I am in agreement with Stephen Hawking and James Lovelock – one has only to glance at the last decades’ rates of extinctions, deforestation and the hockey stick-like graph of the human explosion to realize that something’s going to have to give very soon. It’s extremely doubtful that humanity is going to find a solution…
Dear Mr. Bailey, I enjoyed, last week, a wonderful and successful time in the city and country in which you are presently the Canadian Cultural Attaché: Mexico. I represented Canada for the opening concerts of the Festivál del Centro Histórico, performing as soloist with the National Symphony of Mexico on March 31 and April 2.…
Some unqualified reviewing by someone who refuses to read program notes and only goes to Lincoln Center when Mom visits. NUTCRACKER: NYCBallet, Dec 23, 2016 Lincoln Center, 2 PM Matinee We sat down in what resembled a supervised kindergarten on Princess Day but I am delighted to report that little folks are just as taken by…
(Want to read this in German? Click hier!) The criticism of art is just opinion, and a reviewer has a right to her or his own. Though I may disagree from time to time, my public responses have been due only to factual errors. Earlier this May I read a review (English translation here) by Herr Felix…
Original post is HERE A Fascinating, Troubling Violinist BERLINER MORGENPOST 02 MAY.2015 CLASSICAL REVIEW The Canadian Lara St. John performs at the Kammermusiksaal By Felix Stephan Lara St. John plays Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 in an arrangement created especially for her. One can hardly turn eye nor ear away from her. The Canadian is…
Kunstkritik ist lediglich Meinung, und jeder Kritiker hat ein Anrecht auf seine eigene Meinung. Obwohl ich gelegentlich anderer Ansicht bin, reagiere ich öffentlich nur dann, wenn Tatsachen falsch dargestellt werden. Im Mai diesen Jahres las ich eine Kritik von einem Herrn Felix Stephan über ein Konzert, bei dem ich im Kammermusiksaal der Philharmonie Berlin auftrat…
Some folks might remember that a while ago, Zachary Woolfe of The New York Times went to a young violinist’s concert at Le Poisson Rouge, panned it; loads of my colleagues on social media went around reposting the review, usually humblebragging (“Oooh, thank god this didn’t happen to me when I got a Times review!”);…
Comments on Occasional Factual Errors of the Washington Post’s two Reviews of the Amazon Series Mozart In the Jungle. Here are the complete WP articles: Critique # 1 and Critique # 2. Washington Post: “So it is remarkable to me that no one bothered to run the script by anybody who could point out its significant divergences from fact or,…
From the 1700 (or so) folks who receive my Holiday Card in their non-virtual actual real physical mailbox each year, I generally get two reactions: “How cute!!” (meaning, of course, my baby dragon in his various get-ups) and: “Nice photoshop!” Someone who is so old-fashioned as to make a card, write in it, put it in an…
To all those who took the time to comment on my little Game of Thrones essays this spring, I thank you. I regret to have had to stop making them public after the first few dozen, since some commenters who disagreed with me also seemed to have a serious problem with the fact that I…
NOTE FROM LARA – This is an excellent essay on music, musicians and attitude by composer Kenji Bunch from a few months ago. Kenji does not (yet) have a blog and he posted this on Facebook – he was recently gracious enough to send me his “rant” in its entirety, and permission to post it here. Well worth…
It’s been a fascinating week. Thanks everyone! The scale of the reaction to my recent post was unexpected and very interesting. Prior to expounding on that, however, I must take a moment to admit that I made a mistake. In my Disgruntled Iggy video, I used the wrong soundtrack – I set it to one…
(NOTE to all the hardcore gamers out there: please read this before commenting: http://wp.me/pBqA1-4q) Dear HBO: I am a violinist and the owner of the Ancalagon record label. I excitedly looked forward to your Game of Thrones series in 2011 as I was awaiting the fifth book. I could hardly wait for either. As the season went on, I…
Variations on “Is That a Violin????” by Lara St John I have noticed, whilst travelling a few million miles hauling a violin, that carrying an oddly shaped case gives random folks a queer impetus to talk to you about what might be inside it. Some people love to talk about what they do. I, however,…
SALOME RAP An overture, by Lara Intro. Direct Quote from Oscar Wilde; Iokanaan says: “Behold! The time has come! That which I foretold has come to pass! The day I spake of is at hand”. RAP Back in the days of the holy Bible A princess there lived who loved a disciple Her crib was…
