The Boston Pops, the laid-back version of the Boston Symphony, had a go-to composer for all that lighter fare it played, Leroy Anderson. Remember “Sleigh Ride”?
The Argentinian Alberto Ginastera forged one of the great compositional styles of the mid-20th century. A Stravinskian grit of biting harmonies with cut-and-paste construction melded with Argentinian folk elements and an eclectic mix of tonal and atonal impulses.
Fans of ABBA came out in force to the Clay Center Friday night for the Charleston Light Opera Guild’s production of “Mamma Mia!”
Jennifer Higdon has built a reputation as one of today’s preeminent composers. Saturday night, the West Virginia Symphony finally programmed one of her pieces, “blue cathedral,” a work from 2000 that garnered her international notice, many performances and a string of commissions that has co…
Percussion soloist Lisa Pegher made a sensational debut with the West Virginia Symphony in 2012 with her performance of Joseph Schwantner’s Percussion Concerto. Saturday night with the orchestra, she burnished her reputation with a stunning performance of Richard Danielpour’s Percussion Conc…
This weekend, the Charleston Light Opera Guild strayed from their normal fare of glitz and glam to delve into a more complex and gut-wrenching portion of American history with “Ragtime.” Still culturally poignant today, in an America of closed borders and maligned kneeling athletes, “Ragtime…
Saturday night, the Friends of Old Time Music and Dance kicked off their 38th season with the joyful sounds of The Tannahill Weavers.
The composer Michael Torke made a big splash in the 1980s with a series of orchestral piece with colors as titles. Each was loaded with brash orchestral effects, exuberant rhythm and mirth. Those pieces launched a career that has seen him become a major figure in American music.
Coal has always been king in West Virginia. The fossil fuel has been powering the nation and the world from the mid-18th century’s Industrial Revolution to the present day.
The Charleston Light Opera Guild transformed Charleston’s Clay Center into a magical underwater escape Friday evening as it presented “The Little Mermaid.”
Can a father-daughter music team fit the beginnings of a successful career into the daughter’s last summer before college?
Charleston Light Opera Guild’s rendition of “The Full Monty” is quite the treat.
In November 2017, I leapt out of my desk in the Gazette-Mail newsroom, ran to Bill Lynch’s desk, and breathlessly asked him if I could review the upcoming Tim McGraw and Faith Hill concert.
The Clay Center’s “Sound Checks: Party on the Patio” with Parsonsfield and Tony Harrah and the Fly-Over States was scheduled to take place in the venue’s outdoor Sculpture Garden Friday night. However, due to concerns over rain, it was relocated inside to the auditorium’s stage.
Playing popular music with an orchestra has become a standard fare for American orchestras. The West Virginia Symphony has had artists from Kathy Mattea to stars of Broadway to the Irish act Celtic Woman. And it has frequently had cover bands doing music by iconic rock bands like the Moody B…
Premiere performances have been relatively rare with the West Virginia Symphony in its series of symphonic concerts. After he arrived in 2001, former conductor Grant Cooper led premieres of several of his works. He included works by John Beall, Matt Jackfert and me over the years. Both Beall…
An English accent might be difficult for any Charleston actor or actress to pull off, but the cast of the Charleston Light Opera Guild’s production of “My Fair Lady” handles the challenge quite well.
Richard Strauss’ father Franz was one of the great horn players of the late 19th century. As a teenager, the son composed an excellent concerto for him. A long career as one of the more successful composers of orchestral and operatic scores ensued. That career featured copious examples of br…
”Alternate Side” by Anna Quindlen, Random House, 304 pages.
John Williams’ career as a composer dates back to the 1950s, when he started as a pianist and arranger/orchestrator. He played piano for Henry Mancini. He arranged for the gospel singer Mahalia Jackson. He scored television shows.
In my 27 years as a music reviewer in Charleston, the West Virginia Symphony has only had a woman as a guest conductor when that woman was auditioning for the music director’s position. Kayoko Dan conducted in September 2016, and Babara Yahr back in 2000.
The Charleston Light Opera Guild warmed the audience’s hearts and tickled its funny bones Friday night as it presented the delightfully odd yet immediately endearing play “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.”
Some things in life become timelessly woven into the fibers of your being based on sheer repetition alone, and some things have an emotional hold on your subconscious for nostalgic reasons. Tuesday night, the Clay Center’s presentation of “The Sound of Music” proved those two things can coexist.
David Williams couldn’t review the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra’s annual “Home for the Holidays” show at the Clay Center Saturday night.
