New Orford scores big on Super Bowl Sunday

Reviewed by Lee Shepherd

For most of the country, Super Bowl Sunday (Feb. 3) was all about competition. For the select crowd at Binghamton University’s Anderson Center Chamber Hall for the “pregame show” on Sunday afternoon, it was all about collaboration.
And what a fine demonstration of perfect coordination it was, as the New Orford String Quartet played Mozart’s Quartet in C Major (the “Dissonant”), Brahms’ Quartet in A minor, Op. 51, No. 2 and Quebecois composer Jacques Hétu’s Quartet No. 2, Op. 50.

Fenimore Quartet makes trip to West Kortright Centre worthwhile

Reviewed by Lee Shepherd

Take four fine musicians, put them in an 1850s church surrounded by farm fields frequented by horses and other critters, and ask the performers to play their favorite works, and you’ll get the marvelous concert performed last night (July 25) by the Fenimore Quartet at the West Kortright Music Centre.

Strong principals help make TCO’s ‘Flute’ a winner

Reviewed by Tony Villecco

How can you lose with Mozart? You can’t. I attended the final dress rehearsal Wednesday evening for Tri-Cities Opera’s production of Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) and was not disappointed. All of the principals were strong with a few standouts. No surprise here that the orchestra also was excellent under the firm hand of Maestro John Mario Di Costanzo. The overture, a signature piece, was worth the price of admission.

Philharmonic season off to an exhilarating start

Reviewed by Lee Shepherd

How lucky we are to have such a sonorous and competent orchestra. The Binghamton Philharmonic Orchestra, under the direction of José-Luis Novo, did itself proud Saturday evening (Oct. 1) with a performance of Niels Gade’s “In the Highlands,” Mozart’s “Piano Concerto No. 23 (K. 488)” aand César Franck’s “Symphony in D Minor.”

Philharmonic, soloist Ehnes serve up a musical feast

Reviewed by Lee Shepherd

Fantastic soloist, fantastic orchestra, fantastic music — in the words of Binghamton Philharmonic Maestro José-Luis Novo, “It doesn’t get any better than that.”
Actually, it did last Sunday (Jan. 23). Guest soloist James Ehnes played Mozart’s Violin Concerto No., 3, K. 216, in G Major on one of the best violins ever crafted – a Stradivarius. (Ehnes plays the “Marsick” Stradivarius of 1715, on loan from the Fulton Collection.) While a quiet instrument, the violin possesses a color palette that puts a rainbow to shame.

John Covelli & Friends: Fantasia with too little sax

Reviewed by Leo Cotnoir

There is no question that John Covelli is a talented pianist, and it is clear that mid-19^th Century Romanticism is his métier. After a somewhat overlong but informative introduction Sunday (Oct. 3) at The Schorr Family Firehouse Stage in Johnson City, Covelli launched into Robert Schumann’s “Fantasia in C Major, Opus 17” with the energy and gusto of a much younger man performing for a jury who would decide his fate. One could not help but hear the connection Covelli feels with the composer through his teacher, who studied with Schumann’s wife, piano virtuosa Clara Schumann. When he ventured into other periods, however, although still technically impressive, Covelli seemed on shakier musical grounds. For my taste his performance of a transcription of Bach’s “Prelude in B minor” had far too much tempo variation as did his reading of Mozart’s “Fantasy in D minor” that at times sounded more like Brahms than Mozart. His performance of Debussy’s “La Cathédrale Engloutie” (“The Sunken Cathedral”) began with the ethereal quality we associate with French Impressionist composers but soon seemed to be grow a bit bombastic. A second piece by Debussy, “Ce qu’a vu le vent d’ouest” (“What the West Wind Saw”), since it calls for a heavy hand to depict the storm wind, was more successful.