Alice Smith effortlessly brings her audience together
She was restless, though; and she looked as if she was searching for something. Only when she smiled a bit, turned, and without the mic delivered a note as high and strong as the ones with the mic, the playful twinkle in her eyes settled into a look of satisfaction of a performance well delivered.
‘Oleanna’ returns to stir controversy
Inspired by Anita Hill’s sexual harassment allegations against Clarence Thomas and the accompanying public outrage, Oleanna explores the power dynamics between a student and her professor when she accuses him of sexual harassment after a private meeting concerning her grades.
A gut feeling
Soon, the empty stage, with a beautiful, defunct organ for backdrop, would be graced by the presence of the most well-known and widely praised period-instrument quartet of the day. Quatuor Mosaïques, an Austrian ensemble that came together 30 years ago, distinguishes itself with its singular use of gut-stringed instruments, specializing in the music of the 18th century.
The great gamelan
What the songs had in common is their construction — a careful kind of chaos that stops just long enough on a tone for me to commit it to memory. I spent the journey home contented, my ears still wrapped in the concert’s final note.
MIT — SO musical
Right from conductor Adam K. Boyles’ downbeat, MIT Symphony Orchestra (MITSO) delivered a brilliant performance, featuring Beethoven’s “Coriolan” Overture and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4, as well as Concerto for Flute and Orchestra in E minor, by MITSO’s own Bertrand Stone ’18.
The tide of expression flows for you
But as with real life, it doesn’t always end how you expect it to, sometimes in the form of a soloist giving a touching soliloquy, sometimes a triumphant explosion of sound, and sometimes, sad chords brought on another theme, but always flowing.
On walls, society, and humanity: the story of a people of no women born
This is a central question to the movie; what does it mean to be a ‘real’ human being? Is it to be of woman-born? Is it to be mortal? The film proposes interesting, if somewhat unsatisfying, resolutions to these, and a host of other problems.
Brooklynn Prince: A new kind of ‘Disney’ Royalty
The thought-provoking film, culminating in a chaotic and disjointed final scene at the real Disney World, lifts the veneer of the “happiest place on Earth” and sheds a darker light on the devastating childhood poverty that exists in America.
The orchestra starts a dialogue with a piano
This was a performance to be reckoned with. The performers delivered all of the emotion and story-telling of an opera wordlessly, telling the history of a people with their instrumentation. While the piano concerto was dramatic and, for lack of a better term, very Beethoven-esque, it was blown out of the water by the majesty and conflict of “The Year 1905.”
BB.Q Chicken introduces Boston to its tender glory
With a variety of seating arrangements, innovative offerings of fried chicken and a hospitable attitude, BB.Q chicken might be the next stop in your nights out if you’re open to new experiences.
Face-to-face with ‘The Enemy’
Walking by the MIT Museum is intriguing this fall — a quick peek through its Mass Ave windows shows patrons decked out in heavy goggles and backpacks meandering through a mostly empty space. They’re participating in The Enemy, a virtual reality (VR) experience intended to inform people about perspectives of war. We are about to join them.
Alison Krauss brings bluegrass to Boston
I am not religious, but when I heard this music, I could understand a little better how it feels for those who are. When Krauss’s voice rises on the line “In your love, I find release/ A haven from my unbelief,” it’s like you can feel a presence wrapping around you.
JuggleMIT Circus Show captures MIT’s heart
As the violin and piano soundtrack reached a crescendo and all the seven rings came to rest on his palms, the audience broke into thunderous applause, finally letting go of the breath they didn’t know they were holding in.
A long, slow year by the sea
A good movie is like a good sandwich — solid context on the outside with juicy conflict filling the center. A Year by the Sea, if a sandwich, is a bit dry. While it contained numerous micro-conflicts, it lacked a strong plotline: a sandwich filled only with bread.
Feel the Bern-stein
This was an astounding concert, really putting BSO’s best foot forward with contrasting styles, magnificent solos, and tremendous sound.