New York Classical Review

Great music, moving moments vie with libretto, structural issues in Met premiere of “Lincoln in the Bardo”

The Metropolitan Opera mounted the world premiere production of Missy Mazzoli’s Lincoln in the Bardo on Monday night. This is ...
New York Classical Review

Lim’s breathless speed race leaves Mozart sonatas largely in the dust

The Sonata in C major, K. 279, is certainly the “earliest” in terms of musical language, hewing closely to the style galant of J.C. Bach and other models. Lim’s fleet, articulated performance of the ...
New York Classical Review

Carnegie’s Mahler cycle off to an unsettled start with a Fifth Symphony of anticlimaxes

One of the biggest events on this season’s classical music calendar is the Mahler Symphony Cycle Yannick Nézet-Séguin will be ...
New York Classical Review

Orpheus pleases with Mozart, Schumann and new work, all for free at Carnegie

In keeping with putting on a quality program for their free-admission audience, Orpheus engaged the star Dutch piano duo of Lucas and Arthur Jussen, brothers in their 20s whose good looks are matched ...
New York Classical Review

A staged Reich masterpiece makes for a memorable night at Park Avenue Armory

He is one of the canonic composers of our time, and a great and essential artist in the long history of classical music, on equal footing with all the big names of the past. He and his peer and ...
New York Classical Review

Berlin Philharmonic brings fresh conviction to familiar Brahms and Strauss

There have always been Brahms haters among us, from the composer Tchaikovsky to contemporary critics who find his music congealed and academic. Their Exhibit A is this concerto, a youthful effort with ...
New York Classical Review

Top Ten Performances of 2025

1. Mahler: Symphony No. 7. Gustavo Dudamel/New York Philharmonic Gustavo Dudamel isn’t officially the music director of the New York Philharmonic until next season, but performances this year show ...
New York Classical Review

Lombardi and Hankey lift the musical values in Met’s frenetic Coney Island “Così”

Samantha Hankey as Dorabella (left) and Federica Lombardi as Fiordiligi in Mozart’s “Così fan tutte” at the Metropolitan Opera. Photo: Marty Sohl / Met Opera Phelim McDermott’s staging is set in the ...
New York Classical Review

Tesori’s “Grounded” scores a dark triumph in Met season opener

Emily D’Angelo stars as Jess in Jeanine Tesori’s Grounded at the Metropolitan Opera. Photo: Ken Howard / Met Opera “If Odysseus came home every day,” sings fighter pilot Jess to her husband in Jeanine ...
New York Classical Review

The Sebastians open season with a buoyant concerto feast

Isabelle Seula Lee and Nicholas DiEugenio performed Vivaldi’s Concerto for Two Violins in A minor with The Sebastians Saturday night at Brick Presbyterian Church. Photo: Shawn Salley Born in the ...
New York Classical Review

A timely tale of Jewish courage in ASO’s “Judas Maccabaeus”

Tenor Jack Swanson sang the title role in Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus with Leon Botstein conducting the American Symphony Orchestra Thursday night at the Riverside Church. Photo: Matt Dine. Once again ...
New York Classical Review

Akhmetshina debut propels Met’s retooled rodeo “Carmen”

Aigul Akhmetshina sang the title role in the Metropolitan Opera’s new production of Bizet’s Carmen Sunday night. Photo: Ken Howard / Met Opera The Metropolitan Opera rang out 2023 with a sold-out gala ...