James Sommerville

Latest Articles

Blythe spirit

Opera Boston’s Offenbach, Thomas Quasthoff, the BSO, Boston Baroque, and BU’s Sondheim
Leaving the Cutler Majestic after the opening night of Opera Boston’s latest Offenbach, La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein , you could see the smiling faces of an audience that had had a good time.
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | May 17, 2010

Let's rock

The BSO, the Cantata Singers, Discovery Ensemble, and BCMS
WGBH radio has ended its 58-year tradition of live Friday-afternoon BSO broadcasts, and it doesn't seem that public outcry is going to change that.
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | January 25, 2010

Diva-gations

Mark Wigglesworth conducts the BSO; Renée Fleming returns to Symphony Hall
Last week's Boston Symphony concert was a snaggle of contradictions. British guest conductor Mark Wigglesworth was substituting for the exciting but erratic Russian maestro Yuri Termirkanov, who'd cancelled all his American appearances.
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | April 21, 2009

Ring in the new

Haydn trios, Kirchner's 90th-birthday concert, Cantata Singers' Britten, Teatro Lirico's Aida
If 2009 lives up to the grace and power of some of the concerts that began it, we can look forward to a vintage year.
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | January 20, 2009

Phenomenal!

Elliott Carter turns 100
Living for a century is still a milestone; for a great and still-productive artist to do so is virtually unheard of.
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | December 19, 2008

Russian, Spanish, American . . .

Music in all accents comes to the concert halls
What everyone is looking forward to this fall is the return to the podium of Boston Symphony Orchestra music director James Levine.
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | September 11, 2008

Too much too soon?

Classical goodies for 2008
Two of the most exciting concerts announced for this winter are on the same date, February 24.
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | January 31, 2008

Carter heaven

The BSO and BVM celebrate America’s greatest living composer, plus Stockhausen’s Mantra, and music for Beckett
James Levine’s devotion to the music of Elliott Carter has been a boon to Boston.
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | November 20, 2007

World music

The BSO goes traveling, and Berlin comes to Boston
There’s more to Boston’s classical music scene than the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | September 12, 2007

Stormy weather

BSO cancellations, plus the Camerata, Jonathan Biss, Emmanuel Music, and more
The BSO has been having terrible luck hanging on to its star soloists.
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | March 28, 2007

Schizo scherzo

Haitink’s Mahler, Ligeti études, Britten’s Dream , Donizetti’s Lucia
In the best performances, Mahler’s Sixth Symphony, sometimes called his Tragic , can sound like his greatest.
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | February 09, 2006

Amazing weekend

James Levine with the BSO and BSO Chamber Players, Hoose and the Cantata Singers
James Levine’s opening salvo for his year-long Beethoven/Schoenberg series with the Boston Symphony Orchestra couldn’t have been more ambitious: the work that opened Symphony Hall in 1900.
By LLOYD SCHWARTZ | January 24, 2006