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Bernadette Peters and the LPO is on for February 28

One of the greatest divas for the past three decades is winging her way to New Orleans to perform with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO). Bernadette Peters, who has played such iconic roles as Mama Rose in Gypsy, Mabel Normand in Mack and Mabel and Annie Oakley in Annie Get Your Gun will be singing many of the fabled songs that established her as one of the greatest luminaries of the …more…

Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra announces new season, Part 1

The Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) continues to offer top ranked performances and guest artists to enthrall local classical music devotees. The dashing figure of artistic director and maestro Carlos Miguel Prieto, Jr. will continue to lead the LPO with authority and a keen sense of intuition as to what fits for today’s audiences.

LPO maestro and artistic director Carlos Miguel Prieto, Jr.

It all kicks off on Saturday, September 22 with pianist …more…

Guessing Icons on Memory Lane

Cheryl Cabrera’s sixth exhibit at D.o.c.s. gallery is an amazing collection that will keep you guessing and maybe take you on a stroll down memory lane. Her inspiration was taking famous Icons from her childhood and brilliantly dissecting them on canvas. The symmetry of the lines and the distortion of the faces takes the art to a childhood place. The viewer somewhat feels like they are playing pictionary with an …more…

LPO’s song remains the same; sells out Zeppelin show

As expected the weekend at the Mahalia Jackson Theater for the Performing Arts turned out to be a bonanza for music fans of the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO). It is true that the crowd that experienced a breathtaking evening of choral work from Johannes Brahms (Shicksalied or “Song of Destiny”) and a magnificent reading of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 9 on Saturday night was vastly different than the rockers that …more…

The Art of Cooking

There is nothing more satisfying  than when art bleeds with culinary brilliance. It is an indulgence for the senses that shouldn’t be skipped. In Gustave Blanche III’s exhibit of paintings showcasing long-time chef Leah Chase, a slice of Louisiana’s food history is preserved. Wearing her signature pink hat and seen slicing and dicing various colorful vegetables, the onlooker can’t help but be swept up in the long standing history of …more…

LPO has second big weekend planned

Last weekend the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra carried off a busy schedule. This included a double bill with superb renditions of the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 and the Shostakovich Symphony No 15 as well as a well-attended free public concert at Champions Square adjacent to the Mercedez Benz Superdome featuring jazz trumpeter Kermit Ruffins.

Maestro Carlos Miguel Prieto picks up his baton this Saturday night (©Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra)

Artistic director and maestro …more…

Music: Big Easy Style

Music is the soundtrack of life and the inspiration of Dario Robleto’s new exhibit at NOMA. In The Prelives of the Blues Robleto explores music through the eye of a conceptual artist. Dario in internationally known for his talent of sculpting with unique items and giving them powerful meaning. The new exhibit at NOMA is no different. This new work focuses on music and specifically the heart of music in New …more…

Taboo Tattoos?

Jessica Goldfinch’s new exhibit is a smartly crafted art exploration of the world of tattoos with a backdrop of religious relics. Tattoos are art in their own right, hence the name tattoo artists. Honing in on the underground world of symbolic prison skin art Jessica explores the deep religious and political meanings this type of art carries with it. Not only is there an unspoken language in this art form …more…

N.O. Opera pairs ‘Pagliacci,’ ‘Carmina Burana’

While thousands of visitors to the city may be looking to hear the sounds of traditional and contemporary jazz, rock, blues or gospel in the tents of the annual Jazz Fest, there is a dedicated coterie of opera fans who will be heading this weekend to the Mahalia Jackson Theater for the Performing Arts.  They will be taking in the mounting of an opera and a special production of a …more…

Two New Orleans Opera events today

Mark Rucker, a celebrated baritone and longtime operatic star with the New Orleans Opera Association, is slated to be honored later today. Rucker, who started his New Orleans career in 1993 with the role of Tonio in  Ruggero Leoncavallo’s “Pagliacci,” will be honored at a late morning reception at the African American Resource Center in the main branch of the New Orleans Public Library. The reception, which is free to …more…

Mozart ‘Requiem’ to bow here Thursday

The Louisiana Philharmonic Orcherstra (LPO) returns with a true classical program  this Thursday in New Orleans and Friday on the Northshore, April 19-20, with an ambitious night featuring the Wolfgang Mozart Requiem in D Minor, K 626, and the Ludwig von Beethoven Symphony No. 2. in D Major, Opus 36.

Soloists for the Mozart Requiem include two principals named Lattimore, who are not related. Grammy nominated soprano Jonita Lattimore will be …more…

Warrior Paint: Tony Fitzpatrick at Jonathan Ferrara Gallery

In Tony Fitzpatrick’s new exhibition at Jonathan Ferrara Gallery (400a Julia St.), “Nickel History: In the Service of Ghosts” his fighter spirit is alive. In his latest exhibit, colors, sketching, and lines become blurred into an awesome spectacle of pictures. His work is detailed and precise. Taking historical figures, situations, people, and various odds and ends of life he places them in detailed sketches of intricate portrays of bravery, malice, and …more…

Joshua Bell to play Brahms with LPO

One of the world’s leading violin virtuosos, Joshua Bell, will perform with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) on Friday and Saturday nights in New Orleans. An Avery Fisher Prize Winner and Instrumental Musician of the Year recipient from 2010, Bell was recently named the music director of The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields.

Classical superstar Joshua Bell, who performs Friday and Saturday night with the LPO.

In most instances …more…

LPO busy with two nights of concerts

Just prior to next weekend’s major Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) concerts with renowned violinist Joshua Bell, the nation’s only major musician-run symphony orchestra presents two very different performances in as many nights.

Tonight’s “March Madness” performance features the return to the podium of artistic director Carlos Miguel Prieto. It has been nearly a month since he put the LPO through its musical paces with a program of Russian music.

As its title …more…

Literary Festival to feature highlights from ‘Streetcar’

Portions of Andre Previn’s “A Streetcar Named Desire” will get a rare public hearing from a historic balcony on Friday evening and it’s all part of the ongoing Tennessee Williams New Orleans Literary Festival that kicks off tonight.

Previn’s modern opera made its debut in San Francisco in 1998 and was given its second outing in New Orleans later that year a month before Houston Grand Opera’s slated performances. Both of …more…

Shay Kun’s Thousand Word Paintings at NOLA’s Martine Chaisson Gallery

In Shay Kun’s painted world the onlooker is forced to see pure, delicate environments invaded by their human counterparts. ...more...

Grieg Piano Concerto to be heard three nights in a row

Fresh off last week’s concert featuring Igor Stravinsky’s “Pulcinella Suite” and the Beethoven Symphony No. 2, the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) prepares for three consecutive nights under the baton of Eri Klas featuring music from Scandinavia. ...more...

Louisiana in its Purest Form

Assemblage art can be a hit or miss, but  in Jimmy Descant’s new exhibit at the Ogden it’s a huge hit. Honoring the infamous shape of Louisiana, “The Rocketman”, as Descant is affectionately called, has weaved together pieces that touch on Louisiana’s rich roots. Called “The Rocketman” for his talent of making art rockets, his visionary brilliance is one of a kind. With the state’s shape as a backdrop, Descant …more…

The Russians Are Coming! (To LPO)

It’s a good thing that McCarthyism went out of fashion in the 1950s because conspiracy theorists might be on the alert for the series of Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) concerts being held at month’s end.

Sergei Prokoviev, Dmitri Shostakovich and Sergei Rachmaninov will be the stars front and center on Saturday night, February 26 in a post Mardi Gras celebration of post romantic and modern Russian music conducted by maestro and …more…

Big Easy 2012 Classical Arts Awards

Each year the Foundation for Entertainment Development and Education, known colloquially as the “Big Easy Entertainment Awards foundation,” honors the musicians, dancers, conductors and singers who contribute to the classical arts of opera, ballet and dance and music.

The affair a luncheon held at the Hotel Monteleone is an opportunity to honor these artists, patrons and teachers who contribute to the classical arts in significant ways and enrich the culture of …more…

Beethoven Sym. 7 to get LPO treatment tonight

For the past two weeks the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) has been busy serving up two divergent programs – the first, a night of Russian-oriented works and a the second, a lighter serving of “Spring” serenades. Tonight, under the solid work of maestro Carlos Miguel Prieto, Jr., the members will return to their classical foundation with a program that features the rarely-performed, but sprightly Beethoven Symphony No. 7.

With the possible …more…

Spring Is Here, or at least musically

Conductor Mary Woodmansee Green

The Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) gets ready to take on the challenge of Spring tonight without worrying about hay fever or the possibility of “spring fever” in a concert at the Kenner First Baptist Church at 7:30 p.m.

Set to conduct the LPO this evening is talented and beautiful conductor Mary Woodmansee Green, a 24-year-veteran as music director and conductor of the Kennett Symphony of Chester County. …more…

Raw Talent at NOLA’s Homespace Gallery

In the new exhibit, Raw, at Homespace Gallery, emerging and accomplished artists are one in the same sharing a platform amazing art in its rawest form. Organized by art veterans Luis Cruz Azaceta and Sharon Jacques, it seems every visual sense is put to the test. From sculptures from the less well-known but superbly talented Monica Zeringue, to photo portraits and installations, to imagery by art veteran Peter Saul, the …more…

Pacifica Quartet thrills Friends of Music audience

The Pacifica Quartet, considered one of the finest ensembles in all of classical music today, offered a night of virtuosity on January 25 at Tulane’s Dixon Hall as part of the New Orleans Friends of Music series. The quartet members, who serve as quartet-in-residence and on the faculty of the University of Chicago have an extensive touring schedule in the Americas and Asia and also have been selected as the quartet-in-residence for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. ...more...

LPO to play at St. Louis Cathedral tonight

For the past five years the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) has put on a free concert in conjunction with the Historic New Orleans Collection (HNOC). The idea is to make the music of the historical periods catalogued by the HNOC come to life and give meaning to them in a way that books, maps and historic documents can never do. The LPO for its part gets to play some very …more…