Category: Music

  • Wayne Shorter, Innovator During an Era of Change in Jazz, Dies at 89

    The New York Times – Music:

    His career as an influential tenor saxophonist and composer reached across more than half a century, tracking jazz’s complex evolution during that span.

  • Yo-Yo Ma Makes His Encore a Call for Peace, With a Nod to Casals

    The New York Times – Music:

    The celebrated cellist capped a concert with the New York Philharmonic with a work that Pablo Casals often played to protest war and oppression.

  • For Two Broadway Stars, a Love Story Blossoms in a Honky-Tonk Bar

    The New York Times – Music:

    The new musical “The Lonely Few,” starring Lauren Patten and Ciara Renée, puts a romance between two women at its very heart.

  • Carnegie Hall Announces Its 2023-24 Season

    The New York Times – Music:

    We choose highlights from events featuring Mitsuko Uchida and Franz Welser-Möst as Perspectives artists, and the composer Tania León in residence.

  • An Unlikely Fiddler’s Dream

    The New York Times – Music:

    Michael Cleveland was born blind and mostly deaf. That was only the beginning of his journey to become one of modern bluegrass’s most compelling musicians.

  • Review: A Blunt New ‘Lohengrin’ at the Met Stars a Shining Knight

    The New York Times – Music:

    The tenor Piotr Beczala sings with uncanny serenity and command in the title role of Wagner’s opera, directed by François Girard with little subtlety.

  • MOSAEC Scene and Heard: The Director’s Cut: The Look of Jazz at the National Jazz Museum

    By Ramona Prioleau

    Tyson Hall (c) MOSAEC
    Tyson Hall (c) MOSAEC

    The frigid night air on the last Friday night in Black History Month 2023 was no match for the warmth and artistry that enveloped patrons who attended The Director’s Cut: The Look of Jazz at the National Jazz Museum in Harlem

    Hosted by Tyson Hall (Godfather of Harlem (Starz), Raising Kanan (Starz)), the event featured the visual art of Mr. Hall with music by Emanuel Casablanca and Daniel Simmons. As a cinematic treat, Hall screened an excerpt from Samuel Harps’ haunting short film Eric Dolphy – Left Alone.

    The Directors Cut
    Bryan, Eric Casablanca, Tyson Hall and Daniel Simmons at The Directors Cut (c) MOSAEC

    The evening’s performances kicked off with violist Daniel Simmons performing Lift Every Voice and Sing, which he ended with a playful melodic twist.

    A sophomore at Columbia University, Daniel is also a student in the prestigious Julliard program. Mr. Simmons is a classically trained violist, having performed far and wide notably at the Heifetz International Institute of Music and Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Orchestra of The United States of America. For the evening’s performance, Simmons entertained the audience with selections from Bach’s First Suite, Chopin Nocturne No. 2, and All of Me by John Legend in addition to the Black National Anthem.

    After a brief intermission and sound check, Brooklyn-born and Morehouse-educated, Emanuel Casablanca took to the stage with his band and electrified the room. In doing so, he transformed the museum into a down home blues joint and had the audience clamoring for more when he closed his set!

    Emanuel Casablanca (c) MOSAEC
    Emanuel Casablanca (c) MOSAEC

    Mr. Casablanca is a multi-instrumentalist, who sings the kind of emotive vocals that make you pay attention. He has toured the world as a singer and lead guitarist. Casablanca performed music from his latest album, Blood On My Hands; and in a hat tip to his own eclectic artistry, he asked violist Simmons to sit in with his band for the final song of the evening.

    Casablanca thrilled the crowd with a bit of flashback Friday flair when he performed his 2018 soulful blues ballad Just to Feel Whole. The song’s provocative lyrics spin a passionate tale of profound love while Casablanca’s vocal runs tantalize the senses. It is a song around which films are written and babies are made. To the filmmakers among us, there is a leading man waiting to stroll on scene with Just to Feel Whole as his theme music!

    Throughout the evening, Hall’s fine art and fashion line were showcased.

    As Hall noted to end the event, the evening reflected “the whole idea of allowing this many people to come in a room and share in an experience during Black History Month and to be able to hear people who you’ve never heard of before…to be able to embrace and enjoy a new sound or familiar sound and get familiar with another artist.”

    (c) MOSAEC

  • Review: Mitsuko Uchida Revisits Beethoven’s Final Sonatas

    The New York Times – Music:

    One of our wisest pianists appeared at Carnegie Hall with some of the wisest music written for her instrument.

  • A Dave Brubeck Cantata Boasts Star Soloists: His Sons

    The New York Times – Music:

    “The Gates of Justice,” a large-scale 1969 choral work about relations between Black and Jewish Americans, is being performed in Los Angeles.

  • Tom Whitlock, Writer of ‘Top Gun’ Anthem ‘Danger Zone,’ Dies at 68

    The New York Times – Music:

    Mr. Whitlock’s songs, including the chart-topping “Take My Breath Away,” were central to the 1986 movie.

  • 5 Classical Music Albums You Can Listen to Right Now

    The New York Times – Music:

    A pairing of Clara and Robert Schumann’s piano concertos, Kurt Weill’s symphonies and Steve Reich’s string quartets are among the highlights.

  • Review: At the Philharmonic, a Guest Challenges Common Wisdom

    The New York Times – Music:

    The conductor Nathalie Stutzmann surrounded a showcase for cellist Alisa Weilerstein with idiosyncratic readings of repertory staples.