Concerts

‘No Ransom To Be Paid’ at Pangea: An Update on ‘GRINDR: The Opera’ and More with Erik Ransom

Featured this summer in producer Ed Miller’s No Ransom To Be Paid four-part series at Pangea, the presented works of writer/composer/musician/actor Erik Ransom include songs from More Than All the...

Review: ‘A Never-Ending Line’ at The Players Theatre

Conceived by Composer and Director Jaime Lozano as a loving tribute to the women in his life and his matriarchal upbringing, A Never-Ending Line, produced by Maribel Escobosa, Martha Orendain, and...

Review: Blondie & Garbage – The Rage and Rapture Tour at Wolf Trap

Despite the torrential downpour Thursday night, Blondie and Garbage devotees came in droves to Wolf Trap, with rain ponchos and umbrellas in hand, to hear two distinctively powerful and iconic...

Review: ‘Scarborough Fair: A Tribute to Simon & Garfunkel’ at Bristol Riverside Theatre

Whenever a musical group has the name “brothers” or “sisters” (as in “Smothers” or “Andrews”) you can expect a tight, controlled sound with seamlessly blended harmonies. Close harmony (even if it’s...

Review: ‘New York – The Melting Pot’ at Soulpepper on 42nd Street

The first in Soulpepper Theatre Company’s three-part musical celebration of the history of diversity in New York – The Melting Pot pays tribute to Lower Manhattan, from Battery Park to Chelsea....

Review: ‘The Summer Club: 3rd Anniversary Special’ at Venice Island Performing Arts Center

Back at Manayunk’s Venice Island Performing Arts Center, The Summer Club celebrated its third anniversary on a very hot night with an even hotter performance. With yesterday’s total breakdown of the...

Review: PBS Presents ‘A Capitol Fourth’

Every year PBS puts on a spectacular show with A Capitol Fourth and has the most talented people involved performing and behind the scenes. This year features The Blues Brothers with Dan Aykroyd, Jim...

In the Moment: Report on ‘Declassified’ at The Kennedy Center

A hearty bro-hug to The Kennedy Center and to the National Symphony Orchestra’s (NSO) new Artistic Advisor, Ben Folds, for having the joint jumping at the recent late night Declassified event. It was...

Review: ‘Zanna Don’t (the Reboot)’ at Theatre Horizon

For the latest show in its 42nd and Main Concerts series, Theatre Horizon tackled Zanna, Don’t!, an offbeat musical that ran Off-Broadway in 2003 and has had productions all over the world since. That...

Review: ‘Truth and Confessions’ at Standing Ovation Theatre Company

“Love is like a tree: it grows by itself, roots itself deeply in our being and continues to flourish over a heart in ruin. The inexplicable fact is that the blinder it is, the more tenacious it is. It...

Review: Sheryl Crow at Wolf Trap

In support of her latest album, aptly entitled Be Myself, nine-time Grammy Award-winning, singer-songwriter Sheryl Crow returned to Wolf Trap. The sold-out crowd at the Filene Center eagerly embraced...

Review: ‘Alex Keiper & The Next Generation’ at The Arden Cabaret Series at Arden Theatre Company

Alex Keiper is a well-known Philadelphia actor who was originally asked to do a solo cabaret show by the Arden Theatre Company. Unexpectedly, she decided she wanted to share this event with some of...

Review: ‘The Summer Club’ at Venice Island Performing Arts Center

In his banter with the audience during last night’s musical homage to Swing, Big Bands, and ‘The Rat Pack’ at Manayunk’s Venice Island Performing Arts Center, Jeff Coon, Executive Director and...

Review: ‘And the Tony Goes to…’ at The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC

Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC, concerts never lack for inspired high concepts and ingenious themes. Whether featuring love songs, cowboy songs, nostalgia songs, or...

Review: LiveConnections Presents Elizabeth Zharoff + Xavier Foley at World Cafe Live

LiveConnections Presents ended its sixth season with soprano Elizabeth Zharoff and double bassist Xavier Foley. This season was devoted to pairing musicians in order to stretch musical boundaries, and...

Review: ‘The Dollar Princess’ at Concert Operetta Theater

Leo Fall’s music is not likely to return to Broadway. It did, however, provide pleasant vocal opportunities for gifted young singers of the Concert Operetta Theater in Philadelphia this weekend, along...

Review: ‘Movie with the BSO: ‘E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial’ in Concert’ at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) honored the 35th anniversary of Steven Spielberg’s classic family adventure E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall with a uniquely immersive...

Review: The Philadelphia Orchestra Performs Mahler’s Longest — and Greatest — Symphony

Although not frequently performed, the Symphony No. 3 is Gustav Mahler’s most encompassing work, the piece which best exemplifies his life and career. Yannick Nézet-Séguin led a magnificent...

Review: ‘Celebrations!’ Columbia Pro Cantare Celebrates 40-Year Anniversary at Jim Rouse Theatre

Columbia Pro Cantare celebrated a few occasions with its final performance of the Season with Celebrations! If you will note, Celebrations! is plural, because it not only marked the 40th Anniversary...

Who’s in Town?: Morgan James Performing at the Hamilton, Thursday, May 18 at 7:30pm

Morgan James has one versatile voice. It is a voice that that can slip effortlessly from light lyric coloratura to Broadway belting, to Soul singing. Take a look at her career: James earned a coveted...

Review: The Philadelphia Orchestra Presents Leonard Bernstein’s First Major Composition

Leonard Bernstein’s Symphony No. 1 was the major undertaking at The Philadelphia Orchestra’s concerts of May 3, 5 and 6, 2017. Yannick Nézet-Séguin led the piece as a prelude to a year-long...

Review: ‘Passion & Struggle’ at The In Series

Poetry can be the seed of music, and music the seed of love. Music may even be used as a form of protest—and ultimately a promoter of peace. This is evidenced by the music of composers and performers...

Review: NSO Pops: LeAnn Rimes at The Kennedy Center

International multi-platinum selling acclaimed singer and ASCAP award-winning songwriter LeAnn Rimes returned to DC Friday night, joining the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) at The Kennedy Center...

Review: ‘Adam & Anthony Live’ at Strathmore

Suppose your two best friends were really talented and you invited them over to sing and tell stories and a few of your other friends found out and showed up to listen and it turned out to be a really...

Review: The Philadelphia Orchestra Presents The Rachmaninoff Festival

During his lifetime, Sergei Rachmaninoff was more famous as a pianist than as a composer. Logically, therefore, The Philadelphia Orchestra’s current Rachmaninoff Festival is concentrating on the...

Who’s in Town? A Conversation with Adam Pascal, Performing in Concert with ‘Rent’ Costar Anthony Rapp at Strathmore This Friday, April 28th at 8pm

Rent fans are in for a treat as Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp team up for a one-night-only concert event at Strathmore this Friday, April 28th at 8 PM. Pascal and Rapp are forever joined in the hearts...

Review: The American Pops Orchestra Presents ‘You Spin Me ‘Round: An ’80s Dance Party’ at Lisner Auditorium

There’s nothing intrinsically wrong with being formulaic when the formula mixes crowd-pleasing song selections, fresh and stylish musical arrangements, and knock-out performances. That pretty much...

Review: Cher at The Theater at MGM National Harbor

Accompanied by a phalanx of golden shield-carrying gladiators, The Goddess of Pop strode onstage last night in a massive afro and shimmering turquoise and silver ensemble that exposed one singular,...

Review: ‘Ben Dibble: Are We There Yet? Just a Little Father(hood Cabaret)’ at the Arden Cabaret Series

Ben Dibble might be as fine a cabaret performer as anyone in that field. He demonstrated that with the presentation of Are We There Yet? Just a Little Father(hood Cabaret), produced by the Arden...

Review: ‘Cinderella: A Magical, Musical Tale’ at The American Pops Orchestra

This is what theater is all about and it was my dream when I started DCMetroTheaterArts 5 years ago-to see a venue filled with parents and kids laughing and clapping and having a great time together....

Review: ‘Viva la Zarzuela! The Music of Spain’ at Concert Operetta Theater

Concert Operetta Theater was founded in 2008 to revive and preserve the type of musical theater that’s more lighthearted and accessible than opera, but a bit grander than Broadway. These tuneful...

Review: The Philadelphia Orchestra Performs Seeger, Berg & Beethoven with Guest Conductor Michael Tilson Thomas

Contrast was stark in the concert which Michael Tilson Thomas led with The Philadelphia Orchestra. The first half displayed two radically dissonant pieces from the 1930s — Ruth Crawford Seeger’s...

Review: Dionne Warwick: The 4th Anniversary Celebration of the Bethesda Blues & Jazz Supper Club

One of the natural vocal wonders of the world, the legendary entertainer and vocal artist Dionne Warwick beguiled the audience at the Bethesda Blues & Jazz Supper Club. The occasion to celebrate was...

Review: The Philadelphia Orchestra Performs Brahms’ Eleven Chorale Preludes, Bach’s Cantata No. 150, and Brahms’ Symphony No. 4

The Philadelphia Orchestra set of concerts during the last weekend of February was one of the most imaginatively conceived in recent memory. The program consisted of selections from Brahms’ Eleven...

Interview: Dionne Warwick on Performing Tomorrow, 2/28 and Wednesday, 3/1 at 8 PM at Bethesda Blues & Jazz Supper Club’s 4th Anniversary Show

I recently had the privilege to interview the music legend, Dionne Warwick. The occasion for the interview is to celebrate Ms. Warwick’s illustrious career, ask some related questions, and to...

Review: LiveConnections Presents Harlem Quartet + Arturo Stable

Once again, LiveConnections Presents (“LCP”) curator Mary Wheelock Javian’s musical matchmaking has produced a lively evening of musical discovery. This time it was the pairing of the Harlem Quartet...

Review: NSO Pops: An Evening with Ledisi at The Kennedy Center

“Peaches” was in the house. Inspired by the spirit of Nina Simone, acclaimed American R&B and jazz recording artist, songwriter and actress, Ledisi performed an eclectic program of blues, jazz and R&B...

Review: ‘Famous Contemporaries: Music by Gliere, Medtner, Rachmaninov, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Tcherepnin’ at the Russian Chamber Art Society

As a novice opera aficionado, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from Masterpieces of Russian Vocal Music: Famous Contemporaries, the Russian Chamber Art Society’s most recent offering at La Maison...

Review: The Philadelphia Orchestra Performs Mozart and Brahms

During the 44 years when Eugene Ormandy was music director of The Philadelphia Orchestra (1936 to 1980), he led almost every concert. There was scant need for guest conductors. Now the symphonic world...

Review: ‘Luther Re-Lives’ at the Publick Playhouse

The velvet voice and beautiful love ballads of one of the greatest R &B crooners of all time, Luther Vandross, lives on through the magnetic stage presence of William “Smooth” Wardlaw’s Luther...

Music with a Mission: Interview with Last Chance, a Great American Musical Duo

Last Chance, Philadelphia’s much-talked-about musical duo of singer-songwriter Jack Scott (vocals, banjo, and guitar) and Ingrid Rosenback (vocals, fiddle, and harmonica), has been performing as a duo...

Review: ‘Brooklyn Doo Wop Explosion’ at Bristol Riverside Theatre

Who put the bomp in the bomp be bomp bah bomp? Who put the ram in the rama lama ding dong? It these lyrics fill you with happiness in the remembrance of days gone by, then run to the Bristol Riverside...

Review: ‘The Last Waltz 40 Tour’ at The Theater at MGM National Harbor

Last night all twelve members of the tribute group for The Band gave a master class in blues, rockabilly, New Orleans jazz, country, honky-tonk and American roots music. The elite touring group...

Maryland Opera Studio to Premiere University of MD’s Opera Composition Contest Winner ‘The Young King’ on Friday, 2/10@7:30 PM at The Clarice

The first-year members of the Maryland Opera Studio present a semi-staged New Work Reading every year, but this year’s reading is unique. On February 10, the Maryland Opera Studio premieres the...

Review: ‘Jerry Blavat’s Gospel, Soul and Doo Wop Reunion’ at The Kimmel Center

Jerry Blavat, “a Philadelphia borne dancer, radio and television disc jockey, performer, entertainer, producer and nightclub owner” (according to the program insert), produced his 38th show at The...

Review: ‘Broadway Up Close: Vanessa Williams’ at the Kimmel Center

Continuing the exciting season of Broadway Up Close concerts on Saturday at the Kimmel Center, Seth Rudetsky hosted Broadway and recording star Vanessa Williams for an evening of her career highlights...

Review: Soprano Ailyn Pérez at The Barns at Wolf Trap

There’s no business like show business, but does that include opera? If in a few years people finally agree that opera is genuinely another form of musical theater, it may be because of the current...

Review: Aaron Tveit at The Barns at Wolf Trap

Aaron Tveit returns to his Broadway roots on Saturday evening during his debut at the Wolf Trap. Tveit (Next to Normal, Grease Live!) has not performed on a Broadway stage since his 2011 starring role...

Review: ‘An Acoustic Evening with Lyle Lovett & John Hiatt’ at Strathmore

There are very few things that could get me to uproot and move to Texas. Actually, there is just one thing, and his name is Lyle Lovett. Luckily, this long tall Texan graced the stage of Maryland’s...

Review: Pianist Lise de la Salle at the Phillips Collection

Picking through bombastic music to extract the musical message and leave a lingering impression of something other than bombast is a skill to be cherished among pianists on the international stage....