Solid performances don't rescue this sequence of disconnected musical numbers sung by characters suffering from fanciful ailments.

The noted Serbian author muscles this Kafkaesque short novel into the war-is-absurd literary tradition in one tremendous 183-page paragraph.

In this novel the prizewinning Spanish author skillfully weaves minutely imagined personal stories into the wide sweep of history. One gets the sense Árbol has gazed long and deeply into the human soul, found little redeeming there, and nonetheless felt compelled to lay it all out for us in glorious, gritty, and sometimes gory detail.

Sattar captures the enormous foundational Indian epic in a package written for older children and young adult readers. But it's accessible for all ages, and many adults ignorant of Indian legends, like me, will find it of interest, as well as visually striking.

This New Light Theater Project premiere is perceptively imagined, lovingly staged, beautifully acted, and definitely different.

We're fortunate these neglected composers of the New Jewish National School have found worthy champions.

Thorne's story plunges into the troubled waters of modern hospice care, even as it swims with the prehistoric sharks of family squabbles and old wounds.

The music of the Fête Galante-era composers like Jean-Marie Leclair counteracted the grand style of their predecessors, just as Watteau's paintings of regular people enjoying simple pleasures in the outdoors contrasted with the heavy subject matter of the art he'd grown up with.

"With the rise of worldwide anti-Semitism, it has been difficult for me to program Jewish works. I remember a certain recital when I was asked to remove a suite of pieces by Ernest Bloch for fear of audience distaste."

The musicians make technique seem invisible on this wonderful new recording, with Amit Peled playing Pablo Casals's cello in two of the greatest works of the Romantic era.