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Concert Review: RACHMANINOFF & SIBELIUS (Pacific Symphony | Ludovic Morlot, conductor | Alessio Bax, pianist)
PACIFIC SYMPHONY OPENS ITS 48TH SEASON WITH RUSSIAN SOUL AND FINNISH SPIRIT Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18, is one of the most beloved works in the piano repertoire. Composed between 1900 and 1901, it marked a turning point in Rachmaninoff’s career, emerging from a period of deep personal and creative…
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Concert Review: CANDLELIGHT: THE BEST OF JOE HISAISHI (Richard Nixon Library & Museum, Yorba Linda)
THE MINIATURIZATION OF MAGIC At the Candlelight concert in The Richard Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, devoted to Joe Hisaishi‘s Studio Ghibli scores, I found myself contemplating the curious alchemy by which music transforms, or fails to transform, when moved from one context to another. The evening, presented by Fever in a ballroom (replicating the…
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Concert Review: CYNTHIA ERIVO & THE NSO (Wolf Trap)
CYNTHIA ERIVO CASTS A SPELL AT WOLF TRAP Cynthia Erivo returned to the Filene Center at Wolf Trap for two performances with the kind of fire, artistry, and vocal power that turned her into one of Broadway and Hollywood’s most luminous stars. Backed by the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) under the baton of Australian conductor…
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Concert Review: JOHN LEGEND (Get Lifted 20th Anniversary Tour at Wolf Trap)
A LEGEND AT WOLF TRAP Two decades after Get Lifted announced him as a singular voice in modern R&B, John Legend is celebrating the album with a tour that feels both polished and personal. At Wolf Trap’s Filene Center, the blend of natural beauty and architectural warmth provided a setting worthy of the music. Under…
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Concert Review: SARABANDE AFRICAINE (Angélique Kidjo & Yo-Yo Ma at The Hollywood Bowl)
From “Blewu” to Bolero: Yo-Yo Ma and Kidjo Bridge Worlds Yo-Yo Ma’s charisma, joy, and childlike wonder never fail to delight. On this cooling summer night, August 28, at the Hollywood Bowl, I was reminded again why Ma remains such an extraordinary ambassador of music. Joined by Angélique Kidjo on vocals, Thierry Vaton on piano,…
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Concert Review: JAMES TAYLOR AND HIS ALL-STAR BAND (Wolf Trap)
STILL CAPTIVATING WITH A MELLOW GENIUS James Taylor brought the baby boomers and their families out in droves at Wolf Trap’s massive Filene Center Aug. 21 and did not disappoint. During a night of nostalgia beneath the stars, the icon who rose to fame in the 1970s delivered old favorites mixed with lesser-known tunes. He…
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Concert Review: BOOK OF AYRES (Cécile McLorin Salvant and Sullivan Fortner at The Baker-Baum Concert Hall in La Jolla)
CÉCILE MCLORIN SALVANT AT THE CROSSROADS OF CENTURIES The stage offered only a microphone and harpsichord when Cécile McLorin Salvant began Purcell’s Music for a While. No fanfare, no program notes, just her voice leaning into a blues bend as Sullivan Fortner’s continuo pulsed beneath like a rhythm section. In an instant, Purcell’s London was…
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Opera Review: MEROLA GRAND FINALE (Merola Opera Program 2025 Summer Festival, War Memorial Opera House)
OPERA’S FUTURE UNVEILED: A DAZZLING GRAND FINALE The San Francisco Opera capped its summer season with the annual Merola Grand Finale, a glittering showcase of the next generation of opera stars. Since 1957, the Merola Opera Program has provided intensive training to gifted young artists from around the world, with alumni such as Joyce DiDonato,…
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Concert Review: LIKE IT LIKE HARLEM (MUSE/IQUE at Mark Taper Forum)
From Mambo to Boogaloo: MUSE/IQUE Swings Through Harlem’s Latin Music Revolution MUSE/IQUE is amid a two-year exploration of key musical moments in America. During its 2025 Make Some Noise: Music and Stories of American Defiance and Hope series, the influences of Transformative American Artists and Thinkers who changed the world are shared. Their latest concert,…
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Concert Review: JACOB COLLIER (With Sammy Rae & The Friends at Wolf Trap’s Filene Center)
On a warm summer night in Vienna, Virginia, Wolf Trap was filled to capacity — both lawn and pavilion brimming with joyful fans of all ages. Young families, grandparents, couples on date nights, and groups of friends gathered under the stars to witness something extraordinary: Jacob Collier live in concert. And what unfolded was far…
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Concert Review: ORRIN EVANS & THE CAPTAIN BLACK BIG BAND (Bryant Park Picnic Performances)
Big band music met experimental jazz when the Grammy Award-nominated Orrin Evans and the Captain Black Big Band took the stage at Bryant Park on Aug. 1. The event was part of Bryant Park Picnic Performances, which brings free music to New York City every summer. The band, which composer, pianist Evans named after his…
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Concert Review: ONE NIGHT ONLY (Sutton Foster & Kelli O’Hara with the National Symphony Orchestra at Wolf Trap)
A GLORIOUS NIGHT OF BROADWAY, FRIENDSHIP AND FEMALE ICONOGRAPHY Wolf Trap could not have conjured a more exquisite evening last night for Sutton Foster and Kelli O’Hara’s long-awaited joint concert with the blazing National Symphony Orchestra under Emil de Cou’s impeccable direction. After a relentless midsummer heatwave, the Filene Center welcomed its audience with a…
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Concert Review: TAIKOPROJECT (25th Anniversary Show at Disney Hall)
25 YEARS OF BEATS, SWEAT, AND COMMUNITY: TAIKOPROJECT’S ANNIVERSARY SHOW HITS (MOST OF) THE RIGHT NOTES Bryan Yamami and Masato Baba, the powerhouse duo behind TAIKOPROJECT, are still going strong after 25 years — and honestly, that’s impressive on so many levels. Not only are they raising families and still moving like dancers half their…
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Event Review: DAVID SEDARIS (Wolf Trap in Virginia)
THE WIT AND THE HUMID: AN EVENING WITH DAVID SEDARIS An expert in turning the mundane into something paramount and inevitably humorous, David Sedaris uplifted an immense audience at Wolf Trap’s cavernous Filene Center on July 19. Best known for his biting humor and biographical essays, Sedaris – American author, humorist, playwright, and radio contributor…
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Highly Recommended Concert Theater: BYRD SONG (Concert Theatre Works and Gesualdo Six in L.A., S.F., Chicago, Ireland)
BYRD SONG IN SHADOW: CONCERT IN CANDLELIGHT, THEATRE OF DEFIANCE Hark! Attend, ye lovers of sacred sound and clandestine devotion, for the international tour of Secret Byrd—an evanescent glimpse into a hidden past—cometh to The Americas but ten times—16th-21st of July—in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago. In the flicker of candlelight within the vaults…
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Concert Review: DIANA KRALL (International Tour at Wolf Trap)
DIANA KRALL BRINGS OLD-HOLLYWOOD ELEGANCE TO WOLF TRAP On the warm evening of July 3, the Filene Center at Wolf Trap filled nearly to capacity, its 7,028 seats glowing under the soft shimmer of vintage brass footlights. Crimson velvet curtains and old Hollywood spotlights gave the stage the feel of a bygone movie palace—setting the mood…
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Concert Review: ALL-RACHMANINOFF PROGRAM WITH DANIIL TRIFONOV (Boston Symphony Orchestra with Andris Nelsons, conductor, Opening Night at Tanglewood)
THE DEVIL’S IN THE FINGERS: TRIFONOV TAKES FLIGHT AT A THUNDEROUS TANGLEWOOD OPENING Conductor Andris Nelson led the Boston Symphony Orchestra at last night’s opening of its 2025 Tanglewood concerts season with an all-Rachmaninoff program. The piano soloist was Daniil Trifonov (dan-EEL TREE-fon-ov), who Stage and Cinema hailed as the “Big Thing of the piano world”…
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Concert Review: JAMES TAYLOR AND HIS ALL-STAR BAND (Tanglewood in Lenox, MA)
SWEET ELDER JAMES James Taylor’s Fourth of July Tanglewood concerts are not just concerts—they are events fraught with tradition, nostalgia, and humanity. This year was the 50th anniversary of the 77-year-old Taylor’s first July 4th concert at Tanglewood and thousands (reportedly 18,000; roughly 5000 in the Koussevitzky Music Shed and the remainder on the lawn)…
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Highly Recommended Concert: MOONLIGHT MELODIES: AN EVENING WITH THE CROONERS (Pasadena POPS)
CROONING SOON UNDER THE MOON Picture this: you’re sprawled on grass under a canopy of stars, wine in hand, while Michael Feinstein conducts a full orchestra just yards away. Behind him, actual peacocks strut across the stage like they own the place. This isn’t a fever dream, it’s Moonlight Melodies: An Evening with the Crooners,…
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Concert Review: BROADWAY IN THE PARK (Signature Theatre and Wolf Trap with Lindsay Mendez and Jessie Mueller)
BROADWAY WELL-REPRESENTED IN A NIGHT OF MUSIC AND COMARADERIE From the first gleaming brass notes of Bernstein’s Candide Overture, music director Jon Kalbfleisch deftly led the Wolf Trap Orchestra through the piece’s shifting tempos and moods, setting the stage for an effervescent evening of mostly classic musical theater numbers written by Broadway’s best, including Styne, Berlin, Sondheim, and Finn….
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