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.
PDX Jazz Festival reviews: music and more
Regina Carter, Bill Frisell & Thomas Morgan, Luciana Souza, Tigran Hamasyan and young Portland visual artists were among the highlights of the annual celebration of jazz
Originally Published in Oregon ArtsWatch March 2018.
From elite jazzers to startling up-and-comers, the 2018 Biamp PDX Jazz Festival spread the music around Portland Feb.15-25 with a 100-plus gigs, twice as many musicians, and a wide spread of venues and event prices, many free. Read More
PDX Jazz Festival preview: tributes
This year's jazz celebration offers homages to recently passed masters as well as today's sounds
Originally Published in Oregon ArtsWatch February 2018
The past year saw a number of members of jazz royalty ascend to jazz Valhalla: Jon Hendricks, Al Jarreau, Geri Allen, Thara Memory and Hugh Masekela, among others. But jazz lives on. Read More
Sunwook Kim review: subtle touch, dynamic range
Versatile Portland Piano International recitalist knows when to exercise restraint — and when not to
Originally Published in Oregon ArtsWatch January 2018
Sunwook Kim opened his January 14 Portland Piano International recital with J.S. Bach’s Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in C Major, BWV 564, written for organ (think majestic, reverential, full-voiced) and ran furiously through the opening toccata. Read More
“Cosi fan Tutte” review: identity crisis
Seattle Opera's production reveals that Mozart's comic opera is about more than sex
Originally Published in Oregon ArtsWatch January 2018
In Seattle Opera’s production of Mozart’s Cosi fan Tutte, the stage’s main prop, aside from an inviting pile of mattresses, is a tall mirror. Each character pauses in front of it at some time, checking out his or her current reflection, or identity. The mirror is a throwback symbol in this thoroughly contemporary production, but it says more than a selfie, which catches only a moment and can be edited ad infinitum. Read More
PSU Opera’s ‘Cinderella’: sweet and silly in the salon
University’s production of Pauline Viardot’s operetta is a fairy tale within a play, set to music
Originally Published in Oregon ArtsWatch December 2017
Cinderella is no stranger to the stage. Portland State University’s Cinderella is far from Gioachino Rossini’s 1817 Cenerentola or Jules Massenet’s 1899 version. Neither is it a by-the-book replica of the childhood fairy tale where a pretty downtrodden girl seeks her step-family’s love and that of a prince – and lucks out because the shoe fits! Read More
Christina & Michelle Naughton reviews: sister act
Portland Piano International brought identical twin virtuosos for two recitals, and they delivered performances as polished as their presentation
Originally Published in Oregon ArtsWatch December 2017
I was privileged to hear 30 young virtuosos compete for the prestigious Van Cliburn International Piano prize last summer in Fort Worth, Texas. Ranging from 19 to 30 years old, they played technically difficult, swooningly expressive pieces. Consider Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30 and Antonin Dvořák’s Piano Quintet in A major, Op. 81, two of the most performed during the festival. Read More
Voice in the Wilderness: opera singer Nicholas Meyer
Childhood friends shape new made-in-Oregon opera 'Two Yosemites'
Originally Published in Oregon ArtsWatch September 2017
Nicholas Meyer’s friendship with Justin Ralls began decades before they collaborated on Ralls’s new Two Yosemites opera. The two boys grew up kicking around the soccer ball in their southeast Portland neighboring ‘hoods of Eastmoreland and Sellwood. They played in the Sellwood Middle School jazz band (Meyer on clarinet, Ralls on drums) and sang in the Cleveland High School award-winning choirs. Read More
‘Madame Butterfly’ review: caged dreams
While confronting social and cultural issues, Seattle Opera's new production of Puccini's classic doesn't neglect the music
Originally Published in Oregon ArtsWatch August 2017
Giacomo Puccini’s Madame Butterfly debuted in 1904 and it has been jerking tears ever since. The opera classic remains resilient and fresh when done well, as it is in this Seattle Opera production playing through Aug. 19 at Seattle’s McCaw Hall. Read More
Chamber Music Northwest preview: women’s work
Portland's annual summer classical music festival throws the spotlight on female composers past and present
Originally Published in Oregon ArtsWatch June 2017
Since 1971, Chamber Music Northwest has brought world-class musicians and a deep (mostly) classical repertoire to Portland’s summer-hungry listeners. This year marks the first that women composers take center stage during the five-week festival from June 26 through July 30. Read More
Anat Cohen and Eliane Elias previews: double dose of Brazilian jazz
Two PDXJazz concerts this week showcase fruitful combinations of Brazilian and American music
Originally Published in Oregon ArtsWatch May 2017
Fifty-seven years after the birth of bossa nova, Brazilian music continues to stir up listeners with its danceable rhythms, beguiling melodies, and sweet soft Portuguese lyrics. In less than a week, Portlanders will have the chance to hear radically different styles of buoyant Brazilian jazz from two popular artists. Anat Cohen… Read More
