Hello, Nonino
Seems like only yesterday we reported that Matthew Cmiel, one of our favorite boy wonders, had put together a new band called Formerly Known as Classical. (Actually, it March 15,…
Monday Who’s Dead Wrapup
Frank Zappa has a street named after him in Berlin. Frank Zappa Strasse is in Marzahn, a district on the eastern fringe of the capital made up of communist-era housing…
Dispatch from the Lincoln Center Festival: Into the Little Hill
Lincoln Center Festival presented last night the North American premiere of George Benjamin’s first opera, Into the Little Hill. Hill tells a version of the “Pied Piper of Hamelin” story,…
Die Meisterbators
From today’s Deutsche Welle: Germany’s annual Bayreuth Festival of Wagner operas began on Wednesday with a highly anticipated, make-or-break production by the 29-year-old great-granddaughter of the composer Richard Wagner. And…
youtubetude
David Rakowski has gone mildly YouTube crazy over the past few months, and has videos of 29 of his 80 piano etudes. Most of the performances are by Amy Briggs…
Bonfire of the Vandalists
After we arrived in New York in 1968, my first freelance gig was writing previews of upcoming art exhibitions for Arts Magazine. For five bucks a review, I would trot…
Miller’s Crossing
My copy of the Miller Theater Fall and Spring schedule landed on the window sill via carrier pigeon yesterday. As always, Columbia University’s indispensible new music venue has some humdingers…
Notes from the Other Underground…
A quick addendum to my recent “click pick” visit to the Eastern Front: My good and long-time i-friend Rudy Carrera pointed me in the direction of the young Russian composer…
Live from New York
Surprisingly good news for all those who still harbor hopes of major orchestras as dynamic, living institutions: the New York Philharmonic has just announced that Alan Gilbert will be its…
The Issue is Money
Over the past couple of years, ISSUE Project Room has become one of the hot spots for contemporary music in the city and earned a well-deserved reputation for presenting new…