Madison Symphony Opener Evokes a Memory

DeMain and company also provide an interesting musical perspective   John DeMain opened his 26th season as music director of the Madison Symphony Orchestra last weekend, and if he is still four years away from the next “round number” of his storied career, he and the orchestra still managed to provide interesting context, past and…

Bach Dancing and Dynamite: The Devil Is in the Details

BDDS offers strong performances, but falls prey to temptation in Stravinsky   Now in its 27th memorable season, the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society has never played it safe; if anything, co-founders Stephanie Jutt and Jeffrey Sykes have thrived on adding all sorts of twists to their programs. Not every dart thrown hits the bullseye…but…

Olga Kern And DeMain Deliver Again

A touch of new(er) and old classics from Madison Symphony   If the opening concert of John DeMain’s 24th season with the Madison Symphony Orchestra eschewed a major guest soloist (a DeMain tradition—and not a bad one!), it also stayed far away from major warhorse repertoire. The first of three performances of the season’s second…

David Kim Bares His Heart and Soul (Musically and Otherwise)

Concertmaster of Philadelphia Orchestra tells his life story at Mills Hall Have you ever listened to a great classical musician and wondered what it would be like to play like that? Did you ever take it a step further and ask yourself what price might have been paid to produce those results? An audience of…

The Hits Keep on Coming for Bach Dancing and Dynamite

(But there are a few quibbles…)   I can’t shake the feeling that even if I attended all six of the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society programs some year, I’d still feel like it all went too quickly. Worst still, I only made two of them again this year, but at least they were the…

Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society Still Explosive

26th season continues to impress   Some things never change…when I first covered the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society in 2011, I managed to attend five of their six programs—and still regretted missing the sixth. Last Friday (June 16) I attended the first of their second weekend of concerts, and was not surprised to hear…

Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society: Sizzle, Fizzle, Roar

Penultimate program of BDDS 25th anniversary ultimately soars The fifth of sixth programs of the silver anniversary season of the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society last Friday night at Overture Center’s Playhouse was titled “Quicksilver.” The more standard than usual program (but full of promise) of Bach, Mozart and Mendelssohn was indeed mercurial at times,…

Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society: 25-Carat Gold

BDDS celebrates silver anniversary, but give them a gold medal The Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, that impish and excellent music festival created by Stephanie Jutt and Jeffrey Sykes, has now been spoiling us every June for a quarter-century. They have long proven that they bear comparison with many a better-known summer festival in our…

A New CD Gets Us Ready for the Bach Dancing and Dynamite’s 25th Season

Stephanie Jutt’s new recording delivers a whole lot more than “just” flute and piano   Stephanie Jutt, artistic director and co-founder of the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, recently released a new cd on the Albany label, “Latin American & Spanish Masterpieces for Flute and Piano.” Like yours truly, most of the repertoire will be…

Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society Shows Off Its Age

25th anniversary season of BDDS features a world premiere by Kevin Puts   The Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society is showing its age; despite more than two decades of golden memories from the fluid forces marshaled by co-founders Stephanie Jutt and Jeffrey Sykes, some silver has crept in. And that’s something to celebrate. Even if…