January | 2026 | MEMETERIA by Thomas May

January 26, 2026 • 8:33 pm 0

‘The American Revolution: Music From The PBS Documentary’

I reviewed the The American Revolution: Music From The PBS Documentary, produced by Johnny Gandelsman for the excellent Ken Burns documentary series on PBS, in the February issue of Gramophone:

As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, providing the soundtrack to The American Revolution – a 12-hour documentary by Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein and David Schmidt – is no ordinary assignment, especially at a moment when the public institutions responsible for airing such work are themselves under attack …

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Filed under: Gramophone, review

January 23, 2026 • 5:44 am 0

Seong-Jin Cho in Seattle: A Flair for Freedom at the Keyboard

*Seong-Jin Cho; (c)James Holt / Seattle Symphony*

Some thoughts on Seong-Jin Cho’s recent Seattle recital:

The self-effacing persona Seong-Jin Cho projected from the Benaroya Hall stage throughout his solo recital stood in striking contrast to his musical confidence – a confidence grounded not only in extraordinary technical security but in an evident willingness to take risks. Cho’s sense of interpretive freedom made itself felt from the outset, in a program that invited close attention and repaid it generously…

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Filed under: Bartók, Beethoven, Chopin, Franz Liszt, pianists, review

January 20, 2026 • 10:11 am 0

A Rite of Spring Turned Inward: Strauss’s ‘Daphne’ at Seattle Opera

*Daphne* in concert at Seattle Opera; photo: Sunny Martini

My Bachtrack review:

Richard Strauss’ Daphne is among the works most plausibly suited to Seattle Opera’s recent turn toward including concert performances as part of its main-stage season. Written late in the composer’s career, Daphne belongs to the turbulent political and cultural climate of 1930s Germany….

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Filed under: review, Richard Strauss, Seattle Opera

January 16, 2026 • 11:44 am 0

‘The Struggles of Our Time Are Ours to Own’: Curtis Stewart

Virginia Symphony Orchestra premieres Curtis Stewart’s I wouldn’t stop there: in the words of a KING this weekend. He spoke with The Strad about the work:

Curtis Stewart embodies a distinctly contemporary vision of the classical violinist today. On stage and off, he operates with a directness that resists polish for its own sake, favouring instead a sense of immediacy and responsibility. As a violinist and composer in equal measure, with education central to his work, he treats classical music as something to be actively made, not simply handed down….

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Filed under: American music, The Strad, violinists

January 12, 2026 • 8:36 am 4

Ioffe Conducts the Seattle Symphony in Varied Faces of Romanticism

*Alevtina Ioffe conducts the Seattle Symphony; © James Holt | Seattle Symphony*

A fine start to the new year at Seattle Symphony:

Romanticism has proved more adaptable than its obituaries suggested. Across the 20th century, composers continued to return to music grounded in subjective expression, even when critical fashion leaned elsewhere….

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Filed under: Leonard Bernstein, Rachmaninoff, review, Romanticism, Seattle Symphony

January 4, 2026 • 6:36 pm 0

Bryce Dessner in Prague

Bryce Dessner; photo by Peter Hundert

I wrote a profile of Bryce Dessner in connection with his residency this season with the Czech Philharmonic:

This February, a pair of electric guitars will slip into the sonic bloodstream of the Czech Philharmonic. Then, later in the season, in May, audiences at Prague’s Rudolfinum will hear a new cello concerto written for and performed by Anastasia Kobekina. Both moments centre on Bryce Dessner, the orchestra’s first ever composer-in-residence, in a role that brings several strands of his musical life into rare alignment.

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Filed under: Bryce Dessner, profile