Bright Sheng
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Concert Review of Sheng with DSO
Classical
• Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Charles Dutoit, conductor. Jan. 24-26: Dutoit transported the DSO to another realm, capturing the opium-induced dream of Berlioz's "Symphonie fantastique" with feverish intensity. (Orchestra Hall)
• Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Oliver Knussen, composer and conductor. Feb. 8-10: The burly Brit led an adventurous program of non-mainstream Stravinsky and his own brilliant Violin Concerto with soloist Leila Josefowicz. (Orchestra Hall)
• Puccini's "La Rondine." April 19-26: Michigan Opera Theatre's alluring production made a strong case for this flawed but charming work filled with ravishing waltzes. (Detroit Opera House)
• Eighth Blackbird. April 10: The new music sextet made its University Musical Society debut with Steve Reich's gleaming "Double Sextet" and a collaborative piece by the Bang on a Can composers with choreography. (Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre, Ann Arbor)
• Composer's Concert, Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival: An unforgettable evening that celebrated four leading composers born in 1938 -- William Bolcom, John Harbison, Joan Tower, John Corigliano. (Temple Beth El, Bloomfield Hills)
• FLUX Quartet and New Music Detroit, June 17: The DSO's 8 Days in June festival mostly didn't live up to its potential, but an electrifying concert of minimalist classics highlighted by Steve Reich's "Different Trains" was an exception. (Music Box, Max M. Fisher Music Center)
• Christopher Taylor, Bruce Yeh, Cho-Liang Lin, Gary Hoffman. Oct. 4: A fiercely concentrated performance of Olivier Messiaen's haunting masterpiece "Quartet for the End of Time," presented by the Chamber Music Society of Detroit. (Seligman Performing Arts Center, Beverly Hills)
• Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Bright Sheng, composer and conductor. Oct. 17-18: Sheng's searing "Nanking! Nanking!" had a devastating impact while defining the composer's profound fusion of Western and Chinese idioms. (Orchestra Hall)
• Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Leonard Slatkin, conductor. Dec. 11-14: From the red carpet to gripping performances of Verdi, Carl Orff and James Lee III, there was a vibrant sense of occasion and optimism at the launch of Slatkin's tenure as music director. (Orchestra Hall)
Jazz
• Tom Harrell Quintet, Feb. 22-23: The trumpeter's poetic solos were miracles, and his richly expressive compositions created a unique sound world. (Jazz Café at Music Hall)
• "Tribute to Alice Coltrane." Aug. 31: The Detroit International Jazz Festival made hay with a Detroit-Philly Summit theme, including a cathartic set honoring the late Detroit-born pianist Alice (McLeod) Coltrane led by son Ravi Coltrane. (Hart Plaza)
• Wayne Shorter Quintet and Imani Winds. Sept. 27 (University Musical Society): Shorter's telepathic quartet reached a rare level of communicative abstraction and the saxophonist-composer blended jazz and classical idioms with perspicacity. (Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor)
By Mark Stryker / Free Press Music Critic / December 28, 2008
Bright Sheng with DSO
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