Muse House

The Dutchman Sets Sail
By Rebecca Schmid
March 1, 2010 - 3:45pm
Syracuse Opera's multimedia concert of Wagner's "Flying Dutchman" featured excellent singing and a backdrop of studio videos which, at times, left much to be desired.

The Austrian-American composer Max Steiner once said that if Richard Wagner had lived in the 20th century, he would have written for film. Syracuse Opera’s multimedia concert of “The Flying Dutchman” would seem a natural extension of this idea. A montage of student videos were projected onto screens suspended above the orchestra.

The Miro Quartet
By Rebecca Schmid
February 26, 2010 - 8:54pm
A young, cutting-edge string ensemble arrrives in Syracuse tomorrow.

True to its name, the Miro Quartet is breaking new ground. Just as Joan Miro challenged bourgeois conventions of his time with elements of surrealism and Dada,  the Miro Quartet brings a vivacious presence to the internet an active website that the musicians update regularly with announcements and blogposts. The young  quartet was also the first ensemble in history to receive the Avery Fischer Career Grant.

Sharing Stories
By Carren Jao
February 24, 2010 - 11:50am
Why stories need to be told and where to find good ones.

There's an African proverb that goes, "It takes a whole village to raise a child" and for one night the Hendricks Chapel became that village.  

Last night, instead of coming home to a nice, warm meal, I squeezed myself in a pew on the balcony of Hendricks Chapel to see Muhammad Yunus talk.  In the course of two hours, he didn't say anything radically different from what I had read of his work, but nevertheless his words re-infected me--and the rest of the audience as well.  

 

Witnessing "Wicked" From a New Point of View
By Jessica Novak
February 2, 2010 - 2:08pm
I had the opportunity to see the musical "Wicked" from the pit orchestra and learned about more than the music, but also how hard life on the road can be.

Seeing Wicked from the skewed view of the pit orchestra was like losing one of my five senses. While some senses were hindered, others were enhanced, making the experience one of heightened awareness and appreciation.

A Treasury of Trios
By Rebecca Schmid
January 24, 2010 - 6:58pm
Syracuse Friends of Chamber Music gathers outstanding musicians from the Central New York area for an evening of trios from throughout the centuries.

Three is a sacred number in traditions from Greek myth, to Buddhism, to Christianity. In Classical music, even as ideas have fermented and bubbled over into increasingly large-scale undertakings, the genre of the trio has provided composers with fresh inspiration.

Review: A Single Man
By Nigel Smith
January 15, 2010 - 11:30am
Tom Ford the Designer Trumps Tom Ford the Filmmaker

Designer Tom Ford has throughout the years fashioned a persona of calculated masculine elegance. Seen in fashion magazines and gossip columns always sporting groomed stubble, tailored suits and tanned skin, he embodies the refined upper class male.

Leave Jane Austen's Work Alone: A Desperate and Non-Influential Plea
By Bethany Larson
December 12, 2009 - 6:05pm
People keep messing with Jane Austen's work. I'm annoyed by it.

I am a fervent Jane Austen fan. I love her eloquent prose, her portrayal of social conventions during Victorian England, and her penchant for subtle criticism. And I think people need to leave her work well-enough alone!

As you may or may not know, her work is in the public domain and is no longer covered by copyright. So, people can do what they will with it. And ohhhh have they. 

Concertante Rises above the Challenge
By Rebecca Schmid
December 6, 2009 - 4:10pm
The string sextet "Concertante" proved itself resilient as well as musically polished in a concert for Syracuse Friends of Chamber Music on Saturday.

In an ensemble as small as a sextet, it would seem daunting to lose one of its players to illness at the last minute. Concertante did not balk at the prospect last night, presenting a program of Sir Edward Elgar, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, and Johannes Brahms with cohesive and sensitive musicianship.

Review: Bright Star
By Nigel Smith
December 4, 2009 - 11:37pm
Jane Campion the Romantic

The swooning, romantic period drama Bright Star chronicles the three-year romance between revered Romantic poet John Keats and young Fanny Brawne cut short due to Keats’s death at the age of 25. In telling this intimate tale of first love, the gifted director and writer Jane Campion (The Piano) has crafted a film that plays like one of Keats’s poems brought to life.

I'll Have A Wishful Drinking, Please.
By Sonaite Debebe-...
November 27, 2009 - 11:15am
A review of "Wishful Drinking," a one-woman show performed by Carrie Fisher at Studio 54 in New York City.

About halfway through “Wishful Drinking” one begins to wonder for whom the show is intended.  Traditionally, theatre is performed to bring about an emotional response from the audience but “Wishful Drinking” balances that purpose with the needs of its creator and star.  The one-woman show is a vehicle for Carrie Fisher to take control of her demons by confronting them—in full view of an audience.