A Chilly Wind in Cleveland
The Cleveland Plain-Dealer’s music critic Donald Rosenberg has been taken off the Cleveland Symphony beat–apparently for saying what many people (myself included) actually believe: Franz Welser-Möst is pretty much…
Blair McMillen and the Class of ’38
1938 was the beginning of a very rough patch for Europe but–as it turns out–it was a great year for the future of American music. Several of America’s most influential…
Let’s Make a List
John Adams – On the Transmigration of Souls Michael Gordon – The Sad Park Dennis Báthory-Kitsz: The Key of Locust Phil Kline – Vigil Elodie Lauten: S.O.S.W.T.C
Happy Birthday, Sonny!
Sonny Rollins, aka the Saxophone Colossus, turns 78 today. Check out the multimedia celebration at his web site. This year’s focus is on his fans, his web visitors, his greatest…
War & Music
Watching the gritty HBO series called Generation Kill about a platoon of young Marines at the beginning of the invasion of Iraq, it struck me again how ambivalent music’s relationship…
New Haven, Before and After One Arrives
Big Ups to David Lang and Christopher Theofanidis who have just been appointed to the faculty of the Yale School of Music. They will teach graduate students in the school’s…
They’re Trying to Wash Us Away
It’s been three years since the human and moral disaster that was Hurricane Katrina overran New Orleans and uncovered an ugly blight on America’s soul. To help make sure that…
George Steel Leaves Miller for Dallas Opera
Here’s a big loss to the New York new music community. George Steel, who has made Miller Theatre at Columbia University an essential venue since taking over as executive director…
The Truth and Nothing But
In this age of Dobbsian-fueled immigration hysteria, what could be more timely than an opera about a beautiful Mexican drug smuggler who kills her lover after he betrays her and,…