While not out to reinvent the wheel, the audio-visual artists in Flinching Eye Collective are out to sidestep the conventional expectations of performance art. A project that explores the connections between video, sound, and physical environment, FEC channel the ghosts of thinkers like John Cage and Marcel Duchamp to host…
Many years ago something happened that made me question the nature of music, and ultimately all “art” for that matter. I was at a friend’s house playing a record (Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music), when his mom complained about the noise. She asked, “what’s that sound?” “It’s music,” we replied…
The Dallas Symphony Orchestra presents Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s dazzling symphonic suite Scheherazade. Inspired by the imagery of The Arabian Night’s stories, Scheherazade is a work alive with fantasy and a raw sense of curiosity, brilliantly capturing the allure and wonder of the mythical East. For this performance, the DSO welcomes back…
In a new series, Choice Cuts, Jonathan Patrick talks with artists, both local and international, about their favorite records. Pinkish Black is perhaps the most internationally celebrated of all current DFW acts. Their two LPs, Pinkish Black and Razed to the Ground, were critical darlings, garnering near-unanimous praise throughout the…
The men’s urinals are where you learn the most about an ongoing opera. The unedited state of things–the real nitty-gritty. (In all fairness, I’m sure the women’s room is equally revelatory). Inside, pre-performance, the occupants were academics and critics, dishing on a half dozen lesser-known facts concerning The Marriage of…
The space is huge. And the clean black-and-whites, slick concrete floor, and pristine aesthetic make it seem even larger. For reference: It’s not inconceivable that a shout or frisbee might fail to bridge the room wall-to-wall. It smells like fresh woodwork and feels, only in the very best sense, like…
In a two-year agreement, The FWSO has teamed up with 2013 Cliburn Gold Medalist Vadym Kholodenko to present all five of Prokofiev’s piano concertos; Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Minor is first on the agenda. Dedicated to a close friend whom he lost to suicide, Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No…
In association with Klyde Warren Park’s second anniversary celebration, the Dallas Opera is presenting their second annual Opening Night Simulcast in the Park. This year’s offering is Mozart’s comedic masterpiece The Marriage of Figaro. The Dallas Opera’s performance (live from The Winspear Opera House) will be projected onto two large,…
Industrial music is relevant all over again. Amidst the music industry’s infatuation with retro sounds, revivals and the general rehashing of old ideas, industrial is once again positioned as a music that matters — an older strand that has taken on new meaning. As the continued effects of industrialization steadily…
The Dallas Symphony Orchestra is reintroducing its popular ReMix series, with the first installment of the 2014-15 season debuting this weekend: Song of the Symphony. With a casual environment and earlier start times, ReMix offers patrons a chance to enjoy classical music in a more social context, which, on this…
In 1919, Franz Kafka penned “A Country Doctor,” a surreal short story about a physician who attempts to save the life of a young boy, but instead finds himself lost in a series of bizarre occurrences. Sinister figures both aid and hinder the protagonist, while time moves in strange, heaving…
Marvin Hamlisch is one of the most decorated musical figures in history. Winner of three Oscars, three Golden Globes, four Emmy’s, four Grammy’s, a Tony and a Pulitzer Prize, the late conductor/composer wrote over forty film scores alongside his considerable stage work (including Broadway favorite A Chorus Line). And for…
In partnership with the Video Association of Dallas, the Dallas Chamber Symphony is set to perform a newly minted musical score (courtesy film composer Douglas Pipes) to Hitchcock’s silent film The Lodger. This will be a live-to-film event, with the DCS synchronizing Pipes’ new composition to the actions on screen…
In the second installment of Meadows’ Faculty Artist and Distinguished Alumni Recital Series, SMU presents decorated concert pianists Alessio Bax and Lucille Chung, alongside Dallas Symphony percussionists Douglas Howard and Brian Jones. Lutoslawski’s Variations on a Theme by Paganini opens the program, followed by Bartok’s fascinating, but peculiar, Sonata for…
September was a fine opening to the 2014-15 classical season, even if it had the occasional off-kilter gait. However, this month’s schedule looks even more substantial than the last; is this where the season launches in earnest? More Shostakovich, more Mozart, more Beethoven, some complex offerings from Prokofiev, Bartok and…
Austin City Limits music festival is just around the corner, kicking off its first weekend this Friday and running through Sunday. With eight stages, two weekends and over 150 acts, ACL is one of the largest music festivals in the country. Lucky for us, it’s practically in our backyard. Sure,…
In their continued effort to bring world-class music-makers to DFW, The Cliburn presents pianist Beatrice Rana in recital at Bass Performance Hall. Named “One to Watch” by International Piano magazine, Rana is currently one of the most in-demand performers in the world. Famed for her rich feats of emotional expression…
When an injury forced violinist Hilary Hahn to cancel her upcoming performance at the Meyerson, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra selected Augustin Hadelich to fill her role. While Hahn leaves big shoes to fill, this young, fast-fingered virtuoso certainly has the pedigree required to do just that. Apart from the violinist’s…
There’s someone crying, another…whimpering? But that’s it. The Meyerson is a vacuum. There’s an odd mood coursing through the rows of seats, a breathless silence, total and creaky. It hangs in the air like an iron blanket. The audience is motionless, wholly engaged, in awe. Here we have this grand…
It was 10:20 on Friday night when I found out. I had just left the Meyerson when I looked at the clock: 10:00. “Just enough time.” The new Aphex Twin album had just dropped and I realized that with the right amount of luck, will and vehicular skill I could…
Even apart from its contents, Mahler’s Symphony No. 9 is poignant. Completed just two years before the composer’s death, The Ninth serves as a complex, monstrous and terribly profound farewell to this man of genius. The sound of death, dying? The sound of anger? Melancholy? It’s all these things—a portrait…
Considering his performance at opening night last year was met with a boisterous embrace, it should come as no surprise that The Plano Symphony Orchestra has welcomed back the young and decorated 2009 Cliburn Gold medalist Haochen Zhang to open their 2014-15 season as well. The night opens with Glinka’s…
