ArtsCriticATL.com

The first piece on the program Monday night, Bill Ryan’s “Blurred,” is scored for “piano and any additional instruments.” Within a framework, the players decide “on their own what pitches and when to perform.” And the overall effect should produce a “haze” of sound. Sonic Generator devoted Monday’s concert in the Woodruff Arts Center’s Rich [...]

Psychologists and economists love to study the interplay among price, expectation, rarity and perceived value. We did our own experiment over the weekend and concluded that few things make a person happier than a free, or pay-what-you-can, concert performed by some of the region’s best musicians. The sour economy is undoubtedly a major attraction of [...]

Why we’re lucky to live in Atlanta: when conductor Donald Runnicles and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus program Beethoven’s “Missa Solemnis,” they deliver at such an exalted level that you can’t imagine it being done better anywhere. Thanks to the late Robert Shaw, who revered the work and conducted it often, the “Missa Solemnis” [...]

Atlanta’s newest jazz promoters don’t work in clubs or other performing arts venues. Armed with a closetful of folding chairs and enough refreshments for five dozen friends, neighbors and strangers, these impresarios are on the cutting edge of presenting local jazz in the most intimate and personal setting — their homes. The monthly concerts are [...]

What is Beethoven’s “Missa Solemnis” about? No one, including the musicians at this week’s Atlanta Symphony Orchestra performance, seems to know for sure. Many Beethoven fans consider this “Solemn Mass” among the greatest works in the entire repertoire, one of the most searching, bewildering and profound pieces to come from the imagination of any composer. [...]

Big donations from arts philanthropists are what keep institutions like the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra afloat. Early this morning, the ASO announced a hefty gift with a twist: The Mabel Dorn Reeder Foundation, with ties to Atlanta and St. Louis, has awarded $1.85 million for the ASO’s endowment and includes a bonus for the musicians, the [...]