News
April 26, 2016
Mahler Review & New Work Preview
Thanks to the South Florida Classical Review for their recognition of the talents that were assembled for last weekend’s Mahler/Cage concerts.
“Gustav Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde (The Song of the Earth) came to ecstatic, nightmarish life Saturday at a concert by the New World Symphony, a performance that will surely rank with the best of a rich musical season.”
“For this performance... the orchestra brought in two first-rate singers, the mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke and the tenor Simon O’Neill… O’Neill produced shining, operatic high notes… grim and luminous at once… tone of almost terrifying force… sense of staggering, inebriated eloquence…”
“Cooke took the biggest part in the performance, singing the final song, “Der Abschied” (The Farewell), which itself accounts for half the length of the entire work. If this concert was one of the best of the season, her singing of the last few minutes of this work was the most memorable part. Cooke expressed quiet ecstasy, sadness, joy and loss all at once…”
Click here to read the entire review
And SFCR has also published a fascinating preview of next Saturday’s long-anticipated New Work concert, interviewing all three composers of the world premieres to be presented.
“When the New World Symphony moved into its new hall in Miami Beach five years ago, its leaders were determined to try alternatives. One example is the concert that will take place Saturday, titled simply “New Work.” There will be nothing on the program by masters of the past. Everything will be a world premiere. No one will go in knowing what to expect and no one will know any more about the music than anyone else.”
“The idea is to have it be more like a gallery opening,” said Michael Tilson Thomas, New World’s founder and Artistic director. “You don’t even know necessarily what you’re going to see. We love the situation that exists... where… everyone knows that on that day, all the galleries will be open and that new work will be on display. And people just get up and they go out and see new work. And I think it would be such a nice thing to encourage a custom like that in the concert hall.”
Click here to read the entire preview
Posted in: Concerts, Guest Artists, In the News, MTT