Princeton Symphony, Rossen Milanov, conductor Richardson Auditorium, Princeton University March 7, 2026 Published in Sequenza 21 By Christian Carey PRINCETON – Some regional professional orchestras play it safe, not straying far from Mozart and Beethoven and considering a Brahms symphony their most adventurous outing. Not so the Princeton Symphony. Last Saturday, they played two new works by Viet Cuong and Julian Grant, as well as the complete ballet version of Stravinsky’s Pulcinella. Each composer in their own way dealt with a mélange of styles and multiple reference points. In Extra(ordinarily Fancy, Viet Cuong uses the baroque concerto style as a
Read moreBlue Heron in New York In Praise of Laura Peperara – Music for the Concerto delle dame • Ferrara, 1580s St. Ignatius of Antioch Published in Sequenza 21 By Christian Carey February 25, 2026 NEW YORK – Blue Heron always presents thematic programs, and they excel at giving the audience a sense of the time and place in which the music they perform resides. This past week in their program at St. Ignatius of Antioch Church, they featured the music performed in the court of Ferrara in the 1580s, specifically by the Concerto delle dame. These were a trio
Read moreThe Marian Consort Miller Theatre Early Music Series Church of Saint Mary the Virgin February 13, 2026 By Christian Carey NEW YORK – The Marian Consort are a highly-regarded vocal ensemble, specializing both in early music and recent repertoire. The former was on offer in their performance last Thursday as part of Miller Theatre’s Early Music Series. The program was titled “City of Echoes – Rome in the Sixteenth Century,” and all of the music was performed in the city during this time period. While the program included works from three generations of composers – those relatively contemporaneous to
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Choral Music, Composers, Concert review, Conductors, Contemporary Classical, File Under?, New York, Orchestras
Adés Conducts the New York Philharmonic David Geffen Hall January 24, 2026 Published in Sequenza 21 By Christian Carey NEW YORK – Thomas Adés is best known as a composer, but he is a talented conductor as well. Leading the New York Philharmonic in a program of recent works and a neglected early twentieth century piece, his approach was effusive and commanding, with a versatile and fluid gestural repertoire. The orchestra’s musicians always play at a high standard, but their performance on last Saturday’s concert was superlative, and given the challenges posed by the programmed pieces, all the more
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Choral Music, Composers, Concert review, Contemporary Classical, early music, File Under?, Miller Theater, New York
Mother and Child The Tallis Scholars, directed by Peter Phillips Miller Theater Early Music Series, Church of St. Mary the Virgin December 4, 2025 By Christian Carey NEW YORK – The choral ensemble The Tallis Scholars, directed by Peter Phillips, are regular visitors to Manhattan, and their December concerts at Church of St. Mary the Virgin have a devoted following (pardon the pun). Often they perform a Marian-themed program appropriate to the space, and their appearance this past Thursday was no exception. In addition to pieces principally drawn from the English Renaissance, a new Salve Regina setting by the
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Classical Music, Commissions, Concert review, Concerts, Contemporary Classical, jazz, Lincoln Center, New York, Orchestras, Premieres
An expansive palette of colors was on display at the New York Philharmonic concert at David Geffen Hall on Friday. David Robertson shone a light on the performers and the scores, exposing nuances of hues, pastels, brights and brilliance. The entire program – Igor Stravinsky’s Petrushka, the Violin Concerto by Wyton Marsalis and the world premiere of a new work by Caroline Mallonee – focused on color and mood. I had high hopes in particular for this performance of Petrushka, to erase my memory of a flaccid reading of the work a couple of years ago. The Philharmonic redeemed themselves,
Read moreOn November 1, 2025, the Ventura College Symphony Orchestra presented “Celebration!”, a concert of contemporary music marking the Centennial of the founding of the school. Yunker Auditorium filled with a capacity crowd and the College Symphony – some 70 players strong – sprawled across every inch of the concert stage. Over two hours of music was programmed, featuring four world premiers and including compositions by past and present music faculty. Highlight of the concert was the premiere of Encantos, a piece by New Zealand composer Mark Menzies commissioned by Conductor Ashley Walters. Appropriately, the concert concluded with George Gershwin’s popular
Read moreStile Antico Returns to Sing at St. Mary’s Church of Saint Mary the Virgin November 9, 2025 Published in Sequenza 21 By Christian Carey NEW YORK – The British choral group Stile Antico has been together for twenty years, and while they have premiered several new works, the ensemble specializes in repertoire from the Renaissance era. Indeed, this past Saturday on Miller Theatre’s Early Music series, at the Church of Saint Mary the Virgin in midtown Manhattan, the theme of their program was “The Golden Renaissance.” At St. Mary’s, Stile Antico presented works by noteworthy composers of the
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Choral Music, Classical Music, Composers, Concert review, Concerts, Contemporary Classical, Criticism
In listening to a three-hour concert of music by Arvo Pärt, the brilliance of the Estonian composer’s craft becomes clear. His use of percussion is a masterclass in orchestration, announcing the beginning of a piece with a chime, punctuating string passages with a ding or a gong, and clamorous timpani rolls in rare fortissimo moments. This all-Pärt concert on October 23 was the first program in a season-long celebration of the 90-year old composer at Carnegie Hall. Pärt holds the Composer’s Chair at Carnegie this season (that’s the Richard and Barbara Debs Composer’s Chair, to you). The occasion was also the American
Read moreThe NY Philharmonic Celebrates Boulez’s Centenary Works by Bartók, Boulez, Debussy, and Stravinsky Pierre-Laurent Aimard, piano New York Philharmonic, Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor Saturday, October 4, 2025 Saturday, October 11, 2025 NEW YORK – In October, Esa-Pekka Salonen conducted the New York Philharmonic for two consecutive weeks. Both programs celebrated the centenary of the composer and conductor Pierre Boulez (1925-2016), who was Music Director of the New York Philharmonic from 1971-1977. Boulez was a key figure of the post-WWII avant-garde and a proponent of serial music, then in its early stages. By the 1970s, Boulez was an internationally renowned conductor of
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