Caldwell Titcomb
By Caldwell Titcomb Musica Viva, under its founding director Richard Pittman, kicked off its 41st season on September 25 with an all-American concert in the Tsai Performance Center. The organization is exclusively devoted to contemporary music – on this occasion extending from 1982 to the present.
Read MoreActors From the London Stage (AFTLS) proves that when it comes to the Bard the minimal may be maximal. Reviewed by Caldwell Titcomb Shakespeare’s challenging “King Lear” is the vehicle for this year’s fall tour of the troupe called Actors From the London Stage (AFTLS). This project was begun in 1975, and has been flourishing…
Read MoreBy Caldwell Titcomb There are those who have proclaimed that Christopher Plummer is the greatest classical actor in North America. There is certainly no gainsaying that he has for some time been in the tiny group at the top of the acting profession. Now as he nears the age of 80 he has brought forth…
Read MoreIt should be pointed out that in London it is possible to see more shows in a limited time than one can do in the United States. Why? Because it has long been the sensible practice to stagger weekday matinees. By Caldwell Titcomb Shakespeare first, of course. The British quite rightly never tire of “Hamlet.”…
Read MoreBy Caldwell Titcomb The world’s largest festival of classical music is the BBC Proms in London. Founded in 1895 by Sir Henry Wood (who in 1918 was offered the conductorship of the Boston Symphony Orchestra but declined), the Proms this season run for two months from mid-July to mid-September. The core of the enterprise is…
Read MoreBy Caldwell Titcomb The Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra (PACO), made up of the most talented high-school string players in California’s Bay Area, kicked off its first East Coast tour with an impressive June 27 concert in Harvard’s Sanders Theatre before a large audience that spilled over into the balcony.
Read MoreBy Caldwell Titcomb If you know a bit about opera, you will have heard of Verdi – but perhaps not of Monteverdi. Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643) was the first major composer in the history of opera, and the biennial Boston Early Music Festival (BEMF) is presenting his last opera, “L’Incoronazione di Poppea” (“The Coronation of Poppaea”)…
Read MoreBy Caldwell Titcomb Starting in 1769 serious questions have been raised as to whether William Shakespeare (1564–1616) of Stratford-upon-Avon actually wrote the plays and poems attributed to him. For some years the true author was claimed to be Sir Francis Bacon (1561–1626). So far, at least 60 persons have been put forward as the rightful…
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