Seattle Bach Festival; photo (c) Jorge Gustavo Elias
Bach’s towering B minor Mass seemed to pass by in a flash in Seattle Bach Festival’s performance on Saturday at First Baptist Church – even with a lengthy intermission separating the Gloria and Credo.
With Tekla Cunningham leading from her Baroque violin, the period-instrument orchestra she founded joined forces with the 16-voice Evergreen Ensemble led by David Hendrix in a superbly integrated partnership – all four vocal soloists were drawn from the choir’s own ranks.
I loved how clearly the individual voices emerged from the choral texture with distinctive personalities – while still contributing to the cohesion of the whole. The singers navigated Bach’s intricate, interweaving counterpoint with impeccable precision and expressive force. In the Et resurrexit, singers and the full festive resources of Bach’s orchestra seemed to fuse into one exhilarating mass of sound.
There was much to admire in all four soloists, but I was especially moved by the expressive beauty of Cecilia Duarte’s Agnus Dei. Special praise, too, for Elisabeth Axtell’s marvelous natural horn playing in the Quoniam and the exquisite flute playing in the Domine Deus duet.
This was the second of three performances being presented across the region – a wonderful culmination of the 2026 Early Music America Summit in Seattle. And a remarkable achievement for the Seattle Bach Festival, launched less than two years ago. Bravo to all involved!
Don’t miss Miguel Rodé’s erudite and fascinating deep look into the Mass in B minor on his Cantata Trail site.
What an astonishing recital Bruce Liu gave Tuesday night at Meany Performances. Playing from a chair rather than a piano bench – which initially looked a little uncomfortable, though Liu soon seemed entirely at home – he combined incredible dexterity and control with extraordinary refinement and intelligence, all applied to a program that ranged widely without ever seeming random.
Which was part of the fun. Threads kept surfacing and disappearing: Spain viewed from within and without, through Ravel, Mompou, Albéniz and Liszt; flashes of French Impressionism; Beethoven’s C-sharp minor “Moonlight” followed by Chopin’s Nocturne in the same key and then its enharmonic major, D-flat. The connections were there, but Liu didn’t harp on them.
Ligeti’s Fanfares was a terrific opener, witty and kinetic, and Liu went straight from it into the “Moonlight” without a break. The transition immediately put Beethoven in a different light. Liu’s remarkable ability to separate strands of texture – to let you hear every line, every note within a chord – set an ultra-familiar sonata in a freshly revealing light.
Only the first movement left me wanting a little more – it seemed somehow too subdued. But that, I realized, was me adjusting to Liu’s distinctive personality. The little Allegretto had real character of its own, its syncopations gently weighted, rather than a way station to the stormy finale – and Liu resisted every temptation to overplay the latter. No pounding, no melodrama. The lightness of his touch actually made the turbulence more gripping.
The two Chopin Nocturnes, Op. 27, are obvious territory for the 2021 Chopin Competition winner, and they showed off one of Liu’s greatest strengths: incredible filigree that never loses the long line. There is delicacy in his playing, certainly, but “delicate” doesn’t begin to cover it. The refinement comes with astonishing control and agility. Then there’s the joy. Ravel’s Alborada del gracioso crackled with wit, rhythmic bite, and deliciously mercurial changes of character.
After intermission Liu set up another surprise. He crafted another de facto Beethovenian prelude with Debussy’s brief early Rêverie from 1890, allowing it to flow directly into the “Waldstein” (again, before applause could break the spell). For me, the “Waldstein” was the high point of a very high evening. Liu’s gravity-defying nimbleness and crystalline articulation made me rethink all those heavy “heroic Beethoven” associations. His account had an architectonic grace that managed to be buoyant and probing at the same time – and always brilliantly clear.
The Introduzione mirrored the interludial role of the “Moonlight” Allegretto, in a darker mood, and Liu made its transition into the finale feel weirdly surprising while still inevitable. He brought a rainbow lightness and clarity to the last movement that left me giddy.
Mompou’s Glossa sobre “Au clair de lune” from 1946 (a spare fantasy on the familiar French folk tune) was wonderfully plainspoken after all that invention, and Isaac Albéniz’s 1905 El Puerto (from Iberia Book I, evoking the bustle and dance rhythms of Cádiz) burst into extroverted rhythmic life.
The recital’s capstone was the huge Rhapsodie espagnole composed around 1863 from Spanish material he had first explored after his 1845 tour of Spain and Portugal – a virtuoso fantasy on La Folia and the Jota aragonesa. By this point, all those French and Spanish colors heard earlier in the evening seemed to feed into it. Liu had the firepower for Liszt’s most extravagant demands, obviously, but he made the piece glitter rather than thunder with virtuosity, all refracted through the clarity and rhythmic ingenuity that characterized his playing all evening.
Liu’s stage manner was strikingly modest and retiring, shy of the vociferous applause. Yet he kept returning, offering a generous lagniappe of four encores, including two Chopin Études (“Aeolian Harp” and “Black Key,” if I’m not mistaken) and Philip Glass’s Étude No. 6.
Brenda Rae as the title character in “Salome,” running at Seattle Opera through Oct. 31. (Sunny Martini)
Seattle Opera just opened its new season with Strauss’s perennially provocative Salome, returning to the company’s stage for the first time since 2002. My review for The Seattle Times:
The Valkyrie sisters made a spirited ensemble in Tacoma Opera’s production of ‘Die Walküre,’ bringing energy and flashes of dark humor to their scenes together. (Photos by Liesbeth Powers)
My take on the second part of Tacoma Opera’s Ring adventure for Classical Voice North America:
For The Strad, I spoke with the Takács Quartet’s new cellist, Mihai Marica, about joining the ensemble and stepping into András Fejér’s chair. The quartet’s current tour brings its new line-up to Carnegie Hall for the first time this Friday, joined by pianist Jeremy Denk:
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.
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.”
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….
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…
