Zachary Woolfe
Posts
The Philharmonic Tests Its New Home With the Classics
David Geffen Hall reopened with a month of concerts that sketched a possible future for the New York Philharmonic. Now it’s back to business.
Review: Dimming the Lights for Sensuously Flowing Bach
The harpsichordist Jean Rondeau played the “Goldberg” Variations at Weill Recital Hall with patience and a vibrant yet subtle touch.
How the Philharmonic’s New Home Sounds, From Any Seat
After a major renovation, the acoustics throughout David Geffen Hall are strikingly consistent — but complicated.
After Decades, the Philharmonic’s Hall Sounds and Feels More Intimate
Judgments on the hall’s acoustics at this early stage are provisional, but a mighty improvement is already obvious.
In ‘Tár,’ a Female Maestro Falls Into the Same Old Traps
The film’s thesis is blunt: Put a woman in power, and she’ll be as sexually inappropriate and badly behaved as any man.
One of the World’s Great Maestros Is Suddenly a Free Agent
Christian Thielemann, a conductor of the old school, ends a long drought leading American orchestras in Chicago this month.
An Opera Festival That Keeps Faith With Shutdown’s Innovations
Festival O, back for the first time since 2019, featured two works of dazed horror and a rare staging of Rossini’s “Otello.”
Eight Ways of Looking at a Singular Composer
Lukas Foss would have turned 100 this year. Here is a selection of key works from a long and varied (and now largely overlooked) career.
A Trio of Dangerous Women in a Met Opera Week to Remember
The company started its season performing “Medea,” “Idomeneo” and “Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk,” three of opera’s most distinctive scores, with care and passion.
Review: In the Met Opera’s ‘Medea,’ a Soprano Stands Alone
Sondra Radvanovsky took on one of opera’s most daunting roles as Cherubini’s classic came to the Met for the first time to open the company’s...