In Tuesday’s (10/9) Charlotte Observer (North Carolina), Steven Brown writes, “The greatest hits of music, ballet and Broadway bring people flocking to the box office. … But the people who bring them to you think there’s a limit. They can’t just recycle the hits in perpetuity. The groups’ future—and that of their art forms—depends on giving audiences fresh experiences. … Christopher Warren-Green, the Charlotte Symphony’s music director, says he has gotten complaints about music by Sergei Prokofiev, a Russian whose ballets, concertos and symphonies are standard fare in many places. Nevertheless, he thinks Charlotte is open to new things if they’re presented ‘in the right environment to the right audience.’ … ‘It’s amazing the different tastes people have,’ Warren-Green says. He plays to that in the orchestra’s KnightSounds series. … The Sept. 28 installment, titled ‘The Power of the Song,’ featured beloved tunesmiths from Handel to John Lennon. Warren-Green slipped in something by the much-less-familiar Argentine composer Osvaldo Golijov: a dark-hued, soulful song based on an Emily Dickinson poem. ‘A lot of people absolutely loved it—the drama of it,’ says Warren-Green, who mingled with the audience afterward.”
Posted October 11, 2012
