Music
Opera on Tap is designed to be surprising and fun – what other opera performance encourages its singers to walk right up to your table warbling high C notes? Opera on Tap at Oberon, September 26 and 27 By Chantal Mendes World famous opera master Luciano Pavarotti wouldn’t have been caught dead performing on a…
Read MoreScreening at the Coolidge Corner Theatre on October 2nd, the Bolshoi’s Bolt is a curiosity worth exploring, a meditation on the Russian past that could only be produced after the nightfall of Stalinism. After all, in some eyes composer Dimitri Shostakovich may have been a stooge, but he was never an obtuse one. Reviewed by…
Read MoreSnobby and sober no more! Made up of singers who perform arias and duets in bars, Opera on Tap currently presents its innovative songfests in Chicago, New York, New Orleans, and Ann Arbor. Now the concept comes to Boston, with performances tomorrow and Monday night (September 26 and 27) at Oberon in Cambridge. Anne Ricci,…
Read MoreI’m willing to risk this statement: Dave Liebman’s 2009 CD Turnaround, as yet unreleased in the US, is a masterpiece. Turnaround. Jazzwerkstatt CD; currently not distributed in the US; obtainable through amazon.de, €10.16 + shipping); live performance at Scullers at the DoubleTree Guest Suites, Boston, MA, September 16, 2010. Reviewed by Steve Elman I can…
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By J. R. Carroll. The final installment in our jazz festival preview series picks the best bets for the outdoor Beantown Jazz Festival and then checks out what’s happening in Falmouth and Pittsfield as the leaves begin to turn.
Read MoreKurt Rosenwinkel’s compositional style is undeniably ingenious and appealing; it is strong on tuneful, singable lines that move logically from chord to chord and occasionally lead listeners to unexpected places. Our Secret World. Wommusic CD; $15.99 via Amazon; $14.99 [ + shipping] through the musician’s website. It’s also for sale as a download through iTunes.…
Read MoreReviewed by Steve Elman. The larger the band, the more important its leader. The sheer drudgery of keeping a large jazz ensemble functioning as a musical and business entity leads almost inevitably to a need for a guiding intelligence. Even if one person isn’t personally booking the gigs, making the phone calls, preparing the lead…
Read MoreBy J. R. Carroll What makes a festival a festival? And what makes a musician a Beantown artist? We’ll ponder those questions for a moment before moving on to the very full schedule of jazz performances in the second half of September.
Read MoreBy Bill Marx Steamboat Bill Jr. is my personal favorite among Buster Keaton’s classic silent comedies, and the image (above) of Buster holding an upturned umbrella (this is a publicity still—in the movie he wields the useless brolly during a rampaging storm) is one of the movie’s greatest sight gags, an indelible image of the…
Read MoreTo my knowledge, this is the first time that a composer has undertaken to write a set of preludes and fugues for saxophone quartet. This is typically a keyboard form, with the Bach (“Well-Tempered Clavier”) and Shostakovich cycles representing twin peaks of that repertoire. Michael Pagán’s 12 Preludes & Fugues. Performed by the Colorado Saxophone…
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Arts Commentary: Rich in Creativity — But Nothing Else