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Notes on the Program by Steven Blier for Rodgers, Rodgers & Guettel November 1 & 3, 2016 at Merkin Concert Hall There are two histories of the Rodgers family that run parallel to one another. The first celebrates the dazzling musical gifts that propelled three...
Richard Strauss has written some of the most satisfying, sensual music I know, as well as some of the most irritating. He has two entries on my “Operas I Won’t Ever Go To Again” list—no, I am not saying which ones—but how could anyone live without the “Four Last...
Today is definitively the first day of autumn. I cannot ignore the fact that the days are shorter, that deadlines are growing tighter, and that I never seem to have enough time to get everything done. My mood must have something to do with this endless election, which...
My teaching week has mixed coaching sessions with auditions for the January NYFOS@Juilliard show: an all-British program called “From Lute Song to the Beatles.” I had asked the students to bring in English song, suggesting they they might offer one art song in tandem...
My Tchaikovsky concert isn’t till early next year, but I want to get it squared away now before the autumn hits me like a ton of bricks. Having decided to include a little group of songs by Tchaik’s teachers and students, I received some expert guidance from Antonina...
I had hoped to get all of my NYFOS shows programmed by the end of summer. Labor Day came and went, and I still hadn’t finished them. In fact, my Tchaikovsky show was a complete blur. I felt as if I had let myself down, and was ready to drown my sorrows in a vat of...