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HOW THE ORDER OF GUITAR STRINGS AFFECTS YOUR PLAYING
Many people play the guitar as a creative outlet—a way to relax, express themselves, and enjoy making music. Understanding how the order of guitar strings relates to playing technique reveals both the technical skills involved and the joy of mastering the instrument. This blog will explore how string arrangement shapes sound, technique, and overall performance….
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Concert Review: DANNY ELFMAN’S MUSIC FROM THE FILMS OF TIM BURTON (San Francisco Symphony)
A SYMPHONIC CELEBRATION OF ELFMAN AND BURTON A visually and musically immersive concert that brings beloved scores thrillingly to life Music always enhances the moviegoing experience. It sets the tone, creates mood, and heightens the action and drama of a story. Long after a film has left theaters, its music often lingers in popular memory….
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Opera Review: FRA DIAVOLO (Pacific Opera Project)
A Night with a Gentleman Thief: Pacific Opera Project’s Delightful Fra Diavolo Daniel Auber’s Fra Diavolo amassed over 900 performances at the Opéra Comique during the 19th century before being dropped from the repertoire in 1907. Pacific Opera Project’s current production at The Highland Park Ebell Club makes a case for why this neglect is…
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Opera Review: HILDEGARD (World Premiere, LA Opera and Beth Morrison Projects at The Wallis)
BEST BE ON YOUR HILDEGARD WATCHING THIS THING When approaching a work based on history, it’s expected that there will be some degree of fictionalization. Even though it won’t be completely true, the broad strokes will be, and you’ll leave having learned a tiny bit of something new. However, Hildegard, the dull new opera by…
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Album Review: I WILL (Larry Goldings, piano, with Karl McComas-Reichl, bass, and Christian Euman, percussion)
GOLDINGS HAS THE GOLDEN TOUCH Soloist, sideman, bandleader, pianist, organist, arranger, composer, accompanist to singers (such as James Taylor, John Pizzarelli, Jessica Molaskey, and Norah Jones)… Well, check out Larry Goldings and you’ll note that he checks a lot of boxes and thinks outside the box as a creative jazz man. His latest release, the…
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Opera Review: EURIDICE (Haymarket Opera and The Newberry Consort in Chicago)
THE FIRST OPERA GETS NEW LIFE FROM HAYMARKET AND NEWBERRY CONSORT The origins of opera are somewhat obscure and not well-known. Haymarket Opera and The Newberry Consort, two of Chicago’s finest early music ensembles, aim to change that with this delightful concert performance of the first surviving opera. Written and performed for the marriage of…
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Album Review: TATUM’S SWINGIN’ SESSION!!! (Tatum Langley and Shout Section Big Band)
PROOF THAT SWING HASN’T GONE OUT OF STYLE If you think big band jazz is a museum piece, Tatum’s Swingin’ Session!!! will blow that notion clear off the bandstand. Under the sharp direction of Brett Dean, Chicago’s own Shout Section Big Band brings brassy swagger and airtight polish to fourteen tracks that feel both reverently…
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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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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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Opera Review: MEDEA (Lyric Opera Chicago)
MOVE OVER TYLER PERRY; HERE COMES CHERUBINI’S MEDEA Lyric Opera rarely stages anything written before the nineteenth century, apart from Mozart and the occasional Handel and Gluck, so it is a true treat to have Cherubini’s Medea open the new season. Never before produced at Lyric, Medea has been surprisingly slow to enter the operatic…
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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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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: 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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MINIMALIST VS. MAXIMALIST: TWO SCHOOLS OF DRESSING FOR LIVE MUSIC
Live music performances are not just about the sound. They represent a comprehensive experience where lighting shifts from the main stage illumination (front of house wash) to backlighting through a layer of haze (backlight and haze), sound surges and subsides, and crowds press together before dispersing. In that challenging environment, your attire can either enhance…
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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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THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO AMBIENT MUSIC: CREATING ATMOSPHERE THROUGH SOUND
Ambient music has quietly revolutionized how we experience sound in our daily lives. From meditation sessions to creative workspaces, this ethereal genre transforms ordinary moments into immersive sonic landscapes. Whether you’re a content creator seeking the perfect background score or simply someone who appreciates atmospheric soundscapes, understanding ambient music opens doors to a world of…
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