Monotonous Forest

Snowbound TV alert

Tomorrow night (Wednesday, December 29) on PBS, Great Performances will air the October 7 opening night concert of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, with tenor Juan Diego Flórez and conductor Gustavo Dudamel.  The program has Rossini (including the overture to La gazza ladra, which Dudamel did so winningly here just a few months ago), plus Mexican composers Márquez and Moncayo, among other exotic fare.

For those who still haven't had the chance to fall under Dudamel's unique spell, don't miss it.

[Above: Gustavo Dudamel in August 2009, leading the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela, performing in the Caracas Barrio of La Vega.  Photo by Nohely Oliveros]

Yes, they do chamber music, too

New York Philharmonic Ensembles at Merkin Concert Hall.  MusicWeb International, December 24, 2010

Trombone Shorty rocks Brooklyn

Red Hot + New Orleans at BAM's Next Wave Festival.  MusicWeb International, December 21, 2010

This week's 2 by 4

St. Lawrence String Quartet at Baryshnikov Arts Center.  MusicWeb International, December 17, 2010

Ecstasy from Rajasthan

Lincoln Center's White Light Festival closes with The Manganiyar Seduction.  MusicWeb International, December 14, 2010

I hope I'm this chipper at 102

[Above: Pierre Boulez and Elliott Carter at Miller Theatre for the Talea Ensemble's 85th birthday tribute to Boulez.  Photographed Dec. 6, 2010 by Jon Simon]

More magic from Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic

A premiere by Magnus Lindberg introduces a classic by Gérard Grisey.  MusicWeb International, December 10, 2010

"And then, then shall your light break forth"

Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic in Mendelssohn's Elijah.  MusicWeb International, December 3, 2010

Recent releases from two minimalist masters

Syncopated Reich / Polished Glass.  The Juilliard Journal, December 2010

[Above: Georgia Jarman as Eurydice in the Portland Opera's production of Orphée by Philip Glass.  Photo by Cory Weaver]  

Pounding the table

Four years ago I was lucky to catch Thierry de Mey's Musique des Tables (1998) for three amplified percussionists, and on December 12, the Yale Percussion Group will bring it to Carnegie's Zankel Hall, along with works by Mauricio Kagel (Dressur, from 1977), Steve Reich (Sextet, 1985), and James Wood (Village Burial With Fire, 1989).

[Left to right: Denis Petrunin, Yun-Chu Candy Chiu, and Leonardo Gorosito rehearsing Thierry de Mey's Musique des Tables, photographed by Bob Handelman]