David Patrick Stearns

Music Director Yannick Nezet-Seguin would seem to be taking The Philadelphia Orchestra back to 1930. That was the year the late Leopold Stokowski, heard here with the Depression-era Philadelphia Orchestra, conducted Stravinsky’s ballet, The Rite of Spring when it was first danced in the United States. But there’s nothing retrogressive in what New York’s cutting-edge Ridge Theater is cooking up for this week’s Rite with the Orchestra. The Philadelphia Inquirer’s David Patrick Stearns is still guessing what it will look like.

The least-used spaces in Verizon Hall are….up in the air.

STEARNS: There’s much height to it. There are projection surfaces above the orchestra. Why not make that a playing space for the choreography as well?

The Philadelphia Orchestra’s Vice President of Artistic Planning Jeremy Rothman is referring to the use of an aerialist. For that, he’s commandeering the hall for an entire week to set up the proper rigging. The production's winter-to-spring depiction will also have video projections on multiple screens and scrims, plus dancers. Though, not that many, says Nezet-Seguin.

NEZET-SEGUIN: There’s a few dancers but it’s not danced the whole thing, which was important for me.

Time and again, the conductor emphasizes that his orchestra is not going to get lost in a lot of theatrical bells and whistles. The huge Ridge Theater apparatus is there to serve the Orchestra. The conductor, not the dancers, will dictate tempos, says Rothman.

ROTHMAN:  Yannick is somewhat uncompromising about what he wants to present musically.

The Rite of Spring has been widely and wildly interpreted over the years, from tribal Russian dancers of the Joffrey Ballet to Paul Taylor’s film-noir version with gangsters. Just how far afield will this one go?  Is the ballet still about human sacrifice?

ROTHMAN: There is a sacrifice…the idea was to get back to the spirit of it…but rather than the …is to take the same spirit and update it with more modern means. But there’s still a sacrifice.

But there will NOT be blood when The Philadelphia Orchestra performs The Rite of Spring in a multi-media production at the Kimmel Center this week.
 

The acclaimed Maria Joao Pires announced that she will retire in 2014. The Philadelphia Inquirer's  David Patrick Stearns profiles the demure but exquisite Portuguese pianist.

David Patrick Stearns profiles American cellist Alisa Weilerstein. She’s in town to perform the iconic Elgar cello concerto with The Philadelphia Orchestra this week.

If anybody knows Rachmaninoff, it’s The Philadelphia Orchestra. The ensemble inspired the composer  to write his final orchestral work: the Symphonic Dances, and collaborated with him intensively until his death in 1943. Since then, the Orchestra has maintained an unbroken tradition of performing works by Rachmaninoff, from the eras of Eugene Ormandy through Charles Dutoit. 

The esteemed Italian conductor Gianandrea Noseda, who has the trust and affection of the musicians from past guest engagements, recently conducted Rachmaninoff at the Kimmel Center. The conductor brought to these performances the rediscovery of a sound from which the orchestra has perhaps drifted. As The Philadelphia Inquirer’s David Patrick Stearns reports, Noseda may just about be out-Ormandying Eugene Ormandy.

The Philadelphia Inquirer's ’s David Patrick Stearns profiles Seymour Lipkin, a pianist who - in his mid 80s -  is taking on Beethoven's massive Hammerklavier sonata, among other daunting musical feats.

A video of Mr. Lipkin playing Mozart:

The Philadelphia Inquirer's David Patrick Stearns explores how Norristown is successfully modeling itself as a serious theater destination.

The Mendelssohn Club Chorus, the Philadelphia Boys Choir, and The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia are set to perform at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in a very special concert that includes the world premiere of Robert Moran’s expanded - and haunting - 9/11 tribute, Trinity Requiem.

The Philadelphia Inquirer's David Patrick Stearns looks ahead to the October 21st event, that also features Bruckner's Mass in E minor and Moran's Angele Dei.

After pianist Jeffrey Siegel's annual series of Philadelphia concerts was canceled, a community of music lovers got together to reinstate his regular Kimmel Center performances. The Philadelphia Inquirer's David Patrick Stearns tells the story.