Concert Review: Another Trip to Golgotha

The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra offers John Adams' The Gospel According to the Other Mary.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

At the controls: conductor David Robertson. Photo by Scott Ferguson.

There is some debate as to whether The Gospel According to the Other Mary, the 2013 work for soloists, chorus and orchestra by composer John Adams, is an opera or an oratorio. For Friday night's performance at Carnegie Hall, conductor David Robertson chose the latter option, presenting a straight concert performance of this two-act work on the wide but shallow stage of Stern Auditorium.

Metropolitan Opera Preview: Der Rosenkavalier

Viennese waltzes and bed-hopping: Strauss' comedy gets a new staging.

by Paul J. Pelkonen

Elīna Garanča (top) and Renée Fleming in a publicity photo for the
Met's new production of Der Rosenkavalier.

Renée Fleming has owned the role of the Marschallin in Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier at the Met for the last two decades. Here, she appears in a new production opposite a new Octavian, mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča. 

Go to Jail. Do Not Pass 'Go.'

The Met may send Anna Netrebko to the gulag.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Concept art for the Metropolitan Opera's From the House of the Dead,
Anna Netrebko. Photo by Marty Sohl.

The Metropolitan Opera has been offering glimpses of its future in the New York Times this week. In an interview with Michael Cooper, incoming music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin promised that new productions of Aida and Salome would open future seasons, each starring Anna Netrebko. Superconductor has learned that a third is on the schedule for the Russian diva: a new version of Janacek's From The House of the Dead.

Concert Review: A Minimal Fuss

Steve Reich’s Three Generations opens with John Adams and Terry Riley.

by Paul J. Pelkonen

John Adams and Terry Riley. Their music was celebrated on Thursday night at Zankel Hall.
Photo courtesy Carnegie Hall.

The composer Steve Reich currently occupies the Debs Composers' Chair at Carnegie Hall. That makes 2017 a good spring season for New Yorkers whose tastes run to the masterworks of the late 20th century. Two of those masterpieces were programmed on Thursday at the opening night of Three Generations, a four-concert series that Mr. Reich is curating at Carnegie’s subterranean venue Zankel Hall. Following the performance, Mr. Reich led a short discussion with fellow composer John Adams and Brad Lubman, leader of the evenings performance.