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May 25, 2012

Peter Oundjian leads Baltimore Symphony, Choral Arts in Beethoven, Bruckner

Beethoven's Ninth, never too far from earshot in Baltimore, is back this week, but with a most welcome companion piece -- Bruckner's "Te Deum."

And the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra has a most welcome companion to conduct this pairing -- Peter Oundjian, who made a memorable appearance with the ensemble in 2009 and is generating telling results again.

Last night's concert at the Meyerhoff produced the most consistently satisfying account of the Ninth I've heard the BSO give. If the Bruckner performance wasn't as solid, it stirred nonetheless.

Oundjian, music director of the excellent Toronto Symphony Orchestra, managed to breathe a great deal of fresh life into the venerable Beethoven work. He did so not by applying any wildly unconventional touches (I wouldn't have minded those a bit, of course), but simply by ...

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Posted by Tim Smith at 10:02 AM | | Comments (0)
Categories: BSO, Clef Notes
        

May 23, 2012

'Xanadu' gets sparkling revival from Signature Theatre

First, there was an odd film in 1947 called "Down to Earth," watchable only for the divine Rita Hayworth as the Greek muse Terpsichore who falls in love with a mortal while helping him put on a show.

Then there was an odder, barely watchable film in 1980, "Xanadu," based on the Hayworth vehicle and featuring Olivia Newton-John as Terpsichore, this time descending from Olympus to lend inspiration to guy dreaming of a roller disco.

Finally, there came the 2007 Broadway musical "Xanadu," which spoofed all of that other stuff, and did so in awfully clever fashion.

That show, with a book by Douglas Carter Beane and music and lyrics by Jeff Lynne and John Farrar, has received a sparkling -- literally, given the plethora of disco balls -- revival by Signature Theatre.

It adds up to 90 minutes of ...

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Posted by Tim Smith at 4:05 PM | | Comments (0)
Categories: Drama Queens
        

Everyman Theatre closes season with revival of 'You Can't Take It With You'

In the thick of the Great Depression, a new Broadway play took an energetic swing at everything that seemed wrong with the world -- government, big business, social conformity -- and left the audience in stitches.

In the wake of the Great Recession, "You Can't Take It With You" still hits home and still provokes a lot of good laughs, a point reiterated by Everyman Theatre's revival of the 1936 George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart comedy.

Come to think of it, the piece might be even more relevant, given how so many of today's one-percenters act like they truly believe they can take it with them.

There remains something deliciously radical about the characters who inhabit the New York home of the elderly Martin Vanderhof, he of the whatever-makes-you-happy school of philosophy. They all do what most of us can only fantasize about -- quit jobs, plunge into hobbies (even making fireworks in the basement), get all communal with friends and quickly friended strangers, talk back to the IRS, not give a hoot what other people think.

Of course, life can't really be like this, right? The subtly subversive power of the play comes from the way it keeps making you doubt that, keeps shifting the parameters of normality.

In the much-extended Vanderhof household, time doesn't matter as much as how you fill it. And the way they fill it is fundamentally, blissfully selfish, yet, somehow, within a caring environment. How cool is that?

The Everyman production, directed by Vincent Lancisi, comes in ...

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Posted by Tim Smith at 3:00 PM | | Comments (0)
Categories: Drama Queens, Everyman Theatre
        

Midweek Madness: An orchestra unleashed

My thanks to an adorable reader in Washington for alerting me to this perfect Midweek Madness candidate -- an orchestra that ...

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Posted by Tim Smith at 7:35 AM | | Comments (0)
Categories: Clef Notes, Drama Queens
        

May 22, 2012

UPDATE: Metropolitan Opera changes position; Opera News will cover Met

UPDATE 4 p.m. Tuesday: The Metropolitan Opera has backed down; Opera News will continue to cover Met performances after all. FULL PRESS RELEASE BELOW

First, the disclosure.

I have been a correspondent for Opera News for something like 25 years -- a length of time I would not ordinarily acknowledge, since it raises hideous suggestions about my age; but with Internet searches so easy, no point in hiding the fact.

Now for the reaction to the story that broke over night in the New York Times: Opera News, a longtime magazine published by the Metropolitan Opera Guild, will "stop reviewing the Metropolitan Opera, a policy prompted by the Met’s dissatisfaction over negative critiques.”

This follows close on the heels of another worrisome incident -- WQXR removed a post from its blog that was critical of the Met, a move prompted by the institution in question. (There was also the case last year of the popular, non-critical blog that offered very smart guesses about future Met seasons -- that one was shut down, too, at the Met's request.)

The cyber-sphere has been abuzz all night -- the readers of the fabulous La Cieca apparently don't sleep at all -- about this latest manifestation of what appears to be a severe case of thin skin disease on the part of Met general manager Peter Gelb. I might as well get in on the discussion, too.

When confronted with fresh evidence of this nature, the first thing I think of is ...

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Posted by Tim Smith at 4:00 PM | | Comments (4)
Categories: Clef Notes, Opera
        

May 21, 2012

Pianist Vanessa Perez makes Baltimore debut at An die Musik

Vanessa Perez, a young Venezuelan making waves in an ever-crowded sea of talented pianists, visited Baltimore Saturday afternoon to promote her new, all-Chopin Telarc recording.

She played the composer's 24 Preludes on a recital at An die Musik.

That intimate concert room has become a popular stopping-off spot for performing artists. On Monday night, violist Garth Knox and friends play from their new ECM recording there, before giving a CD-launch Tuesday at the hip Manhattan venue Le Poisson Rouge, an event touted in the Times and New Yorker. 

Back to the Perez recital. It proved to be a mixed bag. 

There was terrific technical virtuosity, as in the dash through the D major and E-flat Preludes. But there was some ...

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Posted by Tim Smith at 1:46 PM | | Comments (0)
Categories: Clef Notes
        

Baltimore Concert Opera closes season with Puccini's 'Il Trittico'

Baltimore Concert Opera wrapped up its season with the three vivid one-acters that make up Puccini's "Il Trittico." I caught two of them Friday night at the Engineers Club.

The performance of "Suor Angelica" proved quite effective overall.

This melodrama is forever on the verge of corny or kitschy, but Puccini's exquisitely crafted music always keeps things from spilling over. Even so, the ending presents a hurdle.

Here, the title character of the nun with a dark past takes a lethal dose of poison after learning that the out-of-wedlock child she left behind has died. As the opera closes, Angelica sees a vision of the child beckoning to her from the other world.

In a concert version, all of that can be left to the imagination (some stage productions allow that, too), but you still need to feel Angelica's emotional roller-coaster ride of emotions as death approaches -- her fear of having committed the mortal sin of suicide; her intense relief when she senses that she will be forgiven and redeemed, after all.

Elizabeth Brooks conveyed ...

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Posted by Tim Smith at 11:04 AM | | Comments (0)
Categories: Clef Notes
        

Still haunted by tenor aria from Massenet's 'Werther'

Although I have heard a lot of music since attending Washington National Opera's production of Massenet's "Werther" a week or so ago, I keep being haunted by "Pourquoi me reveiller," the tenor aria in the third act. It plays on continual loop inside my pathetic little head. (I even hunted around for a ring tone version the other day, which might be going too far.)

I figured I might as well share my passion for this extraordinary aria, which combines so much feeling, from the deeply introspective to the passionately outspoken. (And this will give you something to chew on while awaiting my reviews of the plays and concerts I caught over the weekend.)

Just the first 12 notes of "Pourquoi me reveiller" get me every time -- so simple, yet so poignant. How perfect they are to draw you into Werther's melancholy.

Some folks think of Massenet as ...

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Posted by Tim Smith at 9:52 AM | | Comments (2)
Categories: Clef Notes
        

May 18, 2012

On the Record: Bartok from BSO/Alsop; works by Joel Puckett, Larry Hoffman

While we await the long-predicted — heck, long-declared — death of the classical recording industry, new releases continue to emerge, day after day.

Three with local connections are well worth a listen:

BARTOK: Concerto for Orchestra; Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta. Baltimore Symphony Orchestra; Marin Alsop, conductor (Naxos)

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s admirable recordings with music director Alsop on the Naxos label have so far included a vibrant cycle of Dvorak symphonies and a sensational, Grammy-nominated account of Bernstein’s “Mass.” Now comes a burst of Bartok.

Although no recording of Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra and Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta is likely to supplant the gold standard, made in ...

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Posted by Tim Smith at 4:17 PM | | Comments (0)
Categories: Clef Notes
        

Classical music world loses another giant: baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

Just saw the dispiriting news that Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, the incomparable German baritone who set the gold standard for lieder singing, died Friday at 86.

I daresay he helped a lot of people appreciate lieder -- really appreciate it. When you heard Mr. Fischer-Dieskau's beautiful tone and incisive phrasing, you found yourself inside a song, living the lyrics, sensing the poetic images.

The baritone left a sizable mark on other repertoire, of course, including opera. His performance in the Britten "War Requiem" remains one of the most profound documents of 20th century musical art. His interpretations of Mahler were equally inspired.

He was simply one of those exceedingly rare vocal artists who could make you sit up and take notice, no matter what the music, and make you feel so very fortunate.

Here are just a couple of examples of the artistry of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, singing Schubert, Schumann and Mahler:

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Posted by Tim Smith at 10:19 AM | | Comments (2)
Categories: Clef Notes
        

May 16, 2012

'Fela!' shakes the roof at Morgan State University

“I’m going to change Africa,” Fela Kuti says in the ambitious, highly-charged musical about his life and work. “I’m going to change the world.”

It’s not an idle boast.

“Fela!” the multiple Tony Award-winning Broadway show that has settled into Morgan State University’s Murphy Center through the weekend, provides a visceral encounter with the spirit of the iconic Nigerian musician, activist, polygamist and hedonist.

More than just the spirit, actually. Given the startling performance by Sahr Ngaujah in the title role, it’s easy to forget that this is a theatrical vehicle at all.

Starting in the late 1960s, Fela fused from various influences a hypnotic genre that came to be called “Afrobeat.” It soon exerted a global reach, which would have been enough to earn Fela lasting fame. But after exposure to ...

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Posted by Tim Smith at 1:36 PM | | Comments (1)
Categories: Clef Notes, Drama Queens
        

Midweek Madness: Saluting the latest inauguration of Vladimir Putin

Back around Christmas time, I interviewed a cirque artist who told me he had performed for three Russian presidents. I had to bite my tongue so as not to ask if all of them were named Vladimir Putin.

Seeing Putin once being grandly inaugurated last week made me think that some sort of festive salute, Midweek Madness-style, was in order.

I know that I have featured a certain indelible Russian vocal artist before, singing his greatest hit (one of the greatest pieces of vocal music, ever, for sure), but how could I resist an encore now? Especially since this particular song ...

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Posted by Tim Smith at 6:09 AM | | Comments (0)
Categories: Clef Notes, Drama Queens
        

May 14, 2012

'Werther' gets eloquent treatment from Washington National Opera

Maybe it is not better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.

Consider the case of young Werther, the central figure of the hugely influential novel penned by Goethe in 1774 and reborn in Massenet's masterful opera from 1892.

When Werther is prevented from pursuing the object of his intense desire, he becomes so stressful that he sees suicide as the only sensible option.

We have therapy for that sort of thing now, of course. I suspect a lot of people today cannot summon much sympathy for someone as obsessive and morose as Werther.

And I assume they were the types sniggling a few times during Washington National Opera's performance of "Werther" Saturday night at the Kennedy Center.

So, OK, maybe the super-romanticism does get a little thick in the Massenet work, especially during the protracted death scene for the title character, but the music rings true. Massenet, a master of melody, mood and orchestral coloring, captured the essence, the soul of Goethe's story (one based on a real incident, by the way).

What the composer's fine librettists added in the way of character development fleshes out the story nicely, particularly in the case of Charlotte, the woman Werther falls for instantly and who feels she must marry someone else because of a promise to her dying mother. In the opera, Charlotte reveals much more of an attraction to Werther, much more of a conflicted conscience, than Goethe described.

This is an opera that can really grab hold when it is sung with elegance and eloquence, and when it is staged with sensitivity. For the most part, that's ... 

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Posted by Tim Smith at 1:11 PM | | Comments (1)
Categories: Clef Notes
        

May 13, 2012

BSO to launch training ensembles, taking over from Greater Baltimore Youth Orchestras

After 35 years, the Greater Baltimore Youth Orchestras, an educational enterprise involving multiple ensembles, will officially dissolve on Aug. 31, to reemerge on Sept. 1 as the Baltimore Symphony Youth Orchestras.

Former GBYO employees, including artistic director Kenneth Lam, will become employees of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, which has not previously had an orchestral training program.

“The idea of having a youth orchestra had not been on our radar until folks from the GBYO approached us in January,” said BSO president and CEO Paul Meecham. “But having worked at the San Francisco Symphony, which has a youth orchestra, I always had in the back of my mind that a youth orchestra would be a natural thing for the BSO to do.”

The GBYO, founded in 1977 by BSO clarinetist Chris Wolfe, has about ...

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Posted by Tim Smith at 3:33 PM | | Comments (4)
Categories: BSO, Clef Notes
        

May 12, 2012

Baltimore Symphony performs romantic gems by Rachmaninoff, Elgar

May is turning out to be a great month for the Baltimore Symphony.

A week after a potent combination of a Ravel concerto and a Shostakovich symphony, the orchestra has put a Rachmaninoff concerto and an Elgar symphony together to form another satisfying and well-delivered program.

Of course, you have to be in the mood for sweeping lyricism and grand statements. This lineup is not for the cold of heart.

On Thursday night at Meyerhoff Hall, before tackling Rachmaninoff's much-loved Concerto No. 2, Andre Watts came onstage to receive the National Medal of Arts.

The pianist had been unable to attend the White House ceremony in February due to a concert engagement (among those receiving this year's medals were Al Pacino and Mel Tillis). So Wayne Brown, director of music and opera for the NEA, took this opportunity to make the official presentation.

BSO music director Marin Alsop read the certificate, signed by President Obama, that praised Watts for his ...

Continue reading "Baltimore Symphony performs romantic gems by Rachmaninoff, Elgar" »

Posted by Tim Smith at 11:13 AM | | Comments (0)
Categories: BSO, Clef Notes, Marin Alsop
        

May 10, 2012

'God of Carnage' gets brilliant production at Signature Theatre

Long before the projectile vomiting, and long after, suppressed feelings and uneasy thoughts are spewed all over the set in Signature Theatre's searing production of Yasmina Reza's "God of Carnage."

The stains get harder and harder to remove.

This Tony-winning play (which gets its Baltimore premiere next season, thanks to Everyman Theatre) takes what seems like a routine sitcom setup and runs with it brilliantly.

The plot centers on two sets of parents -- the Novaks and the Raleighs -- brought together for the first time because their young sons had a bruising fight.

The financially well-off, terribly polite couples are determined to display their breeding, to find a politically correct way of dealing with the incident and moving on.

Of course, you know right away that ...

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Posted by Tim Smith at 3:34 PM | | Comments (0)
Categories: Drama Queens
        

The Figaro Project finds a murder mystery in 'Don Giovanni'

Most opera-goers likely feel they have a firm grasp on the plot of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” — as firm a grasp as the one the opera’s antihero receives from an animated statue that drags him down to hell.

But maybe that’s not really how Don Giovanni, legendary roue (known in Spanish as Don Juan), met his demise. After all, who ever heard of a living statue?

That, at least, is the question being posed by The Figaro Project, an opera troupe that will unveil a new version of the Mozart classic this weekend.

“Who Killed Don Giovanni?” is the brainchild of ...

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Posted by Tim Smith at 6:15 AM | | Comments (1)
Categories: Clef Notes
        

May 9, 2012

Midweek Madness: A uke-y 'Ride of the Valkyries'

Wagner's "Ring" Cycle has been in the news a lot lately, thanks to the Metropolitan Opera's hugely expansive, not universally beloved production.

That got me thinking how I might slip a little "Ring" into Midweek Madness. I think the fabulous Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain provides a pretty neat way of doing so:

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Posted by Tim Smith at 6:23 AM | | Comments (0)
Categories: Clef Notes
        

May 8, 2012

Weekend roundup: Annapolis Symphony, Concert Artists, Choral Arts

Last weekend's musical activity for your (mostly) humble correspondent was all about milestones. (This week has been all about distractions, hence the tardiness of this report.)

I started off at the Maryland Hall Friday night with a program marking the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra's 50th anniversary; continued Saturday night at the Lyric for the finale to the Concert Artists of Baltimore's 25th anniversary season; and concluded Sunday afternoon at Kraushaar Auditorium, where the Baltimore Choral Arts Society wrapped up the 30th anniversary of its music director Tom Hall.

The ASO's golden celebration included a world premiere by composer-in-residence Gabriela Lena Frank, a residency made possible by Music Alive, a project of the League of American Orchestras and Meet the Composer.

Frank is a significant figure on the new music scene, and the Annapolis ensemble is fortunate to have this two-year association with her.

"Raices: Concerto Suite for Orchestra" provides a ...

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Posted by Tim Smith at 11:08 AM | | Comments (0)
Categories: Clef Notes
        

Death of illustrator Maurice Sendak felt in opera world, too

Although best known for his compelling, wild-thing-filled illustrated children's books, Maurice Sendak, who died Tuesday at 83, also left his mark in the opera field.

Baltimore audiences had an opportunity to savor Mr. Sendak's distinctive designs in a production of Humperdinck's "Hansel and Gretel" presented by the late Baltimore Opera Company in 2000. That staging, originally for Houston Grand Opera and used by other companies over the years, made quite a statement. Please forgive the self-quoting, but here's what I wrote 12 years ago:

Maurice Sendak has seized on the shadowy insinuations of "Hansel and Gretel" in designing the eye-catching scenery ... The famed illustrator of children's books fills the Lyric Opera House stage with fanciful trees and buildings that hide spooky faces; the witch's house has roving eyes. The witch herself is first seen as a giant, menacing figure flying about on a broom, her giant jaw in constant chomping mode, looking for fresh victims.

The musical performance did not live up to the scenic potential, but Mr. Sendak's contribution proved memorable. Among other operas he designed are ...

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Posted by Tim Smith at 9:59 AM | | Comments (1)
Categories: Clef Notes
        

May 6, 2012

Vividly sung, intriguingly staged 'Nabuuco' from Washington National Opera

With “Nabucco,” his third opera, Verdi’s career truly began. He would go on to do much finer work, but his talent and potential are unmistakable here.

The first night at La Scala in 1842 was not just a triumph for the composer; the success meant much more  at a time when the north of Italy was under Austrian rule.

A story based on the Old Testament account of the Israelites during their Babylonian Captivity, yearning to be free, could not help but strike a chord and a nerve. From “Nabucco” on,” Verdi would be nearly as much a political force as a musical one.

Washington National Opera, after 56 years, has finally added the composer’s early masterwork to its repertoire. It has done so with  ...

Continue reading " Vividly sung, intriguingly staged 'Nabuuco' from Washington National Opera" »

Posted by Tim Smith at 1:30 PM | | Comments (0)
Categories: Clef Notes, Opera
        

May 4, 2012

Magnetic performances from Marin Alsop, Leon Fleisher, Baltimore Symphony

Meyerhoff Hall was the place to be Thursday night.

In a Baltimore Symphony program of Ravel and Shostakovich conducted by Marin Alsop, the intensity started early and never really let up.

The result was music-making that rivaled the hottest nights of the orchestra's years with former music director Yuri Temirkanov.

Local favorite -- heck, local hero -- Leon Fleisher helped light the fuse at the top of the program as soloist in Ravel's Concerto for Left Hand.

The pianist was greeted with ...

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Posted by Tim Smith at 11:03 AM | | Comments (1)
Categories: BSO, Clef Notes, Marin Alsop
        

May 3, 2012

Rep Stage closes season with intriguing 'Las Meninas'

I'm not sure what is more intriguing about "Las Meninas," the 2002 Lynn Nottage play on the boards of Rep Stage -- the strange plot itself, or the fact that it might all be grounded in fact.

Seizing on some hard facts and tantalizing gossip from the time, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Nottage spins a tale of Louis XIV and his Spanish-born queen, Marie-Therese. When the neglected, frustrated queen receives an off-beat gift -- an African dwarf named Nabo -- things get curiouser and curiouser.

Adding to the fascination is the presence of a nun, Louise Marie-Therese, who serves as ..

Continue reading "Rep Stage closes season with intriguing 'Las Meninas'" »

Posted by Tim Smith at 5:41 AM | | Comments (0)
Categories: Drama Queens, Rep Stage
        

May 2, 2012

Midweek Madness: The Supremes meet 'Mary Poppins'

With the national tour of "Mary Poppins" providing more than a spoonful of entertainment at the Hippodrome this week, I could not resist devoting the latest Midweek Madness segment to one of the hit tunes from that show.

Yes, I'm talking about that ...

Continue reading "Midweek Madness: The Supremes meet 'Mary Poppins'" »

Posted by Tim Smith at 6:46 AM | | Comments (0)
Categories: Clef Notes, Drama Queens
        

April 30, 2012

Stay tuned: Reviews to follow

Your humble correspondent had a whirlwind weekend -- two operas, two plays. I managed to get one review done in between my travels to College Park, D.C., Shirlington and Columbia, but I have a previously scheduled day off Monday, so you will just have to stay on pins and needles until I can file all the rest.

In due time, I will report on Washington National Opera's staging of "Nabucco" (you ought to go, if only for the roof-raising performance by soprano Csilla Boross as Abagaille and an intriguing theatrical concept by Thaddeus Strassberger that will give you plenty to argue about).

Also coming up will be reviews of "God of Carnage" at Signature Theatre (well worth the trip, even if you're planning to catch the play's Baltimore premiere from Everyman next season) and "Las Meninas" at Rep Stage (worthy presentation of an unusual work).

Stay tuned.

Posted by Tim Smith at 10:06 AM | | Comments (0)
Categories: Clef Notes, Drama Queens
        
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About Tim Smith
Born and raised in Washington, D.C., I couldn't help but develop a keen interest in politics, but music, theater and visual art also proved great attractions. Music became my main focus after high school. I thought about being a cocktail pianist, but I hated taking requests, so I studied music history instead, earning a B.A. in that field from Eisenhower College (Seneca Falls, N.Y.) and an M.A. from Occidental College (Los Angeles). I then landed in journalism. After freelancing for the Washington Post and others, I was classical music critic for the Sun-Sentinel in South Florida, where I also contributed to NPR. I've written for the New York Times, BBC Music Magazine and other publications, and I'm a longtime contributor to Opera News. My book, The NPR Curious Listener's Guide to Classical Music (Perigee, 2002), can be found on the most discerning remainder racks.

I joined the Baltimore Sun as classical music critic in 2000 and, in 2009, also became theater critic, giving me the opportunity to annoy a whole new audience. In 2010, my original Clef Notes blog expanded to encompass a theatrical component -- how could I resist calling it Drama Queens? I hope you'll find both sides of this blog coin worth exploring and reacting to; your own comments are always welcome and valued (well, most of them, at least).

Think of this as your open-all-hours, cyber green room, where there's always a performer or performance to discuss, some news to digest, or maybe just a little good gossip to share.
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