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Ekaterina Maximova, famous Russian ballerina of the Soviet era and longtime dancer with the Bolshoi Ballet died yesterday at 70 years of age.
Maximova made at least 2 appearances on the Celebrity Series, in 1962 and again in 1966.
October 2009
Frederica von Stade, mezzo-soprano
Farewell Concert
with special guest Kiri Te Kanawa, soprano
Sunday, October 4, 3pm, Symphony Hall
November 2009
Ingrid Fliter, piano
Sunday, November 1, 3pm, NEC's Jordan Hall
Suzanne Vega
Friday, November 6, 8pm, Sanders Theatre, Cambridge
What Makes It Great? - Mendelssohn’s Octet
with Borromeo String Quartet and Ariel String Quartet
Saturday, November 7, 8pm,
NEC's Jordan Hall
An Evening with Stephen Sondheim – An Onstage
Conversation
with Frank Rich, "A Life in the Theatre"
Saturday, November 14, 8pm,
Sanders Theatre, Cambridge
Berlin Philharmonic
Sir Simon Rattle, conductor
Sunday, November 15, 3pm, Symphony Hall
December 2009
Emerson String Quartet
Friday, December 4, 8pm, NEC's Jordan Hall
Vienna Choir Boys
Saturday, December 12, 2pm, NEC's Jordan Hall
January 2010
Emanuel Ax, piano
Friday, January 8, 8pm, NEC's Jordan Hall
Luciana Souza Trio
Luciana Souza, vocals
Romero Lubambo, guitar
Cyro Baptista, percussion
Friday, January 22, 8pm,
Sanders Theatre, Cambridge
What Makes It Great? – The Music of Cole
Porter
Saturday, January 23, 8pm,
NEC's Jordan Hall
Mark Morris Dance Group
"Mozart Dances"
with the Orchestra of Emmanuel Music
Jane Glover, conductor
Russell Sherman & Minsoo Sohn, piano soloists
January 29-31, The Opera House
Christian Tetzlaff, unaccompanied violin
Sunday, January 31, 5pm,
NEC's Jordan Hall
February 2010
Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet
Friday, February 5, 8pm, NEC's Jordan Hall
Richard Goode & Jonathan Biss, duo pianists
Sunday, February 7, 3pm,
NEC's Jordan Hall
Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour
Regina Carter, violin
Kurt Elling, vocals
Russell Malone, guitar
with the Kenny Barron Trio
Thursday, February 11, 8pm, Berklee Performance Center
David Finckel, cello
Wu Han, piano
Philip Setzer, violin
Sunday, February 21, 3pm,
NEC's Jordan Hall
Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra
Riccardo Chailly, conductor
Nelson Freire, piano soloist
Thursday, February 25, 8pm, Symphony Hall
March 2010
Artemis String Quartet
Friday, March 5, 8pm, NEC's Jordan Hall
Max Raabe & Palast Orchester
"A Night in Berlin"
Saturday, March 6, 5pm & 8pm, Paramount Theater
Itzhak Perlman, violin
Rohan De Silva, piano
Sunday, March 7, 3pm, Symphony Hall
Black Grace Dance Company
March 12-14, Paramount Theater
Bobby McFerrin
Sunday, March 21, 3pm, Symphony Hall
Yo-Yo Ma, cello
Kathryn Stott, piano
Friday, March 26, 8pm, Symphony Hall
Dee Dee Bridgewater
"Lady Day"
March 27 & 28, Paramount Theater
April 2010
NEC Philharmonia
Hugh Wolff, conductor
Narek Hakhnazaryan, cello soloist
Wednesday, April 7, 8pm, Symphony Hall
Subscriber Bonus Event!
St. Lawrence String Quartet
Friday, April 9, 8pm, NEC's Jordan Hall
Chanticleer
"In Time of ..."
Sunday, April 11, 3pm, NEC's Jordan Hall
David Sedaris
Sunday, April 11, 7pm, Symphony Hall
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
April 15-18, Citi Wang Theatre
Imani Winds with Stefon Harris
Friday, April 16, 8pm, NEC's Jordan Hall
Maya Beiser, cello
"World to Come"
Friday, April 23, 8pm, Paramount Theater
Maurizio Pollini, piano
Sunday, April 25, 3pm, Symphony Hall
Danish Dance Theater
April 27 & 28, Paramount Theater
May 2010
Thomas Quasthoff, bass-baritone
Sunday, May 2, 3pm, NEC's Jordan Hall
Brian Stokes Mitchell
Saturday, May 8, 8pm, Sanders Theatre
_________________________________
Important Dates:
Priority seating deadline: Friday, June 12, 2009
Subscriptions by phone begin: Monday, June 15, 2009
Single ticket sales begin: Monday, September 14, 2009
Subscribe online
or call for a free 2009-2010 season brochure: (617) 482-2595.
Jeremy Eichler's review of Renée Fleming's recital on Sunday ran in today's Globe. Here's a taste:
"It's not easy to make Symphony Hall feel like an intimate space, but Renée Fleming did so with her
In general, Eichler had more bones to pick with Fleming's performance than the audience: he wasn't as "adoring" as most of the rest of us in Symphony Hall were. But he was "at the same concert as the rest of us" to repeat a common audience take on concert reviews. Read all of A Fleming Sampler: Messiaen to Americana.
The good folks at Misstropolis hosted a short essay contest amongst readers with the winners receiving tickets to next week's Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater 50th Anniversary Celebration at The Opera House, and they were good enough to share the winning entries with us:
"Just a quick note to enter your contest for tickets to Alvin Ailey. We're not terribly graceful in our family. Both of our girls tried dance but just didn't have the right physicality for it. Still we've encouraged them to love dance by making a family tradition of seeing the Urban Nutracker and other performances. And our kids, now adolescents, continue to grow in their body confidence through the sports they've come to love: soccer and martial arts. We parents are also huge fans of Sweet Honey in the Rock and seeing them with Alvin Ailey with our kids would give us a glow that would last for weeks, and years of memories. Hope you'll consider us when you do your drawing."
"I just got the Misstropolis email and I am very excited about this opportunity. I started dancing when I was three years old (my mother put my sister and I into dance lessons) at a very young age. I really believe that our dance preparation and lessons on a weekly basis lead us to be who we are today. I obviously have a strong passion for dance due to my long standing involvement in the dance industry. Although, I think that daily lessons, consistency from dance and expression lead people who have that background to live successful lives. The values you take away from your instructors, the friendships, and the passion for health and exercise live with me today. I go to Alvin Ailey every year, it is a tradition for me and my sister...I would love to win this prize!"
"Here is why I would LOVE to win the Alvin Ailey tickets. I have seen and have been mesmerized by the marketing and advertising for this amazing group of dancers. For whatever reason, I have never been to see them in person. The fluidity of their dance and strength of their bodies, but used in such a manner of grace and elegance is nothing short of amazing. a second reason would be that I would love an excuse to go on a date with my tween daughter and inspire the arts within her soul as well(although i beleive there is a spark there already!)"
"Watching the Alvin Ailey dancers celebrate life, dance, passion, love and the human form would bring me such joy. Seeing them would add a much needed element of hope and celebration during these difficult days.Thank you for considering me."
Now I'm not here to tell you that the Celebrity Series of Boston 2009-2010 season launch will be exactly like the Oklahoma Land Rush, but if this season is any indication I recommend acting fast (and maybe even getting a horse. And wear a bandanna on your mouth, it gets mighty dusty when the crowd starts running). Orchestras, dance, chamber music, soloists, jazz, popular music and spoken word performances are all on tap for 2009-2010.
Subscriptions can be had online as of 12:01am this Friday, April 24 at www.celebrityseries.org. If you were a subscriber this season, you will get a season brochure in the mail either this Friday or this Saturday, depending on where you live.
P.S. - Priority Seating Deadline is Friday, June 12 and you can start ordering by phone on Monday,
June 15.
Clarinetist David Krakauer
Matthew Guerrieri's Globe review of the Orion String Quartet with clarinetist David Krakauer struck me as old school when I first read it. Perhaps refreshingly so. Guerrieri sticks mostly to the not terribly obvious facts and reports events, leaving any notions of "thumbs up or thumbs down" criticism to glide unseen as more of subtle undercurrent than damnation, leaving one to wonder if one could read into each comment what one, in fact, had read into it. For example:
"Del Tredici's neo-Romanticism nearly forgoes the prefix - four-fifths of the piece would fit the Brahmsian aesthetic of Boston a century ago - and the music's titular Hungarian color has the authenticity of a Gypsy-themed Hollywood production number."
I find this, and Guerrieri's criticism in general, a delight to read, but I usually wonder what else I'm being served with my impartial journalistic stew: is it light venom or merely spicy prose? I, for one, plan to keep reading for clues.
Read all of Captured in Orion's Orbit.
P.S. - One doesn't read the word "Brahmsian" very often, so I don't often have the chance to say that it makes me imagine Brahms as a friend of Gidget, the only person who can get away with calling him "Brahmsie."
