The list of actors who have jumped behind the camera to sit in the director’s chair is very long. One way to shorten it considerably would be to specify which of their debut-directed flicks were both a critical and commercial hit. Yes, Orson Welles’ Citizen Caine is lauded by film scholars but barely produced a ripple in that competitive “golden year” of 1941. Yes, it’s rare, but one actor really hit a “home run” in his first time “up to the plate” with a film that’s the third screen take on a beloved early sound classic, that packed the multiplex, made some top ten lists, and snagged some Oscar gold. Ah, but the actor was nominated for his performance, but nothing for his strong cinematic storytelling. Now five years later, he’s back directing himself, for his follow-up. And though this is a biopic rather than a romantic drama,...
- 12/8/2023
- by Jim Batts
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan in MaestroImage: Jason McDonald/Netflix
Bradley Cooper’s Maestro is an inspired ode to the late, great Leonard Bernstein. It’s also a thorny deconstruction of the man-as-tortured-genius trope, replete with a compassionate focus on his put-upon wife and the bond the two shared for close to three decades.
Bradley Cooper’s Maestro is an inspired ode to the late, great Leonard Bernstein. It’s also a thorny deconstruction of the man-as-tortured-genius trope, replete with a compassionate focus on his put-upon wife and the bond the two shared for close to three decades.
- 11/20/2023
- by Manuel Betancourt
- avclub.com
26 October 2023 — Directed, written, produced by, and starring Bradley Cooper in the title role, opposite Carey Mulligan, Maestro is a towering and fearless love story chronicling the lifelong relationship between Leonard Bernstein and Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein. A love letter to life and art, Maestro at its core is an emotionally epic portrayal of family and love. Deutsche Grammophon is delighted to be releasing the original soundtrack album for the movie, which has already garnered widespread critical acclaim. All the music in the film was chosen by Cooper, and the new recordings on the soundtrack were made by the London Symphony Orchestra and Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who also worked closely with the actor-director as conducting consultant before and throughout the film-making process.
The album will be released digitally on November 17, 2023, and on CD and vinyl on December 1. A taster track featuring an excerpt from the Finale of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 “Resurrection”, with soprano Rosa Feola,...
The album will be released digitally on November 17, 2023, and on CD and vinyl on December 1. A taster track featuring an excerpt from the Finale of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 “Resurrection”, with soprano Rosa Feola,...
- 10/27/2023
- by Music Martin Cid Magazine
- Martin Cid Music
In “Maestro,” playing the legendary American conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein, Bradley Cooper has a light in his eye — a glow of merriment and mischief, of gleeful cosmopolitan desire. His Lenny is a prodigy, a prankster, a seducer, a monk of creative devotion and, through it all, a man of epic contradiction. In public, he tends toward the proper and stentorian; in private, he’s recklessly exuberant enough to give new — or maybe old — meaning to the word gay. He’s a layered soul, a quality that extends from his professional life, where he’s a reverent conductor of the classics and a jubilant composer of Broadway musicals (as well as a serious composer who longs to be thought of as classic), to his personal life, where he’s an ardent hedonist, unapologetically attracted to men, as well as a devoted husband and family man.
It turns out that the...
It turns out that the...
- 9/2/2023
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
Easily clearing the sophomore slump and proving that 2018’s surprisingly vibrant “A Star is Born” was hardly a one-off, Bradley Cooper’s “Maestro” bolsters the writer/director/producer/star’s Mo as a contemporary jack-of-all-trades with an Old Hollywood soul. Hell, even the Cooper-produced “Joker” pulled from a similar songbook, dusting off reliable American cinema standards and giving them a fresh new spin.
Viewed in that light, this prestige pic’s curious indifference to many of the artistic qualities and career triumphs that made Leonard Bernstein such a coveted biopic subject make a lot more sense. “Maestro” does not go behind the music – it’s here to put on a show.
And in Leonard Bernstein – the only composer/conductor/highbrow-celebrity to earn a shout-out in an R.E.M. song – Cooper sees a similar type. The film tells us right from the start, opening on an aged-Bernstein alone before his piano.
Viewed in that light, this prestige pic’s curious indifference to many of the artistic qualities and career triumphs that made Leonard Bernstein such a coveted biopic subject make a lot more sense. “Maestro” does not go behind the music – it’s here to put on a show.
And in Leonard Bernstein – the only composer/conductor/highbrow-celebrity to earn a shout-out in an R.E.M. song – Cooper sees a similar type. The film tells us right from the start, opening on an aged-Bernstein alone before his piano.
- 9/2/2023
- by Ben Croll
- The Wrap
Aug. 25 marks what would have been the 100th birthday of Leonard Bernstein, the subject of two competing films that will star Jake Gyllenhaal and Bradley Cooper. That shouldn’t be a problem: Bernstein had enough going on in his life to fill at least four movies plus a few miniseries.
Bernstein is best known as the composer of “West Side Story.” A month before its Broadway debut, the show played in Washington D.C. on Aug. 27, 1957, and Variety’s reviewer raved that the musical “has success stamped all over it. It has excitement, timeliness, sock choreography and a fine offbeat score.” While Broadway was always star-driven, the review noted that the show’s program featured four names printed considerably larger than the lead actors’: director-choreographer Jerome Robbins, composer Bernstein, lyricist Stephen Sondheim and book writer Arthur Laurents. The critic added, “That is the way it should be, for ‘West Side Story...
Bernstein is best known as the composer of “West Side Story.” A month before its Broadway debut, the show played in Washington D.C. on Aug. 27, 1957, and Variety’s reviewer raved that the musical “has success stamped all over it. It has excitement, timeliness, sock choreography and a fine offbeat score.” While Broadway was always star-driven, the review noted that the show’s program featured four names printed considerably larger than the lead actors’: director-choreographer Jerome Robbins, composer Bernstein, lyricist Stephen Sondheim and book writer Arthur Laurents. The critic added, “That is the way it should be, for ‘West Side Story...
- 8/10/2018
- by Tim Gray
- Variety Film + TV
The Film Society of Lincoln Center announces today the list of filmmaker talks at the 54th New York Film Festival, which runs from September 30th through October 16th. These include the annual On Cinema master class, Directors Dialogues, as well as Meet The Makers, a series of talks with creators of projects in the festival’s Convergence session. On Cinema and Directors Dialogues are presented by HBO®.
Read More: Nyff Reveals Main Slate of 2016 Titles, Including ‘Manchester By the Sea,’ ‘Paterson’ and ‘Personal Shopper’
This year’s On Cinema will feature a conversation with legendary American independent filmmaker Jim Jarmusch and Nyff Director Kent Jones. Jarmusch, a Nyff veteran many times over, has two films in the festival this year: “Paterson” in the Main Slate section, and documentary “Gimme Danger,” about iconic punk rock band The Stooges, in the Special Events section. The in-depth discussion will explore Jarmusch’s indelible career,...
Read More: Nyff Reveals Main Slate of 2016 Titles, Including ‘Manchester By the Sea,’ ‘Paterson’ and ‘Personal Shopper’
This year’s On Cinema will feature a conversation with legendary American independent filmmaker Jim Jarmusch and Nyff Director Kent Jones. Jarmusch, a Nyff veteran many times over, has two films in the festival this year: “Paterson” in the Main Slate section, and documentary “Gimme Danger,” about iconic punk rock band The Stooges, in the Special Events section. The in-depth discussion will explore Jarmusch’s indelible career,...
- 9/8/2016
- by Vikram Murthi
- Indiewire
The League of Professional Theatre Women is pleased to present Carmen De Lavallade, actress, dancer, choreographer, for the next Oral History interview. She will sit down with dance journalist Deborah Jowitt to discuss her large body of work. The event will take place on Monday, June 27, 2016 at 600 pm in the Bruno Walter Auditorium of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts on 65th Street amp Amsterdam Avenue. Admission is free, but seats will be on a first-come-first-seated basis.
- 5/26/2016
- by Marianka Swain
- BroadwayWorld.com
Gingold Theatrical Group's Shaw New York Festival, under the leadership of Artistic Director David Staller, hosts a Shaw New York Symposium on Monday, March 14 from 6-8pm, at the Bruno Walter Auditorium, New York Public Library 111 Amsterdam Avenue. The event is free but reservations are required and may be made by contacting the Library website httpwww.nypl.orgeventsprograms20160314gingold-theatrical-groupE28099s-annual-shaw-symposiumor Gtg.
- 3/10/2016
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
The on-stage pitch has become a staple of documentary film forums, like Idfa and Cph:dox, and pitch panels long ago snuck into events like Ifp’s Screen Forward Conference (previously the Filmmaker Conference). But the on-stage pitching of web series is something relatively new at these more film-oriented events. Befitting the Ifp’s conference name change, three filmmakers storytellers took the stage Sunday at noon at the Bruno Walter Auditorium to impress a panel of web content professionals with their ideas of episodic tales to be streamed online. But given the Wild West nature of web series, where buyers, monetization strategies and […]...
- 9/21/2015
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
The on-stage pitch has become a staple of documentary film forums, like Idfa and Cph:dox, and pitch panels long ago snuck into events like Ifp’s Screen Forward Conference (previously the Filmmaker Conference). But the on-stage pitching of web series is something relatively new at these more film-oriented events. Befitting the Ifp’s conference name change, three filmmakers storytellers took the stage Sunday at noon at the Bruno Walter Auditorium to impress a panel of web content professionals with their ideas of episodic tales to be streamed online. But given the Wild West nature of web series, where buyers, monetization strategies and […]...
- 9/21/2015
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
I wonder what some time-traveling filmmaker would think of Ifp’s Independent Film Week, which commences tomorrow up at the Bruno Walter Auditorium at the New York Performing Arts Library. The non-profit Ifp — formerly “Independent Feature Project” and now “Independent Filmmaker Project” — has done some version of its Film Week for nearly the entirety of its 35-year history. For much of that time it wasn’t called “Film Week,” but, nonetheless, events occurred annually over a few days in the Fall, and these events served to advance the interests of independent filmmakers by, initially, providing them with a market for […]...
- 9/20/2015
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
I wonder what some time-traveling filmmaker would think of Ifp’s Independent Film Week, which commences tomorrow up at the Bruno Walter Auditorium at the New York Performing Arts Library. The non-profit Ifp — formerly “Independent Feature Project” and now “Independent Filmmaker Project” — has done some version of its Film Week for nearly the entirety of its 35-year history. For much of that time it wasn’t called “Film Week,” but, nonetheless, events occurred annually over a few days in the Fall, and these events served to advance the interests of independent filmmakers by, initially, providing them with a market for […]...
- 9/20/2015
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
The League of Professional Theatre Women will present Tony-Award winning actress, Judy Kaye, for the next Oral History interview. Kaye will sit down with award-winning actor and writer Donald Corren to discuss her fascinating work as a theatre artist. The event will take place on Monday, May 11, 2015 at 600 pm in the Bruno Walter Auditorium of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts on 65th Street amp Amsterdam Avenue. Admission is free, but seats will be on a first-come-first-seated basis. Photos httpbit.lyLPTWphotos...
- 4/6/2015
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
The League of Professional Theatre Women is pleased to present Tony-Award winning actress, Stockard Channing for the next Oral History interview. Channing will sit down with arts journalist Patrick Pacheco to discuss her fascinating work as a theatre artist. The event will take place on Monday, February 2, 2015 at 600 pm at the Bruno Walter Auditorium of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts on 65th Street amp Amsterdam Avenue.
- 1/15/2015
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
Having given the history of the "New World" in Part I, it seems wise to preface Part II with some words about how the symphony is constructed. The movements are:
I. Adagio; Allegro molto II. Largo III. Scherzo: Molto vivace IV. Allegro con fuoco
Unusually, every movement starts with an introduction. The first movement's is the most famous: starts with a striking slow introduction that establishes the current of nostalgia for, or homesickness for, the composer's native Bohemia. Another reminder of this comes with the famotus flute solo -- or does it? Some have remarked on its similarity to "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," but this is not so much a quote as a paraphrase, so to speak; small bits of "Chariot" are elided into something new that mingles many flavors: African-America spiritual, yes, but also Native American music and Bohemian folk music, which share a pentatonic flavor.
Note that the...
I. Adagio; Allegro molto II. Largo III. Scherzo: Molto vivace IV. Allegro con fuoco
Unusually, every movement starts with an introduction. The first movement's is the most famous: starts with a striking slow introduction that establishes the current of nostalgia for, or homesickness for, the composer's native Bohemia. Another reminder of this comes with the famotus flute solo -- or does it? Some have remarked on its similarity to "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," but this is not so much a quote as a paraphrase, so to speak; small bits of "Chariot" are elided into something new that mingles many flavors: African-America spiritual, yes, but also Native American music and Bohemian folk music, which share a pentatonic flavor.
Note that the...
- 12/7/2014
- by SteveHoltje
- www.culturecatch.com
Dvořák (1841-1904), from Bohemia (at the time, part of the Austro-Hungarian empire, and later in Czechoslovakia) peppered his colorful, amiable music with folk rhythms. The Ninth, subtitled "From the New World" and inspired by and written during his time in the United States, is Dvořák’s most beloved symphony and contains both Bohemian and American influences. Prompted by the current exhibit of the work's original manuscript in New York City at the Bohemian National Hall, I have followed up my review of Jiří Bĕlohlávek's new Dvořák symphony cycle box set on Decca and his concert with the Czech Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall with a trawl through my collection of "New World" recordings, selectively augmented by streaming recordings available on Rdio.com.
There is much debate concerning the materials of the Ninth. The composer himself said that its middle movements were intended to depict scenes from Longfellow's narrative poem The Song of Hiawatha,...
There is much debate concerning the materials of the Ninth. The composer himself said that its middle movements were intended to depict scenes from Longfellow's narrative poem The Song of Hiawatha,...
- 11/21/2014
- by SteveHoltje
- www.culturecatch.com
There is a lot to say
I have a lot to share with you. I also have a lot of hope for film — and I am not just talking about copies of my book for you to pick up. Anyway, you can hear it all directly from me as I will be on the road a lot over these next few months. Hopefully I will be coming to your town. If you happen to teach at a college, and I am coming through already, let me know, and maybe I can make an additional stop. If I am not passing through, and you’d like me to, let me know. Here’s a sampling of where I will be headed as well as the dates:
August 27 – San Francisco, CA, 730 Pm at Books, Inc. in San Francisco at 2275 Market Street.
August 31 – Sunday. Telluride, Book signing at the SHOWshop at Brigadoon, 2P...
I have a lot to share with you. I also have a lot of hope for film — and I am not just talking about copies of my book for you to pick up. Anyway, you can hear it all directly from me as I will be on the road a lot over these next few months. Hopefully I will be coming to your town. If you happen to teach at a college, and I am coming through already, let me know, and maybe I can make an additional stop. If I am not passing through, and you’d like me to, let me know. Here’s a sampling of where I will be headed as well as the dates:
August 27 – San Francisco, CA, 730 Pm at Books, Inc. in San Francisco at 2275 Market Street.
August 31 – Sunday. Telluride, Book signing at the SHOWshop at Brigadoon, 2P...
- 9/2/2014
- by Ted Hope
- Hope for Film
The League of Professional Theatre Women is pleased to present ActorDirectorPhilanthropist Billie Allen for the next Oral History interview. Allen will sit down with Tony Award-Winning Actress Phylicia Rashad to discuss her fascinating work as a theatre artist. The event will be Monday, September 22, 2014 at 600 pm at the Bruno Walter Auditorium of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts on 65th Street amp Amsterdam Avenue. Admission is free, but seats will be on a first-come-first-seated basis.
- 8/25/2014
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
UnsungMusicalsCo. Umc continues its 2014 developmental reading series at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center with a special presentation of I Had a Ball, the 1964 Coney Island musical comedy with a book by Tony Award winner Jerome Chodorov Wonderful Town and a score by Stan Freeman amp Jack Lawrence. The reading, directed by Ben West Unsung Carolyn Leigh, The Fig Leaves Are Falling, Make Mine Manhattan, will be held today, July 24 at 230 Pm in the Bruno Walter Auditorium.
- 7/24/2014
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
UnsungMusicalsCo. Umc continues its 2014 developmental reading series at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center with a special presentation of I Had a Ball, the 1964 Coney Island musical comedy with a book by Tony Award winner Jerome Chodorov Wonderful Town and a score by Stan Freeman amp Jack Lawrence. The reading, directed by Ben West Unsung Carolyn Leigh, The Fig Leaves Are Falling, Make Mine Manhattan, was held earlier this week in the Bruno Walter Auditorium. BroadwayWorld brings you photos from inside the reading below...
- 7/22/2014
- by Kevin Thomas Garcia
- BroadwayWorld.com
UnsungMusicalsCo. Umc continues its 2014 developmental reading series at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center with a special presentation of I Had a Ball, the 1964 Coney Island musical comedy with a book by Tony Award winner Jerome Chodorov Wonderful Town and a score by Stan Freeman amp Jack Lawrence. The reading, directed by Ben West Unsung Carolyn Leigh, The Fig Leaves Are Falling, Make Mine Manhattan, will be held Thursday, July 24 at 230 Pm in the Bruno Walter Auditorium.
- 7/17/2014
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
UnsungMusicalsCo. Umc continues its 2014 developmental reading series at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center with a special presentation of I Had a Ball, the 1964 Coney Island musical comedy with a book by Tony Award winner Jerome Chodorov Wonderful Town and a score by Stan Freeman amp Jack Lawrence. The reading, directed by Ben West Unsung Carolyn Leigh, The Fig Leaves Are Falling, Make Mine Manhattan, will be held Thursday, July 24 at 230 Pm in the Bruno Walter Auditorium.
- 7/7/2014
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center announces actorwriterdirector Josh Radnor will participate in a discussion about his time at the O'Neill's National Theater Institute at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts Bruno Walter Auditorium on June 19, 2014. Radnor will join O'Neill alumnus and faculty member Donna Dinovelli Nti Faculty, librettist and lyricist for opera and musical theater works, Radnor's playwriting instructor and Moderator Rachel Jett Nti Artistic Director, teacher, writer, actor, director. Panelists will share memories about how their participation with the National Theater Institute's semester-long, credit-earning training intensives have shaped their career and craft. The event is free and open to the public.
- 6/12/2014
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, in partnership with The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, presents a series of conversation to coincide with the Library's public exhibition on the O'Neill, 'Launchpad of the American Theater The O'Neill since 1964.' The three programs -- today, May 29, June 19, and August 7 -- are held in The Library for the Performing Arts' Bruno Walter Auditorium and are free and open to the public.
- 5/29/2014
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, in partnership with The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, presents a series of conversation to coincide with the Library's public exhibition on the O'Neill, Launchpad of the American Theater The O'Neill since 1964. The three programs -- May 29, June 19, and August 7 -- are held in The Library for the Performing Arts' Bruno Walter Auditorium and are free and open to the public.
- 5/21/2014
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
UnsungMusicalsCo. Umc will launch its 2014 developmental reading series at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts with a special presentation of Peggy-Ann, the hit 1926 musical comedy with a book by Tony Award winner Herbert Fields Annie Get Your Gun and a score by the legendary songwriting team of Richard Rodgers amp Lorenz Hart Pal Joey, On Your Toes. The reading, directed by Ben West Unsung Carolyn Leigh, The Fig Leaves Are Falling, At Home Abroad, will be held Thursday, May 22 at 230 Pm in the Bruno Walter Auditorium.
- 5/19/2014
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
A classicist using Romantic harmonies, Johannes Brahms (1833-97) was hailed at age 20 by Robert Schumann in a famous article entitled "New Paths." Yet by the time Brahms wrote his mature works, his music was thought of as a conservative compared to the daring harmonies and revolutionary dramatic theories of Richard Wagner. But in the next century, Arnold Schoenberg's 1947 essay titled "Brahms the Progressive" praised Brahms's bold modulations (as daring as Wagner's most tonally ambiguous chords), asymmetrical forms, and mastery of imaginative variation and development of thematic material.
The son of a bassist in the Hamburg Philharmonic Society, Brahms was an excellent pianist who was supporting himself by his mid-teens. His first two published works were his Piano Sonatas Nos. 1 and 2, and throughout his career he penned much fine music for that instrument, not only solo (including the later Piano Sonata No. 3) and duo but also his landmark Piano Concertos Nos.
The son of a bassist in the Hamburg Philharmonic Society, Brahms was an excellent pianist who was supporting himself by his mid-teens. His first two published works were his Piano Sonatas Nos. 1 and 2, and throughout his career he penned much fine music for that instrument, not only solo (including the later Piano Sonata No. 3) and duo but also his landmark Piano Concertos Nos.
- 5/8/2014
- by SteveHoltje
- www.culturecatch.com
The League of Professional Theatre Women is pleased to present Award-winning actress Bebe Neuwirth for the next Oral History interview on Monday, May 5, 2014 at 600 pm at the Bruno Walter Auditorium of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts on 65th Street amp Amsterdam Avenue. Ms. Neuwirth will be interviewed by arts journalist Patrick Pacheco. Admission is free, but seats will be on a first-come-first-seated basis.
- 4/8/2014
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
I'll be moderating a panel at the conference, titled New Black Voices that'll include Nekisa Cooper, Shaka King, Terence Nance, and Yoruba Richen, which, as the title (and panelists) suggests, will focus on the recent new crop of young, independent, black filmmakers, creating original, exciting, topical, personal films. The panel takes place this Sunday, September 15th, 2013 from 2:15Pm - 3:00Pm, at Bruno Walter Auditorium - 111 Amsterdam Avenue, in NYC. For conference pass purchase information, click Here. Maybe I'll see you there... The 2013 Ifp Filmmaker Conference takes place from September 15-19. For the full lineup of events, click Here. Full poster art below:...
- 9/13/2013
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
Betty R. and Ralph Sheffer Foundation and The League of Professional Theatre Women will present Award-winning actress Tyne Daly for the next Oral History interview on Monday, October 7, 2013 at 600 pm at the Bruno Walter Auditorium of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts on 65th Street amp Amsterdam Avenue. Admission is free, but seats will be on a first-come-first-seated basis. Photos are available here httpbit.lyTynePhoto The next Oral History will be on January 13, 2014.
- 9/10/2013
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
The Thursday afternoon Independent Film Week panel “What Is Real?” sought to delve into the ethics of documentary filmmakers applying fictional techniques to their films. What it ended up doing was nearly erasing the distinctions between cinematic fiction and nonfiction entirely. A&E IndieFIlms VP Molly Thompson moderated the discussion with panelists Caveh Zahedi (“The Sheik and I”), Grace Lee (“Janeane From Des Moines”) and Jay Bulger (“Beware of Mr. Baker”) in the Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center’s New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Discussing the methods used in the directors’ films, the terms used to define them and the reactions from confused audiences eventually led to a more heated debate about whether there are real differences left between documentary and journalism, and between narrative films and nonfiction ones. Read More: 7 Tips For Navigating Conflicts in Documentary...
- 9/21/2012
- by Jay A. Fernandez
- Indiewire
As part of the ongoing Nöel Coward exhibit "Star Quality," the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts will host a rare presentation of footage from Coward's 1929 operetta "Bitter Sweet" Aug. 10. A short Q&A with exhibition curator Brad Rosenstein will follow. New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Bruno Walter Auditorium, 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, Manhattan. 6 p.m. Free. www.nypl.org.
- 8/8/2012
- by help@backstage.com ()
- backstage.com
Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 9 Vienna Philharmonic/Bruno Walter (Emi Classics)
Written after Gustav Mahler had been diagnosed with a life-threatening heart disease, his Ninth Symphony -- the last the composer completed-- has been widely interpreted as reflecting that knowledge, but of course there are many reactions produced by the prospect of death. The lengthy first movement is a meditation on the mysteries, terrors, and -- yes -- consolations of death. Leonard Bernstein, who never shied away from romanticizing biographical details, proclaimed the asymmetrical rhythms at the beginning to be a portrayal of the composer's irregular heartbeat.
The cries of the muted brass are poignant, a bit afraid, but somewhat assuaged by the occasional reappearance of a beautiful melody that seems to promise relief from earthly cares. But the nervous twitterings of the winds, and the lengthy sections of quiet foreboding, display an overriding unease. The dances of the second...
Written after Gustav Mahler had been diagnosed with a life-threatening heart disease, his Ninth Symphony -- the last the composer completed-- has been widely interpreted as reflecting that knowledge, but of course there are many reactions produced by the prospect of death. The lengthy first movement is a meditation on the mysteries, terrors, and -- yes -- consolations of death. Leonard Bernstein, who never shied away from romanticizing biographical details, proclaimed the asymmetrical rhythms at the beginning to be a portrayal of the composer's irregular heartbeat.
The cries of the muted brass are poignant, a bit afraid, but somewhat assuaged by the occasional reappearance of a beautiful melody that seems to promise relief from earthly cares. But the nervous twitterings of the winds, and the lengthy sections of quiet foreboding, display an overriding unease. The dances of the second...
- 6/26/2012
- by SteveHoltje
- www.culturecatch.com
Mahler's Symphony No. 3 in D minor is his longest, a six-movement ode to Nature and the World. It includes a children's choir and a contralto soloist but is largely instrumental, using a quite large orchestra complete with posthorn, harps, English horn, bass clarinet, contrabassoon, bass trombones, and a lot more brass than usual. Mahler's nature is not exclusively a calm pastoral scene -- it's stormy, uneasy, sometimes threatening, with mysterious rustling and twittering, yet with rays of sunlight cutting through the shadows at times.
This work had a long and confusing path from conception to completion. Mahler wrote movements II through VI in the summer of 1895. The following year, he worked on a first movement, weaving in elements of the movements he’d written in '95. That movement kept growing and growing -- at least a half an hour long, by itself it as long as all of Beethoven's First Symphony.
This work had a long and confusing path from conception to completion. Mahler wrote movements II through VI in the summer of 1895. The following year, he worked on a first movement, weaving in elements of the movements he’d written in '95. That movement kept growing and growing -- at least a half an hour long, by itself it as long as all of Beethoven's First Symphony.
- 6/10/2012
- by SteveHoltje
- www.culturecatch.com
Ever wondered how she perfected that North Dakota accent in "Fargo"? The Oscar and Tony winner will discuss her career in an April 23 interview with playwright Sarah Ruhl ("In the Next Room or the vibrator play") as part of the League of Professional Theatre Women's Edith Meiser Oral History Project. New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Bruno Walter Auditorium, 40 Lincoln Center Plaza at 65th St., NYC. 6 p.m. Free. (888) 297-3117 or www.theatrewomen.org.
- 4/18/2012
- by help@backstage.com ()
- backstage.com
Mahler's Fourth Symphony (1892/1899-1900) is his sunniest, vastly less concerned with existential questions and therefore less laden with angst than all his other symphonies. There are some shadows in the first two movements, but the lengthy slow movement is gorgeously lyrical, and the finale (originally written in 1892 for the Third Symphony) is a setting for soprano of "Lied der himmlischen Freuden" (Song of the Heavenly Life" from Des Knaben Wunderhorn), a child's amusingly prosaic description of heaven. It's also his second-shortest and much the shortest of his vocal symphonies (under an hour in most readings, and yes, by Mahlerian standards, that counts as short). Furthermore, it's in the most standard four-movement symphony form. All of these things combine to make it his most immediately accessible symphony. It thus has been many listeners' entry point into his highly personal sonic world. It was premiered on November 25, 1901 in Berlin, with the composer conducting.
- 11/25/2011
- by SteveHoltje
- www.culturecatch.com
When Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) was 20, and mostly known to audiences as a pianist, Robert Schumann basically proclaimed him the great hope of German music in an article entitled "New Paths." In those days, the general lament was that no symphonist had been able to measure up to the mighty example of Beethoven. He started composing what could have become his first symphony in 1854; he got cold feet and turned it into his Piano Concerto No. 1, which was premiered in 1859. In that same period, Brahms wrote two Serenades for orchestra -- seemingly to practice dealing with the challenges of those forces -- and his String Sextet No. 1, a fairly grand work for a chamber piece. In 1862 he sent to Clara Schumann (Robert's widow, whom he loved) an early version of the first movement of what he announced would be his First Symphony (it did not yet have its glorious introduction). A decade later,...
- 11/5/2011
- by SteveHoltje
- www.culturecatch.com
Despite circumstances that would make most men bitter, Anton Bruckner (Sept. 24, 1824 – Oct. 11, 1896) in his mature symphonies and choral works wrote some of the most spiritual music since Bach's. Insecure, he spent his thirties studying with the dictatorial music professor Simon Sechter, who had briefly taught Franz Schubert. Brucker didn't compose a symphony until 1863, the "Study" Symphony, which he withheld (as he did the later so-called No. 0).
In Vienna, Bruckner was considered by many to be a naïve country bumpkin; he got unfairly entangled in the bitter Brahms-Wagner debates that split the city. Bruckner's symphonies were thus the object of myopic criticism from some in the Brahms camp, including powerful critic Eduard Hanslick (however, Wagner, Liszt, and Emperor Franz Joseph I were among those who praised or supported Bruckner). The unprecedented length of Bruckner's symphonies, which develop in slow-moving monoliths of sound, was an impediment for some listeners. Bruckner, an excellent organist,...
In Vienna, Bruckner was considered by many to be a naïve country bumpkin; he got unfairly entangled in the bitter Brahms-Wagner debates that split the city. Bruckner's symphonies were thus the object of myopic criticism from some in the Brahms camp, including powerful critic Eduard Hanslick (however, Wagner, Liszt, and Emperor Franz Joseph I were among those who praised or supported Bruckner). The unprecedented length of Bruckner's symphonies, which develop in slow-moving monoliths of sound, was an impediment for some listeners. Bruckner, an excellent organist,...
- 10/10/2011
- by SteveHoltje
- www.culturecatch.com
Goethe cursed attempts to set Faust to music – but composers kept trying regardless. As Terry Gilliam's version opens, Stuart Jeffries recounts a litany of depression, devils and duels
There is a curse on any composer rash enough to set Goethe's Faust to music. The German literary genius declared only Mozart capable of adapting his epic drama of damnation, sexual betrayal, witchcraft and freeform philosophic meditation. Selfishly, Mozart had died in 1791, almost 20 years before Goethe completed part one. So forever after, we have been doomed to suffer Faustian adaptations that the author would have disdained.
Perhaps Goethe's curse was issued because of That Thing he had with Beethoven. When Goethe met Beethoven (What a film! Hugh Bonneville as genteel, bewigged Goethe; Russell Crowe as Beethoven, surly and spoiling for a fight), the former bowed like a courtier; the latter didn't even remove his hat. You can see how...
There is a curse on any composer rash enough to set Goethe's Faust to music. The German literary genius declared only Mozart capable of adapting his epic drama of damnation, sexual betrayal, witchcraft and freeform philosophic meditation. Selfishly, Mozart had died in 1791, almost 20 years before Goethe completed part one. So forever after, we have been doomed to suffer Faustian adaptations that the author would have disdained.
Perhaps Goethe's curse was issued because of That Thing he had with Beethoven. When Goethe met Beethoven (What a film! Hugh Bonneville as genteel, bewigged Goethe; Russell Crowe as Beethoven, surly and spoiling for a fight), the former bowed like a courtier; the latter didn't even remove his hat. You can see how...
- 5/2/2011
- by Stuart Jeffries
- The Guardian - Film News
This past summer Bruce Mac Rae, singer songwriter and youngest son of the legendary show business couple Sheila and Gordon Mac Rae, succumbed to a heart attack at the young age of 55. Heather Mac Rae, Bruce's sister and my close friend, invited me to "A Celebration of Bruce Mac Rae's Life, Loves and Passions", held October 9 in the Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center. Bruce will be missed; he was so young to make this journey and shared such a vibrant love of life with his beloved wife, the great beauty and clinical psychologist, Dr. Mari Terzaghi. In quest of adventure, Mari and Bruce traveled the world -- Egypt, the Galapagos, the Red Sea, the Sea of Cortez diving the deep seas around the world in dangerous, shark infested waters. They welcomed and...
- 10/14/2010
- by Carole Mallory
- Huffington Post
Compiled by Barbara Bergeron and Ken Benson A fresh crop of Tony winners will claim medallions on Sunday at Radio City Music Hall. This year's honorees started their Tony travels on May 4, with an announcement from the stage of the Bruno Walter Auditorium at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Of course, it's an honor just to be nominated. Actors say it all the time -- sometimes even with conviction. But a picture is worth a thousand protestations, as this Nypl gallery of Kenn Duncan photographs of Tony nominees and winners past and present makes clear. Duncan (1921-1986) is renowned for capturing the glamour and pizzazz of luminaries of the stage and dance; his photographic archive is one of the treasures of Lpa's Billy Rose Theatre Division. Selections culled from Divas! The Fabulous Photography of Kenn Duncan &...
- 6/10/2010
- by The New York Public Library
- Huffington Post
On Monday, March 2, 2009, 6:00 P.M. in the Bruno Walter Auditorium, the The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts presents "O, My Offense Is Rank": Lincoln's Favorite Shakespeare Speeches: Excerpts from Hamlet, Henry IV, Julius Caesar, King Lear, Othello, and other plays. The event is part of the series "Mystic Chords of Memory": Abraham Lincoln and the Performing Arts.
- 2/24/2009
- BroadwayWorld.com
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