Flying the flag for all things classical, jazz and a bit experimental, Kay is an amateur pianist and musical scribbler. Kay has her Masters in Culture, Policy and Management from City University, London, and currently works as a fundraiser for the performing arts in New York City.
Part of the Next Wave Festival, 21c Liderabend achieved a delicate balance that, more times than not, New York’s larger performing arts venues fail to accomplish: an intimate experience in an extravagant, larger-scale setting.
There was an oriental rug on the stage, centered and towards the front, with one stool in the far left corner and a single microphone, dead center. Clearly the makings of a solo show, Chris Thile made a joke about the “International Committee of Solo Performers” – you must play at least one, but no more than three, songs about the civil war.
Rarely does one see five grand pianos in one room, let alone on one stage. Enter the 5 Browns, a classical piano quintet. Siblings and Juilliard graduates – they were the first family to be enrolled at the Juilliard School simultaneously – it is clear this family has talent. Performing individually and together, this young ensemble has a vivacious and affable approach to classical music.
Formed under the artistic direction of Yo-Yo Ma, the Silk Road Ensemble, a collective of distinguished performers and composers from more than 20 countries in Asia, Europe and the Americas, took to the stage at Carnegie Hall Wednesday evening. Looking up at Perelman stage, you'd never guess the group was no more than a small ensemble.
Alarm Will Sound is a 20-member band whose name has become synonymous with new and emerging contemporary classical work. Whether the music is playful of spiteful, dramatic or lighthearted, Alarm Will Sound nails the performance – just as they did Saturday night in Zankel Hall.Opening with Journeyman, a New York première by John Orfe, Alarm Will Sound immediately made their presence known.
Sitting in the majestic Carnegie Hall, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra almost looked dwarfed by the sheer size of the stage. Cristi Andrews Cohen’s voice echoed as she recited the poem by Richard Dehmel. But then soft hums emanated from the strings, incessant but quiet at first, slowing building to a larger, richer sound that enveloped the hall.
(Le) Poisson Rouge is always an exciting venue for classical music, but to have John Adams in the house Tuesday night was a real treat.The Attacca Quartet, comprised of violinists Amy Schroeder and Keiko Tokunaga, violist Luke Fleming and cellist Andrew Yee, began the concert with absolutely no pretenses.
Regular concert-goers are used to hearing the harp on a church altar or mixed in with a large symphony, barely audible above the mass of strings, bass and brass. But the St Luke’s Chamber Ensemble put the harp center stage, in an evening of 20th-century French music, no less.
Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall is by no means a modest-sized concert stage, and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra seemed to take up every square inch of it. The sheer size of the orchestra is initially what struck me, until the opening lines of Rolf Martinsson’s Open Mind, Op. 71.
On the morning of 12 February, President Obama announced the return of 34,000 troops from Afghanistan by January, 2014. This pronouncement made the concert at Carnegie Hall that night especially poignant.
No ordinary youth orchestra, the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra causes quite a stir wherever it performs. Comprised of a mix of Arab, Israeli and Spanish musicians, the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra is committed to coexistence and a peaceful solution to the violent conflict in the Middle East.
Elliott Carter was a real maverick composer. Born into the era of Igor Stravinsky, Charles Ives and Arnold Schoenberg, Carter went onto to create an exciting world of new music in the 20th and 21st century. Never slowing down, Carter composed over 40 new works between the ages of 90 and 100. The result: Carter’s music is current and exciting today... and he has an incredible repertoire of music.
At once, Max Richter’s avant-garde remix of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons is both strange and familiar. Poised atop the stage at (le) Poisson Rouge sat the LPR ensemble – complete with a harpsichord! – ready to begin their performance. But something curious happened: the players remained silent as an electronic hum radiated out of a laptop on stage.
Crossing 9th Avenue to walk even further west, I deplored my lengthy commute from the A train. 'People live this far west?', I said to myself. I didn't realize I said the question out loud until my friend Emily replied, 'Sure, you can make any neighborhood hip in Manhattan.
Kicking off its 5th year, the World Science Festival had their opening night performance in the historic United Palace Theatre. The last of Marcus Loew’s vaudeville theatres from the 1920s and 30s, the United Palace Theatre is now home to the United Church Science of the Living Institute, and sometimes alternative rock concerts.
Believe all the hype: Greg Anderson and Elizabeth Joy Roe—more famously called Anderson and Roe—are electric. At Galapagos Art Space in Brooklyn, this piano duo did more than celebrate the launch of their new album; they fashioned an entirely new concert experience.
In 1857, downtown Brooklyn—now fondly referred to as DUMBO—was a sleepy, riverside village. It was also the inaugural year for the Brooklyn Philharmonic. When Bizet, Berlioz and Wagner were the creative voices of the generation in Europe, the Brooklyn Phil was right there with them, launching a classical music culture in the heart of Manhattan’s borough.
After 25 years at the helm, John Daly Goodwin, Music Director of the New York Choral Society (NYCS), gave his final concert Friday night at Carnegie Hall. Titled ‘American Reflections’, all five works had an historical relationship with the New York Choral Society, three of which were commissioned and premiered by the NYCS: Paulus’ Whitman’s New York, De Cormier’s Legacy and Gould’s Quotations.
The stage was set at (Le) Poisson Rouge: a royal blue curtain and a brilliant red light contrasted nicely with the shine of the black and white piano. Simple yet bold, the stage was akin to a Mondrian painting. And as Scarlatti’s notes rolled off Alexandre Tharaud’s fingers, this striking visual matched the crisp performance perfectly.
