Stephen Raskauskas is passionate about the performing arts. As a performer, he has collaborated on productions acclaimed by the Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, and Huffington Post. He has received numerous fellowships and awards, and holds degrees in music from the University of Chicago and Princeton University.
There’s nothing like a trip to The Barber to refresh you. This season, the Metropolitan Opera revives Bartlett Sher’s 2006 production of Rossini’s comic masterpiece, The Barber of Seville.
Verdi’s Aida has been performed over 1,000 times at the Metropolitan Opera, making it the most commonly revived work after Puccini’s La bohème. Because Aida is so regularly programmed, I usually walk rather than run to see this opera.
Solo lute concerts of this repertoire, or lute recitals of any kind for that matter, are rare on this side of the Atlantic. Lucky audiences in Philadelphia heard an exceptional recital of French lute repertoire by Paris-based lutenist Miguel Yisrael.
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.
Pennsylvania Ballet serve up a wonderfully curated menu of works by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Michael Kamen, and Jiří Kylián. Reviewed by Stephen Raskauskas at Merriam Theater, Philadelphia.
The grand finale of this year's Montreal Bach Festival was the Mass in B minor with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal and Kent Nagano, joined by an impressive set of soloists.
Today, you can experience opera from the comfort of your own home – never mind at the opera house. But how was early opera performed? Stephen Raskauskas takes a look at the diverse origins of opera.
As part of Baroque Music Month on Bachtrack, Stephen Raskauskas tells us about a little-known collective of composers who caused some trouble for Handel in the 18th century.
This November, the Opéra de Montréal celebrates Verdi’s bicentennial with a laugh, presenting his comic opera Falstaff. The revival of David Gately’s production, originally produced by Glimmerglass Opera and the recently deceased New York City Opera, received no shortage of snickers during Saturday’s première performance with Opéra de Montréal.
The ensemble XVII-21 Le Baroque Nomade was warmly received in its North American debut Friday evening at Montréal’s Bourgie Hall. Their concert, titled “Venice, Mirror to the World”, was presented in conjunction with the exhibition “Splendore a Venezia: Art and Music from the Renaissance to Baroque in Venice” at the adjoining Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal.
When the nights get longer and the temperatures begin to drop, one of the best ways to cozy up is with a good concert of chamber music. I Musici de Montréal and conductor Jean-Marie Zeitouni presented “The Night Transfigured”, a program of works inspired by night to warm audiences at Bourgie Hall on Friday evening.
Though museums have long been host to musical events, a partnership between the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal with conductor Kent Nagano and Musée des Beaux-arts de Montréal brought art to the concert hall this Wednesday evening.
Stephanie Blythe appeared in recital with Les Violons du Roy Saturday evening at the Maison Symphonique de Montréal, the second stop in a seven-city tour that the renowned mezzo-soprano is taking with the ensemble this fall. Blythe performed Haydn’s infrequently heard cantata Arianna a Naxos and favorite arias from Handel’s Giulio Cesare.
What do heroin, fish soup, and fairy godmothers have in common? They are all ingredients in choreographer Mats Ek’s reinvention of the ballet Sleeping Beauty, currently being performed through the end of October with Les Grands Ballet Canadiens de Montréal.Though the Sleeping Beauty we know today exists in many versions, the scenario is rarely changed significantly.
On Monday, Gotham Chamber Opera presented Daniel Catán’s opera La hija de Rappaccini (“Rappaccini’s Daughter”) in the Cherry Esplanade at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.
