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Concerts / Events
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Concert Review: SHOSHANA BEAN (Carnegie Hall)
SHOSHANA BEAN’S CARNEGIE DEBUT ROARS TO LIFE From the moment powerhouse singer Shoshana Bean sang her first song to her last goodbye, she commanded the stage and enthralled her audience at Carnegie Hall on November 3, proving that a performer with Broadway credits and recording crowns can also tilt the body of a song until…
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Concert Review: CÉCILE McLORIN SALVANT (Berklee Performance Center, Boston MA)
VIVIDLY VIRTUOSIC Cécile McLorin Salvant describes herself as hovering “between orthodoxy and heterodoxy” as well as being “really, really eclectic” and “interested in traditions and roots and history.” Her November 1 performance at Berklee Performance Center, part of the Boston Celebrity Series, beautifully encompassed those diverse tendencies. Recipient of a 2020 MacArthur Foundation award and…
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Concert Review: FROM STAGE TO SCREEN (The New York Pops at Carnegie Hall)
THE BRIDGE FROM THE GREAT WHITE WAY TO TINSELTOWN AND BACK AGAIN The New York Pops’ concert From Stage to Screen at Carnegie Hall promised a night of crossover magic last Friday—songs that leapt from Broadway to Hollywood and back again—and, under Steven Reineke’s spirited baton, it delivered in Technicolor. The evening’s guest artists, Hugh…
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Concert Review: THE GENIUS OF HAYDN (“What Makes It Great” with Rob Kapilow at Jordan Hall)
A LOVELY SURPRISE The focus of the first program in the 28th season of Rob Kapilow’s “What Makes It Great,” was Franz Joseph Haydn’s String Quartet in G Major, known as “Jack-in-the Box.” With his signature wit and energy, celebrity conductor and music educator Rob Kapilow entertained and educated about this particular string quartet and…
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Concert Review: HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF ETTA JAMES? (MUSE/IQUE at The Skirball)
HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF ETTA JAMES? MUSE/IQUE SCHOOLS US IN SOUL Presented by MUSE/IQUE at The Huntington Library and The Skirball MUSE/IQUE’s concerts have never been simple performances; they’re living history lessons that turn scholarship into celebration. Under the meticulous leadership of Artistic and Music Director Rachael Worby, the Pasadena-based ensemble has carved a…
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Theater Review TEATRO ZINZANNI CHICAGO (New Show for Fall/Winter, 2025-26)
A CIRCUS OF CULTURE, A CABARET OF CONSCIENCE: STEP RIGHT UP TO THE UNITED STATES OF ZINZANNI The gorgeous Art Deco Spielgeltent still sits on the fourteenth floor of the Cambria Hotel in the Chicago Loop. The front staff are still exquisitely attired and well-mannered as they guide you to your table where, as always,…
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Highly Recommended Concert: AZARASHVILI, MOZART & ELGAR (Orchestra for People at Merkin Hall, Nov 18)
Experience a powerful evening of music as Orchestra for People presents Azarashvili, Mozart and Elgar on Tuesday, November 18, 2025 at 7:30pm at NYC’s Merkin Hall. Under the baton of conductor Hahnsol Kim, the program introduces a vibrant dialogue between Georgian and European masterworks, featuring acclaimed soloists Sandro Sidamonidze (cello) and Sam Boutris (clarinet) in a bold and moving…
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Concert Review: YUNCHAN LIM, PIANIST (Debut at Walt Disney Concert Hall)
Pedal to the Monument: Yunchan Lim Reimagines the Goldberg Variations Last night, October 16, the audience fell quiet before Yunchan Lim, making his Disney Hall debut, walked onstage, but it wasn’t the usual pre-concert hush. Something closer to anticipation, maybe nervousness. Lim has acquired a reputation that precedes him now. After the Cliburn Competition, where…
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Concert Review: MAHLER SYMPHONY NO.2 “RESURRECTION” (Gustavo Dudamel, LA Phil)
DUDAMEL RESURRECTS MAHLER, AND HIMSELF, IN A PERFORMANCE THAT TRANSCENDS GOODBYE Gustavo Dudamel’s farewell season in Los Angeles has already taken on the air of ritual, and no ritual is more fitting for a conductor’s parting gesture than Mahler’s Second Symphony. The Resurrection has become the universal valedictory of the orchestral world, a monument through…
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Event Review: HEXED (Terror Vault at The San Francisco Mint)
GHOULS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN A San Francisco Halloween favorite is back for its 7th annual show. Bay Area Drag Legend and performer extraordinaire Peaches Christ (Joshua Grannell) is back with his talented and scary cast of ghouls, zombies, witches and goblins. This year’s show at the Old Mint on 5th and Mission Streets (known…
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Highly Recommended Concert: VERONICA SWIFT (Pacific Jazz Orchestra at Vibrato)
READY FOR A SWIFT MOVE? Veronica Electrifies the Pacific Jazz Orchestra Gala The Pacific Jazz Orchestra opens its 2025–26 season with a night that promises both elegance and swing: an intimate dinner and concert on Thursday, October 9 at Bel Air’s Vibrato Grill & Jazz. The evening features an extraordinary lineup—Shelly Berg on piano, Ed…
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Concert Review: MAHLER SYMPHONY NO. 4; DEBUSSY “NOCTURNES” (Boston Symphony Orchestra)
SIRENS, BELLS AND WHISTLES Conductor Andris Nelsons led the Boston Symphony Orchestra in a richly anticipated program of Nocturnes by Claude Debussy and Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No 4 in G. The program is part of the BSO’s recognition of the 125th anniversary of Symphony Hall by performing some of the works that premiered around the…
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Concert Review: FLAMING SEPTEMBER (Justin Vivian Bond at St. Ann & The Holy Trinity Church)
MORE FAITHFULL THAN EVER According to Justin Vivian Bond, thirty-five years ago, upon hearing Marianne Faithfull’s album Blazing Away recorded at St. Ann’s Church in Brooklyn, Viv said, “Someday I’m going to play her.” Then Arts at St. Ann’s moved to DUMBO in 2001 and became St. Ann’s Warehouse. But now, at last, as St….
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Concert Review: DANIIL TRIFONOV, PIANO (Season Opener at Soka Performing Arts Center)
STORMS, WHISPERS, AND THE SPACE BETWEEN Daniil Trifonov has become a figure around whom the current piano world seems to orbit. He is not only astonishingly skilled, he is unpredictable in the best way, always willing to risk fragility or silence rather than hide behind sheer volume. His playing has the uncanny quality of making…
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Concert Review: RAVEL PIANO CONCERTOS & SUITE FROM CARMEN (Chicago Symphony Orchestra)
REVELLING IN RAVEL AND A RAPTUROUS CARMEN The Chicago Symphony Orchestra opened its late-September program tonight with a shimmering palette of sound while offering many chances for the players to highlight their skills. With Alice Sara Ott at the piano offering not one but two Ravel concertos, and the powerful yet graceful leadership of Mikko…
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Concert Review: THOMAS KOTCHOFF: BETWEEN SYSTEMS (Piano Spheres at 2220 Arts + Archives)
SONIC AND CHER Have you ever wondered what a Cher and György Ligeti mashup would sound like? Me, neither, but that’s how last week’s Piano Spheres concert at 2220 Arts + Archives began, which also doubled as the release party for Thomas Kotcheff’s new album, Between Systems, an exploration of interpreting existing works without relying…
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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…



















