CONCERT REVIEW: Atlanta Symphony Orchestra May 30 & June 1, 2024 Atlanta Symphony Hall, Woodruff Arts Center Atlanta, Georgia – USA Carlos Miguel Prieto, conductor; Daniil Trifonov, piano. Johannes BRAHMS: Piano Concerto No. 2 in B♭ major, Op. 83 Robert SCHUMANN: Symphony No. 2 in C major, Op. 61 Christopher Hill | 31 MAY 2024 The slim, silver-haired but youthful-appearing guest conductor of this week’s Atlanta Symphony Orchestra concerts, Carlos Miguel Prieto, is substituting on short notice for Maestra Nathalie Stutzmann, the orchestra’s music director. Who is this man who can conduct bo ..read more

EarRelevant Staff | 30 MAY 2024 LINCOLN, NE— Lincoln’s Symphony Orchestra (LSO) has announced its 2024-2025 concert season, featuring a variety of performances that highlight time, place, heritage, and the seasons. Under the direction of music director Edward Polochick, the orchestra will present several premieres, classic works, and pieces exploring a range of emotions from love and loss to joy and celebration. Edward Polochick, music director of Lincoln’s Symphony Orchestra. (courtesy of LSO) The upcoming season includes seven classical concerts, two family concerts, one holiday concert, a ..read more

Mark Gresham | 27 MAY 2023 A towering figure in late Romantic and early modernist music, German composer Richard Strauss is celebrated not only for his symphonic and operatic compositions but also for his profound affinity with the soprano voice. The Houston Symphony’s upcoming season-capping two-week Strauss Festival, which begins this week at Jones Hall, celebrates Strauss’s enduring legacy and his impact on the repertoire for soprano voice, as well as symphonic and operatic repertoire. Strauss’s relationship with the soprano voice was both professional and personal. He married the famo ..read more

Classical, Opera & Jazz in North America EarRelevant Staff | 24 MAY 2024 Summer is a great season for travel! Here at EarRelevant, we’ve compiled a list of 62 North American summer music festivals featuring classical music, opera, or jazz, occuring primarily between Memorial Day Weekend (May 25-29) and the Autumnal Equinox (September 22). The list is curated and not intended to be comprehensive. It is limited to 62 (59 in the United States and 3 in Canada), and the information is deliberately minimal: name, location, dates, directors, genres, and website link. Here ..read more

EarRelevant Staff | 22 MAY 2024 ATHENS, GA— The University of Georgia Performing Arts Center (PAC) has announced an impressive lineup for its 2024-25 UGA Presents season, featuring a stellar array of award-winning musicians, celebrated international ensembles, and acclaimed performing artists. The season, spanning from September to June, will host performances across the UGA Performing Arts Center, Fine Arts Theatre, and the historic Morton Theatre. Among the highlights are Grammy Award-winning soprano and Kennedy Center Honoree Renée Fleming, and the Grammy-winning jazz sensation Samara ..read more

WCLK 91.9 Jazz celebrates 50 Years at special AJF opener Patrick Tabeek | 21 FEB 2023 In the lead-up to the ever-vibrant and exuberant weekend of music-making that is the Atlanta Jazz Festival, now in its 47th year, featuring some of the most prominent names in the genre and industry as a whole, such as New Jazz Underground, Butcher Brown, Cécile McLorin Salvant, Lizz Wright, and Andre 3000, the Festival will also be honoring radio station WCLK 91.9 Jazz, as it reaches it’s 50th year on the air. The Clark Atlanta University-based radio station has reached both local and national audiences and ..read more

EarRelevant Staff | 20 MAY 2024 OSLO, Norway— The Kon-Tiki Chamber Music Festival will bring a blend of Norwegian and international musical talents to the heart of Oslo from May 23 to May 25, 2024. Under the co-direction of siblings Julie and David Coucheron, the festival promises a vibrant lineup of concerts at the Norsk Maritimt Museum. In addition to violinist David Coucheron and pianist Julie Coucheron, this year’s featured musical artists will include cellist Sandra Lied Haga, pianist Håvard Gimse, violinist Christopher Tun Andersen, violist Ida Bryhn. The festival kicks off on May 23 wit ..read more

CONCERT REVIEW: Amethyst Baroque Ensemble May 11, 2024 St. Bede’s Episcopal Church Atlanta, Georgia – USA “Tu sei amore: Music in my heart” Alexandra Dunbar, harpsichord; Jody Miller, recorder; Adrin Akins, countertenor; Marcy Jean Brenner, viola da gamba. Francesca CACCINI: Maria, dolce Maria Giovanni BASSANO: Divisions on “Io canterei d’amor” August KÜHNEL: Herr Jesu Christ Johann Sebastian BACH: Air from Suite 3, BWV 1068 Francesco BARSANTI:Sonata VI in B-flat Major Alessandro SCARLATTI: Dormi, o fulmine di guerra Johann Sebastian BACH: Excerpts from Goldberg Variationen, BWV 988 Johann Seb ..read more

EarRelevant Staff | 16 MAY 2024 Last Saturday afternoon, the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra celebrated its 50th anniversary with a special program at Symphony Hall highlighting its rich history and legacy. Established in 1974 as a subsidiary of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the ASYO has provided a platform for Atlanta’s most talented young musicians to perform classical masterworks and receive mentorship from top ASO and community musicians. Some four hundred aspiring 8th through 12th-grade student instrumentalists from over 20 metro Atlanta school districts audition annually for membershi ..read more

ALBUM REVIEW: Sonatas & Myths Elizabeth Chang, violin; Steven Beck, piano. Karol SZYMANOWSKI: Mythes, Trois Poèmes, op. 30 Ernst von DOHNÀNYI: Violin Sonata in C♯ minor, op. 21 Béla BARTÓK: Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Piano Bridge Records 9590 Formats: CD Release Date: May 17, 2024 Total Duration: 66:00 Giorgio Koukl | 14 MAY 2024 When examining their art of conceiving a violin and piano score with its harmonic substance, the three prominent early 20th-century composers chosen for this disc could not be more different. Yet, all works recorded here were written within ten years of each othe ..read more