Stop. Look. Listen.

The Pennsylvania Academy of Music joins the First Friday lineup again for April, with its first community open house since its opening last June. The open house will take place 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. and feature tours of the Philip Johnson-designed building, informal performances by student ensembles from the piano, voice, wind, string and […]

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Exhibiting a striking combination of strength and grace, thought and emotion, Xiaopei Xu played a formidable program, consisting of J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations, Beethoven’s Sonata in F. Minor Op. 57, the “Appassionata,” and Frederic Chopin’s Ballade No. 4 in F Minor, Op. 52, Friday, Jan. 23 at the Pa. Academy of Music.
Taking on one of the monuments […]

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Four saxophones, new music: the PRISM Quartet will perform at Franklin & Marshall College 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 24. Since there’s not a lot of music out there for a quartet of saxes, the group has gotten quite a few noted U.S. composers to write new works, including William Bolcom and Steven Mackey.
Two pianos, two […]

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June brings mayflies, July brings cicadas and August brings the emergence of fresh new concert schedules. Here are two that recently arrived:
Starting Sept. 5, the Pennsylvania Academy of Music is rolling out an ambitious slate of concerts. “A Season of Masters and Maestros” includes five different series, including a series of performances of all 32 of Beethoven’s […]

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The Vivace! series at the Pennsylvania Academy of Music’s new building on Prince Street wound up with student performances, with two sets of recitals Friday and Saturday, June 27 and 28, and a cabaret performance Saturday evening. I couldn’t make it to the Saturday performances, but here’s my report on the Friday night “Grande Finale!” concert.
For the […]

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One of the pleasures of chamber music, what sets it apart, is its air of conversation among equals. Two recent concerts, at Millersville and the Pennsylvania Academy of Music, brought some memorable conversations to the area.  
The Miami String Quartet – Benny Kim and Cathy Meng Robinson, violins; Yu Jin, viola and Keith Robinson, cello – gave the String Quartet […]

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SINGIN’ IT OLD SCHOOL: Couldn’t make it to last month’s Sacred Harp Sing? There’ll be one Saturday, June 21, 3-7 p.m. at the Lancaster Friends Meetinghouse, 100 Tulane Terrace, with a potluck dinner 5-6 p.m. (bring your own place setting).
CLASSICAL CRASH: Tonight (June 20) brings us concerts from the Next Generation Festival, with Awadagin Pratt and friends, […]

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Monday’s Vivace! concert at the Pennsylvania Academy of Music brought Chinese and American musicans associated with the academy together in an ”East Meets West” celebration that was, as Vivace Artistic Director (and Newstead Trio member) Michael T. Jamanis said in his introduction,  ”a great opportunity to bring our cultures together.” Also present for the concert was Jinqi Ma, who recently donated […]

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