Facebook-f Pinterest Flickr
Instagram Tumblr Blogger

REVIEWS & ARTICLES

Categories
The Many Deaths of Laila Starr at Works & Process at the Guggenheim
Music
Edward A Kliszus, Editor-in-Chief / Music and Arts Critic

The Many Deaths of Laila Starr at Works & Process at the Guggenheim

A goddess of Death, fired from heaven, learns what it means to be alive—and if this glimpse at the Guggenheim is any measure, audiences will too. The Many Deaths of Laila Starr fuses raga, Konnakol, and pulsing EDM with soaring vocal writing, sumptuous design, and incandescent dance. Minnesota Opera’s 52nd world premiere is a once-in-a-generation event. Don’t merely read about it: be in the room at the Ordway in Saint Paul, October 31–November 8, 2026.

Edward A Kliszus, Editor-in-Chief / Music and Arts Critic
Musica Sacra Wraps St. John the Divine in SurRound: The Earth Remembers
Choral Music
Edward A Kliszus, Editor-in-Chief / Music and Arts Critic

Musica Sacra Wraps St. John the Divine in SurRound: The Earth Remembers

Beneath Luke Jerram’s glowing Gaia, Kent Tritle and Musica Sacra transformed the Cathedral of St. John the Divine into a living hymn to our fragile, magnificent planet. From Renaissance polyphony to Rautavaara’s Rilke and Miłosz’s gentle apocalypse, every phrase shimmered with wonder, grief, and hope. Radiant soloists, an impeccable chorus, and immersive surround staging made this an unforgettable hour. Do not miss Musica Sacra’s 2026–27 season; your heart, and perhaps the Earth, will thank you.

Edward A Kliszus, Editor-in-Chief / Music and Arts Critic
Sam Fazio: My Broadway at 54 Below
Cabaret
Edward A Kliszus, Editor-in-Chief / Music and Arts Critic

Sam Fazio: My Broadway at 54 Below

Warm-voiced, funny, and unashamedly sentimental, Sam Fazio’s My Broadway turns a supper club into a communal memory palace, one show tune at a time. Anchored by Chris White’s luminous piano and John Sutton’s buoyant bass, this is cabaret at its most generous — intimate, swinging, deeply humane, theater history sung by a man who has clearly lived every lyric. Watch for Fazio’s next 54 Below engagement, bring tissues for the ballads and your fullest voice for the choruses, and leave humming, quietly grateful.

Edward A Kliszus, Editor-in-Chief / Music and Arts Critic
The Zerbinetta Aria: Gruberová Conquers Strauss’s Everest
FEATURE STORY
Edward A Kliszus, Editor-in-Chief / Music and Arts Critic

The Zerbinetta Aria: Gruberová Conquers Strauss’s Everest

Edita Gruberová sings Zerbinetta’s “Großmächtige Prinzessin” from Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos, among the most punishing coloratura solos ever composed. Strauss wrote it for Frieda Hempel, but she had decamped to the Metropolitan Opera, and Margarethe Siems created the role at Stuttgart on October 25, 1912. The premiere drew luminaries and an orchestra of borrowed Italian strings. Molière’s framing play made the evening unwieldy; by 1916 a Prologue replaced it, and the aria was mercifully shortened.

Edward A Kliszus, Editor-in-Chief / Music and Arts Critic
Sit Inside the Sound: The Park Avenue Chamber Symphony’s 2026–2027 Season
Music
Edward A Kliszus, Editor-in-Chief / Music and Arts Critic

Sit Inside the Sound: The Park Avenue Chamber Symphony’s 2026–2027 Season

The Park Avenue Chamber Symphony’s 2026–2027 season seats audiences inside the orchestra through its patented InsideOut Concerts® format. Music Director David Bernard opens in November with three Romeo and Juliets — Prokofiev, Bernstein, Tchaikovsky — then leads two Nutcrackers in December, Beethoven’s Violin Concerto with Sean Lee in February, and a Dvořák–Brahms program in May. The season closes at Merkin Hall in June with Special Music School concerto winners. Family and Full Experience performances available.

Edward A Kliszus, Editor-in-Chief / Music and Arts Critic
American Classical Orchestra Turns the Key on Haydn and Beethoven
Choral Music
Edward A Kliszus, Editor-in-Chief / Music and Arts Critic

American Classical Orchestra Turns the Key on Haydn and Beethoven

urning the Key provides more than a compelling juxtaposition of Haydn and Beethoven. It demonstrates how wit, faith, fear, and hope coexist within a single musical tradition. Thomas Crawford, the American Classical Orchestra, its chorus, and four distinguished soloists restore the music’s human scale while preserving its sublimity. The ACO’s ongoing Beethoven cycle offers performances that let familiar masterpieces engage, challenge, and console listeners, ultimately revealing new interpretive possibilities.

Edward A Kliszus, Editor-in-Chief / Music and Arts Critic
New York Resounds: The ASO Marks Twenty-Five Years Since 9/11 at Bryant Park
Music
Edward A Kliszus, Editor-in-Chief / Music and Arts Critic

New York Resounds: The ASO Marks Twenty-Five Years Since 9/11 at Bryant Park

On the twenty-fifth anniversary of 9/11, the American Symphony Orchestra and Leon Botstein turned Bryant Park into a place of sanctuary. Copland’s fanfare, Walker’s lament, Ives’s firemen’s parade, Haydn’s Mourning Symphony, and Mahler’s unfinished Adagio marked a journey from grief to gratitude, with luminous playing from concertmaster Cyrus Beroukhim and the ASO’s principals. Free, fearless, and profoundly humane, this is the orchestra New York deserves. Seek out the ASO’s 2026–27 season at Riverside Church and Carnegie Hall, and go.

Edward A Kliszus, Editor-in-Chief / Music and Arts Critic
Samara Joy: The Bronx’s Silken Voice Ascends
FEATURE STORY
Edward A Kliszus, Editor-in-Chief / Music and Arts Critic

Samara Joy: The Bronx’s Silken Voice Ascends

At 26, Bronx-born vocalist Samara Joy has gathered six GRAMMY Awards — Best New Artist among them — and an NAACP Image Award, while critics invoke Sarah Vaughan and Carmen McRae in the same breath. From gospel roots in Castle Hill to triumphs at Carnegie Hall and the Village Vanguard, her album Portrait crowned the 68th GRAMMYs. This fall, her septet tours North America before crossing to Europe’s great concert halls.

Edward A Kliszus, Editor-in-Chief / Music and Arts Critic
Once In a Lifetime, Again at the AMT Theater
Musical Theater
Edward A Kliszus, Editor-in-Chief / Music and Arts Critic

Once In a Lifetime, Again at the AMT Theater

Once In a Lifetime, Again” is that rare festival discovery worth crossing town for: a tender, funny, rock-and-roll-hearted musical about grief, therapy, and the terrifying comedy of dating again after sixty-five. Cooper Grodin sings with aching honesty, Jenny Lee Stern is a comic chameleon, and Thursday Farrar grounds it all with reserved grace. It is the kind of festival discovery one hopes will have a life beyond its five-performance BBTF run.

 

Edward A Kliszus, Editor-in-Chief / Music and Arts Critic
Love is Not a Verdict: Teatro Grattacielo’s Così fan tutte at La MaMa
Music
Edward A Kliszus, Editor-in-Chief / Music and Arts Critic

Love is Not a Verdict: Teatro Grattacielo’s Così fan tutte at La MaMa

Rarely does a comedy leave you laughing and quietly undone at once. Teatro Grattacielo’s Così fan tutte did exactly that — Mozart made intimate, human, and wickedly alive. Do not let the story end here: explore the company’s upcoming season, from The Tempest to free opera in the park, and let this fearless troupe astonish you again very soon.

Edward A Kliszus, Editor-in-Chief / Music and Arts Critic
BUY TICKETS
Facebook-f Instagram

The Many Deaths of Laila Starr at Works & Process at the Guggenheim

PLEASE COMMENT & SIGN UP

More to Explore..

Buy Tickets to any Event, Show, or Game at Event Tickets Center TicketLiquidator Ticketclub.com