Have Black Tie, Will Travel

Read my review published today in the Style section of the Washington Post:

Charles T. Downey, BSO's gala concert Saturday features Latin flavor and plenty of local talent
Washington Post, September 13, 2010

September is the month for gala concerts, and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra hosted one such black-tie affair on Saturday night at Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. To kick off her fourth season as music director, Marin Alsop offered a buffet of Latin-flavored amuse-gueules that went down just as easily as the food served in the tent outside.

Showcasing her laudable efforts to extend the orchestra's reach into the greater community of Baltimore, Alsop once again featured local performers. Flamenco dancers livened up three tired selections from Bizet's "Carmen" suites, with Anna Menendez especially effective in her form-fitting dress and castanets. Four guitarists, all students of Manuel Barrueco at the Peabody Institute, traded phrases with the orchestra in a bubbly movement from Joaquín Rodrigo's "Concierto Andaluz," effervescent but insubstantial. Soprano Jennifer Edwards, another promising Peabody student, gave a luminous performance of the Cantilena from Villa-Lobos's "Bachiana Brasileira No. 5," with the BSO's cello section. [Continue reading]

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Gala Celebration Concert
With Nadja Salerno-Sonnenburg
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall (Baltimore, Md.)

PREVIOUSLY:
Jennifer Edwards (née Holbrook) in The Yellow Wallpaper (Peabody Opera) | Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg with the BSO (2008)