Classical Voice North America

Classical Voice North America serves as the online journal for the Music Critics Association of North America (MCANA). It has three main goals: 1) to deliver insightful reviews, commentary, and news from professional music journalists throughout North America, especially in areas where traditional media has reduced or stopped classical music coverage; 2) to highlight national trends through local perspectives, with MCANA members providing reports from their own communities; and 3) to give MCANA members a global digital platform that takes advantage of the growing online, mobile, and multimedia landscape. Unless specified otherwise, all submissions come from MCANA members. Each author is accountable for their content and its accuracy; the opinions shared may not reflect those of the CVNA editorial team or the MCANA board.

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For Jerusalem Quartet, Shostakovich Cycle Is Dive Into Elusive Layers

1 week ago | classicalvoiceamerica.org | David Patrick Stearns

PERSPECTIVE — Playing all 15 of Dmitri Shostakovich’s string quartets over five concerts is the Jerusalem Quartet’s trademark. This season, the highlight of the ensemble’s national tour is a complete Shostakovich cycle played in chronological order, presented at the Cleveland Museum of Art by the Cleveland Chamber Music Society April 21-30 to conclude its 75th anniversary season. But this will not be the early-middle-late journey typical of Beethoven.
In An Operatic Spectacle Of Courtly Diversions, Biblical Bros Bonding

1 week ago | classicalvoiceamerica.org | Arthur Kaptainis

TORONTO — David and Jonathan: The Biblical Bromance has obvious operatic potential. Marc-Antoine Charpentier thought so in 1688, and while the libretto by the Jesuit preacher François de Paule Bretonneau sometimes adheres a little too obediently to the rhetorical conventions of the era, the five-act work (David et Jonathas in French) still afforded Opera Atelier a handy platform to do the many things this Baroquecompany does well.
Of Bees And Piazzolla: Dances Familiar, Bizarre Animate A Violin Album

1 week ago | classicalvoiceamerica.org | Erica Miner

Kinetic. Michael Jinsoo Lim, violin. Planet M Records (PMB-006). Total time: 68:53. DIGITAL REVIEW — Each of the inventive pieces featured on Kinetic, a new CD of largely 21st-century pieces performed by Pacific Northwest Ballet concertmaster and solo violinist Michael Jinsoo Lim, is connected to dance in delightful ways.
Seen In Royal Intimacy, Donizetti’s Belle ‘Fille’ Conquers French Hearts

2 weeks ago | classicalvoiceamerica.org | Rick Perdian

VERSAILLES — Jean-Romain Vesperini’s new production of Donizetti’s La fille du régiment for L’Opéra royal du château de Versailles is a pure delight. The opening-night performance on April 4 was brilliant and fizzy, equally enjoyable for its wit and humor as for the energy and élan of the musical performance. The theater in which it was performed made the occasion even more special, particularly for someone experiencing opera at Versailles for the first time.
After A Long Absence, Tchaikovsky’s ‘Iolanta’ Makes Colorful Return

3 weeks ago | classicalvoiceamerica.org | Rebecca Schmid

VIENNA — Escaping from darkness into light, the title character in Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta overcomes blindness through the help of a doctor with spiritual powers. But the other senses — smell, touch, sound — may be more important. In a new production at the Vienna State Opera, she holds her hands over her eyes after a magical rose garden yields to a war-torn city. The one-act opera, seen March 31, is being mounted at the house after a pause of over a century.
Weill-Lerner ‘Love Life’ Dusted Off, Buffed Up, Made Fascinating Again

3 weeks ago | classicalvoiceamerica.org | David Patrick Stearns

NEW YORK — Recklessly ambitious, bewilderingly epic, the Kurt Weill/Alan Jay Lerner musical Love Life has been forgotten, lost, and periodically resurrected as visionary theater. But is it good? Sometimes. In the midst of rehearsal in March 2020 when the pandemic hit and canceled it, the New York City Center Encores! production of Love Life finally opened March 26 (for seven performances through March 30) to a packed house that was ready to forgive the show’s weaknesses.
Orchestra Is Way Over The Moon With Its New Conductor At Controls

3 weeks ago | classicalvoiceamerica.org | Jason Victor Serinus

SEATTLE — The Seattle Symphony pulled out all the proverbial stops for its Spring Welcome at Benaroya Hall. In the first program conducted by Xian Zhang since she was announced in September 2024 as music director (starting with the 2025-26 season), she led the orchestra in three performances of Billy Childs‘ Diaspora (Concerto for Saxophone and Orchestra) and Gustav Holst’s The Planets.
Schiff On His Boycott: ‘If I Were A U.S. Citizen, I Would Move To Canada’

3 weeks ago | classicalvoiceamerica.org | David Patrick Stearns

PERSPECTIVE — Pianist András Schiff began the velvet revolution in Bach pianism in the early 1980s, establishing an emotionally generous alternative to the analytical Glenn Gould, earning the admiration of Daniel Barneboim, and giving a place at the table for like-minded pianists such as Angela Hewitt. His repertoire has expanded toward Bartók, his choice of instruments now includes clavichord, and his concerts often have him conducting from the keyboard.
Amid Blast And Balm, String Troupe Maps Out A Walk On The Wild Side

4 weeks ago | classicalvoiceamerica.org | David Patrick Stearns

NEW YORK — Courage and fortitude aren’t typical listening requirements spelled out in pre-performance talks, but at the Darkness Sounding festival March 21 and 22 at the 92NY, the Wild Up ensemble warranted a fair warning. East Coast modern-music groups hold no edge on Christopher Rountree’s musician collective, founded in 2010 in Los Angeles, and returning after its Julius Eastman festival here burned a hole in the brains of those who heard it two years ago.
Musing On Busoni: Pianist Gets At Roots Of An Undervalued Master

1 month ago | classicalvoiceamerica.org | Richard Ginell

Ferruccio Busoni and His Muses. Jiayan Sun (piano), Bridge 9610. Total Time: 70:01DIGITAL REVIEW — When I think of Ferruccio Busoni, the city of Trieste comes to mind. Trieste is kind of a no-man’s-land, perched way off the northeastern edge of modern-day Italy, a place where the people speak Italian, the architecture is predominantly Austrian, and the landscape is distinctly Balkan.