David Raymond

The Society for Chamber Music in Rochester, this Sunday, will present the agreeable company of “A Couple of Couples” — who also happen to be outstanding musicians — in various permutations. The couples are violinist Robin Scott and cellist Ahrim Kim and violist Phillip Ying and cellist Keiko Ying. The performers will play duos by […]

Pianist Misuzu Tanaka performed at Rochester Institute of Technology last year with clarinetist Maksim Shtrykov; this weekend, Tanaka returns to RIT for a solo recital. The program is outstanding: Beethoven’s Sonata No. 30 and “Rondo a capriccio” (“Rage Over a Lost Penny”); Rachmaninoff’s “Variations on a Theme of Corelli”; Bach’s “Italian Concerto”; and Leos Janácek’s […]

In the 1970’s, magazine ads for a glamorous furrier posed the question, “What becomes a legend most?” I’m sure Ward Stare asked himself the same question when he decided to have the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra join the worldwide celebrations for the 100th birthday of a true legend, Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990). How to sum up such […]

It’s another cold, snowy weekend morning as I write this, so the thought of spending a couple of hours with a group that’s been described as “a multi-cultural aphrodisiac” sounds pretty good. When the members of Tiempo Libre were music students in Havana, they learned the sounds of American pop, jazz, and classical music by […]

The remarkable Audra McDonald hasn’t won the Nobel Peace Prize yet, but her awards cabinet already contains six Tony Awards, two Grammys, and an Emmy, so I’m sure it’s only a matter of time. McDonald, who has starred in “Ragtime,” “Porgy and Bess,” and “Carousel,” not to mention a few plays and the occasional opera, […]

The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra begins the new year with a guest conductor and an interesting program juxtaposing French and Russian composers. Marcelo Lehninger, the music director of the Grand Rapids Symphony, is the guest conductor, and has put together a concert that begins and ends quietly, opening with Ravel’s delicate “Mother Goose Suite” and closing […]

“Messiah” and “The Nutcracker” aside, there is a huge amount of worthwhile classical music for Christmas that is seldom explored by performing organizations. But this weekend, Rochester early-music ensemble Publick Musick will offer “Rejoice!”: engaging selections from the vast treasury of sonatas, cantatas, and other chamber music with a Christmas theme by 18th century Italian […]

As Schroeder said to Lucy, “Beethoven is IT, clear and simple! Do you understand?” When it comes to the title of “King of Classical Music,” Ludwig van Beethoven remains the heavyweight champion (Western European Division). This week and next, Ward Stare and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra salute Beethoven with programs featuring two of his works […]