October 30, 2003
"A man was stabbed under the bright lights of the Symphony Hall marquee [in Boston] last night [about 11:45 p.m.] after an argument with another man, police said.

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"It was unknown last night what sparked the altercation or if the men knew each other." --from an article by Jennifer Rosinski in the Boston Herald.

September 12, 2003

Opera Orchestra of New York, Eve Queler conductor, has announced a concert performance of Verdi's Il Corsaro for Sunday, March 21, 2004 at 8 p.m. at Carnegie Hall in New York, with a cast to include Maria Dragoni, Rossana Potenza, and Francisco Casanova.

August 28, 2003

Sanford Sylvan will perform the role of Pangloss in Leonard Bernstein's Candide with Opera Boston at the Cutler Majestic Theatre in Boston on November 28-30, 2003, reports the Boston Herald.

August 20, 2003

According to T. J. Medrek in the Boston Herald, soprano Maquita Lister has canceled her appearnces in the title role of Puccini's Tosca with Boston Lyric Opera in March 2004. The company says that she was released from her contract in order "to pursue an important European appearance."

May 28, 2003

Each of the ten tracks on the compact disc Classical Spirit is, as the back cover of the “jewel case” states, “an invitation to relax and allow your mind to wander on a new ambient path . . .” The recording is written, produced, arranged, performed and mixed by The Brave, whose Sacred Spirit II was nominated for a Grammy.

The selections on Classical Spirit draw their inspiration from the works of classical composers such as Johann Sebastian Bach, Albinoni, Beethoven, and Samuel Barber, as well as from the mystical works of Hildegard von Bingen. But the selections are not merely updated versions of old melodies. Though inspired by the classical works, The Brave has created original works of art.

In selection number 7, for example, based on an adagio of Albinoni, we first hear a prominent beat while the synthesizer plays a faint melody. The melody at times becomes more prominent than the beat. At times we hear a barely audible chorus but cannot make out the words (at least I couldn’t!). There is some mild percussion.

In many of the selections we hear a chorus, described in the accompanying notes as a “Russian choir.” They sing sometimes in Latin, sometimes in German. Their focus is on producing a sort of background sound, not on communicating the words of the text. Susann Caroll recites poetry in a few of the tracks. We hear a guitar in one track.

The effect of the music is soothing and uplifting, but it is never cloying. I would find the recording well suited for listening to at home late at night by candlelight if one were in a meditative mood. “This is chill-out music,” says The Brave, who considers the recording suitable for taking to the beach, on a day after a party, “to regenerate your spirits.”

I recommend the recording highly. It is superlative “chill-out” music.

March 16, 2002

Martin Pearlman is scheduled to conduct Boston Baroque in semi-staged performances of Handel's opera Alcina at Jordan Hall in Boston, Massachusetts, on the evenings of Friday October 17 and Saturday October 18, 2003, at 7:30 p.m. The opera will be sung in Italian with English supertitles. According to Boston Baroque's announcement, these performances will be Boston's first performances of this opera.