Jack Moeser

Jan 15, 2024 | michigandaily.com | Jack Moeser

It’s difficult to explain to a nonmusician the purpose of an orchestra conductor. The short explanation is that they keep time for the ensemble, but the better way of understanding a conductor’s value is simply to watch a great conductor in action. Take the finale of Gustav Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony: Anybody (seriously, anybody) could wave their arms to the slow pulse of the piece’s concluding simple rhythm.

Nov 16, 2023 | michigandaily.com | Jack Moeser

It isn’t often that a symphony orchestra can put on a powerful performance that feels unfamiliar. Most people can think back to the first concert that made them fall in love with orchestral music, but how often do they get to experience that feeling for a second time? For me, rarely. Most of the best performances I can remember are those that featured stellar performances of pieces I already knew by heart.

Oct 10, 2023 | michigandaily.com | Jack Moeser

This fall, three relay teams of four Daily Arts staffers trained for and ran the Probility Ann Arbor Marathon. But as writers, we can’t just run the race — we have to write about our past experiences with running, how we are preparing for the marathon, what we look forward to and what we are afraid of. Frederick Lorz is my personal marathon running hero. At the 1904 Olympic marathon in St. Louis, Lorz was the first to cross the finish line, completing the race at a blistering sub-three-hour clip.

Oct 2, 2023 | michigandaily.com | Jack Moeser

Burbank, Calif., has a mythic, Atlantean quality. Growing up in Arizona, I visited the Los Angeles area with my family all the time, but we never made it any closer to the city than Universal Studios Hollywood.

Sep 26, 2023 | michigandaily.com | Jack Moeser |Nicole Appiani

Hill Auditorium is widely renowned for its impeccable acoustics. Each year, many of the world’s best classical musicians and ensembles make the trek to Ann Arbor to play in a concert hall where soft, sensitive music sounds just as crisp from the top of the balcony as it does from the front row. Such a setting might seem like an awkward environment for Snarky Puppy, a jazz-fusion band whose members play with nonstop soloistic energy, but at their Sept.