My concert listening this weekend was firmly grounded in the Romantic movement. On Saturday night at the New York Philharmonic, I heard performances of Karol Szymanowski's Violin Concerto No. 1 and Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 4, two gorgeous late-romantic effusions. Then on Saturday afternoon I heard Garrick Ohlsson play a selection of pieces by Frederic Chopin and Enrique Granados, thus bridging from the early days of musical romanticism to its final gasps. (By interesting coincidence, … <Read More>
Sacred Vivaldi at Church of the Ascension
In its first concert back at the newly-renovated Church of the Ascension on Fifth Avenue at 10th Street, the Voices of Ascension Chorus & Orchestra directed by Dennis Keene presented an evening of Vivaldi on Thursday night, offering up the Gloria RV 588, Laetatus sum RV 607, and Magnificat RV 610, punctuated by a performance of the famous Concerto in C for Two Trumpets, RV 537. The 24-member chorus and 13-member instrumental ensemble were joined by a handful … <Read More>
Another Shot in the T-Shirt Wars: 7th Circuit Affirms Damage Award to High-Schoolers Who Sought to Wear Anti-Gay T-Shirts
Each year high school students around the country organize a National Day of Silence to provide a vehicle for students and faculty to show empathy for sexual minority students who may feel silenced by the generalized hostility they experience in that tense adolescent setting. And it seems that each year, some students, egged on by religiously-conservative parents and anti-gay organizations, seek to counter the effect of the National Day of Silence by wearing t-shirts with … <Read More>
Supreme Court Finds First Amendment Insulates Phelps’ Westboro Church From Liability for Picketing Military Funeral
Ruling 8-1, the U.S. Supreme court affirmed a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals to set aside a $5 million tort verdict against Fred Phelps and other members of his church who picketed the funeral of Matthew Snyder, a U.S. Marine who was killed in action in Iraq, thereby causing severe emotional distress to Snyder's father, the plaintiff in this case. According to the Supreme Court's opinion by Chief Justice John Roberts, because the … <Read More>
7th Circuit Rules US Court Has Jurisdiction to Hear Employment Discrimination Case Brought by French Lesbian Flight Attendant Against United Air Lines
Feeling its way through an interesting jurisdictional and procedural thicket, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit ruled yesterday in Rab
Obama Administration Continues to Oppose Suit for Benefits for Federal Court Employee’s Same-Sex Spouse
Responding to questions posed by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White (N.D.Cal.) in Karen Golinski's suit for benefits for her same-sex spouse, Golinski v. The United States Office of Personnel Management, No. C 4:10-00257-JSW, the Obama Administration has taken the position that its decision not to defend Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the federal statutory provision that requires the federal government to deny recognition for any and every purpose to same-sex … <Read More>
V
Last night's performance by Osmo V
“Compulsion”, a new play by Rinne Groff at the Public Theater
I attended the matinee performance of "Compulsion" at the Public Theater this afternoon. Mandy Patinkin stars, with a supporting cast of Hannah Cabell and Matte Osian. Patinkin plays a thinly disguised version of Meyer Levin, under the name of Sid Silver. This is a dramatization of the struggles of Levin over the dramatization of The Diary of Anne Frank.
The Silver character served in the US military in Europe during WWII, participating in the liberation … <Read More>
Inon Barnatan’s Spectacular Recital at Peoples’ Symphony Concerts
Tonight I attended the spectacular recital by Israeli-born, New York-based pianist Inon Barnatan at Peoples' Symphony Concerts, Washington Irving High School. I had not heard of Barnatan prior to receiving the announcement of this concert, but a visit to his website filled me in nicely before the event. Barnatan has studied with many fine teachers and has had concerto debuts with several leading orchestras in the U.S. and abroad. He has one solo commercial recording to … <Read More>
Justice Department’s Brief in 9th Circuit Military Appeal Tries to Refocus the Case
On February 25, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed its brief supporting its appeal of U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips' ruling last year in Log Cabin Republicans v. United States, 716 F.Supp.2d 884 (C.D.Cal. 2010), in which she held that the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" military policy, codified in 10 U.S.C.