Category: Classical music

At last night’s Grammy Awards, Billy Crystal spoke of the award ceremony many years ago when he met Vladimir Horowitz, and after a short pause in the silence that followed, he told the audience, “Google him!”

Yes, classical music fan(atic)s are not the primary audience for the Grammys, but they must have responded to this news from the 2023 ceremony:

Six decades after he won the first of his 31 Grammy Awards from 74 nominations, Georg Solti has lost his improbable awards leadership in a race with pop artists who have otherwise always dominated this arena. Solti died in 1997.

Until now, second place was shared by Beyoncé and Quincy Jones, with 28 awards each, followed by Alison Krauss and Chick Corea, with 27.

Long thwarted by the “Beyoncé paradox,” the singer led this year’s field with nine nominations, the latest of 88 during her career. She needed to win only four to become the most-awarded musician in Grammys history. Given the consensus about her album Renaissance, which was the vehicle for eight of her nine nominations, she seemed likely to take the record, but it was still a matter of suspense if she could do it.

She did, with Best Dance/Electronic Recording — “Break My Soul,” Best Dance/Electronic Music Album — Renaissance, Best Traditional R&B Performance — “Plastic Off the Sofa,” and Best R&B Song — “Cuff It.”

Hungarian British conductor Solti was music director of the Chicago Symphony for two decades and produced more than 250 recordings. One of his works, a complete set of Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen, published between 1958 and 1965, has been cited by critics and many publications as the greatest recording ever made.

In her acceptance speech, Beyoncé said, “I’m trying not to be too emotional. I’m trying to just receive this night. I want to thank God for protecting me. Thank you, God.

“I’d like to thank my Uncle Johnny, who’s not here. But he’s here in spirit. I’d like to thank my parents — my father, my mother, for loving me and pushing me. I’d like to thank my beautiful husband, my beautiful three children who are at home watching.”

Among highlights in the Grammys’ history, the first awards in 1959 went to a classy group: Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Van Cliburn. This year’s 91 Grammys were handed out at a preshow event in Los Angeles and at the main ceremony at Crypto.com Arena on Sunday night.

The top award, Album of the Year, went to Harry Styles for his Harry’s House, which also won Best Pop Vocal Album.

First lady Jill Biden presented a new award, Best Song for Social Change, to the imprisoned Iranian musician Shervin Hajipour for his song “Baraye.” He wrote the song in support of last fall’s protests there led by women and young people against government oppression. The video was viewed 40 million times on social media in recent weeks.

Biden also presented the Grammy for Song of the Year to Bonnie Raitt for “Just Like That.” The 2023 Grammies also gave the rare EGOT status — an acronym for someone who’s picked up Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony Awards — to actress Viola Davis.

“It has just been such a journey,” Davis, 57, said of her memoir Finding Me as she accepted the Grammy for best Audiobook, Narration & Storytelling Recording.

Both Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song went to Brandi Carlile for “Broken Horses.” Ozzy Osbourne won Best Metal Performance for “Degradation Rules” (featuring Tony Iommi) and Best Rock Album for Patient Number 9.

Winners in the classical music categories:

Best Engineered Album, Classical

Bates: Philharmonia Fantastique — The Making of the Orchestra, Edwin Outwater (conductor), Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Producer of the Year, Classical
Judith Sherman

Best Orchestral Performance
Works by Florence Price, Jessie Montgomery, Valerie Coleman, Michael Repper (conductor), New York Youth Symphony

Best Opera Recording
Blanchard: Fire Shut Up in My Bones, Yannick Nézet-Séguin (conductor); Angel Blue, Will Liverman, Latonia Moore, and Walter Russell III (soloists); David Frost (producer); Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus

Best Choral Performance
Born, Donald Nally (conductor); Dominic German, Maren Montalbano, Rebecca Myers, and James Reese (soloists); The Crossing

Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance
Shaw: Evergreen, Attacca Quartet

Best Classical Instrumental Solo
Letters for the Future, Time for Three, Xian Zhang (conductor), The Philadelphia Orchestra

Best Classical Solo Vocal Album
Voice of Nature: The Anthropocene, Renée Fleming (soloist), Yannick Nézet-Séguin (pianist)

Best Classical Compendium
An Adoption Story, Kitt Wakeley (composer); Starr Parodi (pianist); Jeff Fair, Starr Parodi, and Kitt Wakeley (producers); London Symphony Orchestra

Best Contemporary Classical Composition
Contact, Kevin Puts (composer), performed by Time for Three, Xian Zhang (conductor), and The Philadelphia Orchestra

Best Music Film
Jazz Fest: A New Orleans Story, Various artists; Frank Marshall and Ryan Suffern (video directors); Frank Marshall, Sean Stuart, and Ryan Suffern (video producers

On a recent bitterly cold Sunday afternoon, I armed myself with a cup of cocoa and fluffy throw and rewatched a 2001 movie, billed as a “medieval comedy adventure.” A Knight’s Tale is the improbable story of a young squire who decides to impersonate his royal knight when the knight dies unexpectedly. As the story unfolds, we also meet a young Geoffrey Chaucer who becomes part of the wannabe knight’s entourage and, by the movie’s end, supposedly gets the inspiration for the first of his Canterbury Tales. It’s a fun romp, complete with the rock group Queen’s “We Will Rock You” as part of the score! A wonderful way to spend a winter’s afternoon.

It also got me thinking about music about knights, pre-Queen, that is. Here are a few pieces that come to mind:

English composer Henry Purcell teamed up with librettist John Dryden to create a five-act opera simply titled King Arthur in 1691. While the opera-with-spoken-text is about the King we know from “…and the Knights of the Round Table,” it is not about that phase of Arthur’s life. Purcell’s tale concerns itself with a battle between Arthur’s army and the Saxons who have abducted his fiancé Emmeline. A recording we favor at the station is Thomas Hengelbrock conducting the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra in the “Suite from King Arthur.”

Franz Schubert’s opera, Fierrabras, the Overture of which you can hear on WCRB from time to time, is the story of a Saracen (or, Moorish) knight whose fictional story intertwines with the real Emperor Charlemagne and his court. Both Carl Maria von Weber and Schubert were asked by the major opera house in Vienna to contribute an opera each in an effort to start expanding the genre in the German language. Weber’s came first and got such a poor reception that Schubert’s 1823 contribution was shelved, but the Overture lives on. Here it is with Christian Benda conducting the Prague Sinfonia.

It’s always struck me as curious that Schubert made no attempt to recreate the music of, or even to include a more general nod to, the sounds of the Early Middle Ages, which would have been heard during the time of Charlemagne. Fierrabras sounds like the music of Schubert’s day.

Richard Strauss was so inspired by Miguel de Cervantes’s 1605 novel, The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha, that he composed a tone poem about it. Strauss followed the action in the epic novel closely, starting with Don Quixote reading so many books about chivalrous knights that he becomes delusional, believing he is a knight himself. The approximately 45-minute long piece, with a solo cellist inhabiting the title character, has an introduction, main theme, 10 variations that cover the main parts of the story, and a grand finale. Variation No. 10 is entitled “Duel with the knight of the bright moon.” Here is Staatskapelle Dresden, conducted by Rudolf Kempe, featuring cellist Paul Tortelier.

Around 1889 Edward Elgar wrote what he described as a “symphony with chorus and orchestra,” which told the story of The Black Knight in three parts. He envisioned the story where a mysterious knight shows up unexpectedly, defeats members of a particular king’s court in a tournament, and kills the king’s two children. The story never reveals why. It’s an extremely dark tale, but with what was hailed as exceptional music for the time. Sir Charles Groves conducts the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus in the entire 35-minute piece.

Sergei Prokofiev, who was living in Paris in the 1930s, was lured back to Russia with a commission for a new ballet and a promise that if he’d write it, the Bolshoi would perform it. Romeo and Juliet became one of the composer’s landmark works. And the “Dance of the Knights” shows the knights at the Capulet’s masquerade ball. This is a scene from a Royal Opera House (London) production.

At least two pop artists in recent years have “borrowed” the “Dance of the Knights.” You can hear the music clearly from the start of Sia’s 2000 hit, “Taken for Granted,” and 2016’s “Party Like a Russian” by Robbie Williams.

One of the most rousing scores to a knights-themed movie was composed by Miklós Rózsa for the 1953 movie Knights of the Round Table. I remember watching it on our small TV one Saturday afternoon while sitting next to my dad. He was just a kid himself when he watched it on the silver screen and actually mentioned that Rózsa’s score “made the movie as exciting as could be.” Rózsa himself conducts his orchestra in the Prelude.

Those who bore names like Arthur, Lancelot, Galahad and Don Quixote are long past, but the stories, fiction and nonfiction alike, continue to inspire, as does the music to go along with them.

CODA: Here is Queen’s ”We Will Rock You” in the opening to A Knight’s Tale. It was absolutely genius to pair that music with the jousting scene because you just know that if we still had such jousts today, that would be part of the sporting event!

What a day for Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Two Grammy awards, a matinee performance with Yuja Wang, a contract extension ― and he’s been made into a bobblehead!

The Philadelphia Orchestra music and artistic director was one of several Philadelphia classical Grammy winners on Sunday. He joined the Crossing choir and the Philadelphia Orchestra in winning golden gramophones, dominating the classical categories at the awards ceremony in Los Angeles that preceded the prime time telecast on CBS.

Classical nominees out-performed Philly connected pop, rock, jazz, and gospel musicians up for Grammys this year at the early awards show, which was hosted by comedian and political parodist Randy Rainbow.

Among the Philly acts who didn’t go home with trophies were The War on Drugs, nominated for best rock song for “Harmonia’s Dream,” but bested by “Broken Horses” by Brandi Carlile, who won two rock awards.

Camden gospel choir leader Tye Tribbett lost out in two categories to Maverick City Music & Kirk Franklin. Jazz bassist Christian McBride, jazz duo The Baylor Project, band leader Adam Blackstone and engineer Ryan Schwabe were also nominees but didn’t take home awards.

Jazmine Sullivan also lost in two categories in the early ceremony, but her “Hurt Me So Good” was also up against Beyoncé, Mary J. Blige and Muni Long for best R&B song, which was set to be presented during the nighttime telecast at crypto.com Arena hosted by Trevor Noah.

It was even a tough day for Roots’ drummer Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson. He lost out in best audiobook recording for his Music Is History. That Grammy went to Viola Davis for Finding Me, completing her EGOT, meaning she has now won Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Awards.

But while Philly performers on the pop side might be disappointed with their Grammy haul, classical musicians cleaned up.

The Crossing won best choral performance for its Born album. It is the third Grammy win for the Philadelphia-based ensemble.

“For us, it’s just so exciting to see new music recognized like this,” said Crossing conductor Donald Nally. “Michael Gilbertson and Edie Hill’s music — we just love singing it, and it means more people will hear it, they’ll look it up.”

The title track piece, Gilbertson’s Born, was commissioned by Nally and his husband in memory of Nally’s mother. “So there’s something really special about the album which has the name of this piece that is a memorial for my mother and ends up winning a Grammy. She would be thrilled.”

Best orchestral performance went to the New York Youth Symphony’s recording of works by Florence Price, Jessie Montgomery and Valerie Coleman. Coleman has worked extensively with the Philadelphia Orchestra, and it is her Umoja: Anthem of Unity, commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra, that is featured on the album.

The Florence Price Piano Concerto in One Movement on the release is played by Michelle Cann, a Curtis Institute of Music piano professor.

The Philadelphia Orchestra’s Nézet-Séguin is conductor of the work that won for best opera recording: Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones with the Metropolitan Opera, which in 2021 became the first opera by a Black composer ever to be performed by the Met.

And he was pianist on the Voice of Nature: The Anthropocene release with soprano Renée Fleming, which won for classical solo vocal album.

After winning a Grammy last year for best orchestral performance, the Philadelphia Orchestra wasn’t nominated in the category this year. But a release on which it performed won in two other categories.

Time for Three — a string trio with Philly roots — won for Letters for the Future with conductor Xian Zhang in the classical instrumental solo category; and Kevin Puts’s Contact won best contemporary classical composition.

©2023 The Philadelphia Inquirer. Visit inquirer.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Last week we revealed how one North Wales restaurant has started playing classical music over the speakers in a bid to deter anti-social behaviour. The 24-hour McDonalds, on Regent Street in the centre of Wrexham, now plays Beethoven from 5pm after successful trials elsewhere.

To see the effect first-hand, we arrived at around 5.30pm on a busy Friday evening. Gathered inside there was a mixture of youths, workers clocking off for the weekend and people on their way for a night out.

I have been to this branch of McDonalds hundreds of times over the years, whether before or after a Wrexham AFC match or on a night out at some of the nearby pubs and clubs.

READ MORE: ‘Cowardly’ murderer, strangler and jealous thug among criminals locked up in North Wales in January

It genuinely felt different to every other time I’d been there however. Maybe it’s because I was subconsciously aware of the new classical music policy, but it definitely felt more relaxed and certainly quieter (in terms of noise levels) than usual.

Now, I’m more Stone Roses than Strauss when it comes to my music tastes and Shazam doesn’t seem to recognise music from before the 1960s so I couldn’t tell you which particular Beethoven symphonies they were playing. But there was definitely an air of calmness, and even the gathered youngsters were in relaxed mood (that’s rare in this restaurant in all honesty).

Have you been to a McDonalds restaurant that plays classical music? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section

After ordering a couple of Big Mac meals, we sat down and observed our surroundings. The restaurant was as busy as usual but as said previously the decibel levels and boisterousness you come to expect from a city centre McDonald’s just weren’t there.

In terms of quality of food, there wasn’t much change there. Every Big Mac I’ve ever had has tasted the same – not that I’m complaining.

It would be interesting to see the figures in terms of anti-social behaviour in McDonalds over the next few months. I was there at 5.30pm rather than 2am after all, but to me it felt like the soothing sounds of Beethoven certainly did have an effect on mood, atmosphere and ambience.

This has been tried and tasted elsewhere as well so there must be some science behind it and if it does deter violence and general mischief then it seems to be a fantastic idea. I don’t expect hoardes of Classic FM listeners to be flocking to the golden arches anytime soon though.

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New York-based sitar player Rishab Rikhiram Sharma, the last disciple of late sitar virtuoso Pandit Ravi Shankar, is on a tour of the country where he is presenting his music in the hopes of encouraging conversations on mental health. A project that began during the pandemic as a way for him to cope with his own anxiety and depression has snowballed into something much larger. From playing for PM Narendra Modi at the Howdy Modi event in Texas, USA to presenting his own compositions to current US President Joe Biden at the White House, this 26-year-old is using his music to do good. “I saw this as an opportunity to be in front of all these people at an event that is celebrating US and India relations. As an Indian living in the US, playing for my country’s Prime Minister was great. I met so many people and made so many connections that day,” the young musician says.

He is performing in Mumbai as part of his multi-sensory and immersive multi-city tour Sitar for Mental Health.

However, this journey has not been easy. As a man speaking about mental health and opening up about his own issues is still stigmatized. It was not something that everyone was ready to accept, including his parents. He says, “When I was doing my first live show, my dad was against me using the word mental. He felt that people would think I am crazy. I listened to him and called my first show sitar for mindfulness. But I realised that it did not resonate with me especially since I am using my voice and my sitar to increase awareness for mental health. So five days before my show I changed the name to sitar for mental health.”

Ask him if his parents are now more understanding about this career path, and he is happy with the change. “We can’t blame them if they don’t understand the issue around mental health. That is how they were brought up, it is not their fault. Sometimes children have to educate their parents and reverse the ideologies that they were brought up with. So now, they really understand things about mental health. When they see me stressed or anxious, they won’t bother me. They will tell me to take care and provide me with reassurance.”

Music and Social Media

Social media is a big part of our lives, including musicians. Trends and algorithms influence which artistes and what kind of music will make it big. In the age of decreasing attention spans and one minute reels being the default, Indian classical music which is known to be nuanced and lengthy, does not fit the bill. Ask Sharma about his thoughts, he shares, “Social media is very powerful. But with great power comes great responsibility. It depends on how you use it. Social media helped me build my community. Sitar for mental health was born on online and for me, it has been a blessing.”

However, when it comes to making and releasing music, it can be tricky. He explains, “When you talk about music, especially Indian classical music, it is very hard for us to give listeners an idea of what we do in such a short period of time. My ideology was to give listeners a little experience of what it is like to listen to classical music. So I started to compose one minute compositions, which were purely classical in nature.”

Adding, he says, “I have been composing for a reduced timeframe and attention spans but I’m not altering the music. I am still sticking to the tradition and the rules are of our music, while making compositions that are not two-hour long. I am just condensing it. You just have to adapt to the time.”

Remembering his guru, Pandit Ravi Shankar and the golden advice he gave him, Sharma shares “My guru ji used to say, ‘Subko sunno.’ Listen to everyone and every culture.” Shankar has collaborated with many different kinds of musicians from around the world. From Jazz musicians John Coltrane and Don Ellis to violinist Yehudi Menuhin and sarodist Ali Akbar Khan, his most noteworthy collaboration was with George Harrison and the Beatles.

Sharma has taken his guru’s words to heart and uses his music to express himself whie being true to his roots. “Unlike many other indian classical musicas my age, I was never put into a box which is great,” he signs off.

Read more news like this on HindustanTimes.com

Today, of course, we include them among the giants of classical music, old timers who have set the standards of excellence for decades. But there was a time long ago, back in the 1970s, when they were starting out, still kids like me, looking forward to the future with hope and eagerness and anticipation. I remember telling a young man I was dating that I’d heard about some promising young musicians and suggested we get tickets for an upcoming performance. My soon-to-be ex-boyfriend sneeringly told me he was not interested in listening to mere beginners. He only went to performances by the truly greats. Who were these nonentities? You may have heard of them: Daniel Barenboim. Itzak Perlman. Pinchas Zuckerman. Jacqueline duPre.

I’ve followed their careers over many years now, attending their concerts, buying their LPs and CDs, turning up the volume on the classical music station on my radio when their recordings are played. Jacqueline duPre was only a year older than me. She died in 1987, at age 42, much, much too young, but it was still a time when a contemporary’s death was a tragedy, not an inevitability. My generation was still cocky enough to think it wouldn’t happen to us.

And now I read that Daniel Barenboim is 80 years old and suffering from “a serious neurological disease,” and all I can do is sigh. I have so many friends suffering from terrible diseases that keep a list of their ailments so that I do not confuse one person’s medical problems with those of others.

It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. We were the Boomers, raised to believe we would change the world, to improve—no, to perfect—it. We would bring about global peace, racial and gender equity, economic justice in our lifetimes, while also curing cancer and other dreaded diseases. It didn’t work out that way, of course, and now we’re facing the consequences not only of our own mistakes but of times that are changing in ways we never anticipated. And although we always believed our generation would never grow old, the isolation of the pandemic has forced us to admit otherwise.

I know that many scientists are working to find effective treatments and potential cures to the cancers, heart conditions, neurological diseases and others that my generation now suffers from. I have another technique. At the end of the day, once the evening news is over and the dinner dishes are done, I put a LP with a performance by the young Barenboim, Zuckerman, Perlman, or duPre on my old-fashioned turntable. Once again it’s 1967 and we are all at the beginning of our lives, our futures bright and hopeful. That future is behind us now, but as I listen, I am young again, and somehow what lies ahead—for both me and the world—does not seem quite so grim.

PhD in English literature, retired public-relations professional, and author whose fiction, columns, reviews and literary criticism have appeared in a variety of publications.

Blind since the age of 9, he trained as a classical pianist and uses his skills to encourage and uplift others.

Recently, a half dozen people gathered in the choir room at the H. Lawrence Patrick Senior Center and began running through a repertoire of songs for upcoming performances, including a Valentine’s Day program.

In the corner of the room at the piano, Lieser’s fingers fly over the keys, a joyous tune erupting from the instrument as the group sang “The Crawdad Song,” and then moved on to “She’ll be Coming Round the Mountain.”

One of the members said you have to meet two requirements in order to join, you have to laugh and you have to be a little crazy. But you don’t have to know how to sing.

“You don’t have to be able to sing,” Lieser said. “It’s not a qualification for this group.”

As the group throws out songs, Lieser types the titles on his Braille typewriter.

When the group is done practicing, Lieser says a prayer and they disperse.

Lieser, who has always been passionate about the piano, began playing at the age of 5 and started lessons at 9.

“It’s something I’ve always gravitated to,” he said. “I can’t quite express it. I just remember that it’s something that always came quite easily to me.”

He felt as if he were meant to play the piano.

When he became totally blind as a child, his parents made the decision to have him attend a residential school for the blind and one of his teachers insisted he learn to read Braille music, which he was initially reluctant to do, but it became a valuable tool when he began to play classical music, which can’t be learned by ear.

Born and raised in Minnesota, he left his home state in 1989.

He earned his bachelor’s degree from St. Olaf College in Minnesota and got his master’s degree from the University of Arkansas and got 95% through a doctoral degree from the University of Oklahoma. He said he did all the coursework, recitals and exams but just didn’t do his dissertation. He said he got behind on bills and decided to work instead.

Over the years, he has worked as a staff accompanist for the ballet department of the University of Oklahoma and then at a large choir at Oklahoma City for 12 years. He also taught music classes at a small Bible college.

Eventually, Lieser ended up in Kings Mountain and about a year ago, he discovered the Kings Mountain senior center and learned he was eligible to join. He got involved as much as he could and drifted into playing the piano for the choir.

He said the choir performs at various nursing and retirement homes within a one hour radius as well as at the center itself.

“It’s a delightful place,” he said. “It’s a very active place, very positive.”

Lieser also volunteers in the kitchen and helps load dishes in the dishwasher each week after the Friday lunch.

“It feels good to be involved,” he said.

He also spends his time playing the piano for his church, teaching private lessons and reading, which he said is his number one hobby.

He is able to use the digital files on his phone to listen to ebooks.

“I think of blindness as a nuisance,” he said. “We’re all handicapped in some way.”

Lieser has never let being blind stop him from living a full life and pursuing all his interests from competing – and winning – a fishing tournament for the blind, to going bowling, skiing and rock climbing.

“You don’t have to see to do all that,” he said.

He said his education at the residential school for the blind taught him the skills he needed to be independent and fully engaged in life.

Living with people who had visual impairments and being taught by teachers who knew how to work with the blind or who had impairments themselves, made a big impact on him.

“We were just never taught you shouldn’t or couldn’t do something,” he said.

He said he learned just as much outside the classroom as in it, such as making his bed, cleaning, going out to eat at restaurants and shopping.

“You learn how to do that. No reason not to,” he said.

He was thankful his parents had the foresight and courage to send him to a residential school.

Lieser also has a guide dog named Pepper.

His third guide dog, he said they’ve been together for two years, and she is the one who has bonded with him the best.

“Pepper is the best match I’ve had so far,” he said.

“When I’m walking, she helps me avoid obstacles,” he said.

When he’s in a parking lot and has no orientation, she’ll help him find the door.

But when Pepper is home, she’s just like any other pet dog and is not expected to work.

He also uses a cane to get around but said having Pepper gives him more confidence than just using a cane.

Lieser said he was born with cataracts and had them removed as an infant but then he developed glaucoma.

He had to have many surgeries after that but he had too much scar tissue and ultimately lost all of his vision.

He doesn’t feel sorry for himself though.

“There’s no reason to complain,” he said. “We all have things we wish we could change.”

He said one of his goals is to make others’ lives easier in whatever way he can and be a blessing to those around him.

“I’ve been given too much to keep it to myself,” he said.

While it’s normal to feel a sense of familiarity returning to a festival year after year, it was stronger than usual at the 2023 Dark Music Days in Reykjavík since it was only 10 months since last year’s festival, which had been delayed due to the pandemic. It also served to emphasise the sense of continuity that this festival has, effectively picking up where 2022 had left off, showcasing some of the best of Iceland’s broad compositional spectrum, in an eclectic range of chamber, orchestral, ensemble, choral and theatrical performances crammed into a more than usually busy week.

While the theatrical events were among the most visually arresting, they also tended to be the most inscrutable. Anna Halldórsdóttir‘s closing night chamber opera for mezzo-soprano and cello Love a nervous wreck, no dance at Ufsaklettur was a casualty of being sung entirely in Icelandic without any translation provided. Perhaps it wouldn’t have mattered, considering the work (actually a singspiel rather than an opera) stuck so slavishly to a pretty basic diatonic language, often bordering on pastiche, but it would have been nice to have had just an inkling of what any of it was actually about.

Much more involving was Mörsugur, a piece of music theatre (described as a “poetic tale”) by Ásbjörg Jónsdóttir and Ragnheiður Erla Björnsdóttir, given a tour de force solo performance by singer Heiða Árnadóttir. This time a translation was provided, offering an insight into the work’s mix of intimacy and myth, tapping into the country’s legends. Progressing more according to shifting emotional currents than a linear narrative, the performance was a marvellous way for Heiða to conclude her 3-year residency at the festival. She moved between close-up reverie, bathed in and transfixed by light, later (interacting with large video screens) appearing to touch the clouds.

In one startlingly powerful sequence, having played imaginary bells with her fingers, she seemingly began to transform into a raven. Heiða’s rendition of this was remarkable: what emerged from her mouth was more than mere imitation, a complex form of vocalise – either sub- or super-expressive, depending on your perspective – continually tilting between dual impressions of bird and woman. Both musically and visually, Mörsugur was primarily about atmosphere and texture, with a strong emphasis on the natural world, though its earthy, folk intimacy took a surprising turn later on, entering a beat-laden stylised frenzy with strobes and swirling purple lights. It all made for a strange but unforgettable experience.

The festival opened with an event featuring performance group quartet Personal Clutter, that was for the most part dismally superficial and prosaic. The one exception was Our Favourite Things by Berglind María Tómasdóttir, receiving its world première. As the group slowly entered and moved about the stage, articulating a recurring phrase about how they “would love to be a flower”, its tone was hard to read: bliss? wistful? wishful? There was something curiously beguiling and intriguing about the piece, held in check at a liminal point between emotional containment and a trance-like dreaminess.

One of the members of Personal Clutter, Rosie Middleton, gave an impressive solo performance later in the week, the highlight of her recital being Esin Gunduz‘s en-he-du-an-na-me-en. Created as part of Middleton’s voice(less) project series, the piece continually played with our perceptions of what sound was emanating from her mouth or from the fixed media part. The initial impression was that nothing we were hearing – tentative, peripheral, provisional and preparatory sounds – were coming from Middleton, though that was soon challenged, expanding into a radiant chorus of complex avant-song. Yet even here, Middleton covered her mouth: exposing the ruse? indicating an implied shame or embarrassment? or simply one half of an electroacoustic dialogue opting out for a while?

The latter half of the work maintained this uncertainty, growing from halting syllables over a burbling mumbletexture to something altogether more demonstrative, as if Middleton were gradually asserting the power of (her?) song, climaxing in ululations that, to the end, defied attempts to pin-point her precise vocal role and contribution. A mesmerising performance of a stunningly powerful work.

The romance is on this Valentine’s Day month in Charleston, with a host of musical happenings that go straight to the heart.

At 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 6, Charleston Music Fest will present a new program entitled “Great Romantics” at the College of Charleston Sottile Theatre. The concert will feature two monumental works: Smetana’s Piano trio in G minor, Op. 15, and Schumann’s Piano Quartet in E Major, Op. 47.

It is to be performed by internationally acclaimed artists Lee-Chin Siow, violin; Jan-Marie Joyce, viola; Natalia Khoma, cello; and Volodymyr Vynnytsky, piano. For tickets, visit or contact the Sottile Theatre Box Office by phone at 843-953-4726 or in person at 44 George St. in downtown Charleston.

On Feb. 9, Charleston Symphony’s Pops! concert “Art Moves Jazz” is certain to move lovers of classical music and jazz, as well as visual arts enthusiasts. The concert features Grammy Award-winning Quentin Baxter and friends offering jazzy renditions of classical works, including Ravel’s “Bolero,” Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins, as well as works by Astor Piazzolla, Duke Ellington and Baxter.

All the while, meditative works of art by Charleston’s John Duckworth will be projected throughout the performance hall. The concert will take place at 7:30 p.m. at Charleston Gaillard Center. For tickets, visit charlestonsymphony.org.

Holy City Arts & Lyric Opera (HALO) is also feeling the romance, and right on Valentine’s Day. In a collaboration with the Charleston Library Society, “Choose Your Own Operadventure: Lovers’ Edition” is an evening of opera with the story chosen by the audience. Will the stars of the evening be lovers or enemies? Will the plot twist toward betrayal or devotion? These decisions and others will be in the hands of those in attendance at this special Valentine’s Day concert.

The performance will take place at 6 p.m. on Feb. 14 at Charleston Library Society, 164 King St. in downtown Charleston. For more information, visit holycityarts.org.

Reach Kalyn Oyer at 843-371-4469. Follow her on Twitter @sound_wavves.

The Boston Symphony Orchestra has announced its schedule for the 2023 season at its summer home of Tanglewood. The season includes eight weekends of concerts at the Koussevitzky Music Shed by the BSO, the Boston Pops, and the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, with particular highlights including dance, opera, and film. In addition, a full schedule of concerts and events is planned for the Tanglewood Music Center and the Tanglewood Learning Institute, at Seiji Ozawa Hall and the Linde Center for Music and Learning.

BSO Music Director Andris Nelsons leads eight Boston Symphony concerts at the Shed, beginning with Opening Night at Tanglewood, a program on July 7 that features pianist Daniil Trifonov in Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3 and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4. Hilary Hahn is the soloist in Brahms’s Violin Concerto on Sunday, July 9, part of a program that also includes works by Iman Habibi and Jessie Montgomery, both commissioned by the BSO.

Other works to be conducted by Nelsons include a concert performance of Mozart’s opera Così fan tutte on July 15, featuring soprano Nicole Cabell and mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey, and, on July 16, Carl Orff’s Carmina burana. Both concerts also feature the Tanglewood Festival Chorus. Later in the summer, Nelsons conducts John Williams’s Violin Concerto No. 2 on August 11, with soloist Anne-Sophie Mutter; Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1 on August 12, with soloist Yo-Yo Ma; Saint-Saëns’s Piano Concerto No. 5, “Egyptian,” and Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F on August 18, both with soloist Jean-Yves Thibaudet; and Tchaikovksy’s Violin Concerto on August 19, with soloist Leonidas Kavakos.

The BSO will also perform with several guest conductors. Xian Zhang makes her BSO debut on July 21, conducting Copland’s Appalachian Spring with Nimbus Dance. On July 23, Thomas Wilkins conducts a new mandolin concerto called Blue Ridge, with soloist and composer Jeff Midkiff. Giancarlo Guerrero conducts Julia Wolfe’s Her Story, with Lorelei Ensemble, on July 28, along with Mahler’s Symphony No. 1. Dima Slobodeniouk conducts two BSO concerts, on July 29 and August 4.

BSO Assistant Conductor Anna Rakitina leads the orchestra for the last time in that role on July 30 in a program that includes Paganini’s Violin Concerto No. 1, with soloist Joshua Bell, as well as a suite from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet. On August 6, Kazuki Yamada makes his BSO debut in a program that includes Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique. And on August 12, Susanna Mälkki conducts Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra, along with Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 9, with soloist Seong-Jin Cho.

The Boston Pops plays an expanded role in the 2023 season, beginning on July 8, when Keith Lockhart leads a new concert version of the Broadway hit Ragtime. On July 14, Lockhart conducts “Two Pianos: Who Could Ask for Anything More?”, an All-Gershwin program featuring vocalist and pianist Michael Feinstein and pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet. “John Williams’s Film Night” returns to the Shed on August 5, with conductors John Williams and David Newman. The Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra brings more of Williams’s music to the stage on August 26, in the form of the score to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, in a live accompaniment to the movie as it’s shown in the Shed. And Lockhart leads the Pops Esplanade Orchestra again on August 27 in “Star Wars: The Story in Music.”

Susanna Mälkki also leads the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 on August 20, taking on a venerable Tanglewood tradition while the Boston Symphony departs on a European tour. Soloists include soprano Amanda Majeski, mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges, tenor Stephen Costello, and bass Ryan Speedo Green, along with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus.

TMC concerts during the summer also include orchestra performances led by Andris Nelsons, Xian Zhang, Dima Slobodeniouk, and Dame Jane Glover, as well as TMC Conducting Fellows and the head of the TMC conducting program, Stefan Asbury. In addition, the Fellows of the TMC perform several chamber music concerts throughout the summer, starting with the String Quartet Marathon on July 1.

The TMC’s Festival of Contemporary Music takes place July 27 through July 31, curated by four composers: Reena Esmail, Gabriela Lena Frank, Tebogo Monnakgotla, and Anna Thorvaldsdottir. Each curates an individual program, and the FCM culminates in a TMC Orchestra concert, led by Stefan Asbury, that includes works by all four composers.

Guest artists performing in Ozawa Hall during the summer include the Emerson String Quartet on June 28 in their final Tanglewood concert; The Knights, with mandolinist and vocalist Chris Thile, on June 29; vocalist Julia Bullock, on July 13; Philharmonia Baroque, led by Richard Egarr, on July 20, in Handel’s Acis and Galatea; and, on July 26, the Boston Symphony Chamber Players.

Concerts at Ozawa Hall also include the Danish String Quartet on August 2; the Aaron Diehl Trio, in a Bach-inspired jazz program on August 6; cellist Alisa Weilerstein, in a multi-sensory program based on Bach’s cello suites called Fragments 2, on August 9; pianist Bruce Liu on August 16; the Gerald Clayton Trio on August 20; and a program of Broadway favorites with vocalist Kelli O’Hara and pianist Dan Lipton on August 22.

For more information about the 2023 summer season, visit Tanglewood online.