Way to go, Antonio!!!

Antonio Delgado on the campaign trail, August, 2018

Today, Antonio Delgado, my Congressperson when I lived in the Hudson Valley, was introduced as the next Lieutenant Governor of New York State. There could not be a better person for this position. Antonio is a person of profound decency and compassion, secure in his moral compass, and tireless in his dedication to working on behalf of his constituents. Yes, I know it’s been a very bad news day on other fronts, but, to quote Cory Booker, “No one’s stealing my joy.”

Here’s why the NY Phil was stupid and arrogant to let Alan Gilbert go

This is an extraordinary concert. Works by John Adams, Thomas Adès (Kirill Gerstein, soloist), György Ligeti (in an encore), and Esa-Pekka Salonen, with Alan Gilbert conducting the NDR Elbphilharmonie. A program booklet may be found here.

Revisiting John Adams’s The Dharma at Big Sur

Adams wrote of the work:

When I was asked by Esa-Pekka Salonen, the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s music director, to compose a special piece for the opening, I immediately began searching my mind for an image, either verbal or pictorial, that could summon up the feelings of being an emigrant to the Pacific Coast—as I am, and as are so many who’ve made the journey here, both physically and spiritually.

My Year in Music, 2014

Contemporaneous “Living Toys” Concert at Roulette (David Bloom conducting)

I’ve had a particularly memorable “year in music” this year. While I’ve listed a “Prufrock’s Dozen” of CDs, this year-end post isn’t a “best of” list in the usual sense, but rather an opportunity to gather together the “best of” my musical experiences throughout the year. The post is divided into three sections: A “Prufrock’s Dozen” of CDs, Live Performances, and Other Significant Music-Related Activities.

Reflections on The Death of Klinghoffer

When asked about her libretto for the opera, The Death of Klinghoffer, Alice Goodman, whose voice has not been heard nearly enough in the current discussions, said:

Our world has had, since before I was born, histories of people dehumanizing other people, of which the Jewish people have been the most notable of subjects, of victims. And so I think that it is absolutely paramount that civilization, that people who claim to be humane, civilized, moral, and, as it were, looking to a higher power, should know better than to wish to dehumanize anyone and should be able to acknowledge also the darkness that is in each of us. So, in other words, there is nothing that is human that should be foreign to us. That’s one of the things that art exists to express.