Comedy and commentary ring true in ‘Dead Man’s Cell Phone’

Reviewed by Lory Martinez

Elizabeth Mozer’s Binghamton University directorial debut, Dead Man’s Cell Phone by Sarah Ruhl, follows a woman named Jean (Christina Catechis), who finds — what else? — the phone belonging to Gordon, a dead man, and begins to answer it. She meets his mistress (Jacobella Luongo); his mother, Mrs. Gottlieb (Sarah Lees); his brother, Dwight (Rob Tendy); his wife, Hermia (Arshia Panicker) and his organ-trafficking business associate, “the stranger” (also played by Luongo). On the surface, this is a situational comedy about a woman who keeps this man’s memory alive by keeping in contact with the people in his life, but ultimately it is a play about communication.

The pipes, the pipes were calling at BU

Reviewed by Nancy McKenzie Oliveri

Last Thursday (Jan. 31), nearly 1,200 people came to Binghamton University to see the Pipes, Drums and Highland Dancers of the Black Watch 3rd Battalion, and the Band of the Scots Guards.  Throughout the night, the crowd was brought to its feet, and to tears. Repeatedly.

Clarinet soloist teams with BPO for concert filled with serenity and joy

Reviewed by Lee Shepherd

A funny thing happened at the Binghamton Philharmonic concert yesterday afternoon (Jan. 20). The clarinet soloist, Pascual Martinez Forteza, came out from behind the curtain at Binghamton University and almost turned left toward the woodwind section. He quickly turned right and took his rightful place in front of the orchestra, where he proved that the rarely-featured clarinet is indeed a very fine solo instrument.

Binghamton Philharmonic presents masterful performance

Reviewed by Tony Villecco
The Binghamton Philharmonic, under the direction of Maestro Jose-Luis Novo, executed a powerful and emotionally charged presentation of Giuseppe Verdi’s monumental Requiem Sunday afternoon (Nov. 11) at Binghamton University’s Anderson Center.

Marvin Hamlisch: An appreciation

Award-winning composer Marvin Hamlisch was scheduled to conduct a performance of his music with the Binghamton Philharmonic late last month.  The show would have taken place at the Anderson Center for the Performing Arts on the Binghamton University campus.  But about a week before the much-anticipated show, word came that Mr. Hamlisch could not travel due to a fall.  Today (August 7) came the news that Mr. Hamlisch has died.  He leaves a singular legacy of glorious music.  Read more and listen to NPR’s appreciation at:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/therecord/2012/08/07/158364635/marvin-hamlisch-movie-and-broadway-composer-has-died

Music lovers: Don’t miss out on BU spring concerts

By Lee Shepherd

It occurs to me that the community doesn’t take full advantage of the many free or very low-cost concerts offered by the Binghamton University Music Department. Take the weekly Mid-Day Thursday (1:20 p.m.) Concerts during the school year, all in Casadesus Recital Hall in the Fine Arts Building. They’re free and feature up-and-coming student musicians and/or faculty. A special treat will be the May 3 Jazz Mid-Day with guest artist Mark Buselli, who also will perform that evening with the Harpur Jazz Ensemble in the Osterhout Concert Theatre of the Anderson Center.

Africanaise at BU blends musical worlds

Reviewed by Sarah Kuras

An incredible collaboration between Binghamton University’s Nukporfe African Dance-Drumming Ensemble and the BU Music Department’s string faculty lit the Anderson Center Chamber Hall stage this past Sunday (April 15). In a mix of worlds, culture and music, Professors James Burns, Stephen Stalker and Janey Choi created a new musical world for the audience. Blending classical and traditional African music, the collaborators created an entirely new delight.

BU vocal ensembles excel in homage to Canada

Reviewed by Sarah Kuras

This past Thursday (March 15), I had the pleasure of attending the joint Harpur Chorale/Women’s Chorus concert at Binghamton University’s Anderson Center. The two groups performed vocal works by Canadian composers, folk songs and songs of First Nation People. This beautifully curated selection of pieces highlighted the cultural backgrounds of the many regions and peoples of Canada, a country that has been a longtime passion of conductor Peter Browne.

Paul Taylor/BU Symphony Orchestra collaboration is incredible

Reviewed by Sarah Kuras

Last Saturday (March 10), the Paul Taylor Dance Company and the Binghamton University Symphony Orchestra, directed by Timothy Perry, again gave a wonderful performance at BU’s Anderson Center. These two groups, which last worked together in 2009, left me breathless. It is hard to describe the company’s dancing with just words, so please, bear with me as I try to take you with me through this performance.

Kim, Jokubaviciute dazzle at BPO chamber concert

Editor’s note: Julian Shepherd kindly wrote this review so that his wife, BAMirror reviewer Lee Shepherd, could attend a Madrigal Choir of Binghamton rehearsal.

Reviewed by Julian Shepherd

Soovin Kim and Ieva Jokubaviciute, two young but already internationally-known artists educated in the United States, presented a top-flight performance of violin and piano duets last Sunday (Feb. 19) at Binghamton University’s Anderson Center for the Arts. The concert was presented by the Binghamton Philharmonic.

‘A Broken Key’ strings together different themes

Reviewed by Sarah Kuras

While a piano played softly, out of the dark stepped three dancers. Each of them wove in and out of the music while a fourth dancer sat at a piano bench,  mimicking the motions of a pianist.

So began A Broken Key, the dance performance featured this past weekend at Binghamton University’s Anderson Center for the Performing Arts.

‘A Broken Key’ brings pieces together this weekend at BU

A Broken Key, a dance performance at Binghamton University which opens this weekend, is directed by JoEllen Kuhlman, an Owego native who teaches at Kathy Hansen School of Dance in Apalachin and has studied dance for 26 years.

By Sarah Kuras

Tell me the story behind A Broken Key.

A Broken Key is based off one piece of music, “It’s Gonna Be A Long Walk” by Apparat. I started with the music and then developed the concept. There is a variety of styles of music — classical, contemporary. The show has 10 separate numbers; some pieces are smooth, some are accented. All of them are different; for example, one of the pieces is very emotional. It’s a ballet with contemporary and modern styles. It is a very athletic show with partnering.

Disturbing Shostakovich, delicious Beethoven lead another balanced BPO performance

Reviewed by Lee Shepherd

It’s not a tune you’d go home humming. World-class cellist Amit Peled declared his adversarial relationship with his cello in the grim five-note motif within the first bar of the work, creating a tension that soon rose to a shriek. Hysterics, grimness, angst — these are all adjectives that came to mind when listening to him perform Dmitri Shostakovich’s “Cello Concerto No. 1” with the Binghamton Philharmonic Sunday (Jan. 29) at Binghamton University’s Anderson Center.

BPO, under Novo, teams with pianist Wosner for top-flight concert

Editor’s note: Julian Shepherd kindly wrote this review so that his wife, Lee, could attend a Madrigal Choir of Binghamton rehearsal. She was loathe to skip any rehearsals, with MCOB’s “Lessons and Carols” concert coming up on Thanksgiving weekend.

By Julian Shepherd

Maybe the reason for existence is what Charles Ives questioned in the The Unanswered Question, but the Binghamton Philharmonic provided one answer for us last Sunday (Nov. 6) at Binghamton University: great music performed with great skill and sensitivity. Accompanied by guest pianist Shai Wosner, the orchestra played a program of two well-known and beloved pieces by Beethoven and Schumann, introduced by the lesser-known work by Ives. The performance, in the Anderson Center’s Osterhout Concert Theater, was dedicated to the memory of Marianne Wallenberg, a long-time violinist, teacher and proponent of music in Binghamton. (Wallenberg and her husband, the late Fritz Wallenberg, founded the Binghamton Symphony, now the BPO.)

Porcel burns bright in ‘Gypsy Fire’

By Sarah Kuras

Last Wednesday’s performance (Oct. 26)  at  Binghamton University’s Anderson Center was certainly one to remember. The Compania Flamenca Jose Porcel dazzled the audience with a program of traditional and improvisational Spanish dances.