March 2025: Quickie
Lots to say, so little time!
Friends — hi!
If you’re reading this, it means I finished my to-do list before leaving for vacation. Greetings from Miami!
I didn’t get out of bed until 4pm on the Saturday after the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Choir finished our grueling Valentine’s week recording (see snippet below). I had barely been to a concert for fun all month — and weirdly, I missed it.
So the next day, I set out on something of a concert bender. Five shows and eight days later, I was on a hot streak:
On Sunday (Feb 16), a well-reimagined version of Strauss’s Salome from Heartbeat Opera, where Jochanaan got beheaded in a plexiglass cell, center stage, to the tune of eight(!) clarinets and a couple percussionists.
On Tuesday (Feb 18), some gorgeous Messiaen from a top-of-game NY Phil with Karina Canellakis on the podium — this piece must be one of the most beautiful things ever written.
On Friday (Feb 21), a Bach oddity with Juilliard415, the Yale Schola Cantorum, and the ever-adorable Masaaki Suzuki.
On Saturday (Feb 22), the auspicious, insightful North American recital debut of baritone Konstantin Krimmel, with pianist Ammiel Bushakevitz, at the Park Avenue Armory. Their Schubert and Loewe was just a powerful as that on their recent album — but it was with Vaughan Williams that they most surprised me.
And on Sunday (Feb 23), a spiritual program with more wonderful Messiaen from my good friend Ian Niederhoffer and his ensemble Parlando. Their first album dropped yesterday — it’s well worth celebrating, and I have the hangover to prove it. Listen now!
In a similar, but completely different vein: my Dice Trio friends’ (and their friends’) debut album came out last week! Thankful as I am for a long weekend in the Florida sun, I did seriously consider booking my flights around their release show this Sunday.
There’s plenty more to tell, but I’ve regrettably run out of time — I’m writing just a few hours before my flight, and for the first time in several years, I’m not bringing a computer on vacation. Perhaps I’ll send a follow-up next week, but between a crazy February and a crazier April, I may force myself to rest a bit. (Imagine that!)
In the meantime, enjoy this unauthorized snippet of the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Choir’s recording of Frank Martin’s otherworldly Mass for Double Choir — unmixed, unedited, straight from the mic feed. I’ll let you develop your own opinion, but I wouldn’t share it if I weren’t immensely proud.
Mary Halvorson’s Canis Major
Sat Mar 1 (two sets) | The Jazz Gallery
Rudresh Mahanthappa Hero Trio
Sat Mar 1 | Miller Theatre, Columbia University
Gather NYC: Toomai Quintet & Maria Brea, soprano
Sun Mar 2 (morning) | Museum of Arts and Design
Pierre-Laurent Aimard, piano
Sun Mar 2 (matinee) | Carnegie Hall (Weill)
Music Before 1800: Palestine Before 1800
Sun Mar 2 (matinee) | Corpus Christi Church
Dice Trio Album Release: diceXfriends
Sun Mar 2 | Rodney’s Comedy Club
Fidelio
Tue Mar 4, Fri Mar 7,
Mon Mar 10, Wed Mar 12,
Sat Mar 15 (matinee) | Metropolitan Opera House
Ian Bostridge, tenor & Julius Drake, piano
Wed Mar 5 | The 92nd Street Y
J’Nai Bridges, mezzo-soprano
Wed Mar 5 | Merkin Hall, Kaufman Center
London Symphony Orchestra
Wed Mar 5 | Carnegie Hall (Stern/Perelman)
Downtown Voices & Amor Artis: Musical Multitudes (FREE, but sold out)
Thu Mar 6 (early evening) | Trinity Church, Wall Street
Composer Portrait: Miya Masaoka
Thu Mar 6 | Miller Theatre, Columbia University
Interpretations: SPACE
Thu Mar 6 | Roulette Intermedium (Brooklyn)
Alkemie/Freelance Nun with Smoke Ring & Sibyl
Thu Mar 6 | Jalopy Theatre (Brooklyn)
American Composers Orchestra
Fri Mar 7 | Carnegie Hall (Zankel)
Sarah Cahill: The Future Is Female (FREE with Museum admission)
Sat Mar 8 (2-8pm marathon) | The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Anzû Quartet
Sat Mar 8 | Roulette Intermedium (Brooklyn)
New York New Music Ensemble: Boulez at 100
Mon Mar 10 | Milton Resnick and Pat Passlof Foundation
Karen Slack & Kevin Miller: African Queens
Tue Mar 11 | The 92nd Street Y
Cutting Edge Concerts: JACK Quartet
Wed Mar 12 | Symphony Space
Ron Carter & ETHEL: Reflections on Monk & Bach
Thu Mar 13 | Carnegie Hall (Zankel)
Voices of Ascension: St. Matthew Passion
Thu Mar 13 | Church of the Ascension
NY Phil: Gustavo Dudamel and Yuja Wang (SO sold out, but super interesting that the Phil clinched a Ravel world premiere!)
Thu Mar 13, Fri Mar 14,
Sat Mar 15, Sun Mar 16 | David Geffen Hall
Theotokos: Doug Ballett’s St. Mark Passion
Thu Mar 13 | St. Mary’s, Grand St.
Ukrainian Contemporary Music Festival
Thu Mar 13 (TAK Ensemble)
Fri Mar 14 (The Rhythm Method)
Sat Mar 15 (Pinknoise/NYUCME) | DiMenna Center
Academy of Sacred Drama: Noble Soul
Sat Mar 15 | St. Vincent Ferrer Church
The Cleveland Orchestra
Tue Mar 18 & Wed Mar 19 | Carnegie Hall (Stern/Perelman)
Nevermind
Wed Mar 19 | Carnegie Hall (Weill)
The Stone Residencies: Theo Bleckmann
Wed-Sat Mar 19-22 | The Stone at The New School
DMA Recital: Charlotte Mundy, soprano (FREE)
Thu Mar 20 | Elebash Recital Hall, CUNY Grad Center
PUBLIQuartet | What Is American: Rhythm Nation (FREE)
Thu Mar 20 | DiMenna Center
Experiments in Opera: SOLOperas
Thu-Sat, Mar 20-22 | The Tank
Wild Up: Darkness Sounding
Fri Mar 21, Sat Mar 22,
Sun Mar 23 (matinee) | The 92nd Street Y
Die Zauberflöte
Sun Mar 23 (matinee), Fri Mar 28,
through April 26 | Metropolitan Opera House
Rebekah Heller: Righteous Rage
Tue Mar 25 (early evening) | Miller Theatre, Columbia University
YCA: Joseph Parrish, bass-baritone
Tue Mar 25 | Merkin Hall, Kaufman Center
The Stone Residencies: Kate Gentile
Wed-Sat Mar 26-29 | The Stone at The New School
Steve Lehman Trio + Mark Turner
Fri Mar 28 (two sets) | The Jazz Gallery
Kronos Quartet
Fri Mar 28 | Carnegie Hall (Zankel)
Stile Antico
Sat Mar 29 | Church of St. Mary the Virgin
Juilliard415 and Juilliard Orchestra: The Beethoven Project
Sat Mar 29 | Alice Tully Hall
Talea Ensemble: Written for Talea 2025
Sat Mar 29 | Church of St. Luke and St. Matthew Brooklyn)