Thursday night’s performance by the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra was essentially two concerts in one: the Stravinsky and everything else. The Stravinsky was pure RPO. The rest? It was billed as an “Evening in Paris,” but a better headline would be an “Evening in Russia.” Let’s begin with the performance of the Suite from “The Firebird” […]
RPO
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Concert Review: RPO’s Beethoven’s Ninth
Thursday night’s Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra concert was the one to attend if you were in the mood for “big.” Big, huge orchestra filling the stage.Big, 100-plus-voice choir on risers. And big-voiced soloists, front and center. It was a night of Beethoven’s Ninth and a Boulanger Psalm. The RPO was led by guest conductor Hugh Wolff. […]
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RPO announces travel packages for Carnegie Hall concert
The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra today announced additional details of its May 7, 2014, concert at New York City’s Carnegie Hall. The performance – part of the Spring for Music festival – will see 250 local musicians and staff heading to NYC. The RPO is encouraging Rochester fans to make the trip as well. Tickets to […]
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Concert Review: RPO’s Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony
Beethoven might be the headliner, but the attention grabbers from last night’s Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra concert were guest cellist Edward Arron performing Saint-Saëns and living American composer Kevin Puts. Perhaps you have heard of neither? All the more reason to get to Saturday night’s concert. Arron’s performance demonstrated what happens when you do everything right […]
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Concert Review: RPO plays Rachmaninoff, Strauss, Hindemith
If you love Rachmaninoff even half as much as I do, you are going to love the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra’s delivery of his Symphony No. 2 in E Minor, led by guest conductor Junichi Hirokami. This week’s concert offering of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra packs in nearly an hour of Rachmaninoff in its second half, […]
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Concert Review: RPO Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony
Thursday night, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra performed under the fourth guest conductor of the season, Christoph Campestrini, in a performance that included orchestral works by Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky and a piano concerto by Mozart that featured pianist Barry Snyder. Russian composers have the ability to take you with them as they rake their souls across […]
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CONCERT REVIEW: RPO “Applachian Spring”
Thursday night, the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra put on a concert of works by Astor Piazzolla, Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber, and Manuel de Falla. They added also an opening work titled “Fanfare to Flora,” to celebrate the life and music of Eastman School of Music Dean Douglas Lowry, who died earlier this month. The headline work […]
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CONCERT REVIEW: Brahms, Bartók, and Higdon at the RPO under Gueller
Here’s the thing about classical music: whether or not it features your favorite composer, a live performance of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra is always worth the ticket price. Hidgon — who is that? Bartók — inaccessible? Brahms — a bit melancholy? And, who is guest conductor Bernhard Gueller? My response is simple: get yourself to […]
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Concert Review: RPO Opening Weekend (Mahler’s First Symphony)
Last night the fireworks of Mahler’s Titan Symphony exploded in the Eastman Theater, raining showers of brilliant sparks over the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and guest conductor Jun Märkl. (OK, not literally. But it was surely an opening-night performance filled with enough drama to give me goosebumps and have me imagining fireworks.) The RPO opened it’s […]
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CLASSICAL PREVIEW: More than filling the gap
CORRECTION: The original version of this article contained several erroneous listings for the conductors’ birth places and current cities of residence. We have removed those fields. When I first realized that the 2013-2014 season for the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra would consist of 13 guest conductors plus one concert with Conductor Laureate Christopher Seaman (March 6 […]
Posted inSpecial Sections
MUSIC: Classical smorgasbord
This is the first classical season since I started writing for City that I believe includes a concert and a composer for everyone. For someone like me, with far-flung musical tastes, it means I will be at concert after concert, throughout the entire season. So, allow me to offer three top picks on the season, […]
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CLASSICAL PREVIEW: Summer road trip with the RPO
According to Ward Stare, the only place you’ll want to be on July 19 is at the Eastman Theatre, where he’ll lead the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra in “three of the greatest works by three of the greatest composers.” Stare, a 30-year-old Rochester native, speaks of Beethoven, Mozart, and Wagner the way that some speak of […]
