Concert Review: Wide Boys

Thomas Adès conducts the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Thomas Adès: Photo by Jesse Costa for the Boston Symphony Orchestra

Although the first conductors were themselves composers, the wearing of both hats at the helm of a symphony orchestra is always cause for comment. On Wednesday night, the British composer Thomas Adès, who is currently in the new role of "Artistic Partner" with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, led that band at Carnegie Hall in a program featuring the New York debut of his Piano Concerto.

Concert Review: The Other Side of Tchaikovsky

Week Two of Beloved Friend at the Philharmonic.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Emotive: Semyon Bychkov conducts Tchaikovsky at Lincoln Center.
Photo by Chris Lee © 2017 The New York Philharmonic.

Upon initial examination, there appears to be little imagination or initiative in devoting three weeks of the New York Philharmonic's season to the music of Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. However, thanks to some innovative performance choices and imaginative programming, the current Beloved Friend festival under the curation and baton of conductor Semyon Bychkov is proving to be something of a watershed.

Festival Preview: Beloved Friend: Tchaikovsky and his World

The New York Philharmonic goes all-in on the Russian romantic.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Semyon Bychkov and friend. Original promotional photograph © 2016 Decca Classics. 

Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky died in 1893, but earned immortality, remaining far and away the most popular Russian composer of the 19th century. Starting this Thursday, his life and legacy are the subject of a new festival at the New York Philharmonic, Beloved Friend: Tchaikovsky and his World. The festival continues for three weeks, bringing the warmth and passion of his music to the stage of David Geffen Hall and other venues. Tickets and information are available here.

Concert Review: Revenge of the Nerds

Andrés Orozco-Estrada debuts with the Cleveland Orchestra.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Talk to the hands: Conductor Andrés Orozco-Estrada
made his Cleveland Orchestra debut this week.
Photo by Werner Kmetitsch courtesy the artist's website.

Things are changing at Severance Hall, the staid Egyptian-inspired concert hall that squats, temple-like at the side of the lagoon in eastern Cleveland, Ohio. On Thursday night, the lobby of Severance was decorated with a bright neon and incandescent sign: the word NERDS blazing red and green, inviting concertgoers to take selfies with this work of pop art.

Concert Review: Between East and West Lies the North

Susanna Mälkki debuts with the New York Philharmonic. 
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The Finnish conductor Susanna Mälkki made her Philharmonic debut this week.
Photography by Markku Niskanen © 2009 Ensemble Intercontemperain

As the New York Philharmonic prepares to end its 2014-15 season, America's oldest orchestra is sailing through uncertain waters. The orchestra is planning to vacate its premises for two years later this decade for necessary and total renovations to Avery Fisher Hall. They have finally elected a concertmaster to replace Glen Dicterow. Things became turbulent earlier this year when music director Alan Gilbert announced that he would step down.

Concert Review: The Young Person's Cure for Anxiety

The NJSO plays a matinee of Bernstein and Mahler. 
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The pianist Kirill Gerstein played Thursday afternoon with the
New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. Photo courtesy the NJSO.

The composer Leonard Bernstein was a pivotal figure in the 20th century, not just for his own catalogue of symphonies, musicals and operas, but for his work as a conductor. It was Bernstein who brought the large and muscular symphonies of Gustav Mahler to the attention of the general public, eventually making Mahler a cornerstone of the symphonic repertory. On Thursday afternoon, it was the turn of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and music director Jacques Lacombe to bring Bernstein's little-played Symphony No. 2 before their Newark public.

Concert Review: A Blizzard of Notes

Kirill Gerstein in recital at Zankel Hall.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Kirill Gerstein and his hammered friend.
Photo by Marco Borggreve. 

The ability to navigate difficult passages on the piano with aplomb is a key to the life of a concert pianist. On Monday night, Kirill Gerstein visited Carnegie Hall's downstairs Zankel Hall with a program of works that stretched his technique to the limit. Mr. Gerstein is a competition-winning Russian-born artist, who has dedicated himself in recent years to the classroom. A recital from Mr. Gerstein is thus a rare event, and the pianist chose a program loaded with technical challenges.

Concert Review: Massacre at Lincoln Center

The New York Philharmonic plays Rachmaninoff and Shostakovich.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

The Bloody Sunday Massacre by Ivan Vladimirov.

The month of October in New York has been a bit of a mini-celebration of the works of Dmitri Shostakovich. No fewer than five of the composer's 15 symphonies are appearing on concert programs this month, and his early opera The Nose continues to run at the Metropolitan Opera. This week, the New York Philharmonic contributed to this accidental festival, performing the composer's Eleventh Symphony under the baton of Semyon Bychkov.