Music Reviews Archives - Page 7 of 21

Sphinx Virtuosi Concert

September 6, 2017October 24, 2014 by Tom Williams

On Wednesday, October 22, 2014, I was luck enough to experience on the finest chamber music orchestra, Sphinix Virtuois with Catalyst Quartet as they Tour in their Americana program. The young dynamic troupe is a professional chamber orchestra and theonly all-Black and Latino string orchestra in America. This 18 person is a a one month tour is an homage to The Star Spangled Banner as member and composer-in-residence premieres a new work titled Banner as an ode to our beloved anthem.

The Anyway Cabaret

September 6, 2017October 20, 2014 by Jacob Davis

The Anyway Cabaret (an animal cabaret) is a strange but funny new musical from the creative team at TUTA. An amazingly talented cast of ten accompany each other in songs about animals that range from goofy to very sad.

Capriccio

September 6, 2017October 10, 2014 by Tom Williams

…Capriccio was referred to by Strauss as “conversation piece” rather than a serious drama, is an opera within an opera and an appreciation of the wonders of music over words (lyrics) that fuels opera.

Don Giovanni at the Lyric Opera of Chicago

September 11, 2017October 1, 2014 by Tom Williams

This production of Don Giovanni is particularly well sung, especially by soprano and Ryan Opera Center alumna Andriana Churchman making her role debut as Zerlina. Her natural melodic singing was a joy to hear! She should be proud of her debut performance. The other cast members were terrific also. Marina Rebeka, a soaring soprano and soprano Ana Maria Martinez as Donna Elvira complimented the scorned ladies.

The Magic Flute (Impempe Yomlingo)

September 11, 2017September 26, 2014 by Tom Williams

As part of their World’s Stage series, Chicago Shakespeare has smartly brought the magnificent South African troupe, Isango Ensemble to Chicago on their International tour of one of the most charming, energetic and innovative productions of Mozart’s beloved vaudevillian opera – The Magic Flute. Dressed in vivid African attire, the 30 person cast, with the exception of only a few roles, move swiftly from playing marimbas, drums and various percussion instruments to singing and dancing as well as producing marvelous male and female harmonies. I can’t remember seeing a more talented and versatile cast.

Macbeth – Ernest Bloch’s Opera at the Harris Theater

October 22, 2022September 15, 2014 by Clint May

Bloch’s only opera is a tour de force making its Chicago premiere, but the much-touted camera work is mostly a distraction.

Gala Benefit Evening at the Ravinia Festival

July 29, 2014 by Samuel Wigutow

In short, although none of the repertoire here was completely first-rate (the Mozart overture excepted), and despite my reservations about Joshua Bell’s playing, this was a highly engaging evening of music, and the performance of the Dvořák was beyond reproach. James Conlon clearly has an exceptional rapport with this ensemble and often brings out its best; I, for one, would gladly welcome him as a frequent guest during the regular CSO season at Orchestra Hall.

All-Beethoven Program at Ravinia Festival

July 26, 2014 by Samuel Wigutow

The opening performance of Beethoven’s Egmont Overture at the CSO concert he presided over at Ravinia on Thursday evening gave barely a glimpse of the heights to which his conducting would rise at its best over the course of the program. The orchestra played especially well for him, with clean articulation and a good deal of alertness, but the piece – part of the incidental music written to Goethe’s play of the same name, but perhaps not Beethoven at his most inspired – never quite came alive, between the at-times wooden phrasing (especially in the woodwinds) and lack of passionate abandon; the somewhat restrained tempo did not help matters, either.

Emerson String Quartet at Ravinia Festival

July 11, 2014 by Samuel Wigutow

The venerable Emerson String Quartet opened their Monday-night program at Ravinia with what is arguably the greatest piece for string-quartet by the greatest master of the genre. Op. 131 is part of the series of five quartets that together represent Beethoven’s last major achievement – he was dead within a year of its 1826 completion. Composed in seven movements instead of the usual four, it is perhaps the most ambitious attempt to create a string quartet of symphonic sweep, and the result is at once dazzling and overwhelming: by turns melancholy, mischievous, serene, and tragic. If one can follow the many diverse threads brought together over the course of these seven movements, it is an experience not quite like any other.

Juilliard String Quartet at Ravinia Festival

June 26, 2014 by Samuel Wigutow

The esteemed Juilliard Quartet must be America’s longest-running major chamber ensemble, with a career stretching all the way back to 1946. Today’s lineup is, of course, much younger, although Joel Krosnick has been the quartet’s cellist since 1974. And however one feels about their interpretative sensibility, it cannot be denied that these are serious-minded, virtuosic musicians.