Find articles | David Wolfson

Joana Carneiro, the Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center and music by Frank, Shostakovich, Ravel and Prokofiev fused into something that transcended them all.

The JACK Quartet give an immaculate performance of a disastrously programmed concert at the 92nd St Y. 

Gabriela Ortiz' terrific cello concerto Dzonot receives its New York premiere by Alisa Weilerstein and the LA Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel at Carnegie Hall. 

Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Met Orchestra emerge from their orchestra pit onto the stage of Carnegie Hall last Thursday to strut their considerable stuff as a star attraction.

Chris Thile and the Knights combine virtuosity and informality, classical music, bluegrass and other genres at Zankel Hall, including Thile’s virtuoso shaggy dog story ATTENTION!

The New York Philharmonic features two early Ligeti works, a new concerto for Yefim Bronfman by Elena Firsova, and Brahms' Serenade no. 1.

Juanjo Mena and the orchestra of Spain’s powerhouse opera company presents a gala concert, featuring Manuel de Falla's El amor brujo at its centre. 

The Elements brings together five composers writing for the celebrated violinist: Kevin Puts, Edgar Meyer, Jake Heggie, Jennifer Higdon and Jessie Montgomery. 

The world premiere of Iraqi-American composer Amir ElSaffar's ambitious Dhikra (Remembrance) very nearly succeeds in its ambitions. 

Glimmerglass Opera Festival’s production of Candide leans heavily on a dry comedic sensibility, which most of the cast execute admirably.

A climate-centered concert features water-themed works by Britten and Takemitsu, but is built around the stunning New York premiere of Become Desert, a co-commissioned piece by John Luther Adams.

Michael Tilson Thomas leads the Philharmonic in the New York premiere of his song cycle Meditations on Rilke.

A thoughtfully designed and coherent program of French music at David Geffen Hall, is played with mostly exquisite results.

Amid an uncertain future for the Mostly Mozart Festival, conductor Louis Langrée led a fiery program that overflowed with rage rather than grief.

The Cleveland Orchestra and Franz Welser-Möst turn in a mixed program in two senses at Carnegie Hall, with repertoire spanning over three centuries and performances that range from the sublime to the tedious.

Brett Dean’s Hamlet at the Met is a worthy addition to the operatic canon, and the production is a treat. 

Igor Levit's pianissimo playing is the highlight of his Brahms, but for all its vaunted acoustics, Carnegie Hall is sometimes not kind to concerto soloists.

The Knights consistently put on some of the most interesting classical concerts in New York. Friday night’s offering at the 92nd Street Y was no exception.

In New York Philharmonic debuts, Rakitina and Zhang deliver a thoughtful version of Rachmaninov's Second Piano Concerto, mostly shorn of sentimentality – a fresh look from young eyes.

Ailyn Pérez’ role debut as Tatiana in Eugene Onegin at the Metropolitan Opera is a joy, with Piotr Beczała's Lensky the evening’s other standout. 

Gustavo Dudamel conducts the New York Philharmonic in a program of Robert Schumann’s symphonies that was notable for drive and energy, plus a Gabriela Ortiz premiere honoring Clara Schumann.

The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and Yannick Nézet-Séguin gave a rendition of Tchaikovsky’s Pathetique, in solidarity with the people of Ukraine, that was by turns anguished, lyrical, savage and subtle.

A premiere and a rarity cap New York Philharmonic’s mini-festival “Authentic Selves: The Beauty Within” created in partnership with Artist-in-Residence, countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo. 

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra concluded its American tour— the first such tour by an international orchestra since March of 2020— with a heartwarmingly effective concert at Carnegie Hall.

A peripatetic program from The Knights spanning three continents and nearly two centuries, played with an appealing immediacy.

The New York Philharmonic resumed its laudable “Project 19” with a world premiere by Joan Tower, along with a Mozart piano concerto and Dvořák’s Seventh Symphony.

Recently recovered from emergency brain surgery, the popular conductor stepped back onto the podium with the New York Philharmonic this weekend in performances that ranged from the skilled to the sublime.

After 572 dark days, there was music on the stage of Carnegie Hall. Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts the Philadelphia Orchestra in a jubilant program, culminating in a blistering Beethoven’s Fifth.

Three of the pieces that Louis Langrée conducted in his New York Philharmonic debut concerts were similarly atmospheric and impressionistic, stealing each other’s thunder. Happily, the Scriabin was cathartic.

Ellen Reid’s evocative new work and Renée Fleming’s set of songs from her album “Distant Light” were the highlights of a program that included an uninspiring Bruckner Fourth Symphony.

Janine Jansen and the New York Philharmonic gave a transcendent, once-in-a-lifetime performance of the Brahms Violin Concerto. Tania Leòn’s new work and a Strauss suite paled in comparison.

The satisfying kick-off to the New York Philharmonic’s Project 19 women’s commissioning project shared a bill with a disappointing Haydn cello concerto and a rewarding Mozart Mass.

Gustavo Dudamel led the New York Philharmonic in a program that featured a mildly disappointing Ives, a spectacularly successful new concerto, and an idiosyncratic take on Dvořák’s New World Symphony.