On Thursday, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and Music Director Ward Stare welcomed accomplished opera star Isabel Leonard to Kodak Hall for a program that was heavy on Spanish influence – a welcome programmatic turn – but light on consistency. The story of the concert was a tale of two halves. The inconsistency was apparent from […]
Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra
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Classical review: RPO’s 2017-18 season opener
If you’re going to open a symphony orchestra season, you may as well open it with a dazzling flourish or two. Richard Strauss’s tone poem, “Don Juan,” begins with one of the greatest opening salvoes in the orchestral repertoire, a hurtling rocket of strings and brass. When Ward Stare and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra leaped […]
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Sounds all around
Rochester’s 2017-18 classical music season has a little something for everyone, from traditional performances to contemporary concerts.
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Itzhak Perlman returns to Rochester for a cinema serenade
Itzhak Perlman’s appearances with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, which date back to 1970, have included the great works of the concerto repertoire, like Beethoven, Brahms, Prokofiev, Bartók, Tchaikovsky. This week, Perlman will return to the RPO — performing for the first time with Music Director Ward Stare — in a program of a different kind […]
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The RPO’s 2016-17 season in review
CITY’s classical music critics recap the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra’s 2016-17 season
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Classical review: RPO performs ‘La Boheme’
Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra Music Director Ward Stare rose to prominence as Principal Trombone for Lyric Opera of Chicago. Here in the Flower City, he has made a conscious effort to perform operatic works in their entirety. On Thursday, when the RPO performed Giacomo Puccini’s beloved “La Bohème,” the result was unsettled at first, but ultimately […]
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Classical review: Fabien Gabel conducts the RPO
Popular guest conductor Fabien Gabel joined the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra in a return to Kodak Hall on Thursday for a program that truly was a tale of two halves, featuring startlingly contrasting moods. It can be argued that the evening’s first piece, Bernard Herrmann’s suite from the film “Vertigo,” was its best: Gabel’s conducting was […]
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Classical review: RPO performs Mahler’s Fifth
Mahler once claimed that “the symphony should contain the world.” His Fifth seems to contain a bit more of everything than the rest of his symphonies: austere funeral marches, bad-tempered jokes, over-the-top waltzes, a breathtakingly delicate love song, and a finale that exudes manic energy and contrapuntal wizardry. A modern therapist might express some worry […]
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Broadway sensation Sutton Foster comes to Rochester
Broadway star Sutton Foster sings with exactly the kind of bright-eyed conviction, poise, and exuberance you would expect from a two-time Tony Award winner (for “Thoroughly Modern Millie” and “Anything Goes”) and originator of roles like Fiona in “Shrek The Musical.” But Foster’s also the kind of performer who relishes breaking out from behind the […]
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RPO announces 2017-18 season
The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra has announced its 2017-18 season, and its “best-of-both-worlds” approach has a lot to offer, including plenty of classic blockbusters and big names, from Perlman to Potter, and some pleasant surprises. The season will start on September 12 with an appearance from Itzhak Perlman, a violinist who truly does deserve to be […]
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Classical review: RPO performs Mozart’s ‘Requiem’
On paper alone, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra’s February 2 program already had me hooked: Mozart, Stravinsky, and Hovhaness is an intriguing combination of composers and styles, to be sure. The audible result was no less satisfying. Music Director Ward Stare continues to lead the RPO with a steady hand and a nuanced approach. Alan Hovhaness’s […]
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Classical review: RPO with James Ehnes
In the classical music world at least, waltzing is a highly accepted way to begin the New Year. Ward Stare must feel the same way: Stare’s opening program of 2017 with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra gave plenty of time to two large-scale showpieces that offered sophisticated treatments of the dance in three quarter time. Stare […]
