In A Land Of The Tallest And The Mostest, This Festival Was Middling
DUBAI – One of the seven members of the United Arab Emirates, this modern-day city-state, bursting with growth, is home to the InClassica International Music Festival, where concerts in a gorgeous opera house offered variable rewards.
Seattle Opera’s New General Director Bows With Season To DEI For
SEATTLE – Alongside The Pirates of Penzance and Carmen, James Robinson's lineup for 2025-26 includes the LGBTQ+ opera Fellow Travelers and the Gay Apparel holiday show hosted by tenor John Marzano in his drag persona, Anita Spritzer.
Boston Baroque’s Most Original Instrument, Its Founder, Stepping Down
BOSTON – Martin Pearlman was in his twenties when he established the period-instrument group then known as Banchetto Musicale. Half a century and many Grammy Awards later, he will retire after a run April 24-27 of Handel's Ariodante.
In ‘Good News Mass,’ Gospel And Blues Mix With Echo Of Bernstein
LOS ANGELES – American composer and activist Carlos Simon acknowledges that his bountiful, hourlong, 16-movement work, which received its premiere by the LA Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel, owes a debt to Bernstein's 1971 Mass.
Transcending Death Only To Watch Life Fray, All On An Opera Stage
NEW YORK – Walking home one evening, Godfrey Rainbird, contented married father of two, is struck by a car and dies. Three days later, he miraculously returns to life. That's the setup for Aaron Siegel and Mallory Catlett's opera Rainbird.
In Met Opera’s Revival, ‘Barbiere’ Emerges Trim And Musically Charged
NEW YORK – The seventh re-appearance of Bartlett Sher's broad and colorful 2006 staging proved an energized and refreshing standout among the Met's revivals this season, with an impressive podium debut by Giacomo Sagripanti.
For Jerusalem Quartet, Shostakovich Cycle Is Dive Into Elusive Layers
PERSPECTIVE – Ahead of the ensemble's complete turn through the 15 works April 21-30 in Cleveland, its founding cellist, Kyril Zlotnikov, reflected on an arc of music not even begun until well into Shostakovich's often perilous artistic life.
IN THE NEWS: MCANA MEMBERS' PICKS
- ‘Own every note’ – Zuill Bailey pays homage to his teacher Joel Krosnick, who died April 16 - by Larry Lapidus at Spokesman Review
- Dreaming in Ensemble: How Black Artists Transformed American Opera - by Ralph P. Locke at Short Fuse Review Round-up
- A brilliant young tenor gets a role worthy of his voice - by Philip Kennicott at Washington Post
- Do Pittsburgh's symphony and opera suffer from 'hypeflation'? - by Jeremy Reynolds at Post-Gazette
- A conductor quietly rising into first echelon: Karina Canellakis’ bravura night with the CSO - by Lawrence B. Johnson at Chicago On the Aisle
- The Saint-Laurent Choir and its acolytes, creators of music and dreamers of dreams - by Béatrice Cadrin at Ludwig Van Montréal
- Les Arts Florissants on a Quest to Discover the Real Vivaldi - by Michael Ziebach at SF Classical Voice
- Pianist Conrad Tao explores colors of Debussy - and the Lumatone - by Janelle Gelfand at Cincinnati Business Courier
- Peninsula Music Festival features award-winning soloists, rising stars in its 73rd season - by Christopher Clough at Green Bay Press-Gazette
- Opera out loud: Rossini Festival celebrates arts for all, y'all - by Leslie Bateman at Inside of Knoxville
- Young classical musicians are disrupting the industry -- by going viral - by Jessica Duchen at iPaper
- Brooklyn man tries to break barriers with youth orchestra - by Rocco Vertuccio at NY1
- Classical music at Coachella? LA Philharmonic makes desert debut - by Danielle Broadway at Reuters
- Next-gen pianists defining the sounds of tomorrow: 10 fresh takes on Chopin - by Hermione Lai at Interlude
- We said pay what you want for opera -- The audience changed overnight - by Nancy Durrant at The Times
- New Century Chamber Orchestra sends out a 'Prayer for Peace' - by Micheal Zwiebach at San Francisco Classical Voice
- Young classical musicians, undeterred by Trump's DEI reversal, earn standing ovation at Symphony Center - by Emmanuel Camarillo at Chicago Sun-Times
- This Ukrainian genius shaped the Russian empire. His lost opera could now shatter Putin's - by Christine Chraibi at Euromaidan Press
- Opening a gate to classical music - by Julie Becker at YubaNet
- How Yunchan Lim reminds us why music matters - by Monica Lee at Fullerton Observer
- Tintinnabulation and the wrath of God - by Susan Miron at Boston Musical Intelligencer
- A brief history of musical pranksters and what motivates them - by Ria Andriani at Australian Broadcasting Corp.How the Royal Ballet and Opera staged its technology transformation - by Joe Fay at The Stack
- A haunted, hilarious, heartfelt spectacle: Shepherd School opera to present 'The Ghosts of Versailles' - by Brandi Smith at Rice University News
- Kalena Bovell took a winding path to the podium, where she shines - by Meg Bragle at WRTI
- ‘Jacqueline du Pré: Genius and Tragedy’: Bittersweet Strings on PBS - by John Anderson at WSJ
- 'Tales of Apollo' and 'Hercules' review: Handel double bill channels Don Draper and Hollywood musicals - by Clive Paget at The Guardian
- Opera Theatre inks deal to buy Caleres headquarters in Clayton - by Sarah Fenske at St.Louis Mag
- Under Trump, Kennedy Center’s Classical Offerings Will (Mostly) Go On - by Javier C. Hernández at NYTimes.com
- Wigmore Hall boss on dropping Arts Council funding: ‘They’ve lost the confidence of classical music’ - by Liam Kelly at The Telegraph
- We quizzed musicians for their dream and nightmare pieces to perform - by BBC Music
- Composer/Violinist/Guitarist Jack Campbell Brings Sounding Bombe: Enigmatic Music To Toronto - by Anya Wassenberg at Ludwig Van Toronto
Around the US
In Concert For Strings, Historical Style Melds With A New Concerto
NEW YORK – The program by Sejong Soloists with violinists Gil Shaham and Adele Anthony was an exercise in reaching into the past, a perspective that applied even to the premiere of a double concerto by Israeli-born composer Avner Dorman.
A MESSAGE FROM OUR PRESIDENT
Welcome to Classical Voice North America, the online journal of the Music Critics Association of North America. CVNA was launched in 2013 to provide an outlet for music criticism at a time when the market for traditional print journalism was shrinking. Over the past decade this trend has continued. Yet concert societies and opera companies remain vibrant and enthusiasm for what they do is undiminished. The need for informed commentary is as pressing as ever.
The mission of CVNA is to meet this need with expert coverage by members and occasional guest contributors. If you are a writer with experience in classical music, please consider joining the association. If you are a reader with thoughts to share, please write us at info@mcana.org. We believe in criticism!
AROUND CANADA
INTERNATIONAL
DISC AND STREAM
Of Bees And Piazzolla: Dances Familiar, Bizarre Animate A Violin Album
DIGITAL REVIEW – “I have found myself at the intersection of music and dance for over 15 years,” says violinist Michael Jinsoo Lim, who is concertmaster of Pacific Northwest Ballet and the featured artist on a far-reaching CD titled Kinetic.
PARLANDO: VIVIEN SCHWEITZER'S PODCASTS
The composer, pianist and climate activist Gabriela Lena Frank talks about the environmental damage caused by the music industry, how her significant hearing loss has impacted her career, and more.
ISSUES IN THE ARTS
Son Of Native American ‘Shell-Shaking Culture’ Talks Roots On Podcast
PERSPECTIVE – On Gail Wein's podcast Classical Gas, Chickasaw American composer Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate, whose works are performed around the world, describes native influences in his music for orchestra and stage.
MCANA HOSTED BLOGS
Prototype Festival 2020: Iron and Coal
The Prototype Festival of new opera offers a mid-winter adrenalin booster for New York opera lovers.
