NEW YORK — Conrad Tao tends to slip into celestial metaphors. During a recent interview, this musician — a veteran at just 25 — referred to his ideas about concert programming as “constellatory.” When he thought he was rambling, he cut himself off and apologized for “galaxy-braining.”
NEW YORK — Everything about Philip Glass’ music seems to exist in extremes. As a listener, you either love it or you don’t. As a performer, you’re either flawless or a failure. Concerts can be transporting, near-religious experiences — or just an endless slog.
BAYREUTH, Germany — The Wartburg castle, so central to Wagner’s “Tannhäuser” that it’s part of the opera’s full title, makes an appearance only briefly in Tobias Kratzer’s new production, which opened the Bayreuth Festival here Thursday. At the beginning of the overture, a video projected onstage shows the medieval fortress in sweeping drone footage fit for a tourism commercial. Then it’s gone.
BOSTON — When Margaret Atwood began her novel “The Handmaid’s Tale” with the line “We slept in what once been the gymnasium,” she may well have been referring to the Lavietes Pavilion here.
With his wife and artistic partner, Jeanne-Claude, the artist Christo has wrapped the Reichstag in Berlin and monuments in Milan — even a coast in Australia. Now, for the first time since her death in 2009, he is returning to their signature style.
AMSTERDAM — “Oh, this is a new opera?” a friend said as we made our way to the Dutch National Opera here for the European premiere of John Adams’ “Girls of the Golden West” on Thursday night. “I thought it was Puccini.”
NEW YORK — Imagine the home of that person you know who loves dogs a little too much: figurines, stuffed animals, artwork that elevates house pets to the realm of saints.
NEW YORK — The soprano Barbara Hannigan has given nearly 100 premieres, the majority of which were written specifically for her. She is also a master of some of the most challenging music in the repertory: Berg’s “Lulu,” Webern, Ligeti. So if she’s stumped by a new work, chances are it’s unsingable — or perhaps a masterpiece in the making.
NEW YORK — Programming matters: What an orchestra plays can be just as important as the quality of the playing. It can even be the difference between a concert that feels endless, and one you don’t want to ever end.
The most breathtaking subway exit in the world may be the one at Place de l’Opéra in Paris. Its final steps lead to a postcard-ready view of the sensational Palais Garnier, the love-it-or-hate-it theater with a baroque, Renaissance and all-around garish pastiche that overwhelms and enchants at every turn.
(Critic’s Pick): VENICE — When “Sun & Sea (Marina)” won this year’s Golden Lion, the top prize of the Venice Biennale, it was measured against works of predominantly visual art.
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