David Wolfson holds a PhD in composition from Rutgers University, and has taught at Rutgers University, Montclair State University and Hunter College. He is enjoying an eclectic career, having composed opera, musical theatre, touring children’s musicals, and incidental music for plays; choral music, band music, orchestral music, chamber music, art songs, and music for solo piano; comedy songs, cabaret songs and one memorable score for an amusement park big-headed-costumed-character show. You can find more information here.
Death of Classical’s presentation of Gil Shaham and The Knights playing a “Pocket Edition” of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto at Green-Wood Cemetery strove for a festive feel, and did admirably at fulfilling that promise
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.
A new work by Steve Reich shared the stage with two Beethoven favorites. While neither composer particularly illuminated the other, they shared their program nicely.
Jakub Hrůša conducted the New York Philharmonic in a program of lesser-known works from well-loved composers. While Hrůša especially made the case for the Dvořák, the evening as a whole did not add up .
A sublime performance of Berlioz' La Mort de Cléopâtre by Joyce DiDonato, Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra overshadows the rest of a Rome-inspired concert at Carnegie Hall.
The New York Philharmonic opened its season last night with a splendidly conceived mash-up of selections from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet. Unfortunately, the first half of the concert was less compelling.
The idea of reframing a warhorse of the classical repertory isn't a bad one. Theatre and opera goers have their modern-dress versions of Shakespeare and Mozart. Why not try it with Vivaldi?
