Though John Adams' first opera, Nixon in China, never felt particularly foreign, everybody from singers to directors to conductors to critics needed a few decades to determine what's there and how to draw the most out of it. The new Princeton Festival production played only two performances, June 23 and 30 at the McCarter Theatre Center, but did so with a welcome sense of … [Read more...] about Nixon in China comes to Princeton, literally smarter than ever
Hans Werner Henze: The Last Interview?
Months before his death, he reached back 50 years in his mind to talk about his "odd, old Elegy."
“Don’t make me go out there alone!” — Leonard Bernstein’s last tango with ‘Candide’
By the time he made his way to the podium, Leonard Bernstein was clearly in trouble. Well after the entrance applause died down, he needed to compose himself, and he aggressively massaged his forehead just for a minute. But in stage-time, it seemed more like ten. He was about to begin a concert performance of Candide with the London Symphony Orchestra and an … [Read more...] about “Don’t make me go out there alone!” — Leonard Bernstein’s last tango with ‘Candide’
David Lang holds no prisoners in his new, gloves-off opera
David Lang's music is too pleasurable to be called experimental. Though his language takes the minimalist aesthetic to a very personal place — the little match girl passion being a prime example — it's the message, not the music, that may make some listeners uncomfortable. As much as his new opera prisoner of the state feels like a major stylistic move toward mainstream … [Read more...] about David Lang holds no prisoners in his new, gloves-off opera
Goodbye to the commercial music industry, hello to the rock stars next door
The New York City subway is not, on any given day, the place to hear the music you need. It’s public in the extreme — in one of the world’s most public cities. And yet that’s where music ambushed me, a few months ago, in the form of a singer-guitarist whose high, sweet voice seemed to address my psyche with disarming directness. He was hoping for $1. I gave him $5. He … [Read more...] about Goodbye to the commercial music industry, hello to the rock stars next door
The opera that dares you to like it – and so you do. Defiantly.
Never has an opera dared me to like it as much as Chunky in Heat. The title sounds almost like a riff on “Chucky gets lucky,” the ad slogan for the comedy/horror film The Bride of Chucky. But no, it’s Chunky — about a supposedly overweight teen-age girl who is figuring out modern life from the vantage point of her backyard swimming pool. Seen May 31-June … [Read more...] about The opera that dares you to like it – and so you do. Defiantly.