Acting, directing, and writing awards are the most popular targets for discussion, but there were more very creative folks left off the roll this year. Two aggressively original outsiders are out in the rain, peeping in at the Best Original Score category without so much as an acknowledgment.

This article is filed under Best Movies, Movies, Music, The Fourth Wall.

Perhaps, the best way of approaching Conrad’s book is to regard it primarily as a meditation on creativity. As with opera itself, where passion and empathy lead, intellectual appreciation will follow. The key insight of this fine book is easy enough to grasp. In an age of strutting nationalism, both Verdi and Wagner gave the world music that ultimately transcends the limits of borders or political ideology, regardless of how subsequent regimes used it.

This article is filed under Biography, Books, Germany, Italy, Music, Non-Fiction Reviews, Opera.

Mark Kozelek is the immensely talented lead singer and writer for Sun Kil Moon, and before that, the Red House Painters, one of the leading bands of the sadcore movement in the 90s. When Kozelek tours, he tours alone, just his nylon string guitar and mournful, weary voice. His large fan base in Europe often [...]

This article is filed under Blog-Music, Movies, Music.

Judging by the audience’s response, the final item listed on the program was what many had come for: Williams’s title theme from Star Wars, one of the most well-known compositions in the modern music repertoire. There were a couple of encores, including the theme from Indiana Jones and the “Imperial March,” or Darth Vadar’s theme, from Star Wars, which drew cheers from fans and a standing ovation.

This article is filed under Movies, Music, Performing Arts.

Taking the second violin part, Gilbert, who has previously played in the Philharmonic’s chamber music concerts, proved himself to be as much an accomplished instrumentalist as a conductor, though he quipped, in a video interview published on the Philharmonic’s Website, “I certainly don’t intend to try to take the city by storm as a violinist.”

This article is filed under Music, Performing Arts.

For its world premiere of Heart of a Soldier at San Francisco Opera, the creators chose to concentrate on the personal story of Morgan Stanley’s security head Rick Rescorla, whose actions led over 2,700 World Trade Center South Tower workers to safety, only to lose his own life when he reentered the building to search for stragglers. The opera focuses on his journey from childhood in Cornwall, England, to his role in the tragic events on 9/11. An exploration of a life that culminated in those heroic actions is a story worth examining.

Unfortunately, it was poorly told.

This article is filed under Music, Opera, Performing Arts, Theatre.

  At my 17th birthday dinner at a place that played live music, the host sat me and my family behind a wall. We couldn’t see the band; we could barely hear the muffled tones and applause. I was not 18, and in Northern Virginia, this made it difficult to see any interesting music live. [...]

This article is filed under Blog-Music, Music, Religion.

Glyndebourne: one of the names in the British calendar. Up there with Wimbledon, Henley and other occasions which involve large quantities of strawberries being consumed in extremely specific clothing. With the added attraction of some of the best opera in the world.

This article is filed under Blog-Theater, Music, Opera, Theatre.

“Over there I don’t feel totally Conogolese, and here, I don’t particularly feel Belgian,” says Baloji, a Congolese/Belgian musician who recently released his second album, Kinshasha Succursale. The story of Africa’s Congo is a long and troubled one, outlined in terrifying honesty by Adam Hochschild in King Leopold’s Ghost (yes, that’s suggested reading). In short, [...]

This article is filed under Africa, Belgium, Blog-Music, Music.

When a music playing site catches the eye of the law, you know it’s got to be good. Turntable.fm is constructed for those who love the sound of their own iTunes libraries and can’t bear listening to Pandora or their perfectly made Grooveshark playlist one more time without others listening as well. In it, users [...]

This article is filed under Blog-Music, Music.