In Early-Music Festival’s Flight From The Chaos, Love And Beauty Prevail
BOSTON – The Boston Early Music Festival's weeklong feast of Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque music, offered in period performances by world-class ensembles, came as a welcome and gratifying respite in these parlous times.
Pianist Beatrice Rana, Virtuoso With The Gift Of Master Story-Teller
PERSPECTIVE – What distinguishes Rana’s playing is an exceptional technical mastery coupled with singular freedom of expression. One can hardly connect her poise at the piano with the power and intensity that emerge from the instrument.
G.I. Jack (The Ripper): Opera Sketches A Killer Who Wasn’t A Happy Kid
VIENNA – Theater an der Wien offered the premiere of Voice Killer by composer Miroslav Srnka and librettist Tom Holloway, based on the historical record of an American soldier who was hanged after strangling three women in 1942.
As Orchestra, Um, Brass Gathers, Golden Tribute Is Paid To Marin Alsop
SALT LAKE CITY – At the 80th national conference of the League of American Orchestras, which drew representatives of 630 ensembles, the league conferred its annual Gold Baton Award and highest honor on the veteran conductor.
‘Don’t Go!’ But Salonen Has Left The Building, His Mahler Still Ringing
SAN FRANCISCO – It was a bittersweet evening in the City by the Bay. Esa-Pekka Salonen, a huge catch for the San Francisco Symphony in 2020, led a tremendous Mahler Second, the swan song of his shockingly abbreviated term as music director.
Tawdry, Perverse, Yes, But ‘Counterfeit Opera’ Is Weather-Proof Hoot
NEW YORK – Despite intrusions of rain, and with skeletal staging and musical accompaniment, this updated adaptation of a popular 18th-century entertainment, produced at Little Island, was an energetic charmer that prevailed over conditions.
Pied Piper (On Flutes) Leads Ojai On A Long, Winding Road To Fun
OJAI, Calif. – Claire Chase, multi-flutist and music director of the 2025 Ojai Festival, presided over four crammed days of music-making. Most concerts took place in the ever-ambient (sounds of crickets, birds, frogs) outdoor Libbey Bowl.
IN THE NEWS: MCANA MEMBERS' PICKS
- The Classical Music Our Critics Can’t Stop Thinking About - by Joshua Barone and others at NY Times
- Meet Rakhi Singh, the time-travelling violinist bringing together baroque and techno - by Josh Spero at Financial Times
- This 27-disc Steve Reich box set is not the work of a minimalist - by Michael Andor Brodeur at Washington Post
- A major new opera the Met has ignored - album review - by Ralph P. Locke at Arts Fuse
- ‘Jacqueline du Pré: Genius and Tragedy’ Review: Bittersweet Strings on PBS - by John Anderson at Wall Street Journal
- We said pay what you want for opera - the audience changed overnight - by Nancy Durrant at The London Times
- How I became an opera composer in a maximum security prison - by Joseph Wilson at The Marshall Project
- In S.F. debut, Isidore String Quartet is just getting started - by Rebecca Wishnia at San Francisco Classical Voice
- Violinist Curtis Stewart on making music: By serving others, I am serving myself - by Curtis Stewart at The Strad
- How I became an opera composer in a maximum security prison - by Joseph Wilson at The Marshall Project
- ‘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
- Tintinnabulation and the wrath of God - by Susan Miron at Boston Musical Intelligencer
Around the US
Sweeping Change Puts An Irresistible New Face On Spoleto Festival USA
CHARLESTON – The most awesome classical-music event this season, intertwining 27 new works by living composers with J.S. Bach’s Six Cello Suites, was Alisa Weilerstein’s FRAGMENTS. Also must-see was Britten's Turn of the Screw.
A MESSAGE FROM OUR PRESIDENT
Welcome to Classical Voice North America, the online magazine of the Music Critics Association of North America. Since 2013, CVNA has been a vibrant outlet for music criticism, providing expert coverage by members and occasional guest contributors. If you are a writer with experience in classical music, please consider joining MCANA. Together, we will keep music criticism alive and well.
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DISC AND STREAM
Beyond ‘Carmen’: CDs, Book Widen Perspective On Bizet’s Creative Life
DIGITAL REVIEW – The Center for French Romantic Music has released the sixth in its Portraits series, this one a bundle of four discs and book offering five hours of fascinating works by the short-lived composer that are little known to music lovers.
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
On A German Sojourn: Mixed Night Of Mahler, Mozart In A Brash Romp
PERSPECTIVE – Sakari Oramo led the Berlin Philharmonic in an uneven pairing of the Adagio from Mahler's 10th Symphony and Das Lied von der Erde, while in Munich the Bavarian State Opera offered a spicy take on Così fan tutte.
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.
