Mark Kanny stories, Page 3

Classic Italian romantic comedy will be enlivened with more recent comic techniques and a fresh updating of its story in the final production of Pittsburgh Opera’s 2018-19 season Pittsburgh Opera will present four performances of Gaetano Donizetti’s “Don Pasquale” April 27 to May 5 at Pittsburgh’s Benedum Center. Donizetti wrote...

The Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra is going all out for the grand finale of its 50th anniversary season. It’s such a big show, expressing “the sheer joy of living,” that the stage of The Palace Theatre in Greensburg will need to be expanded to hold performers. Daniel Meyer will conduct solo...

The Clarion Quartet is a group with a mission and performs at the highest level, but gives few performances because its members have another job — members of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Two upcoming concerts are therefore special events. The musicians formed the quartet to play a single concert exploring...

Music played a vital role in the iconic film “The Wizard of Oz,” as well as subsequent shows “The Wiz,” “Wicked” and “Chasing Rainbows,” which were inspired by the film but take a different approach to the story. Lawrence Loh will conduct the Pittsburgh Symphony Pops in three performances of...

The history of orchestras is often traced through their music directors, but guest conductors can play a big role, too, and often for longer than any music director lasts. Leonard Slatkin has been taking to the Heinz Hall podium for more than 40 years, bringing stimulating programming and many great...

Generalizations and stereotypes often fall apart with just a little scratching of the surface. You might think a French pianist’s favorite music would be French, or at least for piano, but Robert Casadesus most loved German composer Ludwig van Beethoven’s late string quartets. The Pittsburgh Symphony is anticipating the debut...

Some operas are great introductions to the art form. Others appeal more to connoisseurs. But Giacomo Puccini’s “La Boheme” is both, an experience to be eagerly anticipated for just about anyone. The powerful story is about young artists living together because they are poor, one of whom find true love...

Animation has come a long way since Walt Disney set up his first Hollywood studio in the silent film era. And as his studio added sound, and went to feature length films and diversified to live casts, acquired television channels and opened entertainment parks, it has grown to be a...

Every short list of the greatest composers in history will include Johann Sebastian Bach. The music of this German baroque composer can be a companion for life. The legendary cellist Pablo Casals liked to start his day with a half hour of Bach because it attuned his soul for the...

Going with your gut isn’t always all it’s cracked up to be. If one of the composers next up at the symphony had followed his first reaction to a request for music, the world would have lost some great music and he would have been a lot poorer and less...

Encores are a natural response to successful performances. We all, audiences and performers, want more. Two seasons ago two great American ballet companies shared the stage for the first time to celebrate the reopening of the August Wilson Center. Now, each company celebrating its 50th birthday, they will team up...

Successful musical performances conjure their own magic, but the Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra’s next concert will showcase vibrant music telling a story in which magic itself is central. Daniel Meyer will conduct the Westmoreland Symphony in “Music and Magic” on March 16 at The Palace Theatre, Greensburg. The program is Manuel...

The Pittsburgh Symphony’s exploration of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s music for piano and orchestra this season has done more than present great pieces. It has also provided the opportunity for audiences to enjoy remarkable young artists making their local debuts. Lukas Vondracek says he’s glad to be coming to Heinz Hall to...

The Pittsburgh Symphony will present one of its most spectacular shows of the season when more than 250 performers will crowd the stage for Hector Berlioz’s “The Damnation of Faust.” The French composer had just the personality for a story ranging from heaven to hell. A true revolutionary in handling...

Pittsburgh Opera’s “Second Stage” productions of new operas, which account for one of the six operas it stages each season, fulfill one of the company’s most vital missions. We love the old operas that dominate programming everywhere because of their great music serving universal themes. Contemporary opera has the advantage...

For many decades film music wasn’t heard in concert halls. That’s changed so much that not only are there entire symphonic programs devoted to film music, now technology has enabled films to be shown with live orchestras playing the soundtrack. Jack Everly will conduct the Pittsburgh Symphony Pops in “A...

Cupid, the Roman child god of love, is older than Valentine’s Day. He’s a renamed and modified version of a Greek god – Eros. His mother was Venus and his father was either Mercury or Mars (the god of war) according to different accounts. Although we think of Cupid’s arrows...

Smart concert programming always takes the audience into account. That’s what Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra music director Daniel Meyer did when planning the special nature of the ensemble’s next concert. “We wanted a program that is immediately accessible, straight up the middle, because we know we get a lot of first-time...

Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre’s 50th Anniversary Celebration will include five major programs offering a wide range of dance from Romantic era mainstays to new works by choreographers with strong ties to Pittsburgh. Artistic director Terrance Orr says the company is doing well, and boasts an exceptional roster of dancers and a...

Planning a season of opera is a complex undertaking. It’s not just finding the right blend between adventurous new works that advance the artform and the established repertoire audiences already love. There’s also finding performers who will bring their roles to vivid life and choosing fresh, appealing productions. “What interesting...

In the heart of winter we think longingly of greener days to come. The next Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra program will show how music can warm that hope. Esteemed guest conductor Herbert Blomstedt will return to conduct symphonies by two composer who eloquently shared their love for verdant nature. Blomstedt will...

The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s 2019-20 season will include 20 classical weekends and seven Pops weekends. The programming includes not only new music and repertoire favorites, but also features stimulating juxtapositions. For example, three of the world’s top violinists will play violin concertos by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, contrasting them with more...

The quality of the music composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is astonishing, but so too is the volume of music he managed to write down during his 31 years of life. The complete edition of works runs to 132 volumes. He wrote many dozens of symphonies, concertos and sonatas, plus...

The power of positive suggestion can be profound. It enabled Sergei Rachmaninoff to compose one of his most successful masterpieces, one that headlines the next weekend of Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra subscription concerts. The Russian composer was depressed and apathetic for more than a year after the failure of his First...