One of the things that I started doing this year that has brought me a lot of joy: buying two tickets to shows/concerts that I want to see just because I want to see them. Sounds simple, right? There are always a million reasons to justify not going when there are children and dogs and piles of laundry and neglected e-mails that need tending, especially on a weeknight but maybe even more so on a Friday night when all I want to do is sprawl out in front of Netflix in a sweatpants-clad, Cheeto Puff-fueled state of vegetation.
But I did a pretty good job this summer (maybe a little too good tbh) of getting out there and catching a pretty wide and wacky range of shows. Here’s the run-down:
JUNE
Houston Symphony concert performance of Salome @Jones Hall: It still provokes and shocks nearly 120 years later. Huge kudos to the orchestra under the direction of music director Jurac Valčuha and an admirable cast led by soprano Jennifer Holloway. Despite being billed as a concert performance, the large screen projections that framed the orchestra and the singers’ generous use of the entire stage made it feel totally immersive.
JULY
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center: The summer chamber music series is such a gem and one that I was super excited to enjoy this year. What a joy to catch some of my favorite chamber musicians and discover new ones: Orion Weiss, Sterling Elliott, Lun Li, Dani Um, Paul Neubauer, and Ricardo Morales were all fabulous in works by Mozart, Strauss, Schumann, and Dohnányi’s Quintet No. 1 in C minor, one of my favorites that is still on my wish list to play someday.
Stereophonic @Golden Theater: I have to be honest – I wasn’t excited to watch a 3+ hour play about a fictional band that bears more than a passing resemblance to Fleetwood Mac. But you can’t help but be drawn into the intimate recording studio drama and the music (written by longtime former Arcade Fire band member, Will Butler) is killer. I had mixed feelings about the fourth act – it’s definitely way too long and Peter’s big monologue moment fell flat for me (Tom Pecinka was also out that night, and I wondered if he might have moved me differently). I’d probably see it again, though, if only to catch Pecinka.
Hell’s Kitchen @the Schubert Theatre: I’m not a big jukebox musical fan, and this show more or less was a textbook example why. But, if you’re willing to let the unoriginal storyline slide and just sit back and enjoy hit after Alicia Keys hit, it’s a great evening thanks to its three powerhouse femaled leads: Maleah Joi Moon, Shoshana Bean, and a formidable Kecia Lewis.
Lincoln Center Festival Orchestra w/Carlos Miguel Prieto and J’nai Bridges: Prieto did a fabulous job on the podium; Ginastera’s Variaciones Concertantes is an old personal favorite of mine and it made for a glittering showcase for the fine musicians of the group formerly known as the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, who are doing a marvelous job pivoting along with new music director, Jonathan Heyward, to a fresh new musical chapter. J’nai Bridges reduced me to tears with her moving performance of Peter Lieberson’s Neruda Songs, a work for which she is rightfully gaining a reputation as a fine interpreter.
AUGUST
Andrew Bird @ Wolf Trap: It’s been a minute since I’ve listened to Andrew Bird, and I’m glad to hear that he’s balanced out a lot of the initial weird with some really creative and soulful songwriting. I especially enjoyed hearing some of his forays into the standard jazz literature, and the intimate trio set-up was just right for a performance that drew me in and charmed me from start to finish.
Childish Gambino @Capital One Arena: I gotta be honest: I’m a Donald Glover the artiste fan more than a Childish Gambino fan. Atlanta is one of the greatest artistic works produced for television of the 21st century. Fight me. But since announcing his CG retirement, I was game to go have a fun evening listening to his greatest hits. I quickly realized that this man has lifelong STANS. I was one of the few people in the packed arena whose first association with Donald Glover is Community, followed by Atlanta, and then his career as genre-bending rapper Childish Gambino. The audience was packed with millennials who knew the words to every deep cut (Do you know how many albums Childish Gambino has released? More than the one I’m vaguely familiar with, it turns out.) and lost their minds when CG appeared at the top of the show in a full on space suit. Ok then. Super fun show (so many lasers!), and I loved seeing him strut his stuff on stage, even if I only knew half the words to a third of the songs.
DC JazzFest Opening Night Concert featuring Jacob Collier, Samara Joy, and D-Nice: This concert was pure joy and I cannot believe that it wasn’t completely sold out months in advance. Jacob Collier is an absolute wonder to watch work, even when he gets lost in some super esoteric search for musical truth at the keyboard, and his pure love for the connective power of music is totally inspiring. This was my first time seeing Samara Joy perform in performance and WOW was I blown away. It was a clear example of how even the best recordings can still fall short of capturing the energy, excitement, and straight up chills that a gifted singer like Joy can transmit to a live audience. I think a lot of the JazzFest crowd was a little puzzled by D-Nice’s closing DJ set but the rest of us had a great time standing up and dancing our butts off until they turned the lights on at the Anthem.
Kristin Chenowith and Alan Cumming @Wolf Trap: This show was an absolute laugh-a-minute riot performed by two brilliant stage performers that I definitely should have probably not brought my school age children to see.
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