Logan K. Young

Latest from this author

Andrea Bocelli on Teatro del Silenzio, Puccini's "Nessun Dorma" and His Foundation

Wagner had Bayreuth in northern Bavaria. Years later, Pierre Boulez would get his IRCAM under the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. And on Thursday, July 27, 2006, on the outskirts of a frazione in the province of Pisa, finally, a lawyer-cum-tenor from nearby Lajatico christened his own grand edificio d'arte: Andrea Bocelli's Teatro del Silenzio.
Roomful of Teeth, Ohio's Constella Festival Team Up for William Brittelle's "High Done No Why To" Music Video

With Ward Swingle gone from the SATB earth and Tim Hauser transferring no more 'cross Manhattan, the timing couldn't be any more right for Roomful of Teeth to become our starriest vocal band. Fresh off one of the most exciting drones at the Met's Temple of Dendur since, well, Interpol's record release party, the GRAMMY Award-winning ensemble (Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance) with that youngest-ever Pulitzer recipient (Caroline Shaw) on one of the best labels in the new music biz (New Amsterdam) hasn't yet made a music vid proper. Until now, of course.
Watch Cameron Carpenter Play "Alfie" from 'If You Could Read My Mind' on His International Touring Organ [VIDEO]

The Nigel Kennedy of the King's Instrument, Cameron Carpenter (born Taylor Cameron Carpenter) has taken that violinist's charge to another level, indeed, with his International Touring Organ--ITO, for short. "I want the American Classic cathedral organ to combine with its counterpart, the cinema organ, in a single instrument," Mr. Carpenter says.
BRIEFS: Disney Changes Sondheim's Into the Woods, NY Phil Concertmaster Glenn Dicterow's Last Gig, Gertrude Stein Opera, Ken Lam Wins Charleston MD, Crowdsurfing Handel

"Expect a less horny Wolf, the cutting of a centerpiece song, and no dead Rapunzel as Stephen Sondheim reveals changes to Disney’s big-screen version of his musical." [Daily Beast]
Classicalite Q&A with Composer Trevor Gureckis on 'Potential Energies' Ballet Premiere at Brooklyn Academy of Music

In advance of the movement, Classicalite spoke with Gureckis--the composer behind it all. And as you can read below, he had a lot to say about collaboration, costumes and the role of any composer at large.
Watch the Video for Yanni's "Riconoscimento" ("Tribute") from 'Inspirato,' Featuring Plácido Domingo and Plácido Domingo, Jr.

If you're still counting, Inspirato is celebrated Greek composer Yanni's seventeenth studio album, released last month on Sony Masterworks.
REVIEW: Alan Fletcher's Complete Aspen Music Festival and School @ SubCulture...Abridged

With snow on the ground the morning of in lower Manhattan, Alan Fletcher, Aspen's president and CEO (and, full disclosure, Classicalite guest blogger), brought a star-studded roster--Aspen and Atlanta music director Robert Spano, soprano alumna Dawn Upshaw, St. Louis...
Transgender Theater Star Shakina Nayfack Takes Classicalite's Proust Questionnaire

The word shakina--lowercase--is a distinctly Hebraic one. Specifically, it refers to the feminine presence of the divine spirit. Washed in the blood of Jimmy Carter's Southern Baptist on my mother's side, myself, I'm wont to call it the most important side of Elohim (as per that old Gnostic notion of...
Transgender Violinist and Singer Tona Brown Takes Classicalite's Proust Questionnaire

I first read about Tona Brown, one of the Beltway's best singing violinists, in my colleague Tim Smith's pitch perfect profile in the May 22, 2011 early edition of the Baltimore Sun. To wit, I've been following Miss Brown's career--performer, pedagogue, activist--for the ensuing three years.
CONTEST: Win a Copy of Jonas Kaufmann and Helmut Deutsch's 'Winterreise' from Sony Classical #Winterrprize

Thanks to the good people at Sony Classical, all Classicalite Recording News readers are eligible to win a physical copy of Jonas Kaufmann and Helmut Deutsch's 'Winterreise.' Just leave a comment below or, better yet, share this post on Facebook and Twitter using the hashtag: #Winterrprize.
UPDATE: New York Mag's Pop Critic Jody Rosen Responds with Shelfie to Tongue-Tied Ted Gioa's Daily Beast Column

UPDATE: Like ex-SPIN scribe Charles Aaron tweeted at the start of the fracas, the best way to get another critic to recognize your work is to simply slag them off. And so, Jody Rosen of New York magazine's Vulture blog did just that...with a shelfie.
REVIEW: Hasty Pudding Theatricals 166, 'Victorian Secrets,' @ Hunter College's Kaye Playhouse (3/15/14)

When one thinks of Harvard--Hasty Pudding Theatricals, specifically--one's mind is usually in Cambridge, Mass. Why shouldn't it be? HPT has roots there dating back to September 1, 1795. Yeah, it's the antepenultimate oldest club for nancy boy theater geeks in the white man's world, preceded only by the...
Bruce Weber Talks DVD Reissue of Classic Chet Baker Doc, 'Let's Get Lost'

With a title borrowed from the song by Jimmy McHugh and Frank Loesser in the 1943 film Happy Go Lucky (which Baker recorded for Pacific Records), Weber's doc remains the best, most revered look at the singing trumpeter's late era.
Watch the Video for Roxanna's "Close Your Eyes," Her Second Single from 'Exotica' (Roxart, Inc.)

Just talking with Canadian bel canto Roxanna, via Skype, from her base in Toronto, it's pretty obvious what makes her such a great singer. Soothing, never strident, Roxanna makes you want to listen to her.
Audio Visual Arts Opens 2014 with 'Christopher Knowles: Audio Works & Objects' in East Village

2013 was a banner year for one of New York City's most underrated, often misunderstood galleries. Finishing out last season with a spot-on recreation of Gen Ken Montgomery's old Generator Sound Art space and a Xerox-ed retro of the last two decades of the No-Neck Blues Band, Luke has just announced his first show for 2014.
READ: Russian-British Pianist Evgeny Kissin on Getting His Israeli Passport

"I am a Jew, Israel is a Jewish state--and since long ago I have felt that Israel, although I do not live there, is the only state in the world with which I can fully identify myself, whose case, problems, tragedies and very destiny I perceive to be mine." -- Evgeny Kissin
Great Voices Denyce Graves, Shenyang Feature in Milt Okun's Tribute to John Denver

'Great Voices Sing: John Denver' also features Plácido Domingo, Rod Gilfry, Daniel Montenegro, Danielle de Niese and René Pape, among many others. Each artist was allowed to choose which classic Denver tune he or she wished to sing; unbelievably, no two artists chose...
Jackie Evancho a No Show at Fresno's Saroyan Theatre

Sunday's Jackie Evancho concert, scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at the Saroyan Theatre, has been canceled, according to the Fresno Convention Center website. Ticket holders are expected to be issued refunds. No explanation was given. The singer, who is featured on Sunday's...
WATCH: Stephen Fry/Alan Davies at Royal Opera House's Deloitte Ignite Verdi/Wagner Festival

What does great art do to our bodies? In an exciting world first, The Science of Opera with Stephen Fry and Alan Davies saw a team of medical scientists from UCL discovering what happens inside us when we go to the opera. Opera lover Stephen Fry took his friend...
John Sinclair's Spoken Word @ CBGB Festival

OK, so, technically, these were shot up and over in Koreatown--at Chris Noth's fancy pants dinner club, The Cutting Room.
UPDATE: La Scala's Post-Barenboim Conductor is…Fabio Luisi?

UPDATE: Now, Italy's La Reppublica is reporting that Genoese maestro Fabio Luisi--principal conductor of the Met since September 2011 (i.e. from whence James Levine withdrew)--may very well be the preferred candidate. Call it...
Jaap Blonk's Sound Poetry Primer @ Roulette

Make no mistake, Jaap Blonk remains the world's foremost sound poet. Make no mistake, Jaap Blonk remains the world's foremost sound poet. The Dutch vocalist's brilliant performance of the Stanford-commission Polyphtong--as well as the entirety of Kurt Schwitters' Ursonate, from memory--at Roulette last week more than prove that assertion.
Five Quickies: Jackie Evancho to Sony, Andris Nelsons in Boston, Ronald Shannon Jackson Obit, Chinese Classical Music, Destroyer Musical

And with the world's best musicians, singers, dancers and actors going back to repertory work after their summer stocks, there's more good news happening now than there was, say, back in September.
TRANSLATION: Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire, "Ancient Scent"

Lost in the fire of last year's 'Pierrot' centennial was translation. After all, it was Otto Erich Hartleben's German--translated from the original French of Albert Giraud--that Arnold Schoenberg had set. To wit, over the past 21 weekdays..
Sun Ra Arkestra with Marshall Allen at Jazz at Lincoln Center [PHOTOS]

On the centenary of Sun Ra's earthly birth, Jazz at Lincoln Center welcomed his Arkestra to Columbus Circle for the first time. Ever.
UPDATE: Stream Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Riccardo Muti's Verdi Bicentennial Concert

UPDATE: The concert is streaming live at www.cso.org/verdi and on the CSO's Facebook page. UPDATE: The concert is streaming live at cso. org/verdi and on the CSO's Facebook page.
Five Quickies: Kiri Te Kanawa in 'Downton Abbey,' Lady Conductors, L.A. Free Music Society, Graphic Scores, Tori Amos Musical

Here, then, is today's news. News gets made fresh everyday. And with the world's best musicians, singers, dancers and actors going back to repertory work after their summer stocks, there's more good news happening now than there was, say, back in September.
TRANSLATION: Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire, "Journey Home (Barcarola)"

Part III: 20. "Journey Home (Barcarola)" Lost in the fire of last year's Pierrot centennial was translation. After all, it was Otto Erich Hartleben's German--translated from the original French of Albert Giraud--that Arnold Schoenberg had set.
DOWNLOAD: RE/Search Head V. Vale's 'Lausanne Theme' for Solo Piano

A mere 99 cents lands you the latest piano improvisation from the founder of RE/Search Publications.
UPDATE: Stream Gidon Kremer's Putin Protest Concert, "To Russia with Love"

UPDATE: Gidon Kremer's concert for true justice in Vladimir Putin's Russia is being streamed world-wide via the Franco-German Arte TV channel--featuring music of Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Shostakovich and Sofia Gubaidulina.