I covered the first two productions of San Francisco Opera’s 2026-27 season for Musical America: Simon Boccanegra and Mary, Queen of Scots.
Filed under: Musical America, review, San Francisco Opera, Verdi, women composers
October 7, 2026 • 3:17 pm 0
Memory and Power: Two Leaders Under Siege at San Francisco Opera
October 4, 2026 • 4:04 am 0
Prizewinners Announced at 2026 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis
A late-night dispatch from Indianapolis: the prizewinners at the 2026 International Violin Competition of Indianapolis have been announced – more on The Strad website:
US violinist Karisa Chiu, 27, has won the Gold Medal at the 12th International Violin Competition of Indianapolis.
Elli Choi, 25, also from the US, received the Silver Medal, while Aozhe Zhang, 18, from China, took Bronze. Xunyue Zhang, 22, from China, placed fourth; Yesong Sophie Lee, 22, from the US, fifth; and Lina Nakano, 21, from Japan, sixth.
Each finalist appeared twice…
Filed under: competitions, music news, The Strad, violinists
October 1, 2026 • 10:55 am 0
Huang Ruo Named Seattle Opera’s Composer-in-Residence
Major announcement from Seattle Opera:
Internationally renowned composer Huang Ruo will serve as the company’s first-ever composer-in-residence beginning in 2027. Lasting three years, the residency launches with the Seattle premiere of M. Butterfly and will culminate in the world premiere of The Wedding Banquet, a comic opera inspired by Ang Lee’s 1993 film as well as Andrew Ahn’s re-imagined version from 2025, with a libretto by screenwriter James Schamus.
“Huang Ruo is one of the foremost composers of opera in the United States, and I couldn’t be prouder to
announce his residency with Seattle Opera,” said general director James Robinson, who has directed several of Huang Ruo’s
operas, beginning with the North American premiere of Dr. Sun Yat-sen at Santa Fe Opera in 2014.
“Beyond his accomplished record as a composer, Huang Ruo is also a compelling advocate for opera who believes deeply in the art form’s power to bring people together. He’s one of the most engaging and enthusiastic people I know, and I think Seattle Opera audiences will be fascinated by his perspectives.”
“I’m deeply humbled and honored by this invitation to serve as Composer-in-Residence for Seattle Opera,” said Huang Ruo, who conducted his chamber opera Bound at Seattle Opera in 2023. “It is rare for opera companies to engage Composers-in-Residence, so I think this partnership demonstrates both Seattle Opera’s bold vision for the future of the art form and an exciting model for how opera companies can work with living creators to create, present, and engage the community around new opera. I am excited for this new adventure and I feel a sincere responsibility as an artist and educator to help people better understand both ourselves and our world through opera.”
I wrote about for The New York Times here.
Filed under: music news, new music, new opera, Seattle Opera
September 28, 2026 • 7:43 pm 0
From Chamber Intimacy to the Edge of Chaos: Ehnes and Zhang in Seattle
For Seattle audiences, James Ehnes is more than another internationally celebrated soloist dropping in for a guest appearance. He has described both the city and Benaroya Hall as places he thinks of as home….
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Filed under: Berlioz, James Ehnes, Max Bruch, review, Seattle Symphony, Xian Zhang
September 26, 2026 • 9:45 am 0
From Bachian Buoyancy to Ravelian Vertigo: Yulianna Avdeeva in Seattle
Some thoughts on Yulianna Avdeeva’s recent recital presented by Seattle Chamber Music Society – reviewed for Bachtrack:
Yulianna Avdeeva opened Seattle Chamber Music Society’s Signature Series at the Illsley Ball Nordstrom Recital Hall in notably changed surroundings. Over the summer, Benaroya Hall underwent an extensive renovation of its public spaces, leaving both performance venues untouched while transforming their surrounding lobbies. The recital hall’s newly redesigned, mid-century-modern-inflected foyer is now dominated by Robert Rauschenberg’s Echo…
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Filed under: Bach, Beethoven, Maurice Ravel, pianists, review, Seattle Chamber Music Society
September 21, 2026 • 8:42 am 0
Seattle Symphony Debuts Renovated Benaroya Hall, Opens 2026-27 Season
My report for The Seattle Times on Seattle Symphony’s opening night:
Seattle Symphony’s opening-night concert Saturday included an unusual extra audition: Benaroya Hall’s newly renovated public spaces met their first concert audience. A $20 million overhaul — the hall’s first major renovation since it opened in 1998 — has given the lobbies serving both auditoriums a striking makeover.
Filed under: music news, Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff, Seattle Symphony, Seattle Times, Xian Zhang
September 20, 2026 • 7:10 am 0
Evergreen Ensemble Presents Joby Talbot’s ‘Path of Miracles’
Evergreen Ensemble impressed me when I heard them last spring in the premiere of Connor Koppin’s To Look West for choir, string quartet, and piano, and I’m looking forward to their participation in the Seattle Bach Festival’s upcoming performances of Bach’s Mass in B minor.
This afternoon, the Edmonds-based choir, led by David Hendrix, is presenting English composer Joby Talbot’s Path of Miracles, an cappella work inspired by the ancient pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela and evoking its spiritual and emotional dimensions.
Written for Tenebrae and premiered in 2005, Path traces the journey in four movements, setting a libretto by poet Robert Dickinson reflecting on the pilgrimage, with mediaeval texts interspersed.
Sunday, September 20, at 3 pm
Holy Rosary Catholic Church (West Seattle) 4210 SW Genesee St Seattle, WA 98116
Students and children under 18 free.
Details and tickets here
Filed under: choral music, new music
September 19, 2026 • 11:48 am 0
‘A new chapter unfolding’: Poiesis Quartet on its evolving identity
It was such a pleasure meeting and hearing the Banff-winning, innovative Poiesis Quartet at Lucerne Festival, where they played in the prestigious Debut series. Here’s my interview with violinist Sarah Ying Ma and cellist Drew Dansby for The Strad:
On the eve of their Lucerne Festival debut, Sarah Ying Ma and Drew Dansby of the Banff-winning American Poiesis Quartet talk about a changing line-up, an expanding repertoire and the ideas shaping the ensemble’s next chapter….
Filed under: Lucerne Festival, string quartet, The Strad
September 9, 2026 • 4:05 am 0
Augustin Hadelich in Lucerne
Augustin Hadelich is of course a familiar and well-loved figure in Seattle, where I last heard him in March in a memorable, thoughtfully programmed recital with Francesco Piemontesi at Meany Center for the Performing Arts. What a pleasure to encounter him in varied contexts at this summer’s Lucerne Festival as ‘artiste étoile.’
The first concert of my visit here brought the Beethoven Violin Concerto with the Berliner Philharmoniker and Kirill Petrenko – a kind of anti-concerto in its resistance to conventional virtuoso display that, paradoxically, became one of the great models for the Romantic violin concerto and that is also extraordinarily difficult to play convincingly.
I was blown away by Hadelich’s signature blend of warmth and poetry, and also by the natural give-and-take between him and this collective of world-class musicians, each with such a strong musical personality. As an encore, he offered his own touching arrangement of Schumann’s Träumerei.
Over the weekend, Hadelich joined with Mark O’Connor and Maggie O’Connor (all pictured here together) for ‘Fiddle Night’ in the smaller venue that is used for many of the Lucerne Festival Academy concerts. The program opened with a set by the O’Connors, charmingly introduced from the stage and including ‘Wildflowers’ as a tribute to Dolly Parton. (Mark O’Connor also played on the original 1987 recording with Parton, Linda Ronstadt, and Emmylou Harris.)
Hadelich then took the stage alone for his arrangement of Howdy Forrester’s ‘Wild Fiddler’s Rag’ – also included on his American Road Trip album – and O’Connor’s ‘Menuhin Caprice,’ written for the Menuhin Competition, a witty take on virtuosity that fuses American fiddling with the classical caprice tradition.
The high point was O’Connor’s calling-card tune, ‘Appalachia Waltz’ – played by all three violinists together as an unhurried, shared meditation that seemed to reflect on Lucerne Festival’s ‘American Dreams’ theme with a certain ache – looking back at what the American dream once promised, and asking whether it still has a future.
Filed under: American music, Beethoven, Lucerne Festival, violinists, art, classical-music, history, music, writing
September 2, 2026 • 6:14 am Comments Off on Postcard from Port Angeles: Music on the Strait
Postcard from Port Angeles: Music on the Strait
I ecently paid a visit to Port Angeles for the opening of Music on the Strait‘s 2026 Festival. My report for The Strad:
Music on the Strait (MOTS) has always been a festival shaped by string players. Founded in 2018 by violinist James Garlick and Takács Quartet violist Richard O’Neill – longtime friends both raised on Washington State’s Olympic Peninsula – MOTS brings chamber musicians from the international circuit to the Peninsula’s largest population centre, overlooking the Strait of Juan de Fuca towards Vancouver Island….
Filed under: Music on the Strait, review, Strad, violinists
