a virtual journal and blog of the classical music scene in Boston
Robert Levin, editor; Bettina A. Norton, executive editor; Lee Eiseman, publisher
News & Features
September 2, 2010
Azéma Accorded High French Honor for Role in Arts
by Bettina A. Norton
L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres is not limited to citizens who respect French “civil law” and are over 30; the prestigious organization, established in 1957 and confirmed as part of the Ordre national du Merité by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963, occasionally presents awards to “foreign luminaries.” One of the principal distinctions of [...]
September 1, 2010
BMInt Regrets Error in BSO Review
by BMINT STAFF
Much as we enjoy the extensive musical analysis in reviews by Eli Newberger, who has covered so many Tanglewood concerts this season, we have heard from multiple sources that some assumptions were unsupported by facts on the matter of the orchestra’s reactions to Guest Conductor Susanna Mälkki on August 21. [click title for complete statement]
WordSong Experience: New Music in Refreshing Way
by Jonah Kappraff
As I emerged from the elevator on the 8th floor of an elegant office building in Boston’s financial district last winter and found myself in the boardroom of a law firm, I realized that I was not seeing only lawyers. A mix of young professionals, some retirees, and a handful of high school students made [...]
August 20, 2010
Critiquing the Critic: The Don Rosenberg Ordeal
by Rebecca Marchand
Let us agree, for the moment, that music criticism (and arts criticism, in general) is, in itself, an art. Certainly it takes a measure of creativity to mold “It stinks….” into: While we are enjoying the delight of so much science and melody, and eagerly anticipating its continuance, on a sudden, like the fleeting pleasures [...]
August 9, 2010
Harbison Adds Musings on Tanglewood’s Upcoming Contemporary Music Festival
by Vance R. Koven
In conversation with BMInt, Tanglewood Contemporary Music Festival co-curator John Harbison observed that although a 70th anniversary is not one normally associated with major celebratory events, the idea of having a season that highlights the work of past program directors, faculty, and Fellows had been percolating with Tanglewood management for a while, for a variety [...]
August 2, 2010
BCMS Hamel Summer Series at the Arsenal Center for the Arts
by BMINT STAFF
Boston-area concert-goers may not be aware of another local venue on the concert scene: the Arsenal Center for the Arts in Watertown is yet another location for organizations having to vacate temporarily Pickman Hall at Longy School while it undergoes renovations. Boston Chamber Music Society is holding its 2010 Hamel Summer Series there, in the [...]
July 30, 2010
Portland, Maine for Sounds, Sights, and Other Sensual Pleasures
by Bettina A. Norton
It’s difficult not to love every bit of the Maine coastline, but Portland holds a special niche. Recently named the number one place in the country to raise children and in the top 10 “perfect places to live in America,” the city experienced a rejuvenation of its downtown waterfront area, with its superb but previously [...]
July 28, 2010
At 70, Tanglewood Contemporary Music Festival Goes Historical
by Vance R. Koven
As summer music festivals go, the Tanglewood Contemporary Music Festival is doubly unique (so to speak). Not only is it a festival within a festival, housed within the larger framework of the BSO-dominated Tanglewood season and the other chamber and orchestral programs of the Tanglewood Music Center, but it is the only summer festival to [...]
July 22, 2010
Journeys from Judaism and Persecution in Mendelssohn and Mahler
by Eli Newberger
Gustav Mahler, born into a Jewish family, converted to Roman Catholicism in 1896 in order to preserve his career as a conductor, at a time when anti-Semitism became the norm of Germanic cultural identity and law. (1) Felix Mendelssohn’s father Abraham, son of the Enlightment philosopher and Jewish sage, Moses Mendelssohn, converted to Lutheranism and [...]
July 16, 2010
Classical Violinist/Fiddler to Play at Cape Cod Festival Concert
by Jeffrey S. Berman
Those of us who frequent Cape Cod have long been grateful for the presence of the Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival, which brings first-class artists to our summer haunts. Currently under the artistic leadership of pianist Jon Nakamatsu and clarinetist Jon Manasse, this organization appears to be flourishing. Among the concerts this summer is one [...]