Paul Hindemith’s Kammermusik No. 1 , the first work on the Met Orchestra Chamber Ensemble’s January 22 Weill Hall program, opens with an agitated cacophony, all swirling sixteenth notes and trumpet fanfares. Two nights earlier, the … » Read

SAN FRANCISCO—When concertgoers made their way into the main entrance of Davies Symphony Hall on Friday, January 26, they did so via MTT Way , the newly named stretch of Grove Street that honors the San Francisco Symphony’s longtime … » Read

BOSTON—The primary hero of the BSO’s January 25 th performance of Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk is the composer himself. His second of only two operas (the first was his surrealist comedy, The Nose ) is a circus of … » Read

A recipient of the prestigious Gilmore Artist Award, with a repertoire that spans from Bach to Thomas Adès, Kirill Gerstein has a knack for imaginative programming. His recent recital at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall was anchored by three … » Read

The five-note opening phrase of Ernst Krenek’s 1928 Little Symphony–– launched by the contrabassoon, then echoing through the orchestra––almost sounds like a question. Its two upward leaps are both followed by a … » Read

SAN FRANCISCO—Their mouths pulled in close to eight floor-mounted boom mikes arranged in a wide semi-circle, Roomful of Teeth set in right away making some strange and wondrous sounds from the Herbst Theater stage on January 25. Founded in … » Read

LOS ANGELES—Walt Disney Concert Hall is “not an opera house”—as its architect Frank Gehry is quick to point out—but that hasn’t stopped the Los Angeles Philharmonic from trying to make it simulate one. Over its … » Read

HOUSTON—This city’s major opera company pulled out all stops for its new production of Parsifal , seen January 19 th . Directed by John Caird and not seen here since 1992, it was originally planned for 2021, but was postponed due to … » Read

On Jan. 18 Dalia Stasevska made a triumphant return to the podium in Davies Symphony Hall with a program of Dvorák’s Symphony No. 9, From the New World and Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto with pianist Seong-Jin Cho making his … » Read

Atom Egoyan’s 2008 film Adoration seems a dubious prospect for operatic adaptation. It centers on Simon, an orphaned high-school student, who becomes convinced that his late father was a Palestinian terrorist. The film tells much of its … » Read