Reviewed By Caldwell Titcomb
It has been many years since a major new opera was mounted here. But Opera Boston has done just that with its recent world premiere of “Madame White Snake” at the Cutler Majestic Theatre. This was the most demanding and expensive undertaking in the company’s history.
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By J. R. Carroll
March is the month for Elder Statesmen—and drummers.
Bassist Buster Williams has played and recorded with, well, damn near everyone, and currently leads his own Something More Quartet; they’ll be coming to Scullers on March 2 at 8 p.m.

Photo by Mandy Hall, available under a
Creative Commons Attribution license.
Drummer Cindy Blackman, who’s made several [...]

By Caldwell Titcomb
The Student Symphony Orchestra of Trondheim, Norway, concluded its U.S. tour at Massachusetts Institute of Technololgy’s (MIT’s) Kresge Auditorium on February 26. Celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, the 70-member orchestra was under the leadership of Gavin David Lee, who has been in his post since 1992. The group’s repertory on this occasion [...]

By Caldwell Titcomb
March 2: The Contemporary Music Ensemble in residence at Boston University, Alea III, under the direction of Theodore Antoniou, offers a free concert in celebration of the late eminent composer/teacher/conductor Lukas Foss (1922–2009). Works by Foss to be performed are “Echoi,” “For Toru,” “Elegy for Anne Frank,” “For Aaron,” “The Prairie,” and “Behold! [...]

Reviewed By Caldwell Titcomb
Among the top pianists who live in our area is Victor Rosenbaum (b. 1941). A faculty member of the New England Conservatory since 1967 (and a former chair of its Piano and Chamber Music Departments), he was also president of the Longy School of Music for 16 years (1985-2001). He teaches [...]

Reviewed By Helen Epstein
An hour and a half before curtain, operagoers are lining up at the AMC 10 cineplex in Burlington, Massachusetts across the road from the mall. Forty-five minutes later, the only available seats in Theater 3 are in the first two neck-craning rows. It’s 12:15 p.m., a sunny Saturday in February when most [...]

Reviewed By Caldwell Titcomb
Solo piano recitals occur all the time, but concerts by duo-pianists are not common these days. The Celebrity Series filled the gap on February 7 when Richard Goode and Jonathan Biss teamed up for a Jordan Hall program of music for piano duet and for two pianos.
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Reviewed By Caldwell Titcomb
The Boston Lyric Opera (BLO) initiated this week what it calls Opera Annex by moving out of its usual venue for its production of Benjamin Britten’s opera The Turn of the Screw. The site chosen was the Park Plaza Castle, built in 1891 as a Boston armory.
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There is no doubt that Christian Tetzlaff stands among the very top rank of today’s violinists.
Reviewed By Caldwell Titcomb
It’s not often that one enters Jordan Hall and sees a completely empty stage—no chair, no piano, no music stand. But all that was needed was a bare floor to accommodate the 43-year-old, German violinist Christian Tetzlaff, [...]

There may not be any Lester Young tributes scheduled for Presidents’ Day, but the entire month of February is nothing less than a valentine to jazz piano.
By J. R. Carroll

Pianist Jason Moran hasn’t yet encountered a piece of music (or even raw sound) that he couldn’t transform into a jaw-dropping improvisation. Johannes Brahms, James [...]