On a fizzy mix of traditional jazz (mostly originals) and standards (Gershwin, Cole Porter, Fats Waller), bebop, and classical and romantic piano music by the likes of Mozart, Chopin, and Ravel, the pianist and her trio take enormous joy in finding surprising connections.
Read More »Jon Sobel
Concert Review: The Tallis Scholars – ‘A Renaissance Christmas’ (NYC, 12/10/2016)
One of the world's greatest early music ensembles graced the Church of St. Mary the Virgin in Times Square with Christmas-themed music by Palestrina, Taverner, and other great composers of the Renaissance.
Read More »Theater Review (NYC): ‘No Man’s Land’ by Melissa Moschitto and The Anthropologists
Inspired by the bizarre true story of a Virginia farmer who claimed a patch of land in Africa in order to make his daughter a real princess, the show is a frustrating jumble, with highly entertaining and materially noteworthy elements undercut by sequences that go down the drain.
Read More »Music Review: Pianist Tania Stavreva – ‘Rhythmic Movement’
On top of a capacious talent, the Bulgarian-born, New York-based pianist has a distinctive sensibility evidenced by her choice of repertoire, which encompasses works by composers from her homeland as well as contemporary new music and her own compositions.
Read More »Dance/Theater Review: ‘The Mar Vista’ by Yehuda Hyman and Mystical Feet Company
This sweet story slides from religious tradition into the traditions that arise in an individual family – the legends, the habits, the clashes, and the spoken and too-often unspoken feelings.
Read More »Music Review: Neave Trio – ‘American Moments’
Fine musicianship and rich, live sound make this new album an enlightening introduction to some seldom-heard but very worthwhile music by composers born in, or who made a strong mark in, the United States.
Read More »Music Reviews: Jazz Roundup – El Toro, Victor & Penny, Daniel Smith
Coruscating Latin rhythms with a four-mallet attack, folk-jazz from a guitar-ukelele-vocal duo, and baroque-jazz crossover from the late bassoonist Daniel Smith
Read More »Theater Review (NYC): ‘Senior Moment’ by Mike Vogel
Vogel tells this tale of assisted-living life in an old-fashioned Jewish-humor style, but steers clear of schlock and schmaltz, stripping his characters to their more-or-less lovable essences while revealing what seems to be a hopeful, even sunny view of human nature. It's a refreshing dose of positivity in a city blindsided by recent realities.
Read More »Party-Neutral Dollar Woes Led to Trump Election
The economic divide exploded into the sunlight with the ascendance of the Tea Party movement, identified more or less with the right wing, and the Occupy movement on the left. The difference between those two phenomena was more cultural than philosophical.
Read More »Theater Review (NYC Off-Broadway): ‘Poison’ by Lot Vekemans
This compelling play from Holland digs into the guts of a couple's personal tragedy while maintaining a subtle distance by means of delicately off-natural dialogue.
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