This past Easter Sunday (April 9) marked the 70th anniversary of Marian Anderson’s famed concert in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. What occasioned the open-air performance in 1939 was the refusal of the Daughters of the American Revolution to let Ms. Anderson appear at Washington’s largest concert venue, Constitution Hall, because of the color of her skin. At the time, she was the world’s leading contralto, the “supreme representative of her voice category,” as Alex Ross writes in the April 13 issue of
The New Yorker. Arturo Toscanini said she was the kind of singer who comes along once every hundred years.
[Read more →]
Tags: great music by Jon O
No Comments »
During my recent relocation to Washington, D.C., my postings dwindled to a trickle. All of my energy has been going toward settling in to new surroundings. But last night I ventured out to hear live music at the Bohemian Caverns and get a taste of what the city has to offer. Do you know how sometimes the most revelatory experiences can occur when you have no expectations, no idea of what you’re about to hear? That’s what happened when Allyn Johnson and Divine Order took the stage of that small, intimate jazz club and unleashed the most amazing, breathtaking music. [Read more →]
“Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd.” So begins the 1979 musical by Stephen Sondheim about a London barber who murders his customers and the accomplice Mrs. Lovett who turns his victims into meat pies. The tale was a staple of Victorian melodrama, likely originating from an urban legend. Its popularity continued into the 20th century and was the subject of a variety of silent films, radio, ballet and horror movies. Sondheim’s version was based on a play by Christopher Bond in which Sweeney is turned into a tragic, sympathetic figure. In this telling, the story becomes a mix of dark humor and tragedy, lifted from its shock-shop origins to something profound. 
The three Prince concerts in L.A. on March 28 made this the musical event of the year. It was a phenomenal experience, and I have just one word: genius.
