"In my end is my beginning." - T.S. Eliot

Things are looking up at the NY Phil.

It would be nearly impossible for Gustavo Dudamel to live up to the sky-high expectations being placed upon him as the NY Philharmonic's next Music and Artistic Director. Although his tenure doesn't officially start until 2026 (he conducts six weeks next season as "Music and Artistic Director Designate"), Dudamel, 44, is already being placed in the pantheon of great Philharmonic conductors, including Mahler, Toscanini, and especially Leonard Bernstein, whose tenure (1958-69) breathed new life into the Philharmonic while expanding its audience through the then-new medium of television.

But, we live in a different time than Lenny did. This is the era of fly-in conductors, where music directors are no longer expected to live in the city in which they work, or engage with the community beyond a few fundraisers with deep-pocketed patrons. With commitments as little as 12 weeks per season, many conductors now hold two or even three music directorships simultaneously. For what these positions pay - often upwards of $3 million a year - one might wonder if the impact these (mostly) guys make is worth the cost.

Time will tell, but if the past few months are any indication, Gustavo has already made his presence felt in NYC. He was here in March to introduce the 2025-26 season, when he spoke sincerely and forcefully about how music is more then mere "entertainment." Now, in a scheduling coup, Dudamel - who remains the music director of the LA Phil and is one of the world's busiest guest conductors - is back in town to close out the Philharmonic season with a trio of programs that have shown off his prodigious skills in both new and familiar repertory. 

Two weeks ago, Dudamel led a mostly-contemporary program (I went to the Friday matinee on 5/23, which was nearly-sold out) that kicked off with Stravinsky's bold Symphony in Three Movements (1942-45), a NY Phil commission. The work, partly recycled from unused film scores, was written in the shadow of World War II and sounds strikingly American, full of pulsing, maximalist sounds that seemed to foreshadow the music of John Adams, or even John Williams.

Credit: Kate Milford

"Peter was a master of his craft." - Philip Glass (Juilliard classmate)

Despite the occasional overbearing reverence of the concert hall, classical music doesn't always try to be serious. Many attempts have been made over the centuries to lighten things up, both by performers and composers. Unfortunately, most contemporary attempts at classical music humor fail, falling back on tired tropes or sheer buffoonery that show little-to-no musical invention. Turns out it's quite challenging to deliver intelligent humor that appeals to both seasoned listeners and novices alike.

In modern times, no one walked that line better than Peter Schickele, the composer, performer, satirist, impresario, and all-around rascal who died last year after a long illness. Schickele was a true master: sure, he could clown around, but he was also a serious composer with more than 100 works to his credit. Over his seven-decade career, Schickele shared his infectious warmth and joy for music, both in the concert hall and on his long running genre-blending radio show, Schickele Mix.

On Monday night, Schickele's family, friends, and still-excitable fans gathered at the Society for Ethical Culture on the Upper West Side to honor his legacy and hear some of his music. Hosted by WQXR's Elliott Forrest and curated by Peter's daughter Karla, the first half of the evening featured Peter's straight compositions and arrangements, performed by Schickele's children and grandchildren alongside familiar names such as Seth Rudetsky, M Shanghai String Band, and Stephin Merritt from the Magnetic Fields. The performances were interspersed with photos and clips, a poignant reminder of what Peter himself brought to performances of his music.

“It is hard to imagine a more risk-prone art form than opera.” - John Adams

Of all of New York's musical treasures, none shines brighter than the Metropolitan Opera. This spring, two new productions have garnered significant attention for their gripping contemporary music, lurid subject matter, and seductive female leads. I saw both operas on consecutive days last week, and while each is musically brilliant, one production is clear and faithful to its story while the other is plagued by opaque heavy-handedness. If you've read the reviews of Richard Strauss' Salome and John Adams' Antony and Cleopatra, you can probably guess which is which. 

Not so fast.

First, Antony and Cleopatra. Adams, 78, has long established himself as one of this country's preeminent composers, with a particularly outsized impact in the world of opera. His modern-day masterpieces Nixon in China, Death of Klinghoffer, Doctor Atomic, and Girls of the Golden West each exhibit a vibrant sound palette that blends the romantic grandeur of Wagner with the minimalism of Glass and Reich. One key to Adams' stage success has been the influence of director Peter Sellars, who either conceived of or wrote the text to each of those expressionistic operas, basing them on real-life events. (The poet Alice Goodman wrote the librettos to Nixon and Klinghoffer, based on Sellars' concepts.) Whether it was Nixon's 1972 visit to China, the 1985 murder of Leon Klinghoffer, or J. Robert Oppenheimer's 1940's Manhattan Project, these were familiar stories told in plain English.  

In a departure, Adams chose to craft his own libretto for Antony and Cleopatra using the text from Shakespeare's tragedy, along with source material by Plutarch and Virgil. (For those unfamiliar with the story, you can read the synopsis here.) In his essay "Love Bites", reprinted in the Met's program book, Adams discusses the difficulties of setting Shakespeare's songlike verse to his own idiosyncratic music. 

“Every operatic adaption of a famous text is fraught with difficult, often painful decisions," Adams writes. "Composers set out with the intention of absolute fidelity to the original, but both musical and dramatic concerns immediately get in the way. It’s messy business.”