Peter Dobrin is a classical music critic for The Inquirer. Since 1989, he has written music reviews, features, news and commentary for the paper, covering such topics as the Philadelphia Orchestra's 64-day strike in 1996, the development of a new performing arts center in Philadelphia, changes in the classical-recording industry and the finances of Philadelphia's arts organizations.
He has also covered the Philadelphia Orchestra's tours in Asia, South America and the United States. Dobrin was a French horn player. He earned an undergraduate degree in performance from the University of Miami, and received a master's degree in music criticism from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, where he studied with Elliott Galkin. His work has also appeared in the Baltimore Sun and the Washington Post.
Read his blog "ArtsWatch" to find out who's making news, noise and splash in the Philadelphia arts world and beyond.
- James Levine To Undergo Surgery
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In the mysterious credibility hierarchy that somehow attaches itself to the orchestral realm, there's one wide, approachable swath of the repertoire that has acquired the reputation of being lower in quality or artistically less worthy than others. Except with audiences, who are smart enough to gravitate toward a good tune when they hear it.
- The Annenberg Foundation donates $10 million to get the Kimmel project going.The last Tuesday in May, Kimmel Center president Anne Ewers sat down for lunch with Annenberg Foundation executive director Gail C. Levin. The two had never met. The Kimmel had just settled the deal to lift its long-term debt burden, and the conversation turned to the Kimmel's artistic ambitions.
- The Franklin Institute has two sides now, displayed in shows on pirates and machines that teach, entertain and spring happy surprises.If you want to see physical evidence that the Franklin Institute these days is straddling two realms - one old-world didactic, the other more showbizzy; one science, the other, well, not - take a trip up the ramp in the museum's Mandell Center.
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You didn't like that new score you heard Thursday night? Was there a guest conductor who put you over the moon, and whom you're eager to hear again?
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'Brokeback' is an opera-to-be
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American composer Charles Wuorinen has been commissioned by New York City Opera to write a work based on Annie Proulx's "Brokeback Mountain," a short story about a romantic relationship between two cowboys, the company has announced.
- Inquirer critic and culture writer Peter Dobrin tells you who's making news, noise and splash in the Philadelphia arts world and beyond at http://go.philly.com/artswatch.
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Good news. Philadelphia is getting a great orchestra hall with a superb acoustic. It will sit in the middle of the city as a sophisticated piece of urban design - a hive of arts activity so compelling it will form the city's newest and busiest public square.
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What future title, if any, Christoph Eschenbach will hold with the Philadelphia Orchestra is unclear. Pianist-in-residence might be the most valuable one to the city's musical health.
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He came in with the almost poetic wish for the orchestra to "reach every child in Philadelphia." Early in his tenure, the trim maestro in a Nehru outfit had a plan for players to echo his modern informality by casting away their stuffy white-tie-and-tails and black dresses.
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The budget of the Philadelphia Orchestra must be taking a beating in these last few weeks of Christoph Eschenbach's tenure. Extra money was spent on augmented firepower last week in Mahler's Symphony No. 8, with revenue lost on seats given over to choirs.
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