PRESS UPDATES
PLENTY OF BOUNCE IN AN ALBUM INSPIRED BY THE PAST BUT EMBRACING THE NEW
April 27, 2022
Primavera II: The Rabbits is the second instalment in cellist Matt Haimovitz’s projected cycle of six releases covering no fewer than 81 new commissions for solo cello (there are 14 here). They are based around both Botticelli’s 15th-century painting Primavera and Charline von Heyl’s contemporary response in Primavera 2020, with all the inevitable associations of the Covid pandemic and resulting social upheaval that those entail. That might well feel like a few too many threads of socio-cultural influence to weave together as a context for Haimovitz’s wide-ranging collaborations, and, indeed, the temptation is simply to listen and respond to the wealth of music here on its own terms.
SYMPHONY SHINES IN VERDI’S ‘LA TRAVIATA’
March 26, 2022
On March 13, the Central Ohio Symphony continued its 43rd season with another remarkable concert. On the program were Jennifer Jolley’s “Motordom” and a concert presentation of Giuseppe Verdi’s “La Traviata.” First, however, came the rousing rendition of a short work that may have surprised some in the audience: the soaring State Anthem of Ukraine, which celebrates the freedom of the Slavic nation that once again is under attack by an autocratic dictator. Orchestras around the free world have rightly condemned the invasion by playing Ukraine’s national anthem and declaring their solidarity.
