This week’s Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra concert may be titled “Gabel Conducts Beethoven,” but forgive me, Ludwig lovers — the real news here is the non-Beethoven half of the program.
Classical
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CLASSICAL | William Warfield Scholarship Concert
One hundred years after William Warfield was born, the Rochester vocalist’s legacy is still spreading. “My uncle’s career as a singer was really because of the generosity of others,” William’s nephew and singer Thomas Warfield says. With that idea in mind, the William Warfield Scholarship Fund was created in 1977 to offer financial support for […]
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The music of Rochester composer David Temperley
David Temperley composes tuneful, expressive pieces in a classical mold. But he also draws on influences from the popular music he grew up listening to on the radio.
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Gateways brings black classical musicians together
Attend virtually any orchestral concert in the country, and you’re likely to see a similar picture onstage: a sea of white performers, with very little racial diversity. The perception that classical music is predominantly a Caucasian pursuit has endured for several centuries, but that idea doesn’t reflect the current reality, as demonstrated by the Gateways Music Festival.
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Ben Folds reunites with RPO in 2020
Genre-bending musician Ben Folds will join the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra next spring in a May 8 performance at Eastman Theatre’s Kodak Hall, as part of the 2019-20 season of “Eastman Presents.” Folds last performed with the RPO at CMAC in 2014.
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Album review: ‘American Rapture’
Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra ‘American Rapture’ Azica Records azica.com; rpo.org The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra’s new album “American Rapture” highlights the most intriguing components of the RPO’s musical identity in the Ward Stare era. Five seasons into Stare’s tenure as music director, the RPO has been at its most compelling when it expresses admiration for crucial 20th-century […]
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Nazareth College Arts Center promises variety in 2019-20 season
No two events are the same in the forthcoming season at the Nazareth College Arts Center. The 2019-20 season boasts a variety of entertainers from many different artistic disciplines, and with a wide swathe of cultural perspectives.
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The RPO’s 2019-20 season brings change
The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and its music director Ward Stare are making subtle but important changes to the way its programming connects with audiences heading into its 2019-20 concert season.
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Aaron Diehl: paradox at the piano
Pianist Aaron Diehl grew up loving jazz and classical music, and he’s still dedicated to both. That dichotomy forms the basis of “Paradoxes in Performance,” the title of his concert Saturday night at Nazareth College’s new and acoustically excellent Glazer Performance Hall.
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Classical review: RPO with Augustin Hadelich
At first, putting Sibelius and Shostakovich on the same orchestral program sounds like a dark and weighty proposition. In reality, when the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and Music Director Ward Stare presented the two modern classical masters side by side on Thursday, the sound was much more nuanced.
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Classical review: RPO performs ‘Mahler 7’
The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra last performed Mahler’s Symphony No. 7 in 1982. RPO Music Director Ward Stare is bringing Mahler’s Seventh Symphony back this week and Stare and the orchestra are doing a bang-up job with this huge, difficult work.
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Classical review: RPO with Jon Nakamatsu
On Thursday, Jon Nakamatsu’s finely judged reading of Beethoven’s Second Piano Concerto with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra was not only drop-dead elegant, but also full of the composer’s signature energy.
