Concert Review: All Within Her Hands

Kariné Poghosyan plays damned difficult stuff at Zankel Hall.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Kariné Poghosyan in concert at Zankel Hall. Photo by Jonathan Levin. 

The season is winding down but there are still some extraordinary artists to be heard (and covered) in the pages of Superconductor. On Thursday night, it was the New York-based Armenian-born pianist Kariné Poghosyan, playing her first recital at Zankel Hall, the subterranean concert venue that sits underneath Carnegie Hall.

Concert Review: Four-Armed is Forewarned

The Philadelphia Orchestra opens Carnegie Hall
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The pianist Lang Lang. Presumably this is not how he injured his left hand before Wednesday night's season-opening Carnegie Hall concert where he played with Chick Corea and Maxim Lando. Photo © Sony Classical.

How do you get three pianists to play together?

That conundrum, explored by only a few composers over the centuries, was what faced Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Philadelphia Orchestra as they prepared for Wednesday night's concert opening the 2017-18 season at Carnegie Hall. The program featured two Leonard Bernstein works flanking George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. This was an important concert for the resurgent Philadelphians, who missed their chance to play opening night three years ago. It was also a crucial concert for music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin, whose profile has risen in New York since he accepted the post of music director at the Metropolitan Opera, effective in the 2020 season.

Concert Review: Settling Their Differences

The New York Philharmonic opens their 175th season.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Alan Gilbert is starting his last year as music director of the New York Philharmonic.
Photo by Chris Lee © 2016 The New York Philharmonic.

The New York Philharmonic opened its 175th season on Wednesday night with a concert built around Antonín Dvořák's Symphony No. 9, better known as the New World Symphony. The concert at David Geffen Hall marked the beginning of the orchestra's final season under the hand of music director Alan Gilbert, whose contract expires in June of next year. The concert was attended by music press, donors and glitterati, with the whole affair broadcast live on Facebook, another Philharmonic first.

Concert Review: The Best of All Possible Worlds

Jean-Yves Thibaudet at the NJSO.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The always well-dressed Jean-Yves Thibaudet.
Photo by Hilary Scott for the Tanglewood Festival © 2015 Boston Symphony Orchestra.

The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra exists in perpetual shadow of the classical music scene in nearby New York. And yet, those attending the orchestra’s concerts (held at NJPAC in downtown Newark and an ever-rotating series of regional arts centers and theaters in the Garden State) hear strong, snappy playing, bold brass and a gritty work ethic that matches its blue-collar home state.

Concert Review: Against the Gathering Darkness

Jeffrey Kahane returns to the New York Philharmonic.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The pianist Jeffrey Kahane returned to the New York Philharmonic this week.
Photo by Chris Lee © 2014 The New York Philharmonic.

In the years between the two World Wars, the last, dying gasps of tonal music and the rise in popularity of American jazz created a climate where composers engaged in fearless and sometimes furious experimentation. It was as if they knew disaster was coming, and that it was time to get all their good ideas down on paper before the world plunged back into darkness.

This week, the New York Philharmonic offered a carefully curated program of lesser-known major orchestral works from Maurice Ravel, Kurt Weill and George Gershwin. The program, conducted by Jeffery Kahane (who also served as piano soloist) searched for common ground between these three composers, offering listeners Ravel's flashy post-Impressionist virtuosity, Weill's  post-Mahlerian sturm und drang view of Wiemar Germany, and the jazzy sounds of Gershwin's New York.

The Superconductor Interview: Eric Einhorn

The director brings Blue Monday to Harlem's historic Cotton Club.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The sign of the historic Cotton Club. Image from FotoPedia.

In order for opera to evolve, it has escaped from the stuffy confines of the opera house.

The last five years have seen an uptick in the number of companies willing to take chances and present opera outside its usual venue. From coffee barges moored off of Red Hook to the landscaped walks of the Bronx Zoo, opera is busting out all over.

One young company that is taking advantage of this trend is Eric Einhorn's On Site Opera, a troupe devoted to performing rare repertory in unconventional locations. This Tuesday, OSO will present its second show: George Gershwin's jazz opera Blue Monday on the hallowed dance floor of The Cotton Club in Harlem.