Tag Archive: washington post

1. Washington Post: Alexandria Symphony offers a sensuous ‘Rite of Spring’ at National Gallery

   May 21, 2013 4:10 pm Comments Off on Washington Post: Alexandria Symphony offers a sensuous ‘Rite of Spring’ at National Gallery

   May 29 marks the 100th anniversary of the wonderfully scandalous premiere of Igor Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring,” when a near-riot broke out in the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. Performances of this still-spectacular work are being staged all over the world this month, and one of the most striking may have been Sunday evening’s performance by the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra, in the Atrium of the National Gallery of Art’s East Building. With its slashing angles, kinetic spaces and eruptive heights, the Atrium echoes “Rite’s” own brash and fearless modernism — and from that perspective, at least, it’s hard to imagine a more perfect setting.

2. The Washington Post calls Bronfman and Beethoven “evocative and inspiring”

   November 13, 2012 2:29 am Leave a Comment

   In the final moments of the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra’s performance Saturday evening, the maestro was jumping in tempo as his musicians and soloist brought the Schlesinger Concert Hall audience to its feet — a fitting conclusion to a collaborative concert that was as dynamic as it was evocative and inspiring.

3. The Washington Post Reviews Midori and Praises the ASO

   April 1, 2012 2:06 pm Leave a Comment

   The Stravinsky “Firebird Suite” that opened the evening was a showcase for the orchestra’s power and its sharp-edged responses. The world premiere of conductor Kim Allen Kluge’s “Meibuki — Regeneration,” written to memorialize the victims of last year’s Japanese earthquake and tsunami, was the culmination of a week of violinist Midori’s residency with the orchestra and five local high schools.

4. The Washington Post Profiles Midori For Her March 2012 Residency With ASO

   March 23, 2012 2:22 pm Leave a Comment

   It would have been a heart-stopping moment for any violinist. Midway through the last movement of Leonard Bernstein’s wildly difficult “Serenade” — with Bernstein himself conducting the orchestra — the tiny, doll-like soloist Midori suddenly felt the E string on her violin snap. She calmly turned to the concertmaster, who  handed her his own instrument (which was much larger than hers), and she picked up where she had left off — until the E string on that violin snapped as well. Midori didn’t miss a beat. She turned back to the concertmaster to borrow a second violin and finished the piece flawlessly.

   The crowd at the Tanglewood Music Festival exploded to its feet, and Bernstein swept her up in a tearful hug as the orchestra broke out in cheers. The headline in the New York Times the next day summed it up: “Girl, 14, conquers Tanglewood with 3 violins.”

5. Stephen Brookes Describes ASO’s 2011 Opening Weekend as “A Jaw-Dropping Performance.”

   October 9, 2011 2:15 pm Leave a Comment

   The Alexandria Symphony Orchestra might not be considered among the world’s top orchestras, but don’t tell its players that. Opening this year’s season Saturday night under the baton of Music Director Kim Allen Kluge, the ASO turned in a jaw-dropping performance, premiering a virtuosic cello concerto by David Balakrishnan and infusing Hector Berlioz’s venerable old war horse, the “Symphonie Fantastique,” with so much vitality, electricity and excitement that it sounded like it was written last week.

6. Cecelia Porter Review: ‘Mahler on the Mall,’ with the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra

   May 23, 2011 2:18 pm Leave a Comment

   Sunday’s concert at the National Gallery of Art was devoted entirely to Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 in D, and conductor Kim Allen Kluge led the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra to meet the now-wrenching, now-boisterous score — a searing emotional seesaw — with a full measure of acumen and passion.

7. Joan Reinthaler Reviews ASO and Pianist Garrick Ohlsson

   May 15, 2011 2:20 pm Leave a Comment

   Garrick Ohlsson was the soloist in the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor, giving a beautifully thought-out performance that highlighted the care and clarity he is so well known for. In the few places where thundering was called for, he thundered magnificently, but for the most part he spoke most eloquently through the transparency and agility of the cascades of notes in fast passages and the carefully weighted and released individual notes in the slow and quiet moments. After a few minutes of mutual adjusting at the beginning, Ohlsson and the orchestra found a comfortable working partnership.