Author: By DAVID SCKOLNIK
-
CD REVIEW: Summer fest muscians’ Brahms a ‘revelation’
We can make this quick: Buy this disc.“Brahms: Piano Quintet Op. 34, Clarinet Quintet Op. 115” is the alpha and omega from arguably the greatest composer of chamber music. In the “Piano Quintet” from 1864, Brahms finally conquered the challenge of dramatic unity in a major work, paving the way for his shattering first symphony.…
-
REVIEW: Chamber Orchestra lights it up for “Fortunes”
It is said that when you’re No.2, you have to try harder. As an organization that exists in the shadow of the Colorado Springs Philharmonic, that’s exactly what they do at the Chamber Orchestra of the Springs. Saturday night’s concert at the Broadmoor Community Church was a perfect case in point. By offering music certain…
-
Chamber Orchestra dares to dance in next concert
Thomas Wilson designed the upcoming Chamber Orchestra of the Springs concerts to be a celebration of dance. Harpist Matthew Tutsky will be the one doing the most celebrating.Wilson chose Tusky’s solo work on Claude Debussy’s “Danses sacrée et profane” to be the marquee performance of the concert.“I guest conducted (the Boise Philharmonic)and I was just…
-
REVIEW: Santa Fe Opera concludes smash season with ‘Tosca’
There is no recession. Americans are wealthy and physically fit. Arts organizations are well-funded and well-endowed. “Box office” opera is an afterthought because most productions are attended by virtually packed houses. A fantasy, right? Not here in Santa Fe. The Opera just concluded its 2012 season – a smashing success. America’s most spectacular setting for…
-
REVIEW: Amateur pianists festival’s ‘Celebration’ off to rousing start
For lovers of the piano, there’s nothing like it. On Thursday, the first day of Amateur Pianists International “Celebration of the Amateur Pianist,” which is in its 12th year, received a thunderous send off in Colorado College’s Packard Hall thanks to Pueblo-based pianist Zahari Metchkov. The Bulgarian is on the faculty at Colorado State University…
-
Pianist Krieger brings his love of music to ‘Celebration of the Amateur Pianist’
For pianist Norman Krieger, it’s been a Beethoven kind of summer. Concerts in North Carolina, Virginia and his native Los Angeles, have seen him perform concertos and chamber music by the great German composer. Due in Colorado Springs this weekend as the featured guest for Amateur Pianists International’s 12th “Celebration of the Amateur Pianist,” his personal…
-
REVIEW: Central City Opera’s ‘Turn of the Screw’ unearths greatness
At its core, it’s a story of child abuse by manipulative man servant and a complicit governess. And like real life abuse, the abusers continued to inhabit the thoughts, dreams and actions of the orphans in Benjamin Britten’s operatic take on “The Turn of the Screw.” Based on Henry James’ haunting novella from 1898, Britten’s…
-
REVIEW: ‘Boheme and ‘Oklahoma’ ignite Central City’s 80th season
The Central City Opera is ready to lift us out of the post-Waldo Canyon Fire blues with stunning productions of arguably the greatest works from opera and musical theater. Puccini’s “La Bohème” opened on Saturday night in the company’s historic opera house with some extraordinary results. Although stage director Kevin Newbury made some questionable production…
-
REVIEW: CC Festival finale offsets fire drama with some of its own
They came from all over the country, all over the world. And even though they were soon to leave the Pikes Peak region, the student musicians of the Colorado College Summer Music Festival’s Orchestra were of one mind on this June 24 afternoon: the final concert of the festival’s 28th season was dedicated to all who’s lives…
-
REVIEW: First festival concert virtuosic, memorable if muddled
Chamber music. You know — that stuff your grandparents would drag you to that was so boring it felt like fungus was growing on you. But they didn’t take you to the Colorado College Summer Festival‘s Festival Artists Concerts. Last night’s festival opener could have turned a burdened adolescent into a full-out fanatic. Only a few…