http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/peter_dobrin RSS Feed for Inq Col Peter Dobrin en-us Sat, 14 Nov 2009 08:02:06 GMT http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/peter_dobrin/20091114_Pleasant_night_with_the_orchestra.html Stéphane Denève is not what you could call a high-impact podium presence. He led a perfectly pleasant concert Thursday night. The Paris Conservatory-trained conductor does nothing extreme, nothing exaggerated - a strategy that works in getting the Philadelphia Orchestra to a high comfort level, particularly in repertoire it knows well. http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/peter_dobrin/20091109_Virtuosic_repertoire_unusual__multicultural.html With a presence in Philadelphia that has made it seem almost indigenous, Imani Winds has managed the trick of paying homage to its woodwind quintet ancestors, while overhauling its repertoire with genre-bending commissions. http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/peter_dobrin/20091031_Led_by_Jurowski__the_orchestra_steps_up_its_game.html While the leadership of the Philadelphia Orchestra has been getting its fiscal and administrative house in order, the ensemble has had its own work to do. Up to this point, musical standards have generally held steady. Thursday night, however, the group was in a different state altogether. http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/peter_dobrin/20091030_Curtis_season_opens_gloriously_to_discerning_ears.html Nights like the one the Curtis Institute of Music had Tuesday - in which everything is going right and everyone in the room seems to feel it - are dear in the life of arts institutions, especially in tough times. The Curtis orchestra, in its first concert of the season, played with a magnificent assuredness. Much of the city's arts and civic leadership was in Verizon Hall, buzzing about the school's new dorm and orchestra rehearsal hall quickly taking shape a few blocks away. http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/peter_dobrin/20091023__ArtsWatch_.html Inquirer critic and culture writer Peter Dobrin tells you who's making news, noise and splash in the Philadelphia arts world and beyond at www.philly.com/philly/blogs/artswatch http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/peter_dobrin/20091020_Showing_what_this_society_is_all_about.html You don't usually have to worry about falling objects at concerts, but the program booklet that smacked the aisle floor Sunday afternoon was a heavy one. Heavy because this was the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, whose quarter-inch booklet lists an unprecedented 65 concerts this year - despite the dreadful economy. http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/peter_dobrin/20091017_Maestro_on_the_move_in_his_week_in_Phila_.html Roger Norrington at the Philadelphia Orchestra is a bit like the substitute teacher who catches you by surprise one day. First, you find that he's moved everything around. And then, when he makes his first sound, he's using phrases you've never heard before. Doesn't he know how things are done around here? http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/peter_dobrin/20091016__ArtsWatch_.html Inquirer critic and culture writer Peter Dobrin tells you who's making news, noise and splash in the Philadelphia arts world and beyond at www.philly.com/philly/blogs/artswatch http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/peter_dobrin/20091009__Video_Games_Live__coming_to_Kimmel.html (Warning: This article contains mild video game jargon which may be unintelligible to some parents.) Pong; Pizzicato. Tetris; Triangle. OutRun; Orchestra. http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/peter_dobrin/20091006_Nero_and_3_pros_from_Broadway.html Nothing, potentially, is more artificial than a Broadway singer unmoored from her Broadway show. Without context - a story, sets - a soprano bursting into song as she walks onto stage, microphone in hand, risks comedy of the unintentional kind.