Fragments 3: Alisa Weilerstein at Zankel Hall May 20th, 2025 Published in Sequenza 21 By Christian Carey NEW YORK – Alisa Weilerstein is a supremely gifted cellist, and it is hard to imagine being anything less than riveted by her playing. At Zankel Hall last Tuesday, she made decisions for her Fragments project that seemed to be needlessly distracting. There are six Fragments programs all told, each based on one of the Bach Suites, joined by new pieces commissioned for the project. Fragments 3 featured the third cello suite alongside pieces by Joseph Hallman, Thomas Larcher, Jeffrey Mumford,
Read moreSimone Dinnerstein and Baroklyn Perform Glass at Merkin Hall Kaufman Music Center Piano Dialogues Simone Dinnerstein with Baroklyn May 12, 2025 Published on Sequenza 21 NEW YORK – Last Monday, the pianist Simone Dinnerstein brought her Baroklyn project to Kaufman Music Center’s Merkin Hall to perform an all Philip Glass program. Baroklyn is a string ensemble, augmented at the concert by harp and celesta, assembled by Dinnerstein from musician friends with an eye towards a mostly, but not exclusively, female group. The concert opener was The Hours Suite, excerpted from the film score and arranged by Michael
Read morePierre Boulez – Livre pour quatuor Quatuor Diotima Pentatone Record CD/download The centenary of Pierre Boulez’s birth has been celebrated with concerts, books and recordings. The Diotima Quartet’s Pentatone CD of Livre pour quatuor (1948-1949, 2017) is a distinctive offering in that it includes a previously unperformed version of the piece. With permission and supervision of Boulez, the composer Philippe Manoury assisted in completing the fourth movement for Diotima. Thus, this is the first complete recording of Livre pour quatuor. At nearly an hour long, it is one of the largest of Boulez’s early compositions. Pizzicato and glissando
Read moreStile Antico Sings Palestrina at St. Mary’s March 29, 2025 Church of St. Mary the Virgin NEW YORK – Celebrating their twentieth year, the vocal ensemble Stile Antico brought a program dedicated to the 500th anniversary of the composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina’s birth to Miller Theatre’s Early Music Series. The concert was held at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin in midtown, a space that Miller has employed to host a number of Renaissance music performances. Stile Antico appeared with only eleven singers, instead of their usual complement of a dozen. Baritone Gareth Thomas was ill
Read moreMiguel Zenón Golden City Alto saxophonist Miguel Zenón’s seventeenth album, Golden City has been well-received, its plaudits including a 2025 Grammy nomination for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album. The eleven original compositions are excellent vehicles for soloing. A standout is “Acts of Exclusion.” After a hocketing opening from the horns – Diego Urcola, Alan Ferber, and Jacob Garchik – and pianist Matt Mitchell, there is a robust essay by the alto saxophonist that combines the quick syncopation of the tune with undulating lines. He trades licks with Mitchell and then cedes the stage to guitarist Miles Okazaki, who
Read moreSeattle Symphony unveiled its 2025–26 season, the first under incoming Music Director Xian Zhang. She brings two steady if unglamorous hands to the wheel of an organization with a troubled recent history, but only a lackluster commitment to exploratory new music.
Read moreMichael Tippett New Year Rhian Lois soprano Ross Ramgobin baritone Susan Bickley mezzo-soprano Roland Wood baritone Robert Murray tenor Rachel Nicholls soprano Alan Oke tenor BBC Singers BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Martyn Brabbins, conductor NMC Recordings Michael Tippett’s final opera, New Year (1988) has finally been recorded. The work was produced in Houston in 1989 and Glyndebourne in 1990 and then fell out of the repertoire. The Birmingham Opera performed it last year, and the NMC double-CD recording is of a 2024 live semi-staged production by the BBC Scottish Symphony, conducted by Martyn Brabbins. New Year’s reemergence is
Read moreThe Canadian pianist/composer Adam Sherkin shares music from his home country on an extensive program at Merkin Hall in New York on March 15, 2025. “Composers in Play XV” is presented by Piano Lunaire, an organization launched by Sherkin and his colleagues in 2018. On this occasion he joins forces with the American pianist Anthony de Mare. Together the two perform music by (mostly) living Canadian composers for one and two pianos. Each of the performers has connections with some of the creators. In Sherkin’s case it is himself as the composer of Ink from the Shield for two pianos,
Read moreKhruangbin remixes Arooj Aftab Arooj Aftab’s Night Reign was one of my favorite recordings of 2024. Released today, the Thai funk by way of Texas artists Khruangbin have made a remix of one of the album’s most memorable tracks, “raat ki rani.” As a bonus, here is another favorite from Aftab, live in London playing with Anoushka Shankar: ____ Aftab’s Night Reign Tour 2025 begins late March in North America, Brazil and UK/EU: NORTH & SOUTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES 3.27.25 | Union Stage | Washington, D.C 3.29.25 | Big Ears Festival 2025 | Knoxville, TN
Read moreSatie Alain Planès, Pleyel piano (1928) François Pinel, piano duets, Marc Mauillon, baritone Harmonia Mundi In 2025, substantial attention is being paid to the 150th anniversary of Maurice Ravel’s birth. Pianist Alain Planès has instead decided to celebrate the centenary of Erik Satie’s passing with a recording of music from the various stylistic periods of the eclectic composer’s oeuvre. Most of the music are works originally for piano and transcriptions, but there is a set of four-hands pieces and another of songs. At age seventy-seven, Planès has maintained his technique and interpretive skill, accommodating the varying demeanors –
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