And Schubert for the finish...

Pianist András Schiff played two encore selections to close his Boston recital last night:

Schubert, Hungarian Melody in B minor, D.817
Schubert, Impromptu No. 4 in F minor D. 935 op. 142

The rest of the recital program can be found here.

András Schiff thrills Ann Arbor with Haydn And Beethoven

Pianist András Schiff opened the University Musical Society chamber music series in Ann Arbor this past Wednesday with the program of Haydn and Beethoven that Boston will hear tonight at Jordan Hall. The Ann Arbor News was ecstatic, pronouncing the recital "among the best in years." Read the complete review.

It's better than 'It Tastes Like Chicken'

Baltimore is currently enjoying the delights of the unusually named ensemble "eighth blackbird." Boston, well, technically Cambridge, will have a chance to hear this remarkable group in a Celebrity Series program called "lucid, inescapable rhythms" on March 26 at Sanders Theatre.

Critic Tim Smith spoke with eighth blackbird for an article in today's Baltimore Sun (requires login).

Want to hear the group? Here are some audio samples from Saint Paul Sunday of eighth blackbird performing Thirteen Ways (composed by eighth blackbird's Thomas Albert to text by Wallace Stevens).

Deborah Voigt, friend of the art song

Soprano Deborah Voigt's newest recording, All My Heart - Deborah Voigt Sings American Songs, with pianist Brian Zeger gets a review from Elaine Guregian of the Akron-Beacon Journal. Guregian writes, "Art song is lucky to have such a friend."

Many tracks and composers on All My Heart are on the program for Ms. Voigt's Celebrity Series recital on November 13 at Symphony Hall.

As long as we're linking to the redoubtable Andante, why not throw in Ms. Voigt's interview with Jochen Breiholz from 2003.

WGBH to air Royal Ballet's Nutcracker

WGBH television will air Peter Wright's production of The Nutcracker by The Royal Ballet four times during October. Former Royal Ballet Artistic Director Anthony Dowell dances the role of the toy and the clockmaker Herr Drosselmeyer.
Julie Andrews hosts.

The Royal Ballet visits Boston for four performances of Kenneth MacMillan's Manon, June 15-17 at The Wang Theatre .

Guthrie to Ride "City of New Orleans" for Hurricane Relief

This December, folk legend Arlo Guthrie will live out his 1972 hit City of New Orleans (written by Steve Goodman) when Christmas Train to New Orleans - Arlo & Friends on The City Of New Orleans hits the rails. Starting in Chicago on December 5 and making eight stops along the famous route to collect music and sound equipment for the many nightclubs and other venues damaged by Hurricane Katrina.

"When I wonder what they might need in New Orleans to get back on their feet, the stuff that gets ruined under water, I think of all the sound boards, the cables, the lighting, the microphones, the instruments. I think of the stuff you need in the hundreds of little clubs and bars that bring the music to the street -- the street that brings the people to the city. And I think of the many thousands of people who depend on those people for their livelihoods."

Guthrie will gather equipment during the ride as donations or purchased at cost from money raised by the trip. Christmas Train to New Orleans finishes in hurricane ravaged New Orleans on December 17. The names of the artists joining Guthrie on the tour have not yet been announced.

Arlo Guthrie plays Boston's Symphony Hall for the Celebrity Series on November 16.

"Water is like art: It can't be stopped"

Cecilia Bartoli talks with Newsday's Marion Lignana Rosenberg about 18th-century restrictions on female singers, Anita Ekberg in the Trevi Fountain, and her new release, Opera Proibita.

"I needed to present this project in a modern way while maintaining a baroque sensibility. In La Dolce Vita, Anita Ekberg is in the Fountain of Trevi, a baroque fountain. Her body is sinuous, sensual: She could have been a model for Bernini."


Cecilia Bartoli comes to Symphony Hall with Orchestra La Scintilla of Zürich Opera on Sunday, October 23 .