Clips & Articles: Music
I review the Seattle and Portland operas, and smaller opera companies, for Portland-based Oregon ArtsWatch and Artslandia, and for Classical Voice North America, the official web site of the Music Critics Association of North America, of which I am a member. I write about classical, chamber and jazz music for Oregon ArtsWatch, Classical Voice North America, and previously, for Oregon Music News, concertonet.com and Northwest Reverb. For more stories and music reviews, check the archives at www.columbian.com between 1995-2006. My 2005 National Endowment for the Arts and Columbia Journalism grant helped immensely in music coverage.
Review of Seattle Opera’s “The Pearl Fishers”
Pearl Fishers staging saves the libretto
Originally published on Concertonet.com, Jan. 27, 2009
When the harnessed “flying” dancer floated dreamily behind the blue scrim to signal the pearl harvest in a far-off country, we were invited into a visually arresting show of “The Pearl Fishers,” if not into the most compelling story. Read More
Opera’s Wild Ride
Opera, as the hype goes, promises high drama and grand emotions. Oddly, I can’t remember an opening night soaring to such heights when I take along a date.
I’ve reviewed the opera for a dozen years from the best seat in the house. I dis a few. But mostly I swoon, even over a warhorse, like Verdi’s “Otello” where a fat baritone writhes on the floor in deep emotional pain.
Once an opera-lover, always one. Read More
‘Elektra’ in One Gulp
Review of Seattle Opera's 'Elektra'
Originally published on ConcertoNet.com
Photography by Rozaril Lynch
"Elektra" failed to sell out during Seattle Opera’s autumn run, but those who heard the early 20th-century piece were drenched in a tidal wave of post-Romantic music. Read More
Lauderdale and Gershwin: What a match
Review of Oregon Symphony concert
Originally published on Northwest Reverb (NorthwestReverb.blogspot.com)
Photography by Leah Nash/Special to The Oregonian
Here's guest writer Angela Allen's review of the Oregon Symphony concert on November 15th. Read More