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A fully produced performance of Brahms' Die schӧne Magelone in Philadelphia, complete with on-stage narrator and bespoke drawings, proved less than the sum of its parts.

The Canadian soprano and her accomplished accompanist, Bertrand Chamayou, offer a thoughtful and eclectic program of Messiaen, Scriabin and John Zorn.

The British pianist reveals new ideas in the most familiar of music in this recital program, which concludes a multi-year return to Schubert's keyboard literature.

The classical singer's repertoire encompasses showtunes, spirituals and folk songs, alongside a more traditional selection of Lieder.

The gifted cellist offers a generous program that spans from JS Bach to Bob Marley, anchored by musical intelligence and brilliant technique.

Dame Mitsuko Uchida reveals insights into Beethoven's final three piano sonatas that can only come from a lifetime of contemplation.

With selections from Schumann, Ravel and Albéniz, the English pianist offers a virtuosic program notable for its style, wit and narrative focus.

Soloists John Matthew Myers and John David Smith proved an ideal pairing in Britten's monumental Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings.

The all-female program Schultz and pianist Jonathan Ware brought to the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society spanned three centuries, three languages and several continents.

The pianist put a highly individual and unapologetically modern stamp on Bach's Keyboard Concerto no. 7.

Benjamin Britten's comic slice of country life proves an ideal choice for the conservatory setting.

The Welsh pianist Llŷr Williams, in sync with an appreciative audience, offers Beethoven both lyrical and profound.

The French-Canadian pianist replaced an ailing Rudolf Buchbinder, kicking off the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society's first complete Beethoven piano sonata cycle.

In Barbiere, the humor is constantly in the music So this staging was best when the director didn't impose anything but followed and respected the text and especially the music.

James Darrah stages Handel's sensual oratorio for Festival O, a feast of wonderful singing. 

The pairing of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Riders to the Sea with Rene Orth’sEmpty the House worked perfectly and did absolute justice to these two despair-filled operas.

Curtis Institute singers and orchestra rescue Mozart's Don Giovanni from being overwhelmed by pianos.

A remarkable opera about Alzheimer’s mesmerizes audience thanks to two extraordinary women “d’un certain age”.

Puts’ and Campbell’s fast and furious neo-Victorians launch Philadelphia’s Annual Opera Festival.

The world première of Breaking the Waves was a qualified success, with a powerful drama performed with commitment by strong cast and musicians.

Great performances by Lawrence Brownlee and Angela Brown in a fantasia on Charlie Parker's life and death.

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale about a great conservatory production of Ariadne auf Naxos, with wonderful singing and visual delights aplenty.

Taking risks has mixed results in A Coffin In Egypt.

Sunday afternoon in the Perleman Theater, harpist Catherine Michel joined the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia for the world première of Michel Legrand’s Harp Concerto. The winner of three Oscars, five Grammys, and heaps of other awards, Legrand is certainly one of the most influential and prolific composers living today.

Take four very talented performers. Throw in a score that pushes them to their vocal limits. Add an accordion and a fishing reel to the orchestra. Mix with a healthy dose of wry humor. Dot with ostrich features in Mary Kay pink. Simmer with sexual innuendo for two hours and eleven minutes.

The plight of women trapped in plural marriage—one husband with multiple wives—glowed like a firebrand on the Perelman Theater stage on Sunday. Opera Company of Philadelphia’s Dark Sisters, in co-production with Gotham Chamber Opera and the Music-Theatre Group, is OCP’s final offering of the 2011-12 season.

Among the audience at Thursday night’s Philadelphia Chamber Music Society recital, it seemed few had heard of baritone Christian Gerhaher. They had come for the excellent reason of András Schiff playing the piano. But by the end of the evening it was clear that neither name would be soon forgotten.

“What a funny kind of fairy tale we’ve gotten into!” proclaims one of the characters in Elegy for Young Lovers, Hans Werner Henze’s odd 1963 opera. The audience may sympathize. W.H. Auden and Chester Kallman’s libretto of an uninspired poet in search of a new muse is not standard operatic fare.

Tenor Ian Bostridge and pianist Julius Drake presented a stunning program of Lieder by Robert Schumann (1810-1856) and his protégé Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) on 7 March at the Perelman Theater of the Kimmel Center, as part of the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society’s fine series. The small hall, nearly full, lent itself perfectly to the intimate performance of Lieder.

One great advantage of premiering an opera in the United States is that audiences can’t compare productions and casts of past performances and find you lacking. One major disadvantage is that the audience has little or no fluency with the work and may struggle to comprehend its meaning and significance. With the U.S.

De Schubert à Beethoven en passant par Schumann, Mozart et Amy Beth Kirsten, le pianiste américain a donné un récital exceptionnellement éloquent.