Upcoming Tours
Giverny
France - Glorious Gardens, Grand Châteaux & Great Music! (29 March - 7 April 2025)
Gardens are the focus of this springtime tour that starts in Paris. Charles Day, the former Horticultural Interpreter at Wave Hill in the Bronx, NY, and a well-known consultant for private gardens, estates and museums, has chosen an array of jardins à la française to explore: urban gardens in Paris, enchanting Loire Valley chateaux gardens, the splendors of Versailles, the water garden of impressionist painter Claude Monet at Giverny, and the private garden of a maestro.There is music as well — a concert at the high-vaulted Sainte-Chapelle with its dazzling medieval stained glass windows, and a performance at the Opera Royal du Chateau de Versailles.
Łazienki Park
Poland - Experience its History, Cuisine and Culture (11-21 June 2025)
We begin in Warsaw, a 21st-century city where vestiges of the past are ever-present. Relish a private Chopin concert at The Palace on the Isle in Łazienki Park. Next, we go south to Silesia, a region whose destiny was fueled by coal, to sample its wines and taste its cuisine. In Katowice, the National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra performs a program of Scandinavian music. The tour ends in the grand city of Krakow, renowned for its splendid architecture and vibrant cultural life. Unscathed by the ravages of war, Krakow was one of the first places designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1978.
Daigoji Temple, Kyoto
The Colors of Japan –Tokyo, Kanazawa, Takayama & Kyoto (9-21 November 2025)
November brings a kaleidoscope of red, orange, and yellow to Japan. The autumn foliage is a vital passage of nature for the Japanese, as important as cherry blossoms are in spring. The pleasant temperatures encourage soaking in an onsen and sampling seasonal dishes, from hot pot to fugu. Temples, markets, and forays into traditional cultural experiences—from kabuki to sumo—introduce you to Japanese history and traditions. Experience today’s Japan at the immersive world of teamLab Borderless in Tokyo and the Miho Museum near Kyoto, a twentieth-century architectural masterpiece designed by I.M. Pei. Sample Japan’s colorful variety of natural, traditional, and contemporary culture on this 12-day small-group tour.
Performance Reviews
New York, NY
Sequentia spins a medieval German saga for Music Before 1800
Hartmann von Aue's Gregorius—The Holy Sinner weaves a tale of incest, love, penance and redemption.
New York, NY
Terfel returns to Met, ignites with Radvanovsky in “Tosca”
Bryn Terfel returns as Scarpia in first Met appearance in 13 years.
New York, NY
The Met’s new Aida received the performance it deserves the second time around
SeokJong Baek replaces ailing Piotr Beczała to save the day.
New York, NY
Tenor Pati makes an ardent Met debut in “Rigoletto”
Luca Salsi’s towering Rigoletto and Erin Morley’s Gilda round out top-notch cast in Verdi's tragedy.
New York, NY
Top Ten Performances of 2024
New York Classical Review critics pick the best of the year.
New York, NYk
Three great cities take the spotlight with Parlando
Sidewalk Tango sets a high bar for the eclectic for Ian Niederhoffer and his orchestra.
New York, NY
The American Classical Orchestra leaps forward in time with ‘The Art of the Touch’
Salon concert features the evolution of keyboard instruments over the centuries and composers who embraced such innovation.
New York, NY
Gil Shaham mesmerizes in Dvořák’s Violin Concerto with Semyon Bychkov and the Czech Philharmonic
Three sold-out Carnegie Hall concerts are a fitting end to the 2024 Year of Czech Music.
New York, NY
A radiant Gabrielle Reyes sings her first Mimì in the Met’s "La bohème"
Great singing and hijinks from a fine young cast for Puccini favorite.
New York, NY
"Die Frau ohne Schatten'" returns to the Met with incomparable brilliance
Met assembles a stellar cast for Strauss rarity.
All of my reviews for Seen and Heard International can be found here
Recordings Reviews
Ventura, CA
Requiem for the Enslaved
Carlos Simon and Marco Pavé offer a searing, transcendent memorial to past sins and hopes.
Goshen, NY
Aaron Jay Kernis's Elegy (For Those We Lost)
Elegy (For Those We Lost) is dedicated to the families of those who have died from COVID-19. Aaron Jay Kernis originally composed the piece for solo piano, but arranged it for harp and trumpet was made at the request of the Grammy-nominated harpist Yolanda Kondonassis.
Berlin
Vince Mendoza's Freedom Over Everything
To the Edge of Longing for soprano and orchestra is one of the most stunning musical creations inspired by these troubled times.
Lawrence, Kansas
dwb (driving while black)
Of the three recorded versions of Susan Kander and Roberta Gumbel's dwb (driving while black), this recording is the purest one.
Chicago
Archetypes
In their new release, Grammy Award-winning Third Coast Percussion joins with celebrated Brazilian guitarist Sérgio Assad and his daughter - vocalist, composer and multi-instrumentalist Clarice Assad - to portray in music twelve of these universal characters that defy time and place.
Paris
The Freischütz Project
Conductor Laurence Equilbey is the first to present Carl Maria von Weber’s opera using the principles and original instruments of historically informed performance with a stellar cast.
New York
Brooklyn-based ensemble and songwriting collective Founders releases Songs for the End of Time
Ben Russell and Brandon Ridenour, members of the new music ensemble Founders, radical rework of Olivier Messiean’s Quatuor pour la fin du temps is faithful to both the spirit and the austere beauty of the original.
Warsaw
The songs of René de Boisdeffre - A nineteenth-century master of melody
Acte Préalable’s recording of reveals that at his best, René de Boisdeffre could fashion a song to rival those of his greatest contemporaries, including Fauré.
France
Contralto - Nathalie Stutzmann / Orfeo 55
Stutzmann’s last recording with Orfeo 55, the chamber orchestra which she founded and performed with as soloist and conductor simultaneously, celebrates the legacy of the great Baroque contraltos and the music that they inspired.
New York
Once and Again
Once and Again, the most recent recording of Edward Smaldone's music, features a sampling of his smaller-scaled works, including two for voice and instruments.
About
I got the travel bug from my parents. As a boy I had crisscrossed the US with them and my younger brother on the classic American Road Trip to California. At 16, I went to Europe for the first time. The destination was Germany, a country that I have returned to many times. In addition to business and personal travel, I have lived in Switzerland, Singapore and China. So far, it’s been a wonderful life of travelling the world and experiencing its wonders..
A musician for most of my life, first a trumpet player and then a singer, I have a degree in music from the University of Pittsburgh. In 2013, I began reviewing for Seen and Heard International and have posted reviews from the US, Europe and Asia. In addition, I regularly contribute program notes to the Singapore Symphony Orchestra and have had music and travel articles published in the Global Times, Shanghai Daily, MusicWeb International, Broad Street Review and other publications.
Although I am thrilled to have press privileges in many of the world’s great concert halls and opera houses, it is the offerings in the more out-of-the way places that excite me the most. There one still finds great music, often at its national, indigenous best, in theaters, whether ancient or modern, that are as grand and beautiful as any in the world. More importantly, these venues not only preserve the past, they embrace the new, keeping classical music current and vital. That is the world that I invite you to explore with me on my tours.
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