Best Of 2022: The Ballot is Open, Steal This Art!
With its magazine-style glossy cover, great photographs, and insightful opinions on the BEST of everything this area has to offer, Best Of 2022 is...
Blogging the Cliburn (Final Round, Second Half)
One of these years, the Cliburn judges are going to pick the pianists I like as winners. The law of averages says it’s going...
Blogging the Cliburn (Final Round, First Half)
I can’t overemphasize what a coup it is for the Cliburn to sign up Marin Alsop to conduct the final-round concertos. The trailblazing protegée...
Blogging the Cliburn (Semifinal Round, Days 3-5)
Lots of business to attend to here, so let’s get on it. Lim Yun-chan’s semifinal recital consists solely of all 12 of Liszt’s Transcendental...
Blogging the Cliburn (Semifinal Round, Days 1-2)
This year, the Van Cliburn has dispensed with its chamber music requirement. I would have liked to see it kept with an expanded repertoire,...
Welcome to Dystopian Texas
I keep two copper pipes on my chest of drawers. The plumber gave them to me after replacing them six weeks after they froze...
Blogging the Cliburn (Second Round, Day 2)
As I promised, I went back and listened to the first-round recitals of the two second-rounders that I missed, and I found something to...
Blogging the Cliburn (Second Round, Day 1)
Here’s the soccer update I promised yesterday: Wales ended Ukraine’s World Cup dream with a 1-0 victory in Cardiff. On one hand, I’m sad...
Blogging the Cliburn (First Round, Day 3)
The Van Cliburn Competition started out at TCU and took place there for decades before Bass Hall was built. It makes sense that the...
Blogging the Cliburn (First Round, Day 2)
Even with the appearance of Clayton Stephenson at the start of this morning, I can still count the number of Black pianists I’ve seen...
