Make Music New York (6/21/26)

A quick note about MMNY. It occurs twice a year on each solstice. Back to your regularly scheduled blogpost. 

I celebrated the solstice with Make Music New York. This year, I only scheduled three events, as I found their website a little difficult to navigate. My first stop was at the Garden Center—Park Avenue at 111th Street. It was listed as 10am through later in the day. My plan was to stay until 10:45 before traveling to my second stop. It turns out that the DJ-cum-performer began setting up at 10am, so I never heard anyone making music. I saw some nice plants, though, and a few chickens. Otherwise, it was a bust.  

I knew that my second stop would be fun, and I was right. Sousapalooza! This was easily my third attendance at this event and possibly my fourth. Here’s the deal. The band members sign up, get sent the music that will be played, study it on their own, and then show up on June 21 for the performance. No rehearsal—just a little warm-up, talking/reading about the layout of the program, and then perform. The conductor is the same person I’ve seen in the past, and he knows how to handle this. This year, the John Philip Sousa marches were played in alphabetical order—El Capitan, Fairest of the Fair, Hands Across the Sea, High School Cadets, In Memoriam, The Liberty Bell, Manhattan Beach, one I missed the name of, Semper Fidelis, The Thunderer, The Washington Post March, and (out of alpha order) Stars & Stripes, to end the performance. I had a blast listening. A guy sitting behind me asked about what was going on, as he had just stumbled across it. It turns out that he was just visiting, so I explained MMNY (twice yearly free concerts at each solstice). He had never heard of it. As it also turned out, he told me that he has two daughters who play in their school band, and he was going to tell them about it later. My good deed was done for the day. A note about In Memoriam—it was written by Sousa for President Garfield’s funeral. It was played there. It was also played at Sousa’s funeral.  

My final stop of the day was an event called Composer’s Voice. This was music (mostly very short compositions) written by living composers, some of whom were at the event. The first group was six guitar pieces ranging from one with touches of jazz, one slow but not necessarily somber, one quite modern, one that also used the body of the guitar as percussion—well, you get my drift. Solo guitar is not my favorite, but it’s good to stretch my ears sometimes. 

There was also a set of four solo guitar pieces that were written specifically for the fellow who played them. Titled Ikenobō, they represented the oldest and largest school of ikebana, the Japanese practice of giving plants and flowers invigorated new life. The name is derived from the word combination of a pond (ike) and the small hut built near the pond for subsequent priests to live in (bo). 

The rest of the hour included one-minute string quartets and a piece that concluded the performance written for string quartet, guitar, and alto saxophone. Its title was Frigid Piggy. I’m not making this up, you know! OK, this eclectic, modern compositional style was not my bag, but some of the writing was done very well. I doubt I’ll hear any of this music again, but as I said earlier, I did stretch my ears.  

I probably shouldn’t put this in writing, in case I don’t actually do it. I’m thinking of attending Sousapalooza on June 21, 2027 in a city that is not NYC. 

ConcertMeister

Gotham Early Music Scene (6/18/26)

Ampersand
Nuestra Señora: from the Mexico City Cathedral Archive 

Madeline Apple Healey ~ soprano; Timothy Parsons ~ countertenor; Jacob Perry ~ tenor; Joseph Hubbard  ~ bass

Nigra Sum – Mathieu Gascongne (fl. 1515–1517)
Kyrie from Missa Nigra sum – Gascogne
Dulcissima Maria – Francisco Guerrero (1528–1599)
Lauda Mater Ecclesia – Tomas Luis de Victoria (1548–1611)
Quasi Cedrus – Guerrero
Sancta et immaculata virginitas – Cristobal de Morales (1500–1553)
Peccantem me quotidie – Pierre de Manchicourt (1510–1564)

Remember the first Naumburg concert recently? This was the GEMS final concert of the 2025/2026 season. 

The music performed by Ampersand was all 16th-century sacred music. As a result, there will not be detailed descriptions of each piece. As always, I’m very happy to hear a cappella voices, and these four were fine musicians, quite attuned to each other in terms of blend and control. 

The first Gascongne work was soprano, countertenor and tenor. It was relatively calm and enjoyable. There were tutti sections and layered sections—each vocalist entering part by part. Wait, what? The bass entered at the very end, and the group went directly into the second Gascogne piece. Nope that was not a typo. The composer’s name appears both ways. In fact, his first name appears three different ways. The second piece was very full without feeling forced at all. 

The first Guerrero piece had soprano, countertenor, tenor and bass entries, in that order. As mentioned earlier, it was very similar in style and scope to the first two. 

The de Victoria (the composer I was most familiar with that day) was slightly different. In three sections, the first began with a solo soprano chant (also known as an incipit) that was then expanded upon by the other three. The second section had the three lower voices presenting the incipit which was then expanded upon. The final section had all four presenting a unison incipit followed by harmony. It was a nice way to mix up the pieces. 

The next two pieces were pretty much variations on the types of works heard previously, while the final piece began tutti and with a full sound. At times, it featured the lower voices a bit more prominently. This was also an added point of interest. 

I was sorry to see this season end, but the next one picks up again on Sept. 17th. I will most likely be there. 

ConcertMeister

Naumburg Orchestral Concerts (6/9/26)

BAROKLYN, CONCORA & SIMONE DINNERSTEIN, DIRECTOR & PIANO 

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685–1750)
Herr Gott, nun schleuss den Himmel auf, BWV 617, (1716) 

PHILIP GLASS (b. 1937), (arr. Michael Riesman)
Suite from The Hours, (2002)
Movement I, Movement II, Movement III

J.S. BACH
Cantata 9, Es ist das Heil uns Kommen her, BWV 9, (1734)*
Chorus: Es ist das Heil uns kommen her; Recitative: Gott gab uns ein Gesetz; Aria: Wir waren schon zu tief gesunken; Recitative: Doch mußte das Gesetz erfüllet werden; Duet: Herr, du siehst statt guter Werke; Recitative: Wenn wir die Sünd aus dem Gesetz erkennen; Chorale: Ob sichs anließ, als wollt er nicht
Louise Fauteux, soprano, Megan Roth, mezzo-soprano, Jack A. Pott, tenor, Jermaine Woodard, Jr., baritone
*Continuo realizations by PHILIP LASSER, (b. 1963)

J.S. BACH
Three Movements from three Cantatas
Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan, BWV99/1 (1724); Er tödt’ uns durch dein’ Güte, BWV22/5 (1723); So lasset uns gehen in Salem der Freuden, BWV182/8 (1714)

J.S. BACH/LASSER (b. 1963)
In the Air (2025)

(Apologies for the ALL CAPS; it was easier for me to copy/paste all of that from their website than to retype everything.)

The first of five concerts in the series, this Tuesday evening in Central Park was pretty much perfect weatherwise. The opening work was for piano, strings, and oboe d’amore. It was gentle but also pretty full sounding. Brief and effective, it was a great way to begin the season. 

Movement I of the Glass opened with Ms. Dinnerstein conducting the strings in the slightly amorphous work. She then went to the piano to join the small ensemble, Baroklyn, and the music was still amorphous. While the energy increased at times, it was amorphous energy. Guess how the movement ended. Movement II began slow and amorphous. And continued that way. It was a bit longer than Movement I. Movement III began (briefly) sans piano. Soon, it was same old, same old. 

After intermission, Baroklyn was joined by the 20-voice choir CONCORA for J.S. Bach’s Cantata 9. There was an orchestral opening, and then the choir joined in, relatively calm and pure (i.e., limited vibrato). The sound mix† was pretty good. The first recitative was for baritone, accompanied by the piano. The aria was for piano and string (violin) and tenor. The baritone was back for the second recitative followed by a soprano/mezzo duet accompanied by flute, piano and oboe. And chirping birds! A recitative (baritone again) was followed by the final chorale for orchestra and full chorus. The movement itself was also full, ending rather sedately. 

Fourth on the program were three movements from three separate Bach cantatas. The first was sprightly, for orchestra and chorus. The second was for low strings, oboe, and chorus. It was a solid chorale, brief but very effective, while the third was for flute and strings followed by the chorus from the top down in an a cappella section. 

The last work was pretty much Air on a G String with updated additions. It was also quite effective.  

This series is one of my favorites of the summer season, and I look forward to it every year. I’m so glad it got off to such a solid start. Fingers crossed for good weather for the next four. [On demand at WQXR.org, though I'm not sure for how long.] 

†Both the chorus and instruments were electronically enhanced.  

ConcertMeister

Across a Crowded Room (5/30/26)

A brief reminder—Across a Crowded Room is a program sponsored by the Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts, a venue near and dear to my heart. Composers, book writers, and lyricists meet in a room, decide who they’d like to work with, and then create a 20-minute musical. It may be self-contained, or it may be the germ of what they hope will be a larger creation. At any rate, this performance was the output of that program. I saw/heard seven 20-minute performances. There was also feedback from two industry professionals after each presentation. Let the fun begin! 

Patricia’s Seven Houses was about Patricia (duh!) who had seven rental properties on a cul de sac. Everyone had problems. Patricia interacted with a couple of renters while also being on hold with the dreaded ‘help’ line of the group that managed the properties. This was very funny. It was more of a play with music than a musical, but I didn’t have a problem with that. 

Zelda (after a tech glitch, an offstage phone call that never arrived) had three versions of the same character. All of them were involved with climate control/change, just different concerns at different times in Zelda’s life. The music and lyrics were good, but it was a little unclear whether all three versions of Zelda actually realized that they were all dealing with all three versions of Zelda at the same time. Still, it was compelling. 

Prison Fan Club (Working Title) was another compelling story. I also liked the music and lyrics. For 20 minutes, it was pretty much fully formed. 

A Most Immoral Woman was the most advanced of the seven works that I saw and heard. There was a set! There were costumes! Everyone was off book! The story revolved around a beauty pageant contestant who was unfortunately incapacitated. Fortunately, her twin sister was available to replace her. Both girls were being mentored by a former beauty pageant participant who had a fix in with the judges. The crux of the story came down to the final contestant’s question. Would the imposter go with the fix or go with her own conviction? I’m not telling. Oh, and this cast also took a bow. (Note to all performers—always take a bow. We, the audience, need to know that you appreciate us appreciating you.) 

The Subway: A Musical Play in Five Memories was also a lot of fun. The setting was 1923 NYC. The actors used their bodies as sound effects (thumping their chests and screeching to imitate the sounds of the subway). It was most effective. This one also had good harmonies, and I'm a big fan of harmony. The five memories got sort of mish-mashed, but it all worked out in the end.

Enemies to Lovers was an interesting spinoff/satire (really, a character named Blake Storm?) that had fun humor but possibly too many vignettes. It was definitely a work in progress. It also had a duet that, alas, had no harmony. As with all of the works, it was enjoyable, just not one of my favorites. 

My Husband’s First Wife was intriguing. And I mean that in a good way. It opened with a female trio singing close harmony, which was a great touch. I pegged it as ’30s. I was close—the setting was 1928. It turns out that Ethel thinks she is Eugene’s second wife. It turns out that Ethel is visited (via a séance) by four of Eugene’s former wives. It turns out that Eugene poisoned all of them with an apple tart. It turns out that when Eugene is returning home, Ethel is preparing an apple tart ... 
It’s not quite Sweeney Todd, but it was very funny nonetheless. 

A note about the industry professionals—they provided great feedback to all seven groups. For one (and I forget which) they really liked the short story quality of the piece and suggested writing two more short story–esque works and then combining them into one larger work. As Arte Johnson would say, "Ver-r-ry inter-es-ting!"

Will I be attending the next Across a Crowded Room performances? You betcha!

ConcertMeister

Gotham Early Music Scene (5/28/26)

THEOTOKOS
Music in the Time of Charlemagne 

Adrienne Lotto ~ voice; Garrett Eucker ~ voice; Dongmyung Ahn ~ vielle; Trący Cowart ~ harp, voice; Rocky Duval ~ voice; Doug Balliett ~ harp, organ, direction 

Part 1: Renovatio 

The most beautiful chants
Alleluia: In die resurrectionis meae ~ Hymn: Aeterna caeli Gloria ~ Gradual: Christus factus est ~ Offertory: Jubilate Deo omnis 

Part 2: Inventio
Anglo-Norman Sequalae
Adorabo Minor ~ Exsultate Deo ~ Lyra ~ Fulgens Praeclara  

Notker: Sequences
Epiphany: Festa Christi ~ Assumption: Congaudent ~ Gallus: Directe deo 

Tuotilo: Hodie cantandus est 

Part 3: Subjugo
The Heliand (excerpt) 

Part 4: Cadio
Plantus Cygni

Historia Santus Arnulfus Metensis (excerpts)
Antiphon: Splendor Aspira ~ Responsory: Politis in Lapidibus ~ Prosa: Solus qui ~ Antiphon: Cum Promere ~ Responsory: Cum Civitatis ~ Prosa: Pro Meritis

Planctus Karolus (excerpt)

Whew! The first work in Part 1 was for soprano, vielle and harp. Next there were five vocalists chanting, with vielle as continuo, in unison at first and then with simple vocal harmonies. The third was for solo male chanting with organ accompaniment. (This was the very first time I was hearing the organ at St. Malachy’s.) The section ended with five vocalists chanting with vielle and the director adding hand claps as percussion. It was quite lively. For those of you wondering, a vielle is a stringed instrument similar to a violin but with a longer and deeper body that, therefore, produces a deeper, slightly richer sound. And, yes, I had to do an internet search. 

A note about each Part. Since each included several pieces that were performed fairly seamlessly, it was a little difficult to tell where one chant ended and the next began, so there won’t be a naming or a description of each individual work. All of the chants were similar to each other but there was enough variety—number of singers, choices of accompaniments, etc.—to keep the entire program interesting. 

Part 2 had a combination of wordless chants over a vocal drone (a single note sustained throughout), harp, vielle, finger cymbals(?) (I never saw them), and tambourine in one lively, celebratory chant.

Part 3 was interesting in that it was a spoken excerpt (with snippets of song) of an epic poem. Fortunately, it was performed in an English translation. Mr. Balliett was at times dramatic and at times humorous.  

Part 4, as announced from the front of the church, had two pieces cut, but it would have been hard to tell since that section of Part 4 had six small pieces listed and it was difficult, once again, to tell where one piece ended and the next began. 

All in all, it was a varied and interesting program well performed by all involved. I’m not sure I’d see and hear the group again, but I’m glad I heard them here. 

ConcertMeister

The American Art Fair (5/19/26)

This was a lot of fun. I heard about it on WQXR and decided to give it a look on the last of the four days of the fair. It took place at the Bohemian National Hall on East 73rd Street, a building I have been in a couple of times before. The fair was on the fifth, fourth, and third floors, displaying art from eighteen different galleries. It was almost overwhelming. In fact, when I go next year, I’ll probably do the fifth and fourth floors, then take a break for a nosh or a beer (or both) and then go back for the third floor. With eighteen galleries to go through, I can easily see spreading it out over a couple of hours.  

The fifth floor is the balcony of the ballroom, and it was fun seeing the chandelier up close and personal. There was a lot of modern art there and for some reason, I was drawn to paintings of flowers of many colors. Since it was the balcony, there was a large empty space in the middle and as a result, it had the smallest number of paintings on display—a good way to dip my toes in without being totally overwhelmed. 

The fourth floor had much more art on display, mostly paintings but also a few small sculptures. If I’m remembering correctly, that’s where I saw the Wyeths. Three generations were represented—N.C., Andrew, and Jamie. All three were interesting. One of the non-Wyeths that I particularly liked was a study for a WPA mural. I did minimal sleuthing, but I never found out whether the mural was actually completed. 

On the third floor, I was drawn to a painting titled In Flight (?). Well of course I was drawn to it, they were mallards! Also on that floor was a small Art Deco sculpture with two women facing each other and doing backbends. What I really liked about it was that it was a flower holder, and there were flowers in it. Just a few but that was just right. Life imitating art as art being used as intended. 

As mentioned above, I plan on going back next year. In fact, I'm already on their mailing list for 2027. It will be the twentieth anniversary. How is it that I just heard about it for the first time this year? As always, there’s a whole lot of exploring to do out there. Oh, and it was free. And there was a lecture each of the four days at 2 p.m., also free.

ConcertMeister (but not)

Jane's Walks (5/1, 5/2, 5/3, 2026)

I did six of seven walks this year. These are walks led by regular people (some of whom are also actual tour guides) honoring Jane Jacobs, an urbanist and activist who helped derail the car-centered approach to urban planning. Do yourself a favor and search for Jacobs and Robert Moses. Anyway, on to the walks. 

Friday began with the Longest Short Walk in Brooklyn, which was exactly one block long, but the excellent guide easily filled the entire hour. We began at the Brooklyn Museum and ended at the central branch of the Brooklyn Library. We covered the museum, Mount Prospect, and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Rock Garden. The guide encouraged us to talk about favorite other Jane’s Walks we’d been on, and it was fun hearing about other walks and what was good about them. I would highly recommend this one. 

Hike the Hudson! I didn’t get a chance to. I was at the corner of Fulton Street and West Street at the appointed time and didn’t see a soul. No leader, no other walkers, nothing. I located a library so that I could check my email, but there were no email updates. Thinking I had messed up, I tried the meeting place one hour later. Nothing. Maybe I’ll try again next year. 

The City Speaks was a walk that covered language that’s particular to New York and New Yorkers. The guide (once we found him) was very entertaining. Why (once we found him) you ask? The information we were given listed the meeting place as 117 E. Houston Street. There is no 117 E. Houston Street. Yes, the meeting place was actually in a park on E. Houston Street. As an icebreaker, the guide had us introduce ourselves to another one of the walkers. Oddly, the guy I was chatting with was going to be leading a walk in Astoria, Queens on Saturday. Anyway, back to our tour guide. He was very knowledgeable, had us interact with each other throughout the entire walk, and even had three costume changes! As a finale, he did hip-hop dancing right on the sidewalk. This guide is an actual tour guide, who gives this tour to paying customers, but once a year does a freebie for Jane’s Walks. Once again, I would highly recommend this one. 

Saturday’s first walk was Community Gardens on the lower east side. I’ve attended this one before, so I skipped the leader’s spiel about the history of squatters and reclaiming unused space in the middle 1970s. It seems his activist harangue went on a lot longer than I remembered; as a result, we only saw one garden and part of Tompkins Square Park. This one I would not recommend, although we did learn a lot about the one garden we visited. 

Next up was Sunnyside, Queens. Unbeknownst to me, the Sunnyside neighborhood features prominently in Spider-Man comic books and movies. Fun facts – Sunnyside Gardens is one of only two private parks in NYC with the other one being Gramercy Park. Sunnyside was also home to a Sunshine Baking Co. factory, and Cheez-Its were invented there. The tour guide had also seen a really bad painting job on the street. He told us that the moment he saw it, he recognized it from a scene in a Spider-Man movie. It really was a rotten paint job. I’ll post a photo on Facebook. This guide knew his stuff very well and kept us actively engaged. Highly recommended.  

Sunday’s first walk was a Water Tower Tour. I learned an awful lot about water towers. Additionally, some of the walkers really got into the spirit of things. One woman had a water tower tote bag and another was wearing water tower earrings. How cool was that? Water towers are constructed of interlocking wooden slats held together by steel bands. No screws, nails or glue. And there are over 17,000 of them in NYC. Sometimes they are enclosed in materials matching the architecture of the buildings they are on top of. With a life span of about thirty years, you might wonder what happens when they need to be replaced. More and more, the wood is being recycled. In fact, the Delacorte Theater in Central Park has recently been refaced with recycled water tower wood. I haven’t seen it yet, but that’s on my list of things to do. The tour guide is also a professional who volunteers her time for a Jane’s Walk. I really lucked out this year and I’d also recommend this walk, as well. 

My last walk of the weekend was on E. 59th Street. This one was also a slightly activist one about reclaiming public/private space being held onto by the Department of Transportation, but I knew about the activism ahead of time. There was literally space that has gone unused by the DOT for twenty years. When quizzed by our two tour guides, the DOT reply was, “Well, we may need it someday.” Sheesh. Just in the block between Second and First Avenues, there were at least two more unused areas fenced off by the DOT. And just east of First Avenue, there is a pocket park that is often rented out for functions, e.g., weddings, receptions, private gatherings. When not in use for an event, the police sometimes shoo private New Yorkers out of the park. Mind you, it’s a public space, and the public has every right to be there. I wish those 59th Street residents good luck with reclaiming those unused spaces. You can learn a lot on a Jane’s Walk, and I did. I’m already looking forward to next year!

ConcertMeister