Merry Christmas
The Orpheus Club, Ridgewood, NJ, 10/21/08 (My father, James, is on the right, 2nd from the top. More pics below.)
Street Symphony
When I first heard about the You Tube Symphony Orchestra, it sounded like another stupid gimmick cooked up by hidebound orchestras trying to appear "cool." But, after noticing that YouTube
Tilting at Windmills
Ah, it's good to end this year of some serious ups and downs with a laugh: dismayed by the recent resignation of Gerard Mortier, Ryan Tracy (a.k.a. "CounterCritic") has publicly
Sweet 16 (+1)
I need to finish my holiday shopping and get ready for my trip to Ireland next week, so here – in chronological order – is my contribution to the barrage
Strings Attached
I remember sitting down with Jack McAuliffe, then-vice president of the League of Symphony Orchestras (formerly known as the American Symphony Orchestra League) a few years ago and asking him
Make Some Noise
Outside of Bang on a Can's People's Commissioning Fund, there aren't many places where everyday folk can help fund new music. Enter MATA, which has made the job easy for you:
Unsilent Night
We were late arriving, but eventually my friends and I caught up to Phil Kline's 16th annual Unsilent Night this past Saturday. The procession wound from Washington Square Park through
Memorable
When I saw Seiji Ozawa up in Boston a couple of weeks ago, he conducted lengthy works by Messiaen and Berlioz, from memory. "That way, I can see the musicians,"