La rondine remains the least-performed of Puccini’s mature operas; the March 26 first night of the Met’s current revival had the unfortunate effect of suggesting just why that is the case. The 1917 c ommedia lirica is full of … » Read

Columbia University’s Miller Theater, which nearly 25 years ago branded a model of musical retrospectives devoted to individual figures, was the site of a particularly elaborate Composer Portrait March 21  when the new-music ensemble … » Read

LOS ANGELES—John Adams has been the Creative Chair of the Los Angeles Philharmonic since 2009, virtually as long as Gustavo Dudamel has been the music director. He seems content to stay on, which is all to the good, as it helps to stabilize … » Read

CHICAGO—When organizations dust off little-known rarities, the adjective they often bandy about, con gusto, is “rediscovered.” Gratefully, Haymarket Opera Company staked no such claims before its March 22 performance of Maria … » Read

Jaap van Zweden’s six-year tenure as music director of the New York Philharmonic comes to a close with the current season, by which time he will have conducted the orchestra in 31 world, U.S., and New York premieres. Numbers 30 and 31 were … » Read

Anyone expecting characteristic JACK quartet fare at the group’s concert on March 15—say, something like Helmut Lachenmann or John Luther Adams—was in for a big surprise. After the house lights went down at the Brooklyn … » Read

BOSTON—The Celebrity Series of Boston was offering something of a rarity: an orchestral concert with a real point of view (March 17). The Orchestre de Paris, under Music Director Klaus Mäkelä, was presenting a program at Symphony … » Read

LONDON—When it premiered in 1994, Hans Zender’s kaleidoscopic take on Schubert’s Winterreise gave the critics major conniptions. Up to then, composers had arranged the odd song, but no one had dared to go the whole hog. Worse, … » Read

On paper, the program for the Takács Quartet’s recent 92nd Street Y appearance was unremarkable: standard works by Haydn and Beethoven sandwiching a piece of new music. But the March 13 concert carried no trace of routine, … » Read

Alexei Ratmansky’s first new work as artist-in-residence of the New York City Ballet stands apart from his internationally acclaimed body of work. Neither a reconstruction of a full-length ballet nor an innovative treatment of codified … » Read