January 12, 2026 • 8:36 am 4
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….
Filed under: Leonard Bernstein, Rachmaninoff, review, Romanticism, Seattle Symphony
January 4, 2026 • 6:36 pm Comments Off on Bryce Dessner in Prague
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.
Filed under: Bryce Dessner, profile
December 30, 2025 • 10:51 am Comments Off on Esa-Pekka Salonen’s SF Symphony Farewell
An especially memorable performance in 2025: Mahler’s Second with the San Francisco Symphony and Esa-Pekka Salonen, which concluded his tenure as the orchestra’s music director:
Filed under: Esa-Pekka Salonen, Mahler, review, San Francisco Symphony
December 29, 2025 • 9:03 am Comments Off on Late-Afternoon Walk
Filed under: photography
December 28, 2025 • 11:39 am Comments Off on Anna Clyne: ‘Abstractions’
My Gramophone review of Abstractions, an album of Anna Clyne’s orchestral music performed by Marin Alsop and the Baltimore Symphony:
This engaging portrait album highlights a defining impulse in Anna Clyne’s music: to create vivid soundscapes through a symbiotic dialogue with visual art – one in which textures, forms and atmospheres are translated across disciplines…
Filed under: Anna Clyne, CD review, Gramophone
December 26, 2025 • 12:24 pm Comments Off on ‘Pur ti miro’: Martin Stegner on Listening, Balance, and Freedom
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The Berliner Philharmoniker violist Martin Stegner discusses reimagining early music for sheng, viola and double bass on Pur ti miro, an ECM New Series release bringing together Wu Wei (sheng), Stegner and Janne Saksala (double bass) in an unconventional but remarkably cohesive trio.
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Filed under: early music, The Strad, viola
December 19, 2025 • 10:17 pm Comments Off on Seattle Bach Festival’s ‘Christmas Oratorio’ Offers ‘Messiah’ alternative
For some, Handel’s “Messiah” remains a cherished ritual.
For others, it has become so predictable as to feel almost unavoidable — a seasonal monument polished smooth by repetition.
This season, the Seattle Bach Festival is offering a different way into the Christmas story — one that trades “Messiah’s” grand sweep for a more kaleidoscopic, scene-by-scene celebration of the Nativity: Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Christmas Oratorio.”…
Filed under: Bach, Seattle Bach Festival, Seattle Times
December 18, 2025 • 4:18 pm Comments Off on Making the Violin Sing: Gil Shaham on Three Concertos Written for Him
A new Strad interview with Gil Shaham about Premieres, his forthcoming album of violin concertos written for him by Scott Wheeler, Bright Sheng, and Avner Dorman:
Premieres, Gil Shaham’s new release on Canary Classics, brings together three violin concertos written expressly for him and realised in close collaboration with conductor Leon Botstein and The Orchestra Now. Recorded at Bard College’s Fisher Center, the album reflects a network of long-standing artistic relationships and a shared belief in the concerto as a living, evolving form…
Filed under: new music, The Strad, violinists
December 14, 2025 • 8:16 am Comments Off on KUOW Adds a Classical Christmas Soundtrack to Its App
This holiday season, KUOW – Seattle’s public radio station – is offering listeners something gentler than the daily news cycle: a steady stream of seasonal classical music.
Through a new partnership with Classical KING, the Seattle-based classical music broadcaster, the KUOW app now features Classical Christmas, the organization’s annual holiday stream. The stream appears as an additional listening option, separate from the station’s live radio broadcast.
Rather than create its own seasonal programming, KUOW has collaborated with an organization long associated with classical music in the region to create a digital-only offering that expands KUOW’s role beyond broadcast journalism.
“We are delighted to partner with KUOW,” said Michelle Maestas Simonsen, Classical KING’s Chief Engagement and Content Officer. “This seasonal collaboration is a reminder of what becomes possible when organizations with shared values work together. Whether someone wants a break from the news or simply loves holiday music, Classical Christmas is here for them.”
Classical Christmas is available throughout the holiday season in the KUOW app, where it can be streamed alongside KUOW’s regular live and on-demand programming. The stream is also accessible via Classical KING’s own app, website, and Alexa skills.
Filed under: classical radio, music news
December 13, 2025 • 11:44 am Comments Off on Holiday Baroque from Music on the Strait
Music on the Strait is giving its first-ever concert on period instruments on Sunday 14 December in Sequim on the beautiful Olympic Peninsula. This looks to be a lovely program, featuring Baroque violinist Rachell Ellen Wong, harpsichordist David Belkovski, and their Twelfth Night Ensemble in music by Telemann, Purcell, Vivaldi, Corelli, Johann Friedrich Fasch, and Francesco Durante.
The performance is Sun 12/14 at 4pm at Trinity United Methodist Church in Sequim:
Tickets starting at $5 with our Pay What Makes You Happy pricing
free Livestream on the MOTS website at musiconthestrait.org during the concert.
PROGRAM:
Telemann | Sonata No 4 in A Minor
Henry Purcell | Suite from Amphitryon
Antonio Vivaldi | Violin Concerto in E Minor, RV 278
Archangelo Corelli | Concerto grosso in G minor “Christmas Concerto”
Johann Friedrich Fasch | Sonata No 5 in D Minor
Francesco Durante | Concerto for 2 Violins, Viola, and continuo in G Minor
Antonio Vivaldi | Sonata No. 12 in D Minor, RV 63, “La Follia”
Rachell Ellen WONG – baroque violin
James GARLICK – baroque violin
Alex GRIMES – baroque viola
Meeka QUAN-DILORENZO – baroque cello
John LENTI – theorbo/baroque guitar
David BELKOVSKI- harpsichord
Filed under: early music, music news, Music on the Strait
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MEMETERIA by Thomas May 