With Eighth Blackbird closing out the LiveConnections season, we can now look to the 2016-17 season. One concert to watch for in the upcoming season is bassist John Patitucci and the Daedalus Quartet’s performance next April. In the meantime, Eighth Blackbird’s concert not only left the audience anticipating their next bold, musical statement, but also LiveConnections’ exciting and much-needed programming.
Read MoreThe tension between rules and improvisation is at the heart of much musical practice, but it is unusual to see it played out in the context of a collective audience performance. As a participant, the experience was thought provoking and occasionally frustrating, and I left with a new appreciation for the importance of rules for all of us who listen to and perform music.
Read MoreMike Durkin and the performers of The Renegade Company offered an amusing and thought-provoking interpretation of Bosch’s medieval masterpiece. The deliberately loose and open structure of the performances allowed us as audience members to pick and choose our sins, and gave us space to reflect on their meaning.
Read MoreWhat happens when an artist’s art becomes more than just that? What are you to do when your art is now a manufactured brand? These are some of the questions that Opera Philadelphia and the Bearded Ladies Cabaret’s world premiere of ANDY: A Popera (also part of the 2015 Fringe Arts Festival) asks the audience head-on.
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