I found myself in Ithaca, N.Y., for a meeting at Cornell Saturday afternoon, so checked out the bulletin board in the Music Department building to discover that a student group was presenting a performance last night of Guillaume de Machaut’s Messe de Nostre Dame, the earliest complete mass setting to survive (from the 14th century) and one of my favorite pieces of “early music.” I hastened to attend, of course. Graduate student Lorraine Fitzmaurice put … <Read More>
Cultural Diary – March 23 through May 1, 2013 – A Busy Season in NYC
Between work, concerts and theater, I’ve been so busy that I’ve generally avoided blogging about the things I’ve been attending over the past five weeks or so. This is a catch-up posting, briefly mentioning that things I haven’t had time to write about in longer posts. This post details the musical events (including opera). In another, I’ll address the theatrical ones.
Beginning at the beginning, with Richard Goode, and – surprise – ending with him … <Read More>
Orpheus Chamber Orchestra in Gabriel Kahane Premiere
I was blessed to be present in Carnegie Hall this evening for the first New York performance of Gabriel Kahane’s absolutely gorgeous song cycle, “Gabriel’s Guide to the 48 States,” performed by the composer with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. This was the final OCO Carnegie subscription concert of the season, and it really ended on a high note. Before Kahane’s piece, the ensemble performed the string orchestra version of Arnold Schoenberg’s Verklaerte Nacht with silken … <Read More>
Circuit Judge Dings DOMA and Oregon Marriage Amendment in Grievance Ruling on Benefits
Judge Harry Pregerson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, sitting as Chair of the 9th Circuit’s Standing Committee on Federal Public Defenders, ruled that Alison Clark, an assistant federal public defender in the Office of the Federal Public Defender for the District of Oregon, is entitled to received coverage for her same-sex spouse under the Federal Employees Health Care Benefits Program. In the Matter of Alison Clark, Case No. 13-80100
… <Read More> Federal Judge Certifies Class Actions Against DOMA Section 3
A federal district judge in Los Angeles has certified a nationwide class action lawsuit attacking the constitutionality of Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act in the context of spousal immigration rights. Having denied a motion to dismiss the case by the Justice Department and the Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group of the House of Representatives (BLAG) on April 19, Judge Consuelo B. Marshall then determined in a separate ruling that plaintiff Jane DeLeon and … <Read More>
New Jersey Appeals Court Revives Gay Teacher’s Discrimination Claim against Private School
A unanimous panel of the Appellate Division of the New Jersey Superior Court ruled on April 13 that Ronald Savoie, an openly-gay teacher who had been forced to resign after more than twenty years at the Lawrenceville School, is entitled to a trial on his claims that the School violated his rights under the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination and the public policy of New Jersey. The appellate court reversed a decision by the trial … <Read More>
NY Philharmonic’s Brilliant Beethoven 2nd Symphony
I have quite an accumulation of concerts and theater events to blog about from the past several weeks, and I’ve been meaning to catch up with a cultural diary entry, but I couldn’t wait to write about tonight’s concert by the New York Philharmonic, so I’m jumping the line to do it while it is fresh in memory.
David Robertson, Music Director of the St. Louis Symphony, is this week’s guest conductor. Tonight’s performance was … <Read More>
Unprotected Sex as “Aggravated Assault” – Are Military Courts Getting Competent Expert Testimony on HIV?
The U.S. Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals has affirmed the conviction of an HIV-positive Airman for failing to obey a lawful order, indecent acts, aggravated assault, and adultery, upholding the court martial’s sentence of dishonorable discharge, eight years confinement, total forfeitures of pay and benefits, and reduction in grade. The basis for the charge? Tech. Sgt. David Gutierrez and his wife participated in group sex activities with others without Gutierrez disclosing he was HIV-positive, … <Read More>
Virginia Attorney General Goes to the Mat to Save Unconstitutional Sodomy Law
Virginia Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli has asked the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider and overrule a decision by a three-judge panel of that court that held last month that Virginia’s sodomy law is facially unconstitutional. Citing the dissenting opinion by one member of the panel ruling in MacDonald v. Moose, Cuccinelli emphasized that the case involving an adult man who solicited a teenage girl to have oral sex, and argued that Virginia should … <Read More>
Is DOMA (Section 3) Doomed? Supreme Court Argument Suggests That Possibility
This morning, March 27, 2013, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in United States v. Windsor, No. 12-307, in which Edith Schlain Windsor, the surviving spouse of Thea Clara Spyer, sued the federal government in her capacity as executor of her wife’s estate for a refund of the estate tax that was levied in 2009. At issue in the case is the constitutionality of Section 3 of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which … <Read More>