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Cynthia Wilson

Cynthia Wilson

Boston-born, educated at Concord Academy and Sarah Lawrence College, Cynthia Wilson studied harpsichord in Amsterdam. She has performed, taught and held significant management positions: public radio, Philips Hall, Rotterdam Philharmonic. Wilson subsequently founded wwclassics: (arts) policy and (events) production. She recently published the biography of Menahem Pressler (Beaux Arts Trio).

Author:Cynthia Wilson

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Wende's Winterreise: riveting from start to finish

By Cynthia Wilson, 23 January 2015

Wende Snijders is a master of space and time; she uses everything both physical and emotional to transcend the footlights in the Winterreise Dutch composer Boudewijn Tarenskeen wrote expressly for her.

*****

Wende's Winterreise: riveting from start to finish

By Cynthia Wilson

Mahler 6 seals Gatti's Concertgebouw coronation

By Cynthia Wilson, 27 November 2014

The stuff of fairy tales: a true love match. Daniele Gatti has already successfully moved into Amsterdam's royal palace.

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Mahler 6 seals Gatti's Concertgebouw coronation

By Cynthia Wilson

"Maybe he's immortal?": Frans Brüggen memorial concert

By Cynthia Wilson, 24 October 2014

His passing last August was no surprise. Anyone who had witnessed Frans Brüggen conduct in recent years knew that he was far from healthy and old for his years.

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"Maybe he's immortal?": Frans Brüggen memorial concert

By Cynthia Wilson

Cleveland at the Concertgebouw

By Cynthia Wilson, 22 September 2014

His recent bow out of the Vienna Staatsoper has been in the news, but last evening
Maestro Franz Welser-Möst was firmly in the saddle of the distinguished
Cleveland Orchestra as they performed in Amsterdam.

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Cleveland at the Concertgebouw

By Cynthia Wilson

Amstel Quartet in Utrecht Music Week Festival

By Cynthia Wilson, 11 September 2014

Now that the Gaudeamus organization is nicely nestled into the Utrecht music scene
and its new Walhalla, concert hall complex Tivoli Vredenburg, back to back
festivities of Early Music and tomorrow’s composers are ours to enjoy.

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Amstel Quartet in Utrecht Music Week Festival

By Cynthia Wilson

Václav Luks and Collegium 1704 launch Utrecht's Festival of Early Music

By Cynthia Wilson, 29 August 2014

New Year’s Day falls at the end of August in Utrecht! We gather, we drink, we kiss, we wish each other well while opening the Festival of Early Music.

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New Year's Day comes early in Utrecht

By Cynthia Wilson

Great Expectations not met in Dublin

By Cynthia Wilson, 12 June 2014

“My Mother was a stalker”: The target of her affections T.S.Eliot. Great expectstions drew us to his Four Quartets and to one of Beethoven's best during the Music In Great Irish Houses festival.

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Great Expectations not met in Dublin

By Cynthia Wilson

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra: walking the programming tightrope

By Cynthia Wilson, 28 May 2014

Sex sells - it always has. In recent years, celebrity has become its competitor. Oprah chooses our books, George selects our coffee and Gwyneth balances our cigarettes and tofu. The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra enjoys celebrity status, but can this venerable 125 year old orchestra engage its own celebrity to retain its standing?

Walking the programming tightrope

By Cynthia Wilson

Grachtenfestival Amsterdam: Secret Histories

By Cynthia Wilson, 06 May 2014

This summer, Amsterdam's famous canals once again host their own festival. Aptly named Grachtenfestival Amsterdam – “gracht” means “canal” in Dutch – this yearly event sees 250 concerts produced at 80 addresses, many of these exposing Amsterdam’s secret histories and hidden treasures. What better opportunity to explore the city’s secret history?

Grachtenfestival Amsterdam: Secret Histories

By Cynthia Wilson

Sneak preview in Utrecht: Happy Birthday, Harry!

By Cynthia Wilson, 12 April 2014

Utrecht has endured a long wait for its new concert hall complex, Tivoli Vredenburg. The official opening is still a few months away but we were afforded a sneak preview Saturday evening in one of the smaller halls aptly named Hertz, a play on words combining the musical term for pitch and Vredenburg’s famed architect, Herman Hertzberger.

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Sneak preview in Utrecht: Happy Birthday, Harry!

By Cynthia Wilson

St Matthew Passion in Copenhagen

By Cynthia Wilson, 10 April 2014

Admittedly, it has been quite some time since I heard a St Matthew Passion in a concert hall as opposed to a church. The Concert Hall of the Danish Radio in Copenhagen is an impressive building both inside and out; it was well-filled and buzzing with excitement for a passion featuring the radio orchestra, choir as well as young and attractive international soloists.

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St Matthew Passion in Copenhagen

By Cynthia Wilson

Emanuel Ax: In homage to Johannes Brahms

By Cynthia Wilson, 06 April 2014

Emanual Ax demonstrated brilliance both as creative innovator and performer, paying homage the pianist's pianist, Johannes Brahms.

*****

Emanuel Ax: In homage to Johannes Brahms

By Cynthia Wilson

Birtwistle's Earth Dances: Gripping performance, but is it new music?

By Cynthia Wilson, 07 March 2014

A wonderful performance of Harrison Birtwistle's Earth Dances at the New Music Dublin Festival, but can it still qualify as “new”?

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Birtwistle's Earth Dances: Gripping performance, but is it new music?

By Cynthia Wilson

Seeking new music with the Arditti in Dublin

By Cynthia Wilson, 06 March 2014

The Arditti Quartet has adventurously championed contemporary repertoire throughout an illustrious career. Recent quartets from Haas and Abrahamsen are joined by Xenakis' Tetras at the New Music Dublin Festival.

*****

Seeking new music with the Arditti in Dublin

By Cynthia Wilson

A final outing for Audi's Ring cycle in Amsterdam

By Cynthia Wilson, 07 February 2014

Pierre Audi's Amsterdam Ring for De Nederlandse Opera was revived here for the Wagner bicentennial. Happily for us, this exemplary team retained sets, costumes, light and video designs and, most significantly, the energy and determination to (re)cast and undertake it all one last time.

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De Nederlandse Opera: The Ring cycle

By Cynthia Wilson

A mismatched marriage: Asko|Schönberg play the Impressionists in Utrecht

By Cynthia Wilson, 18 January 2014

Asko|Schönberg are respected pioneers of the new music scene, but this concert in Utrecht found them in less well-travelled territory: music by Debussy and Ravel. This proved a disappointing mismatch of repertoire.

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Asko|Schönberg play Debussy and Ravel

By Cynthia Wilson

Birthday celebrations at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw

By Cynthia Wilson, 22 December 2013

Menahem Pressler's début with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, conducted by Trevor Pinnock at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw. Cynthia Wilson reviews.

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Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra with Menahem Pressler

By Cynthia Wilson

A great Mahler 9 in a great Mahler city: Fischer and the BFO in Amsterdam

By Cynthia Wilson, 09 December 2013

Amsterdam has an outstanding history for Mahler performances, but this fine Ninth from Iván Fischer and his Budapest Festival Orchestra lived up to all this history.

*****

Fischer and the BFO

By Cynthia Wilson