Posts Tagged ‘sedgwick clark’

“He’s So Musical”

Thursday, March 28th, 2013

by Sedgwick Clark PK turned to me last Friday (3/22) at Carnegie Hall when the applause had died down for intermission and asked, “Where did he come from? He’s so musical. Where did he train?” Moments later, she continued animatedly to friends who had joined us, “He seems relaxed with the piano – it’s not […]

Read the rest of this article »

I Love Youth Orchestras

Thursday, March 7th, 2013

by Sedgwick Clark NOTE: MY BLOG IS NOW POSTED ON THURSDAYS AT NOON RATHER THAN WEDNESDAYS. Why? The kids aren’t jaded. No repertoire is too daunting. Their enthusiasm nearly always makes up for any momentary technical shortcoming. One skips concerts at Juilliard at his or her peril and often encounters first-rate conductors that the Philharmonic has neglected. […]

Read the rest of this article »

Where does the Concertgebouw Stand?

Thursday, February 21st, 2013

by Sedgwick Clark NOTE: BEGINNING THIS WEEK, I’LL BE POSTING MY BLOG ON THURSDAYS AT NOON RATHER THAN WEDNESDAYS. Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and its current music director, Mariss Jansons, stopped by Carnegie Hall last week (2/13 and 14) for a pair of concerts to celebrate the ensemble’s 125th anniversary. They were a great success, […]

Read the rest of this article »

Short Takes on a Busy Week

Wednesday, March 28th, 2012

by Sedgwick Clark Three Operas Far be it for this occasional operagoer to butt heads with Peter G. Davis in a work I barely know. “What are you doing at an Italian opera performance?” he asked me in feigned horror on opening night of the Met’s revival of Verdi’s Macbeth (3/15). “I’m here for the […]

Read the rest of this article »

“We Didn’t Hear the Same Concert”

Wednesday, March 21st, 2012

by Sedgwick Clark That’s a traditional reader complaint. But it happens to critics too. Russian violinist Vadim Repin and Lithuanian pianist Itamar Golan have solid careers, and their program last Saturday evening (3/17) in Alice Tully Hall was an enticing selection of works by Janáček, Ravel, Grieg, and Chausson. From mid-parquet I found Repin’s sound […]

Read the rest of this article »

Finding the Right Gimmick

Wednesday, March 14th, 2012

by Sedgwick Clark Shaham’s 1939 Dark Horse Gil Shaham had an epiphany. After years of recognition as one of the brightest young lights of the concert circuit, the Israeli-American violinist conjured one of the most imaginative programming concepts in years. He had been struck by how many violin concertos written in the 1930s had entered […]

Read the rest of this article »

New York Was His “Howieland”

Wednesday, February 29th, 2012

by Sedgwick Clark It’s a most improbable New York story: Broadway salutes a theater critic, of all things, by dimming its lights during prime box-office time prior to curtain. How often has that happened? No one would have been more astonished to receive this honor than its recipient, Howard Kissel, theater critic of the New […]

Read the rest of this article »

A Genuine Jolt at the NY Phil

Wednesday, February 8th, 2012

by Sedgwick Clark Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic are on a European tour for a couple of weeks, and for a change I didn’t roll my eyes in despair when I saw the list of repertoire. His predecessors as music director, Kurt Masur and Lorin Maazel, for all their superb work at building […]

Read the rest of this article »

Omus in Person

Wednesday, February 1st, 2012

by Sedgwick Clark I first met Omus Hirshbein in Carnegie Hall’s executive offices, where he worked for a brief time in 1973 between tenures at the Hunter College Concert Bureau and the 92nd Street Y. He was walking out of a planning meeting, saying in frustration to anyone nearby, “They won’t listen to me—they should […]

Read the rest of this article »

Cellphones and Their Ilk

Wednesday, January 18th, 2012

by Sedgwick Clark   Many years ago I was sitting next to the p.r. director of the Berlin Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall when a cellphone went off as Simon Rattle conducted. When the piece ended I asked him if that happened in Berlin. “Everywhere,” he said sadly.    I left for vacation two days after the cellphone brouhaha at the New […]

Read the rest of this article »