I’ve been ruminating about bel canto all week—not just the sometimes thrilling, sometimes mediocre Donizetti operas the term usually implies, but the larger meaning of “beautiful singing.” Maria Callas and Ella Fitzgerald are bel canto singers in their very different ways. So is Tony Bennett, with his expansive delivery of the melody, his connection to […]
Read MoreI’ve been thinking about bel canto the past few days. Usually the term refers to a fertile era in Italian opera at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Composers like Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini used long-lined melody and bravura passagework to tell their high-flown, romantic love stories. Many of these operas end with the exquisite […]
Read MoreMy friend Becca Jo’s challenge to stop telling her what performances I didn’t like, and instead show her what I did like, has stayed with me. Ever since our conversation last Friday I’ve been pondering: where does my own heart lie? What is my musical home base? I’ve played everything from blues to Berlioz, Sondheim […]
Read MoreThis week I find myself floating around in what feels like a weightless state, after four months of unremitting pressure. Almost all of the NYFOS subscription concerts fell into the autumn season, along with the preparations for the Juilliard concert in January. We were not able to do our annual Christmas show, A Goyishe Christmas, due […]
Read MoreProgram notes for Tain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do: Songs of Gay HarlemThursday, December 12 at Merkin Hall at Kaufman Music Center “The World’s Most Glamorous Atmosphere. Why, it is just like the Arabian Nights!”—Duke Ellington, on first seeing Harlem in 1923 The idea for tonight’s show came to me a few years ago as […]
Read MoreProgram notes for Tain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do: Songs of Gay HarlemThursday, December 12 at Merkin Hall at Kaufman Music Center My first awareness of Harlem’s gay subculture came from an unlikely source: a Cole Porter song I heard decades ago called “The Happy Heaven of Harlem.” In it, Porter extols the pleasures of […]
Read MoreAll songs from this week’s “Song of the Day” come from women of color performing at COLORSXSTUDIOS. COLORSXSTUDIOS is a unique aesthetic music platform showcasing exceptional talent from around the globe. COLORS focuses on the most distinctive new artists and original sounds in an increasingly fragmented and saturated scene. All COLORS shows seek to provide clear, […]
Read MoreAll songs from this week’s “Song of the Day” come from women of color performing at COLORSXSTUDIOS. COLORSXSTUDIOS is a unique aesthetic music platform showcasing exceptional talent from around the globe. COLORS focuses on the most distinctive new artists and original sounds in an increasingly fragmented and saturated scene. All COLORS shows seek to provide clear, […]
Read MoreAll songs from this week’s “Song of the Day” come from women of color performing at COLORSXSTUDIOS. COLORSXSTUDIOS is a unique aesthetic music platform showcasing exceptional talent from around the globe. COLORS focuses on the most distinctive new artists and original sounds in an increasingly fragmented and saturated scene. All COLORS shows seek to provide clear, […]
Read MoreAll songs from this week’s “Song of the Day” come from women of color performing at COLORSXSTUDIOS. COLORSXSTUDIOS is a unique aesthetic music platform showcasing exceptional talent from around the globe. COLORS focuses on the most distinctive new artists and original sounds in an increasingly fragmented and saturated scene. All COLORS shows seek to provide clear, […]
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