Concerts

(Concert Review) From Bach to Wuorinen, dazzling chamber music at PS21

Review by Seth Rogovoy (CHATHAM, N.Y., June 24, 2022) – PS21’s House Blend concert series kicked off on Friday night with a program of music stretching across centuries, with mid-18th century works by J.S. Bach juxtaposed with mid-to-late 20th century works that offered a variety of sounds, instruments, and stylistic approaches, all comfortably united under…

(Concert Review) Pretenders, MASS MoCA, 7.26.19

Pretenders MASS MoCA North Adams, Mass. Friday, July 26, 2019 Review by Seth Rogovoy NORTH ADAMS, Mass. – Forty-one years ago, after several false starts, Akron, Ohio-native Chrissie Hynde — having long since moved to London — finally succeeded in forming a band that could realize onstage and in the recording studio the sounds she…

(Concert Review) Ani DiFranco, the Mahaiwe, 6.17.18

Ani DiFranco With Haley Heynderickx Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center Great Barrington, Mass. June 17, 2018 Review and photos by Seth Rogovoy (GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass., June 18, 2018) – For nearly 30 years, Ani DiFranco has been firing off manifestos-in-song about politics as well as odes to love and heartbreak (and, more recently, reflections on motherhood).…

Concert Review: David Byrne Burns Down the House at UPAC (3.10.18)

David Byrne Ulster Performing Arts Center (UPAC) Kingston, N.Y. Saturday, March 10, 2018 Review and photo by Seth Rogovoy   (KINGSTON, N.Y., March 10, 2018) – Unlike most of his rock ‘n’ roll peers in their mid-60s or older, David Byrne showed no signs of waning creativity or imagination in his terrific, sold-out concert at…

Leonard Cohen’s Mystical Midrash

by Seth Rogovoy This article was originally published in Hadassah Magazine in the April/May 2015 issue. Subsequently, I was awarded a 2016 Simon Rockower Award from the American Jewish Press Association for excellence in arts and criticism for this piece.   ARTIST OF THE YEAR, songwriter of the year, and “fan choice” of the year. Katy Perry?…

(Concert Review) New Works by John Zorn, Miller Theatre, NYC, 10.20.16

Composer Portraits: John Zorn Miller Theatre at Columbia University October 20, 2016 by Seth Rogovoy (NEW YORK, N.Y.) – In the program notes for the powerful and stunning concert of new works, including five world premieres, presented at the Miller Theatre on Thursday night, composer John Zorn writes of a few of them: “These pieces…