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Music

¡Figaro! (90210)

March 25, 2016

Virtually performed all in English with some Spanish for comic effect," ¡Figaro! (90210)" is true to the art form with recitative and arias, that is sung speech and grand solos rather then integrated dialogue and songs that characterize traditional musical comedy. Supertitles are projected above the stage for anything that may be vocally indecipherable. [more]

C4: Unusual – Music of the strange, the absurd, and the surreal

March 24, 2016

For the winter concert of their eleventh season, the twenty-three member C4: The Choral Composer Conductor Collective – elected to honor “Unusual - music of the strange, the absurd, the surreal.” The evening included three premieres, all by current C4 composers, among the eight pieces performed. Some of the works were splendid and some weren't, but all were presented with C4's characteristic superb musicianship and artistic integrity as well as their willingness to take risks. [more]

Witchcraft: The Jazz of Cy Coleman

March 22, 2016

“He was tied to the life of jazz clubs,” said Billy Stritch of Cy Coleman, the subject of The 92nd Street Y’s Lyrics & Lyricists Series Presents: "Witchcraft: The Jazz Magic of Cy Coleman." Mr. Stritch was the personable host, artistic director, and performed on piano and was a vocalist along with four other talented singers during this very entertaining and jazzy concert. [more]

Richard Malavet in The Billy Eckstine Project: Songs In the Key of “B”

March 21, 2016

“He was the premier balladeer of his generation and the first African-American to sing a song on network radio,” Malavet declared of the entertainer. Billy Eckstine (1914-1993) was a Virginia born African-American jazz and pop singer, bandleader and songwriter. He sang with the bands of Earl Hines, Duke Ellington and Count Basie. During a career lasting over 50 years, Eckstine had several hit singles, toured extensively and appeared on major television network programs. [more]

Composer Portrait: Iancu Dumitrescu with Either/Or

March 18, 2016

The evening was less about contemporary Romanian composer Dumitrescu, born in 1944, than about the music for which he is, in some mysterious sense, a medium. Each work is unique, each a premiere, even if its originating shape has existed before. The style of music in which Dumitrescu operates has recently been called Romanian Spectralism. Dumitrescu himself doesn't much use this phrase; he calls his music and the impulse to make music 'Orphism,' describing it, variously, as “natural, alive and intuitive” and “sonorous and refined ...from archaic sources.” [more]

The New York Pops: 42nd on 57th: Broadway Today

March 14, 2016

A pulsating medley from Kander and Ebb’s musical "Chicago" was the thrilling second act opening number of The New York Pops’ pleasant concert of eclectic show music, "42nd on 57th: Broadway Today." The evening opened with a lush and dramatic selection from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s "The Phantom of The Opera." "Les Misérables" also received a superb symphonic treatment, as did the lovely overture from "Ragtime." Hearing these familiar melodies performed by this supremely accomplished 78 piece orchestra was uniquely enthralling. [more]

Composer Portraits: Alex Mincek with Yarn/Wire and Mivos Quartet

March 14, 2016

In the compositions of New York composer Alex Mincek (b. 1975), music is explored by means of separating out its constitutive elements: as indicated in Miller Theatre program notes for his Composer Portrait concert, Mincek examines “sound worlds,” music states and the “sense of interconnectivity that reveals underlying qualities of coherence and unity.” These principles were on full display as two stellar contemporary groups, Yarn/Wire and Mivos Quartet, presented four recent Mincek works, including two world premieres. [more]

Joan Osborne – Songs of Bob Dylan

March 12, 2016

Most people have difficulty imagining Bob Dylan as anything but the down-and-out troubadour singing for his supper in Greenwich Village nightspots in the early Sixties. He is, in fact, an incredibly prolific, sophisticated writer and Ms. Osborne slid easily from his country/western tinged ballads (“Tonight I’ll be Staying Here with You”) to his scathing, but clear-eyed philosophy of the world (“Gotta Serve Somebody”) to his tender love songs (“Forever Young”) and on to his Christian evangelical period (“Saved”). [more]

Fyvush Finkel

March 11, 2016

Finkel needed only minimal help to get up on the stage after recovering from a short illness. He began with patter about how Jews don’t usually drink because it interferes with their suffering. He also quoted humorist Sam Levenson’s retort to an anti-Semite. Levenson suggested that this person refuse to take advantage of all the cures and tests for illnesses discovered by men such as Sabin and Salk and their Jewish medical colleagues. [more]

From Moses to Mostel: A History of the Jews

March 8, 2016

Robert Klein, the comedian/actor/writer, was the laid back host whose shtick—a cell phone conversation with God (a humorless lady)—provided the backbone of the show. Klein had to prove to the very distracted all-powerful lady that the world was worth saving. From this fragile premise came a very amusing, slightly overlong, program, performed by a large band conducted by Frank London and four fine singers: Joanne Borts, Rachel Stern, Rob Evan and Steve Rosen, plus a guest artist or two. [more]

American Classical Orchestra: “L’Isola Disabitata”

March 3, 2016

The most psychologically complex role is Silvia's. Over the course of the opera, she moves from childlike naïveté to loving generosity of heart. Energetic and intelligent, she unlearns her sister's morbid lessons about men's wickedness so completely that as a newly emerged adult, she falls in love without reservation or fear. Sherezade Panthaki's Silvia was marvelous: the full evolution of her character was reflected in singing that moved from light sweetness to exuberant, vigorous sensuality. In her artistry, Panthaki made her Silvia a young woman with neither inhibition nor fear; Panthaki took every possible risk with Haydn's music and made it all feel like happiness in the process of being discovered. [more]

92Y’s Lyrics & Lyricists Series: “Battle for the Airwaves: The Songbook Meets Rock and Country”

March 2, 2016

Breezily delivering his erudite script from a music stand, black-backed cards that he occasionally held, and from memory, Naughton cited Jazz, Gospel, The Blues, Country and Doo-wop. He also imparted historical facts and biographical details about the key figures involved. These included Nat King Cole, The Mills Brothers, Hank Williams, Jr., Louis Jordan, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley, The Everly Brothers, Patsy Cline, The Coasters, The Platters, and Ray Charles. Much of the commentary was accompanied by appropriate slide projections. [more]

Broadway by the Year: The 1930’s

February 25, 2016

Though most of the performances of the evening were solely from vocalists, some of the performers showed versatility by playing with various different instruments. This added a refreshing amount of variety, and led to a handful of outstanding performances. Pianist and singer Billy Stritch performed in the first act, and the combination of his smooth vocals and stride-style piano was a welcome treat. The highlight of the evening for Stritch was “Comes Love” (Yokel Boy), which earned mid-song applause from the audience. Also showing versatility was Nellie McKay, who—at different times—performed on both the piano and the ukulele. McKay, who possesses a voice with an almost calm quality, is to be thanked for some of the more subtle, quiet, moments of the evening. [more]

Marilyn Maye: “Marilyn by Request”

January 15, 2016

The crowd went wild when she sang some iconic favorites and became silent so as you could hear a pin drop when she crooned out others. Maye sure knows how to work a room. This snazzy, jazzy one-of-a-kind artist sang a lot of ballads, Broadway tunes and anything fabulous. Only the best would do for this phenomenal performer. Among the highlights were “Luck, Be a Lady Tonight, “Guess Who I Saw Today,” “Country Boy,” “That's Life” and “I'm Still Here” which was very apropos. [more]

92Y’s Lyrics & Lyricists Series: “A Funny Thing Happened: Songs from the Road to Broadway!”

January 12, 2016

Displaying her flawless vocal abilities, superb comic timing, dramatic range and exuberant presence, Ann Harada was the standout of the six-member company. She was in the original Broadway cast of "Avenue Q" and appeared in the recent Broadway production of "Cinderella." Her exquisite renditions included “Getting to Know You” from "The King and I," “Do You Love Me?” from" Fiddler on The Roof," “Sing Happy,” the 11:00 number from Flora The Red Menace, and “Distant Melody,” from "Peter Pan." Ms. Harada vividly demonstrated her delightful skills throughout. [more]

The Pirates of Penzance

December 30, 2015

The cast includes beloved NYGASP favorites as well as some less familiar faces. Coloratura soprano Sarah Caldwell Smith’s Mabel wins a justly earned ovation signing her aria, “Poor Wandering One!,” declaring her love for Frederic. He is played with cheerful restraint by tenor Carter Lynch (alternating with Daniel Greenwood). Bass-baritone David Wannen has a fine swashbuckling time as The Pirate King. Contralto Angela Christine-Smith as Ruth gives a memorable rendition of her aria, “When Frederic Was A Little Lad.” Bass David Auxier as the Sergeant of Police deals delightfully with his band of bumbling officers. [more]

Meg Flather: “Portraits”

December 30, 2015

The act itself is a potpourri of story songs that she was drawn to at an early age starting in 1985 when making her cabaret debut with pianist Christian Daizey at the old Duplex on Grove Street. After a few incarnations, the show was booked into The Ballroom in 1993, the legendary, now defunct, club in Chelsea that presented star attractions such as Eartha Kitt and Peggy Lee. The act was a big success and received raves. Now, twenty-two years later, she brought it back for one show with the masterful Paul Greenwood as musical director and John Mettam on percussion/guitar. Shaped by Lennie Watts as director, her reminiscences and silly quips explaining her more mature take now on her song choices then made for an engaging and totally fun hour (“... I had no business singing these songs in my twenties!”) With a few nips and tucks, Flather steered it all into the twenty-first century. [more]

The Carnival of the Animals, featuring the poetry of Ogden Nash

December 29, 2015

The gifted puppeteer-dancers – Kristen Kammermeyer, Brendan McMahon, Justin Perkins, Rachael Shane – were barefoot and dressed in black; they moved with graceful economy of movement and made themselves into a fantastic combination of invisibility and magisterial artistry. They manipulated more than two dozen every-day-object puppets in gorgeous worlds of sky for birds, water for fish, field and forest for all sorts of creatures large and small. All these animals – made of sticks, brooms, mops, feather-dusters, cardboard-cut-outs, fabric scraps, familiar bits of this-and-that, and unexpected parts of who-knows-what – were right there in front of us. They leapt and loped, swooped and soared; they teased and pleased, tested, tormented and befriended each other and the narrator; they made each person in the audience – old and young, big and little – feel individually included in the menagerie's movements. [more]

The Algonquin Kid

December 27, 2015

Colby’s fascinatingly entertaining autobiography, "The Algonquin Kid," was turned into a one-time theatrical event as part of the Urban Stages’ Winter Rhythms series, hosted by Mr. Colby, produced and directed by Peter Napolitano, with Bill Zeffiro at the piano playing a rich list of songs associated with the many famously creative hotel guests and a few written by Mr. Colby himself. As a real-life Eloise, Mr. Colby was witness to much history and this show, barely scratching the surface, was witness to his good fortune. [more]

The New York Pops Family Concert: “A Charlie Brown Christmas”

December 24, 2015

Members of the classic Peanuts gang were voiced by students from TADA! Youth Theater. Joshua Andino-Nieto took on the role of Charlie Brown and was joined by Amanda Treibner who starred as Lucy and Michael Wells as Linus. The trio brought the wholesome characters to life as they recreated Charlie Brown’s journey to finding the meaning of Christmas, including the famous scene picking out his sad tree, played by the adorable Finley McElhinney – and made the audience fall in love with these friends all over again! [more]

Rudresh Mahanthappa: “Bird Calls”

December 22, 2015

Mahanthappa's elegant and exciting compositional voice is well established. His jazz combines the full development of the genre since its inception with the idiom of South Indian classical music which is his personal inheritance. Mahanthappa – among other jazz artists featured in recent years in the Jazz at Miller Theatre series, such as Anat Cohen and Miguel Zenon – has already contributed to an expanded vision of jazz as an American art form that can incorporate global influences; Mahanthappa has indeed been both exemplar and participant in the necessary and welcome twenty-first century examination of the fluid meanings of “American” and “global.” [more]

The New York Pops: It’s Christmas Time in the City

December 22, 2015

Opening with a soaring symphonic “Deck the Halls” and then joined by the wonderful Essential Voices USA chorus for it, The New York Pops closed their concert, "It’s Christmas Time in the City,." with a rousing audience sing-a-long of “Come All Ye Faithful” and “Silent Night.” In between, there was a delightful selection of classic and newer Christmas songs several performed by Broadway stars Stephanie J. Block and Brian d’Arcy James. Santa Claus and one of his elves also comically visited. Beaming music director Steven Reineke commandingly conducted the 78-piece orchestra and personably hosted this engaging presentation. [more]

Matthew Welch Music: Three Residency Concerts

December 18, 2015

At the 10:00 show on Wednesday, December 9, Welch played bagpipes with Brendon Randall-Myers on electric guitar and Brian Chase on drums and electronics performing "The Library of Babel," a 35 minute piece Welch composed in 1999. In a subsequent post-concert conversation, Welch indicated that the work of Jorge Luis Borges had been a foundational inspiration in his composing early in his career. This piece, titled to pay homage to Borges' astonishing 1941 story of the same name, is an immediately recognizable child of Borges. It is also, however, strong enough to stand on its own, meaningful and effective, even for listeners unfamiliar with the works of the Argentinian writer. [more]

The Tallis Scholars: “Christmas Across Centuries”

December 14, 2015

The program itself was a masterpiece of artistic and theological integrity. Pieces by three composers – contemporary Estonian Arvo Part (b.1935), and Renaissance Englishmen John Sheppard (c.1515-1558) and Thomas Tallis (c.1505-1585) – carried the full chronological account of the earthly life of the Word made Flesh, from conception in the Virgin's womb to emergence as the salvation-bearing Lamb of God. The order of the program essentially replicated the Nicene Creed, each piece providing an illumination of a particular narrative or liturgical moment. [more]

Baby Jane Dexter: “It’s Personal!”

November 30, 2015

It wasn't until the sixth song, "Birth of the Blues" by DeSylva, Brown and Henderson, that she finally addressed the crowd which had filled the small venue. She commented that she has never considered herself a blues singer, although she has been identified as such for years, and went on to belt out a very heartfelt, bluesy rendition of the song. She then transitioned into one of her old-time favorites, a traditional English ballad from her Hair days, "The House of the Rising Sun." Interpreted with great feeling and emotion, this was one of her best performances maybe because of the memories it conjures up in her. [more]

Chelsea Opera: Glory Denied

November 21, 2015

Launching its twelfth season with a revival of its 2010 production of Tom Cipullo's widely acclaimed "Glory Denied," Chelsea Opera made clear once again the reasons for which it has become and continues to be a leader among small regional opera companies here in the Northeast: presenting a varied and ambitious repertoire, it maintains consistently high standards of both music and theatrical direction. Both the fine complex score of "Glory Denied" and the first rate musicianship of the singers and instrumentalists who performed it were enhanced by the staging and direction of the company's co-founder and co-executive producer Lynne Hayden-Findlay. [more]

The New York Pops: Sophisticated Ladies

November 19, 2015

In this centennial of the birth of jazz great Billie Holiday, The New York Pops November concert was devoted to Harlem Renaissance ladies like Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Dinah Washington as well as Holiday. Titled "Sophisticated Ladies," the evening was graced by three dynamic guest artists, Montego Glover, Capathia Jenkins and Sy Smith, who have a tremendous affinity with this music, along with music director and conductor Steven Reineke who narrated the story of this spirited and electrifying music. Beginning with Sam Shoup’s orchestral arrangement of Billy Strayhorn’s “Take the ‘A’ Train,” and ending in a rousing encore of “Get Happy,” performed by all the artists, the evening brought the audience to its feet. [more]

The Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys with Orchestra of St. Luke’s: Mozart’s Requiem & Haydn’s Missa in Angustiis

November 18, 2015

Nethsingha's reading of Mozart's Requiem was richly nuanced and widely expressive, and the success of his reading was established within the first three movements. The opening Requiem was graceful, nearly pensive: the treble voices were sweet and pure, and soprano Katharine Dain's brief opening solo was at once eloquent and ethereal. The swift Kyrie, with its tight runs, quarter and sixteenth notes, was a completely clear, crisp introit, an urgent summons of the clergy to their sacraments. The ensuing Dies Irae – one particularly pure exemplar of Mozart's genius – made beauty and terror inseparable. [more]

Modern Art Orchestra

November 18, 2015

Founded in 2005 and led by Kornel Fekete-Kovacs, trumpeter and composer, the Budapest-based Modern Art Orchestra is a marvel. Its twenty musicians – five in the rhythm section (piano, percussion, guitar, double bass) and fifteen on horns of all sorts (saxophones, trombones, tuba, French horn, trumpets and flugelhorn) – form a tight, cohesive group, sharing features of big band brash and a chamber group's intimate connectedness. Many of the musicians played more than one instrument, even within the span of a single piece; in a few pieces, individual musicians had extended solos. At any given moment, if one or more players weren't playing, they were watching their colleagues with delight, bobbing the rhythms with their heads and tapping out the complicated syncopations with their feet. [more]

The Hope of Christmas (Holiday CD)

November 4, 2015

On Union Street” with music by Wesley Whatley is the lively and wistful opening track of the delightful jazz based recording, The Hope of Christmas. It is performed by the acclaimed vocalist Ann Hampton Callaway and is one of the twelve songs on it she magnificently sings. Lyricist William Schermerhorn has crafted eleven wonderful original songs for this work that range from sentimental to inspirational to the warmly comic that perfectly capture the spirit of the holiday. His fine words are matched by the gorgeous melodies of accomplished composers. [more]

Broadway Close Up: William Finn

October 29, 2015

Two veterans of the most recent revival of On the Town were splendid interpreters of Finn’s songs. First, Stephen DeRosa conjured a second-rate out-of-town production of "March of the Falsettos" populated by egos and amateurs. He sang “The Baseball Game” brilliantly-and schizophrenically—taking on each character of this bitingly satirical song. Later he sang the scathing, sexually explicit “Republicans” in which a liberal gets even with a Republican in an unprintable way. Then his colleague Alysha Umphress sang a rousing “Set Those Sails” ("In Trousers") and “Change” ("A New Brain"), both songs dealing differently with moving on. Ms. Umphress’s “Song of the Full Refrigerator,” about the temptations of food—“eat first and get depressed later”—was scarily right on the money. [more]
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