AVA's "Evening of Russian Romances'

The Cold War is over, thank God

Russian opera singers like Anna Netrebko and Marina Poplavskaya have entered the mainstream. But Russian arias get little exposure. That's our loss, as AVA's recent sparkling Russian concert demonstrated.

Steve Cohen

Dec 18, 2011 · Articles · 3 minute read

La Scala's "Don Giovanni' in HD-TV (1st review)

Missing the point about Don Giovanni

Director Robert Carsen is so besotted with Don Giovanni's protagonist that he overlooks the opera's other fascinating characters. There's much more to Mozart's opera than one man's energetic sex life.

Steve Cohen

Dec 13, 2011 · Articles · 4 minute read

Suburbanites and the Orchestra

On saving the Orchestra: The view from the suburbs

BSR readers have heard from a music professor and a 20-something about how to save the Philadelphia Orchestra. Let me speak for another underserved and potentially huge Orchestra constituency: suburbanites.

Victoria Skelly

Dec 13, 2011 · Articles · 4 minute read

Yannick conducts Higdon and Yuja Wang

Yannick the peripatetic

Energy was the operative word at this weekend's Philadelphia Orchestra concerts, in more ways than one: The wunderkind Yannick Nézet-Séguin was conducting in two cities almost simultaneously.

Steve Cohen

Dec 10, 2011 · Articles · 3 minute read

Marin Alsop's elegant simplicity

Less bombastic, but thoroughly convincing

Marin Alsop conducts the classics much the way she dresses: unfussy, simple and elegant.

Steve Cohen

Dec 06, 2011 · Articles · 2 minute read

Samuel Hsu: A polymath's giant shadow

The world was his classroom

The polymath Dr. Samuel Hsu, who died last week, was a pianist and musicologist who spoke eight languages and was conversant in linguistics, philosophy, science, theology, history, fine arts, archaeology, literature, ice hockey. He was a Presbyterian elder who was steeped in Buddhism and Judaism. He was elite but never elitist.

Kile Smith

Dec 06, 2011 · Articles · 6 minute read

Panel discussion: The Orchestra's future

That Alice In Wonderland feeling, or: A 20-something at BSR's Orchestra panel

Why haven't my 20-something peers and I been to the Philadelphia Orchestra, especially when it so desperately needs a new generation of patrons? Broad Street Review brought seven panelists together last week to attempt some answers. They might better have asked: Why don't we read newspapers?

Alaina Johns

Dec 06, 2011 · Articles · 6 minute read

Of AIDS and the Philadelphia Orchestra

The unsung heroes of the AIDS battle (not to mention the Philadelphia Orchestra)

What do scientists at big drug companies have in common with musicians at big orchestras? They're essential— and taken for granted. And what does that say about the rest of us?

Victoria Skelly

Dec 05, 2011 · Articles · 3 minute read

"DownBeat' magazine at 75

Jazz vs. religion? No contest

Sister John, my grimly serious music teacher, whomped my knuckles when I tried to imitate Harry James on trumpet. By contrast, Mahalia Jackson, Marshall Stearns and DownBeat Magazine introduced me to a world that still resonates today.

Patrick D. Hazard

Dec 04, 2011 · Articles · 5 minute read

How to save the Philadelphia Orchestra

To save the Orchestra, learn from General Motors

Just how many classical music lovers live in the Delaware Valley? Enough to make a difference for the survival of the genre, not to mention the Philadelphia Orchestra? Equally important, are the necessary tools available? I would answer yes on both counts— if only the Orchestra's bean counters would get out of the way.

Clarence Faulcon

Nov 29, 2011 · Articles · 5 minute read