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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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Music Review: COME FLY WITH JIMMY VAN HEUSEN (Songbook Sundays at Dizzy’s)
THE ROAD TO DIZZY’S (DETOUR: PALM SPRINGS, COCKTAILS & SINATRA) If you’ll allow some wild exaggeration about the Great American Songbook, let’s say that “All roads lead to Jimmy Van Heusen.” The work of that composer (1913-1990), the focus of the August 3 installment of the series called Songbook Sundays at Dizzy’s, includes melodies created…
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Jazz Music: SARAH VAUGHAN INTERNATIONAL JAZZ VOCAL COMPETITION (Registration Closes September 2, 2025)
The New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) continues to accept applicants for the 14th annual Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition. The search is on for the next great jazz singer! Solo vocalists from around the world are encouraged to submit their entries before September 2, 2025, by visiting Sarah Vaughan Competition. In the Fall, the Top Five…
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MAKE TOURING EASIER WITH BACKLINE INSTRUMENTS
Touring is one of the most exciting parts of being a musician. Hitting the road, connecting with new audiences, and playing your music in different cities can be an incredible experience. But anyone who has spent time on tour also knows the less glamorous side—packing up heavy gear after a late-night show, squeezing amplifiers into…
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THE SNARE DRUM REVEALED: FROM CLASSIC CRACKS TO MODERN POPS
Are you familiar with that piece of drum with straps hanging around the shoulders of drummers in a marching band? That drum that produces the beats of songs like the popular holiday beat, “Little Drummer Boy”? No doubt, it’s the snare drum. Snare drums are your versatile percussion instruments, widely used in various musical genres….
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Film Obituary: LALO SCHIFRIN (1932-2025)
COMPOSER OF COPS, CRIMINALS, AND COOLNESS Few musical phrases have achieved such cultural penetration as the opening bars of Mission: Impossible. The theme’s distinctive 5/4 rhythm, written by Lalo Schifrin in 1966, became sonic shorthand for covert operations, stylish danger and the promise that impossible missions might yet be accomplished. The composer, who died on…
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Obituary: CLEO LAINE (Jazz Singer and Theatre Actress)
A VOICE THAT SPANNED CONTINENTS AND CENTURIES The trouble with singers who insist on being versatile is that they make everyone else look lazy. Dame Cleo Laine, who died on July 24th at her home in Wavendon, England, aged 97, was particularly guilty of this sort of thing. Her nearly four-octave voice wandered from gravelly…
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HEAVENLY SOUND, ZERO GLITCHES: CHURCH AUDIO SOLUTIONS THAT WORK
In today’s world, crystal-clear sound isn’t just a luxury—it’s a necessity for any church looking to connect meaningfully with its congregation. Whether you’re delivering the weekly sermon, leading worship with a live band, or streaming to viewers at home, the quality of your audio can either uplift the experience or distract from it. Church leaders…
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London Opera Review: SEMELE (Royal Opera House)
THE SERVANT PROBLEM: OLIVER MEARS STRIPS HANDEL’S SEMELE TO ITS DISEASED CORE There’s something deeply unsettling about watching gods behave badly in a conference hotel. Oliver Mears‘ production of Handel’s Semele at the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden, which conquered Paris earlier this year, doesn’t just update the myth; it performs surgery on it,…
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