Moving Day
I’ve moved the site! Find my latest posts (and all the old ones too) at girlattheopera.com.
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ATLAS
Ever since getting my hands on a very bad video of its world premiere here in Houston in 1991, I have dreamed of seeing Meredith Monk’s opera ATLAS for myself. Imagine my joy, then, when I saw that the LA… Continue Reading
ENGL 397: Capturing Music at Rice
I’m teaching a course this semester on music, writing, and culture in Houston, sponsored by the wonderful Humanities Research Center here at Rice University. After four concerts and five excellent guest speakers, the course culminated with a visit from The New… Continue Reading
Hurricane Harvey
Yesterday I saw blue sky for the first time in days, and it was a moment of relief, but Harvey will be lingering in Houston for years to come. Among the many traumatic images and stories of suffering, my thoughts… Continue Reading
Frank Morgan, comeback legend
At the MFAH this weekend, Sound of Redemption, a documentary about jazz legend Frank Morgan, is making its Houston premiere. His story is about great music as much as it is about overcoming great odds. I had the pleasure of speaking… Continue Reading
Remembering Band Camp…
…Actually, the camp I went to was for symphony orchestra, not band, and it’s where I first learned what it meant to play in a string quartet (a shout-out to all Sounds of Summer Music Festival alumni in the Pacific Northwest!). Read… Continue Reading
Sequence of Sounds: Brandon Bell at Rice University
How does sequence affect sound? I wondered this last night watching Brandon Bell move quietly from playing a wine glass with a bow to wringing wet washcloths out on his knees. His dynamic recital in the Hirsch Orchestra Rehearsal… Continue Reading
“Time and Tension”: Liminal Space rocks Studio 101
Appreciating what some might term “noise” as music brings John Cage and his four minutes and thirty-three seconds of “silence” most readily to mind. But Liminal Space’s season-opening concert of electro-acoustic music recalls an earlier moment in twentieth-century music philosophy:… Continue Reading
Diva on Repeat: Art Installation at Fresh Arts Part 2
A little repetition can be surprisingly refreshing. At a glance, the second part of Soprano Lisa Harris’ performative installment “No Matter How Hard I Try I Can’t Look The Same As I Did Yesterday” seemed identical to the first. But… Continue Reading
Behind the Diva: Art Installation at Fresh Arts
Who doesn’t want to know what’s behind the diva? In a performance installation at Fresh Arts titled “No Matter How Hard I Try I Can’t Look the Same as I Did Yesterday,” Soprano Lisa Harris offers a glimpse at… Continue Reading