Category Reviews
The Mutter Virtuosi Play Chicago
Chicago’s Symphony Center is a lovely place – an intimate enough setting to see one of the greatest symphonies in the world on a normal day. It’s not at all off of normal for the hall to host greats, but even Symphony Center doesn’t get a star like Anne-Sophie Mutter everyday – the German violin […]
Improbability
I started re-reading The Black Swan yesterday, a 2007 book by Nassim Taleb (updated in 2012 after the events of 9/11). The book is brilliant; it’s an exposition on the problems, beauty, and impact of the highly improbable. Taleb is not exploring improbability in the absurd but brilliant way that Douglas Adams did with the […]
Lear and Sinatra
King Lear has long been my favorite Shakespeare – I love a raging family drama. The Barbara Gaines production of Lear at the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre last night conjured others – Eugene O’Neil’s Long Day’s Journey into Night, Anton Chekov’s Uncle Vanya, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, Tennessee Williams’ Cat on a Hot Tin […]
Musical Gender Bending, a Romp, and Teaching Girls to Read
“Blessed are you, Lord, our God, ruler of the universe who has not created me a woman.” – from the requisite daily prayers for Orthodox Jewish men Our hero, Yentl, was born to a religious scholar father in early 20th century Poland who believed and recited these old Hebrew words faithfully. Of course to this […]
Fiddler on the Roof
Last night Michael and I went with a friend to a production of Fiddler on the Roof, put on by Light Opera Works in Evanston. Teacher is in the orchestra for the show – she got us a deal on tickets – so the excursion had the distinction of being the first time I’ve ever […]
Dr. Suzuki’s World: A Contextualization
“A clever baby can become tone-deaf. It can even become a wolf. In fact, it can become just about anything, in accord with its specific environment. I firmly believe that cultural and musical aptitude does not come from within, and is not inherited, but occurs through suitable environmental conditions.” – From “Nurtured by Love: The Classic […]
Dr. Suzuki’s Kenkyusei
Memories of Dr. Shinichi Suzuki: Son of His Environment is a brief, 2012 memoir by Lois Shepheard, a devoted master teacher of the Suzuki method. Shepheard spent a good deal of time studying with Suzuki in Japan. She was kenkyusei – loosely, “Research Student” to Dr. Suzuki, in a school/studio devoted to learning the master’s […]
Ryan Libel 