Jean Sibelius

Latest Articles

Jonathan McPhee and The Longwood Symphony Orchestra

Northern Lights
Jonathan McPhee and The Longwood Symphony Orchestra at Jordan Hall on May 1, 2010
By JEFFREY GANTZ | May 06, 2010

Stuff at night

The BSO without Levine, Yo-Yo Ma, the Cantata Singers, American Classics, the Zerounian Ensemble
This week’s health headlines also included the announcement from the Boston Symphony Orchestra that music director James Levine has been sidelined again, from the “excruciating pain” he’s been suffering since his surgery for a herniated disc.
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | April 29, 2010

Interview: Hilary Hahn

No strings
"Just because I play classical music doesn't mean I am classical music."
By JON GARELICK | March 11, 2010

Review: Il divo

The 'life' of Giulio Andreotti
Luigi Pirandello's most famous work is a play about six characters in search of an author.
By JEFFREY GANTZ | June 08, 2009

Home cooking

The National Philharmonic of Russia at Symphony Hall
If the name "National Philharmonic of Russia" puts you in mind of some provincial Slavic ensemble making the American rounds, you're not alone.
By JEFFREY GANTZ | April 23, 2009

Center of gravity

Shi-Yeon Sung and Nelson Freire at the BSO; plus the Schubertiade Music Players and Emmanuel's St. Matthew Passion
If all those young people at last Thursday's BSO concert didn't leave Symphony Hall feeling excited about classical music and eager to come back, then classical music is in even more trouble than I thought.
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | April 14, 2009

Pilgrimage

Alan Gilbert with the BSO, plus Collage New Music, Boston Baroque, and Teatro Lirico d'Europa
Charles Ives's Fourth Symphony is a stunner. And Boston Symphony Orchestra guest conductor Alan Gilbert, the New York Philharmonic's music director designate led a stunning performance.
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | March 17, 2009

Crowning glory

Boston Ballet's Jewels at the Wang Theatre.
In 1967, George Balanchine created Jewels for New York City Ballet, and in short order this evening-length triptych — Emeralds , Rubies , and Diamonds — became the crown jewel of 20th-century dance.
By JEFFREY GANTZ | March 04, 2009

Life lessons

Danilo Pérez gets into the moment
At 42, the pianist and composer Danilo Pérez is everywhere.
By JON GARELICK | September 08, 2008

Legs plus

Aspen Santa Fe at Jacob’s Pillow
Aspen Santa Fe Ballet’s program at Jacob’s Pillow last week sampled four choreographers while showing off the dynamic 11-member company.
By MARCIA B. SIEGEL | September 02, 2008

Theatrics

Boston Ballet’s ‘Next Generation’
There’s got to be more to the future than the spectacle of gaudier and gaudier soulless cyberbodies.
By MARCIA B. SIEGEL | March 12, 2008

Quo vadis?

Boston Ballet’s ‘Next Generation’
“Next Generation” is the kind of ballet-program title that might have you asking yourself what happened to “This Generation."
By JEFFREY GANTZ | March 10, 2008

Unembarrassed riches

Dutoit and Elder at the BSO, Collage’s Berio, Boston Conservatory’s Turn of the Screw, and Kurt Weill at the Gardner and the MFA
Some weeks Boston has such musical riches, one wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | February 21, 2008

But not simpler

James Levine and Christoph von Dohnányi at the BSO, Tod Machover at the ICA, Karita Mattila
James Levine’s last program of the BSO season was an odd assortment.
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | April 17, 2007

Rise and fall

Opera Boston does Mahagonny; the BSO and the Boston Philharmonic do Sibelius
With its production of the Kurt Weill/Bertolt Brecht Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny, Opera Boston consolidates its position as this city’s most exciting opera company.
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | March 13, 2007

Ear-popping

Opera Boston’s Lucrezia Borgia , the BSO’s Oedipus Rex
Of the three operas recently competing with one another, Opera Boston’s presentation of Donizetti’s Lucrezia Borgia was in some ways the most fun.
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | May 09, 2006

Measure for measure

Ensemble Doulce Mémoire, Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake , Robert Spano’s Sibelius , H&H’s St. Matthew Passion
“Great Ball at the Court of France,” which Ensemble Doulce Mémoire presented at the First Congregational Church in Cambridge last Friday, under the auspices of the Boston Early Music Festival, was a reminder that classical music used to be all about two popular forms, song and dance.
By JEFFREY GANTZ | April 26, 2006