Hays Street Bridge, San Antonio, 2006
re: culture, ideas & the built environment
Mike Greenberg / San Antonio
NEW: Video
"memento"
of my play, "Three
Views of a Waterfall," in the
Bastrop
Opera House production. The planned video
shoot of the
Oct. 29 performance had to be scrubbed when one
of the leads fell ill
and was unable to appear. I assembled the
"memento" from audio and
video clips I recorded during the production
process. The clips were
intended only for my reference, not for public
consumption, and I
apologize for the technical quality. Soon I'll
post audio of the last
28 minutes of one performance, to better
represent the excellence of
the cast. Dec.
4, 2011
 |
McNay
Art Museum: George Nelson
-- Deeply considered design for the (two-decade)
American Century June 17, 2011 Coconut chairs and ottoman, 1956. Photo: Vitra Design Museum Archive |
SA Symphony's new music director: Sebastian Lang-Lessing seeks a sound,
connects with local tradition Feb. 22, 2010
News flash: How I became a playwright Feb. 17, 2010
Genealogy of a lie: If facts don't fit prejudice, Obama-haters invent Aug. 16, 2009
Teach 'strengths and weaknesses' of evolution? See that bet and raise it June 21, 2008
Those useless humanities Jan. 8, 2008
Placemaking at its
best: Latest
San Antonio River Improvements transform wasteland into
civic treasure June
21, 2009Correcting the record on lessons from Santa Barbara: Density is good April 2, 2009
McNay
Art
Museum's Stieren Center for Exhibitions: Jean Paul
Viguier's pure
Modernist addition is all about the light
June 13, 20081221 Broadway Lofts: Making an introvert gregarious
June 2, 2008
Austin's Long Center for the Performing Arts:
Right space, wrong place April 28, 2008
Configured for concerts, Austin's new Dell Hall still sounds like an opera house May 24, 2008
Notes from the Congress for the New Urbanism's conference in Austin April 18, 2008
CNU XVI: New Urbanist guru thrashes Austin six ways from Sunday April 10, 2008
Transportation Choices Forum: Some gaps remain in our "Smart Growth" smarts (March 30, 2008)
Jubilee Outreach/Wigodsky & Assoc.: Designing within the system
Plus: Big Grass Bamboo: Cinderella story (March 2, 2008)
What to expect in performing arts center? The picture is cloudy (Feb. 16, 2008)
Windcrest Village: Duany brings New Urbanism to Old Sprawl (Jan. 30, 2008)
Beethoven Festival/Pacifica Quartet, Olmos Ensemble: Concerts rarefied and earthy Jan. 31, 2012
Beethoven Festival/San Antonio Symphony: In an old friend, unexpected charms Jan. 28, 2012
Beethoven Festival/Christopher Guzman: A Beethovenian Jan. 27, 2012
Beethoven Festival/SOLI Chamber Ensemble: Collaborations across two centuries Jan. 24, 2012
Beethoven Festival/SA Symphony: Second, Fourth and ta-ta-ta-DAH Jan. 21, 2012
Beethoven Festival/Spencer Myer: Scenes from near the peak, and the approach Jan. 20, 2012
Beethoven Festival/SA Symphony: You've heard 'Eroica' before? Nope Jan. 14, 2012
Beethoven Festival/Naoko Takao: How much freedom is too much? Jan. 13, 2012
Beethoven Festival/Jeffrey Swann, Camerata: Concerts conversing with one another Jan. 10, 2012
Morgenstern Trio: A young troupe leaps to the top Nov. 23, 2011
SA Symphony, Kolja Blacher: Appeals to the heart, the gut and the mind Nov. 19, 2011
SA Symphony, Sebastian Lang-Lessing: From Brahms, two views of the end Nov. 13, 2011
YOSA Philharmonic, Edgar Meyer: The bass reaches into the brilliant heights Nov. 10, 2011
Olmos Ensemble: A Glazunov Idyll and a magnum of wit Nov. 8, 2011
Austin Lyric Opera: A "Magic Flute" that plays up love and laughs Nov. 8, 2011
SA Symphony, SL-L, Bernd Glemser: Music of, and from, the shadows Oct. 30, 2011
SA Symphony, SL-L, Alexander Gavrylyuk: Opulence from '1001 Nights' and 88 keys Oct. 17, 2011
Jason Vieaux: A master colorist on the guitar Oct. 14, 2011
SA Opera: In 'R&J,' true love and a real-deal soprano Oct. 3, 2011
Olmos Ensemble: After Victorian clutter, Modern air and light Sept. 22, 2011
Camerata San Antonio: New venue, no traffic noise, but what about that groan? Sept. 13, 2011
Cactus Pear Music Festival: The cat's meow, and other delights July 19, 2011
Cactus Pear Music Festival: Revelations from Prague, and points east July 11, 2011
SA Symphony, Lang-Lessing, Gluzman: Modest Beethoven, immodest Strauss June 4, 2011
Camerata San Antonio: Cello quintets, forwards and backwards May 31, 2011
SA Chamber Choir: Unifying light on divided divinities May 25, 2011
SA Symphony, Alban Gerhardt: Pitching in Lang-Lessing's wheelhouse May 21, 2011
SA Symphony: In Tchaikovsky Sixth, longing for life in presentiment of death May 9, 2011
SA Symphony, Camerata: Tchaikovsky, from communal to personal May 2, 2011
Austin Lyric Opera: A memorable 'Flight,' grounded in life April 12, 2011
SA Symphony, Lang-Lessing, Shterenberg: The oval track and the open road April 9, 2011
Lafayette String Quartet: A compelling conversation, set in motion by Elliott Carter April 6, 2011
SA Symphony, McDuffie: Glass violin concerto nods to the baroque, and contradicts it April 2, 2011
Augusta Read Thomas: Music of rigor, balance and feeling April 1, 2011
Olmos Ensemble: More zest, less filling March 25, 2011
SA Symphony, Dmitry Sitkovetsky: Charms of youth, ruminations of age March 19, 2011
Ysaÿe Quartet: From Fauré, a quartet worthy of limelight March 8, 2011
Camerata San Antonio: A sun and two rediscovered planets Feb. 22, 2011
Olmos Ensemble: Love leads, but laughter trumps Feb. 17, 2011
SA Symphony, Ricardo Cobo: Lang-Lessing's hallmark? Focus Feb. 12, 2011
SA Opera: A 'Figaro' long on beauty, short on bite Feb. 5, 2011
Cypress String Quartet with Amit Peled: Three great near-death experiences Jan. 31, 2011
SA Symphony, Lang-Lessing, Zilberstein: The dark side of 'Power to the people' Jan. 29, 2011
SOLI Chamber Ensemble: East-West conversation goes deep Jan. 27, 2011
Lilya Zilberstein, Israeli Chamber Project: Dangerous Beethoven, and more Jan, 24, 2011
SA Symphony, Lang Lang, Lang-Lessing: An enfant terrible matures nicely Jan. 14, 2010
SA Symphony, Sebastian Lang-Lessing: Romantic start to a new marriage Jan. 9, 2011
Musical Bridges Around the World: Sailing the EastWest Passage Dec. 15, 2010
SOLI Chamber Ensemble: Small bites, big flavors Dec. 9, 2010
Conspirare, with Patrice Pike: Christmas perfected, and then some Dec. 5, 2010
Imani Winds: A whole world of music Nov. 16, 2010
SA Symphony, Prieto, Urioste: When worlds collide, sparks fly Nov. 13, 2010
Austin Lyric Opera: Conductor weaves a revelatory "La Traviata" Nov. 12, 2010
YOSA Philharmonic, Laredo, Robinson: Tales of love, with tragic coloring Nov. 8, 2010
SA Symphony, Ryo Yanagitani: The pianist as raconteur Nov. 6, 2010
Olmos Ensemble: A glorious night for Strauss, sung and bowed Oct. 27, 2010
San Antonio Symphony, Ken-David Masur: A young conductor blooms Oct. 23, 2010
Camerata San Antonio: From German culture to global culture Oct. 18, 2010
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center: Music for five, played winningly by six Oct. 12, 2010
SA Symphony: Meticulous craftsman meets meticulous craftsman Oct. 9, 2010
SA Symphony: Lang-Lessing opens tenure with masterful Mahler First Oct. 3, 2010
Santiago Rodriguez: A trenchant 'Carnaval,' both nuts and not Sept. 25, 2010
SA Opera: The murderous clown and the suicidal nun Sept. 18, 2010
Cactus Pear Music Festival: Speed's the thing in new works by Kramer, Sorgi July 18, 2010
Austin Lyric Opera: The opera that mistook a case study for a drama July 13, 2010
SA Opera: A lavishly cast "Rigoletto" June 19, 2010
SA Symphony: On Scalia, Souter and Salerno-Sonnenberg June 6, 2010
SA Symphony: Dawn Upshaw in a performance to cherish May 23, 2010
SOLI Chamber Ensemble: Revisiting the work of a master craftsman March 18, 2010
Olmos Ensemble with Christopher Guzman: Once a Wunderkind, now an artist May 13, 2010
SA Symphony: Piazzolla's "Seasons," fattened up but with pulse, soul and eros intact May 1, 2010
Lee Trio: From Golden Gate, a musical bridge between past and present April 29, 2010
Austin Lyric Opera 'Hansel and Gretel': Whose house is this? Rhymes with 'rich' April 28, 2010
Camerata San Antonio: The Schoenberg piece that people like April 14, 2010
SA Symphony, conductor Andrew Grams: And the beat goes where? April 4, 2010
SA Symphony with Kuerti, Kuster: A luminous intro to Webern, for the wary March 27, 2010
Olmos Ensemble: When one plus one equals one March 18, 2010
Jupiter String Quartet: From civilization to Hell, and back again March 16, 2010
San Antonio Symphony: Fearless Prokofiev, jolly Shostakovich March 13, 2010
SOLI Chamber Enemble: An example of recycling at its best March 11, 2010
Camerata San Antonio: From England between the wars March 8, 2010
UTSA Lyric Theatre: Heuser's 'Root Vegetables' -- 24-carrot fun March 7, 2010
SA Symphony, pianist Benedetto Lupo: In Chopin concerto, a human voice Feb. 27, 2010
Atos Trio: Deep communication in an intriguing program Feb. 16, 2010
SA Symphony: High craft on the podium, poetry on the guitar Feb. 14, 2010
Pianist Haochen Zhang: Flying fingers, connected to a probing mind Feb. 13, 2010
Camerata San Antonio: Bohemian music, international standard Feb. 9, 2010
Austin Lyric Opera: Madcap fun, musical charm in Chabrier's "The Star" Feb. 2, 2010
SA Symphony, pianist Stewart Goodyear: Quicksilver agility, golden touch in Grieg Jan. 30, 2010
Olmos Ensemble with Linda Poetschke: Gerswhin at the center Jan. 21, 2010
SA Symphony with Nancy Zhou: Promising début in the Sibelius concerto Jan. 16, 2010
Voci di Sorelle: An uneven repast, but the sorbet sparkled Dec. 8, 2009
SA Symphony: A triumphant return and a first-class début Nov. 21, 2009
Austin Lyric Opera: In this 'Bohème,' the stage is all the world Nov. 13, 2009
Shanghai Quartet: Standing on whole tradition to reach beyond it Nov. 11, 2009
Olmos Ensemble: A chemistry lesson, in French Nov. 5, 2009
Nemanja Ostojic: In his guitar, the big box of Crayolas Nov. 3, 2009
Camerata San Antonio: From Russia, with goulash Oct. 28, 2009
Soprano Linda Poetschke: In 25th anniversary recital, the naked truth Oct. 19, 2009
SA Symphony: Vigor on the page , and on the podium Oct. 17, 2009
SA Symphony: A violinist true to the many ways of Prokofiev Oct. 10, 2009
Organist Paul Jacobs: A gifted orchestrator, fleet of foot and hand Oct. 8, 2009
Lark Chamber Artists: A string quartet with a bang-up fifth Oct. 6, 2009
SA Symphony: From Weilerstein, extraordinary depth and intensity Sept. 26, 2009
Olmos Ensemble: Music of two worlds, off-kilter and on Sept. 24, 2009
San Antonio Opera: A 'Butterfly' with ideas, some of them brilliant Sept. 12, 2009
Cactus Pear Music Festival: Beethoven, Clarke, Elgar July 18, 2009
Cactus Pear Music Festival: A strangely beautiful Lorca setting July 13, 2009
Cactus Pear Music Festival: Listening to a conversation, having a 'Lark' July 11, 2009
San Antonio Opera, 'Il Trovatore': If you've got it, flaunt it June 13, 2009
Round Top Festival: The wit was French; the wisdom, too June 9, 2009
SA Symphony, Elmar Oliveira: Mendelssohn with machismo May 30, 2009
SOLI, Timothy Jones: Music fit for a king, and a world, gone mad May 27, 2009
Olmos Ensemble: An elegantly crafted new Lyric Quintet by Bill Ross May 22, 2009
SA Symphony, Rossen Milanov: Russia resists invaders; Brits hail one May 9, 2009
SA Symphony, Lang-Lessing, Torgul: Ecstasy, joy and sweet moxie May 2, 2009
Jon Nakamatsu: Built for speed, and sometimes more April 30, 2009
Albers Trio: Three ways of being Modern, with poise April 22, 2009
Austin Lyric Opera: Poulenc's 'Dialogues' speak compellingly April 20, 2009
Composers
Alliance: Blackbirds will sing April
8, 2009SA Symphony, Komatsu, Wright: A Dvorak Sixth in high style April 4, 2009
SA Symphony, Chang, Grams: Violinist gives old master new energy March 28, 2009
SA Symphony, Judd, Wolfram: Epic retold, with compelling authority March 21, 2009
SOLI Chamber Ensemble: Master thief does it again March 17, 2009
Olmos Ensemble, Poetschke, Epperson: A grand night for singing March 11, 2009
"La Curandera": Comic opera finds composer Rodriguez in top form March 4, 2009
SA Symphony: Harrell serves Elgar concerto at peak of ripeness Feb. 14, 2009
Sergio and Odair Assad: New Brouwer sonata wears virtuosity lightly Feb. 10, 2009
SA Symphony: Assad concerto is the draw, conductor Vajda the marvel Feb. 7, 2009
SW Guitar Festival: Denis Azabagic, A sculptor in sound Feb. 7, 2009
SW Guitar Festival: Dunne, Gast shine in new Balentine piece Feb. 5, 2009
Austin Lyric Opera, "Rigoletto": A radiant Gilda, but where's Dr. Phil? Feb. 2, 2009
SA Symphony: In taut Shostakovich Tenth, the demons wore jackboots Jan. 24, 2009
Fretwork, Clare Wilkinson: Music of Purcell, antique and progressive Jan. 20, 2009
Camerata S.A.: Violinist Jiang contributes to a gutsy 'Ghost' Jan. 12, 2009
Archive: Music reviews from previous years
Ten
views of the Tower of the Americas
Shadow
plays 
America
