Der Zwerg (The Dwarf) by Alexander Zemlinsky. Libretto by George Klaren, based on Oscar Wilde’s “The Birthday of the Infanta.” Staged by OperaHub at the Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, MA, through March 13. Free
Reviewed by Helen Epstein
For a truly worthwhile evening of music drama—free admission no less—get yourselves to the Boston Center for [...]

By Caldwell Titcomb
Oct 4: Celebrated mezzo-soprano Frederika von Stade gives her farewell Boston performance to inaugurate the Celebrity Series’ new season. Also sharing the spotlight will be the famed soprano Dame Kiri Te Kanawa. Symphony Hall, 3:00 p.m.
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By Caldwell Titcomb

In “The Bartered Bride,” Jennifer Aylmer plays Marenka, who loves the farmhand Jenik, but is pressured to marry Vasek, the son of a wealthy neighbor.
Boston has had the unusual luck of experiencing two major Czech operas within a few weeks. First, the Boston Lyric Opera gave us Antonin Dvořák’s “Rusalka” (see [...]

By Caldwell Titcomb
Back for a return visit to Symphony Hall on April 22 was the National Philharmonic of Russia (NPR), founded in 2003 and not to be confused with the 19-year-old Russian National Orchestra. On the podium for this Celebrity Series event was violin virtuoso Vladimir Spivakov, who will turn 65 in September and is [...]

By Caldwell Titcomb

Murray Perahia is the greatest living pianist – and you can take that to the bank.
In 1974 I went to Boston’s Jordan Hall to hear a recital by the famous British tenor Peter Pears (1910-86), who would be knighted four years later. At the end of the concert it was clear that the [...]

By Caldwell Titcomb

Conductor Valery Gergiev’s podium demeanor is rather bizarre, but his musicianship is first-class.
Valery Gergiev is one of the busiest musicians in the world. Among other assignments the 55-year-old conductor has headed the Mariinsky Theatre (formerly the Kirov Opera) for two decades, is principal guest conductor of the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and [...]

By Caldwell Titcomb
Czech opera is not often mounted in these parts. The two major composers were Bedrich Smetana (1824-84) and Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904). The latter wrote ten operas, some comic and some tragic. Among Czech natives, the palm goes to the latter’s “Rusalka,” the composer’s penultimate opera, written in 1900.

The Wood Sprites (mezzo-soprano Emily [...]

By Caldwell Titcomb

Conductor Benjamin Zander celebrates the 30th anniversary of the Boston Philharmonic and his 70th birthday.
The two greatest post-Brahms symphonists – Gustav Mahler and Jean Sibelius – were markedly unalike. In 1907 their paths happened to cross in Helsinki, and they had several conversations. When the talk turned to the essence of symphony, [...]

By Caldwell Titcomb

Chinese pianist Lang Lang can play the heck out of Chopin.
When I first heard Chinese pianist Lang Lang, he was a teenager. He displayed plenty of virtuosity, but without an idea in his head – and the music chosen was not worth anyone’s time. He had begun lessons at three and performed in [...]

By Bill Marx

Soprano Aliana de la Guardia and violinist Gabriela Diaz performing selections of “Kafka Fragments” at a WGBH studio.
A recent World Books podcast serves up a literary/musical treat. A Boston company, Ludovoco Ensemble, presented a performance of “Kafka Fragments,” a short chamber work composed by György Kurtág for soprano and violin in 1985. The [...]