Keely Garfield's "Limerence'

This woman is dangerous

Keely Garfield's Limerence could be the Cliff Notes to poet Gary Snyder's line: “The pointless wars of the heart.” It draws blood. And if you're like me, it takes a night of fitful sleep before you realize how badly you've been cut.

Steve Antinoff

Feb 10, 2009 · Articles · 3 minute read

Lyric Fest's "Music in the White House'

A White House variety show

Lyric Fest sampled the tastes of U.S. presidents, whose musical interests could be surprisingly sophisticated. In the process, “Music in the White House” inadvertently reflected another important aspect of American culture: our inherent cosmopolitanism.

Tom Purdom

Feb 10, 2009 · Articles · 5 minute read

"A Scandal in Bohemia,' by Orchestra 2001

Sherlock sings

This new opera about Sherlock Holmes creates a true Holmesian atmosphere, obviously written by someone who understands the Holmes legend. Thomas Whitman's music ranges from workmanlike to inspired.

Tom Purdom

Feb 10, 2009 · Articles · 4 minute read

Cleveland Orchestra plays Mozart and Shostakovich

Cleveland's odd couple at the Kimmel

With the Philadelphia Orchestra AWOL for the month of February, the visiting Cleveland Orchestra came to the Kimmel Center to pick up some of the slack. Conductor Franz Welser-Most has a habit of rushing fast passages and clipping end-phrases, but his reading of the Shostakovich Leningrad Symphony proved a crowd-pleaser.

Robert Zaller

Feb 10, 2009 · Articles · 5 minute read

Isherwood dying, drawn by Don Bachardy

A writer's death as a work of art

The writer Christopher Isherwood (1904-1986) arranged for his lover of more than 30 years, the artist Don Bachardy, to record his final months while dying of cancer in a sequence of candid drawings. The result was a very modern ars moriendi, and a very moving one.

Robert Zaller

Feb 10, 2009 · Articles · 5 minute read

Sonata-form (Part 10): Mozart's brilliant move

Inside Mozart's brain on the day he changed the music world

The development section of the finale of Mozart's “Jupiter” Symphony ends with a move as brilliant as a Bobby Fischer chess combination. In the tenth installment of his series on sonata-form, Dan Coren contemplates this passage.

Dan Coren

Feb 07, 2009 · Articles · 8 minute read

"Rent' at Academy of Music

A newer and better 'Rent'

In today's tough economic times, a play about people who can't afford the rent is more relevant than ever. That's why a new DVD and a live tour of Rent are especially welcome.

Steve Cohen

Feb 07, 2009 · Articles · 3 minute read

The case for cantankerous critics

‘The Wilma papers' (continued): The case for cantankerous critics

The head of the Dramatists Guild of America compared my review of a work in progress to smothering a baby in its crib. Are great artists really so fragile? I say: Any artist who could be smothered in his crib by the likes of me should probably find another line of work.

Jim Rutter

Feb 07, 2009 · Articles · 4 minute read

Astral's Saeka Matsuyama violin recital

Different times, different voices

A young violinist traverses 200 years of musical styles with the skill of a talented actor hopping through a series of costume changes and radically different characters.

Tom Purdom

Feb 07, 2009 · Articles · 2 minute read

Lantern Theater's "Sizwe Bansi is Dead' (1st review)

Under apartheid's thumb

The stories of two black men in apartheid South Africa, circa 1974, make for theater at its best, albeit in fragments. It's sort of like watching the first act of two different plays— very good plays, to be sure.

Dan Rottenberg

Feb 05, 2009 · Articles · 5 minute read