Newsletter

Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Cello Concerto creates a giddy ride in its San Francisco debut

by

United StatesUnited States Beethoven, Salonen, Debussy: Rainer Eudeikis (cello), San Francisco Symphony / Esa-Pekka Salonen (conductor). Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco, 18.10.2024. (HS)

Rainer Eudeikis (cello, front l) and Jacob Nissly (bongos and congas, front r) © Brandon Patoc

Read more

Strauss’s Don Quixote with John Sharp and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on 24 to 26 October 2024

by

John Sharp and Don Quixote: Chicago Symphony’s principal cellist returns to a classic role

Cellist John Sharp © Todd Rosenberg

‘It was intimidating and it was thrilling. That is what I remember about my first audition week’, John Sharp says, reflecting on his first moments with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. ‘To see Solti conduct and the way the orchestra played – it was really incredibly exciting’.

Sharp, now the CSO’s principal cellist, began his musical journey far from the concert stage. Growing up in Texas, it was a stroke of luck that led him to the cello. ‘It was complete chance, really. I raised my hand’, he recalls, thinking back to his early days with the cello. ‘I was trying all kinds of things and ended up choosing the cello’. The choice propelled him on a professional journey that, starting on 24 October, will see him perform Richard Strauss’s Don Quixote with the CSO under the baton of Sir Donald Runnicles.

Read more

Mahler illuminated by Mäkelä’s two-ended candlelight in Cleveland

by

United StatesUnited States Mahler: Jennifer Johnston (mezzo-soprano), Cleveland Orchestra Chorus (director: Lisa Wong), Cleveland Orchestra Children’s Chorus (director: Jennifer Rozsa), Cleveland Orchestra / Klaus Mäkelä (conductor). Mandel Concert Hall at Severance Music Center, Cleveland, 17.10.2024. (MSJ)

Jennifer Rozsa and Lisa Wong (CO Chorus directors), Jennifer Johnson (mezzo-soprano), and Klaus Mäkelä (conductor) © Roger Mastroianni

Read more

Sublime Martinů and glorious Saint-Saëns from The Philadelphia Orchestra

by

United StatesUnited States Bartók, Martinů, Saint-Saëns: Choong-Jin Chang (viola), Raphael Attila Vogl (organ), The Philadelphia Orchestra / Roderick Cox (conductor). Marian Anderson Hall, Philadelphia, 13.10.2024. (RP)

Roderick Cox (conductor) and Choong-Jin Chang (viola) with the Philadelphia Orchestra © Rick Perdian

Read more