allyn Van Dusen, and […]
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CRITICS PICKS: David Raymond
“Dangerous Theatre: Hallie Flanagan” As director of the government’s Federal Theatre Project, Hallie Flanagan gave opportunities to such politically minded artists as Orson Welles, Marc Blitzstein, and John Houseman, with results that were controversial and, to some, unpatriotic. “Dangerous Theatre” dramatizes Flanagan’s 1938 testimony to the House UnAmerican Activities Committee – a minatory slice of […]
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CLASSICAL | “Passion, Past and Present”
There’s a stimulating contrast of themes and talents in one of the final Skaneateles Festival concerts of the summer. The two featured works certainly could not be more contrasted: J.S. Bach’s robust Cantata No. 40, which depicts a triumphant Jesus destroying the works of the devil; and David Lang’s fragile, haunting “Little Match Girl Passion,” […]
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CLASSICAL | The James Brothers
Toronto-born brothers flutist Chris James, and Aaron James, pianist and organist, have gone their separate but successful musical ways. Still they occasionally reunite for duo performances, which this summer takes the form of an Upstate New York tour. After stops in Auburn (where Aaron is music director of St. Mary’s Church) and Buffalo, the James […]
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THEATER/MUSIC | Sankofa Evening of Theatre and Jazz
Now in its ninth year, the Sankofa Evening of Theatre and Jazz Festival is a late-summer staple on the Rochester arts scene, and an important showcase for original plays by African-American writers. The featured play for the first weekend is “4 Men on a Couch,” an “urban comedic drama” by award-winning playwright Anne L. Thompson-Scretching, […]
