May 16, 2023 • 7:45 am 0
My story for the Seattle Times about Music of Remembrance at 25, which will present a double bill of one-act operas by Jake Heggie this weekend:
Mina Miller is convinced that music can make a difference in the world.
“I am the child of parents whose entire families were annihilated in the Holocaust, so I grew up with a visceral awareness of the power of memory — of the stories that need to be told…”
Filed under: commissions, Jake Heggie, Music of Remembrance, new opera, Seattle Times
January 11, 2023 • 12:43 am Comments Off on A Homecoming for J’Nai Bridges
I spoke with J’Nai Bridges for the Seattle Times about her upcoming, long-awaited Seattle Opera debut. She will sing Delilah in two concert performances of Saint-Saëns’ Samson et Dalila.
This is where it all started.
J’Nai Bridges treasures the memories of her youth in Lakewood just outside Tacoma. Growing up in a close-knit, supportive family, she was encouraged to pursue her exceptional musical talents early on. Even today, she can count on her parents and siblings to travel far and wide to see her perform on the world’s leading opera stages — whether at the Metropolitan Opera in New York or in Munich, where she made her European debut in 2017.
Filed under: Seattle Opera, Seattle Times
November 8, 2022 • 11:25 am Comments Off on Rediscovering Joseph Bologne
Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, posing with his fencing rapier, painted by Mather Brown, in 1787. (Public domain)
Here’s my Seattle Times story for Seattle Baroque Orchestra’s upcoming concert devoted entirely to music by Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges:
Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, defies easy categorization.
For Seattle-based violinist, professor and filmmaker Quinton Morris, Bologne (1745-1799) combined “the entertainment appeal of Michael Jackson and the athleticism of Michael Jordan.” Morris’ award-winning film and performance project “Breakthrough,” which he has taken on tour around the world, presents Bologne’s many-layered story through a contemporary lens.
Filed under: music news, Seattle Times
November 3, 2022 • 12:37 pm Comments Off on Tan Dun Comes to Seattle
My Seattle Times story on Tan Dun and his upcoming appearances next week with Seattle Symphony:
A transformative encounter in cave temples inspired Tan Dun, who will conduct his epic Buddha Passion as part of a Seattle Symphony mini-festival of his works Nov. 3-13.
Filed under: Seattle Symphony, Seattle Times, Tan Dun
October 11, 2022 • 7:54 am 2
My Seattle Times story on the Tristan und Isolde production by Argentine director Marcelo Lombardero and colleagues, which opens Saturday at Seattle Opera:
Christina Scheppelmann, Seattle Opera’s general director, fervently believes that cross-cultural exchange is vital for the health of the art form. So she invited the prominent Argentinian stage director Marcelo Lombardero and his creative team to bring their vision to Seattle in a production of Wagner’s “Tristan and Isolde” opening Oct. 15.
Filed under: directors, Seattle Opera, Seattle Times, Wagner
June 2, 2022 • 10:52 am Comments Off on Morlot and SSO Together Again for Epic Messiaen
Tonight Ludovic Morlot rejoins the Seattle Symphony for the first of two performances of one of Messiaen’s Des canyons aux étoiles… I spoke to the conductor about the program for The Seattle Times:
A new chapter in Ludovic Morlot’s relationship with the Seattle Symphony is underway.
Now holding the title of conductor emeritus, Morlot has chosen some unusual fare for his concerts on June 2 and 4: the orchestral epic “Des canyons aux étoiles …” (“From the Canyons to the Stars …”) by Olivier Messiaen, which will be presented in a multimedia presentation accompanied by video projections by Deborah O’Grady.
Filed under: Ludovic Morlot, Olivier Messiaen, Seattle Symphony, Seattle Times
March 18, 2022 • 7:49 am Comments Off on Reena Esmail’s Violin Concerto for Indian Violinist Kala Ramnath
ALSO NOTE: Tonight Friday night at 8pm, Reena Esmail curates a program at Seattle Symphony”s Octave 9 space with Kala Ramnath and SSO musicians, titled “Ragamala: A Journey into Hindustani Music.”
I had the pleasure of writing about the marvelous Reena Esmail and her new violin concerto for Hindustani violinist Kala Ramnath, which Seattle Symphony will premiere at the Celebrate Asia concert on Sunday, 20 March.
For its opening night concert last September, when the Seattle Symphony returned for its first full season since the pandemic struck, it was music by Reena Esmail that launched the program. She continues in her role as composer-in-residence with the world premiere of a newly commissioned violin concerto …
Filed under: Reena Esmail, Seattle Symphony, Seattle Times, violinists
January 25, 2022 • 2:03 pm Comments Off on SOUNDbox, the New Series at Nonsequitur
Here’s my Seattle Times story on a new Nonsequitur series that’s about to launch at the Chapel Performance Space:
Experimental music. Contemporary classical and post-classical. Free improvisation. Electroacoustic. Sound installation. Avant-garde … There’s a bewildering babel of labels used to try to classify artists who are defiantly unclassifiable….
Filed under: Nonsequitur, Seattle Times
December 27, 2021 • 9:55 am 1
Here’s my latest Seattle Times story, about John Adams as composer and conductor:
Seattle Symphony audiences have another reason to be proud of their band…
Filed under: John Adams, Seattle Symphony, Seattle Times
November 30, 2021 • 6:49 am Comments Off on Andy Akiho’s Seven Pillars Premieres at Emerald City Music
Seven Pillars, an epic for percussion quartet by the marvelous composer Andy Akiho, receives its live performance world premiere this weekend in Seattle by the Sandbox Percussion ensemble. My story for The Seattle Times:
“The spirit of percussion opens everything,” musician John Cage once declared. He had in mind the way percussion music can open the door to unaccustomed ways of listening — and even of perceiving the environment around us…..
And this weekend brings another not-to-be-missed percussion classic: Michael Gordon’s hour-long Timber, for six players, which is being presented by Base: Experimental Arts + Space: 6520 5th Avenue South, #122nd, Seattle, WA 98108 on Dec 4 and 5 at 3 and 8pm. Features a six-player instrument built by local master carpenter Isaac Anderson & light design by Kevin Blanquies.
Filed under: new music, percussion, Seattle Times
Arts & Culture Stories from NPR
MEMETERIA by Thomas May 