Category Archives: City Paper Staff Blogs
Choicest Chamber Yet
My ‘puter woes continue in the wake of my recent laptop loss (by theft): I’m reduced to commandeering my roommate’s old dinosaur of a PC to work on from home — and all it’s got is wordpad. Forgive me if I omit some of those fancy accent marks and assorted squiggles that go with exotic [...]
Another Classy Intermezzo
Here’s guest blogger Sam Sfirri’s first post this year — you may recall his contributions to Eargasms last festival. He’s a gifted jazz pianist and composition major at the college.
Just walking into St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church stirred up many wonderful memories of last Spoleto season. With the familiar excitement and beautiful ghost-sounds still resonating [...]
The Imani Winds – By Themselves
Lucky Lindsay: I got to hear the terrific Imani Winds – not just once, but twice. Thursday’s third Music in Time program was devoted entirely to them – and I was part of their absolutely enchanted Simmons Recital Hall audience. It was quite a different experience, compared to their big gig at the Gaillard [...]
Chamber Champs Do it Again
Forgive me if I don’t include as many of my usual artist links for awhile. I’m in the throes of a temporary crisis: my laptop was stolen Thursday, and my only backup for now is an old dinosaur of a PC at home that runs with all the speed of an arthritic turtle – and [...]
Hear ‘Em While You Can – and a Fresh Eargasm Alert
If you haven’t heard vivacious violist Hsin-yun Huang or super-tenor Paul Groves yet, you’ve got one more chance: tomorrow’s 11:00 p.m. concert will be the last outing for Program IV – the final one featuring these fab festival newcomers. I had the unqualified joy of catching it this morning.
After years of bugging Dr. Wadsworth [...]
More Cutting-Edge Marvels from Music in Time
Tuesday’s second Music in Time installment brought us three very different and appealing creations from cutting-edge composers of right NOW. All three items were scored entirely for strings – save for the winsome addition of a lone clarinet in the second number.
Series host (and justly famed composer) John Kennedy kicked things off with Baghdad [...]
A Fresh Dose of Chamber Charm
This afternoon’s first go at our cherished chamber series’ third program sported the usual assortment of musical “cherries” – and the usual happy crowd of chamber music nuts was there to pick them. All administrative details have –hallelujah – been attended to: the program board was where everybody could see it, and Dr. Wadsworth was [...]
A Well-Done first Intermezzo
St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church was chock-full for Sunday afternoon’s first outing of Spoleto USA’s ever-popular Intermezzi series, offering mostly smaller-scale instrumental classics. Conductor Marc Dana Williams – a well-proven Spoleto veteran – led a gifted gaggle of players from the Spoleto Festival Orchestra in a happy program that included two cherished classics plus a glowing [...]
More from Amistad Composer Anthony Davis
I’m just about brain-dead, after covering successive opening nights for this year’s two big operas. But before I collapse, I’ve just gotta tell you about the kinds of music that Amistad composer Anthony Davis writes when he’s not working on an opera (he’s got five of ‘em under his belt).
I’ve heard (and thoroughly enjoyed) [...]
Swimming in Water Music: Soundscapes from Music In Time
I use the word “soundscapes” – well, mostly because series host John Kennedy used it while introducing program IV of the ever-adventurous Music in Time series yesterday; but also because some of this material struck me as being more soundscapes than music. The term applied in particular to the opening work, Six Japanese Gardens, by [...]