Times Likes To See Boys Singing Through Harp Strings
Christmas came early as the St. Thomas Man-Boy Choir strikes again this morning at The Times!
This is getting creepy. Click here for past coverage…
Towerism
Being a resident of Brooklyn, I’m quite familiar with sinking-gut reaction that comes with spotting the plywood barriers and angular iron beams rising up from the open pit of the latest luxury condo tower site (in case you aren’t up to speed, check out the website for Downtown Brooklyn Partnership to see what Flatbush Avenue [...]
Critics Award of the Day: A.M. on James Kudelka
So, Alastair Macaulay makes the case for adding James Kudelka’s “The Ruins Proclaim the Building Was Beautiful” to C.C.’s Know When To Say When list; and then some. He writes:
“The Ruins Proclaim the Building Was Beautiful” (to music by César Franck soupily arranged for orchestra by Rodney Sharman) lasts no more than 30 minutes, but [...]
Baby One More Time
It’s a classical music day!
So, e’rbody knows about Juan Diego Florez’s 18 high C’s at The Met last night. C.C.’s gonna check out the simulcast on Saturday. Interrupting a piece of theater so a performer can take a bow–or in this case, re-sing the entire aria–is like one of those divisive election-year issues that is [...]
Bernard Holland Is A Serial Killer
Ok, sue me for being sensational. It’s only a pun. But it gets to the point. Bernard Holland has set his will against serial music, and atonality in general. Oh, and rational discourse.
Y’all already know about B. Ho’s last piece, to which we responded with due ridicule.
And then, just the other day, he wrote this [...]
DUmb Critic Hack Award: THIS TIME, IT’S PERSONAL
Well, well, well. We’re back and we’re bad, and we’ve resuscitated the DUCHIES (pronounced, DOUCHE-ees) because Jenny D.’s recent review of a mixed bill at BRIC Studios in Brooklyn has us fired up. The interesting thing is that C.C. was personally involved and invested in one of the pieces she took down.
Now, before we all [...]
Strike A Pose
It’s going to be a dance day.
(Left: Ekaterine Kondaurova of The Kirov, photo by Andrea Mohin/NYT; Right: Teresa Reichlen of the NYCB, photo by Paul Kolnik/NYT)
I thought it would be fun to show these images side by side. On the left is Ekaterina Kondaurova performing “Rubies” from Balanchine’s “Jewels” with the Kirov Ballet, that has [...]
Opera (in the) News
Turns out the Met’s recent announcement to change their Wagner Ring subscription policies has ruffled the feathers of Ringtards to the point where they’ve petitioned the Gray Lady to hear their case.
Particularly choice is the third letter, where a long-time Met customer, in almost the same breath, admits to spending $2,000 a year on opera [...]
Ring Around The Family Circle
The Times is reporting that The Met has ended its unofficial policy of giving Ringtards (or Ringnuts or Ringheads or whatever you want to call the mass of fanatics who roam the world in search of the latest iteration of Wagner’s “Ring” cycle) priority access to future productions of the operatic tetralogy.
Needless to say, peeps [...]
