Music1

Jan 11. NASSAU AT FOUR, a flute/piano recital at the Nassau Presbyterian Church, followed by dinner. John Lane and Noriko Schneiderman played beautifully . Other concerts to follow: Jan 15, Feb 19, Mar 19, Apr 16, May 21.
Jan 17. ORFEO AND EURIDICE at the Met. Great performance by the new mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe in the trouser role of Orfeo. The short (1.5 hours) opera was played in modern dress with the chorus arranged around a mechanical structure, dressed in period costumes. I spotted Lincoln, Napoleon and an American indian in the chorus.
ITZHAK PERLMAN at McCarter, playing Mozart, Hersant and Mendelssohn. Great evening with Vivian and Linda.
April 5. Rochelle Ellis, soprano, and AKIKO HOSAKI, piano in a recital concert at the Ellarslie Mansion in Cadwalader Park, Trenton. A great voice accompanied by sensitive playing by Akiko, an old friend of ours and our tenant Izumi. They played Barber, Faure, Wagner, and several Japanese composers. Wonderful afternoon in the Mansion in the Park.
June 18. TRIO CON BRIO COPENHAGEN at the Summer Concert in Richardson. Haydn, Shostakovich and Mendelssohn. The Shostakovich Piano Trio No. 2, composed after a friend was sent to Siberia and shot by the KGB, is fascinating. It starts with a bare murmur, builds up to an emotional frenzy with the violin and cello (played by the Hong sisters from Korea), then ends in single notes from the piano, then silence. Heartbreaking.
WAGNER AND HIS WORLD, at the Bard Music Festival, Aug 14-16. Three days of Wagner and his contemporaries in the beautiful campus of Bard along the Hudson. Lectures and concerts by hundreds of musicians: Genius Unanticipated, Wagner in Film, In the Shadow of Beethoven, Wagner and Choral Tradition, The Revolutionary, Warring Aesthetics, Wagner's Destructive Obsession: Mendelssohn, Wagner in Paris. The festival continues on the following weekend, but we did not attend. Marian's tips on the outstanding performers to watch in the future: Erin Morley, soprano, who has already sung for the Met and Jeremy Denk, pianist.
Nov 16. THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD by Janacek at the Met, adapted from the novel of Dostoievsky. The audience loved it. I hated it. Two hours of intimidation, beatings, killings, ranting and raving. Don't need to spend my limited time on this planet watching intimidation, etc, etc. Yuck.