Muse House

December 19, 2010 - 1:09pm
Video: Guitarist Tom Bronzetti is playing anywhere from four to six performances a week.

Tom Bronzetti played guitar for less than a third of his life.  The 25-year-old didn't let any lack of experience stop him, and he worked his way into studying music at Ithaca College and the New School for Jazz in New York City.

November 17, 2010 - 4:29pm
Two chamber groups, The Hawthorne Quartet and Ensemble Nordlys, share cultural identities during performances at Syracuse University

Syracuse University hosted two extraordinary journeys through the world of chamber music on Nov. 13, with performances from Boston’s Hawthorne String Quartet and Ensemble Nordlys from Denmark.  The programs for each of these concerts, though the music could not have been more different, illustrated how classical music is continually used to preserve cultural identity.

November 17, 2010 - 2:13pm
Review: The Walden Chamber Players perform works that unite odd instrument combinations.

It’s not very often that music from the composer who wrote the soundtrack to “The Shining” is heard alongside a Brahms trio, but when the ensemble is as diverse as the Walden Chamber Players , the combination starts to make sense.  Out of the 12 artists that comprise the Walden Chamber Players, six performed Saturday night at Lincoln Middle School as part of the Syracuse Friends of Chamber Music’s 61st season.

November 3, 2010 - 4:41pm

A Korean music and dance concert drew a large crowd of students to Grant Auditorium on Tuesday night. Some of the students obviously don’t frequent folk concerts – a few even had their laptops and cell phones out – but the pieces in this Department of Ethnomusicology-sponsored performance were stunning enough to halt many audience members mid-text.

October 27, 2010 - 10:11pm
Syracuse Stage's "The 39 Steps" is a smart and slightly unhinged (but in a good way) production.

It’s a political scandal. Oh wait, it’s an unsolved murder. Or it could be the slow caress of an ankle. Quick! It’s on the run.

It’s (pause for effect) "The 39 Steps" (cue dramatic music).

October 23, 2010 - 12:51pm
Talent Company revives "The Rocky Horror Show" after 15 years

Audiences should be trembling with antici—say it!—pation for The Talent Company’s current production of The Rocky Horror Show. After all, it’s been 15 years since the last live performance. And the wait was worth it. Under Christine Lightcap’s direction, this sci-fi-horror-parody is fresh and provocatively funny.

October 9, 2010 - 11:36pm
Three Syracuse University alumni perform in the national tour of "A Chorus Line," coming to the Crouse Hinds Theater.

Syracuse alumnus Nick Nerio got a special Christmas present when he was 10 years old: the original Broadway cast recording of A Chorus Line.

“I wore out the CD listening to it,” Nerio said. “I just love the opening number as the director calling out, ‘step, kick, kick, leap, kick, touch’ and you can hear the dancers doing the steps. I just fell in love with it.”

October 3, 2010 - 8:23pm
Review: Rarely Done Productions puts on [title of show], a musical about writing a musical, at Syracuse's Jazz Central.

In the third song of [title of show], Hunter, dressed as a sandwich board advertisement that reads “An Original Musical,” gives Jeff a satirical crash course in how to put on a Broadway-worthy production. He promotes an over-the-top set, a huge cast and a full symphony orchestra. And when Jeff says he wants to use just four chairs, four cast members and a keyboard, Hunter replies that Jeff needs at least “a turntable or a freakin’ electric blimp or something.” 

September 24, 2010 - 11:08pm
Actress Reenah L. Golden uses her experience as a teaching artist to help her perform 16 roles in "No Child..." -- Syracuse Stage's 38th season opener.

If there’s one thing you can say about actress Reenah L. Golden, it’s that she doesn’t take things for granted. Take the moment she was offered the main role for a Rochester production of the one-woman play, No Child… by Nilaja Sun. 

September 3, 2010 - 9:00pm
Review: Valentina Lisitsa spontaneously abandoned her planned piece for the Skaneateles Festival due to an unfit piano.

Grammy Award-winner Hillary Hahn has been performing at the Skaneateles Festival annually since she was a prodigal tween violinist, but the gossip after last night’s concert was less about her than the concert pianist, 

Following a strong presentation of Zoltán Kodály’s Duo for Violin and Cello, op. 7 from Hahn and cellist Robert deMaine, Lisitsa walked onstage. But instead of taking her seat behind the piano, she turned to address the audience.