Muse House

December 6, 2009 - 4:10pm
The string sextet "Concertante" proved itself resilient as well as musically polished in a concert for Syracuse Friends of Chamber Music on Saturday.

In an ensemble as small as a sextet, it would seem daunting to lose one of its players to illness at the last minute. Concertante did not balk at the prospect last night, presenting a program of Sir Edward Elgar, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, and Johannes Brahms with cohesive and sensitive musicianship.

December 4, 2009 - 11:37pm
Jane Campion the Romantic

The swooning, romantic period drama Bright Star chronicles the three-year romance between revered Romantic poet John Keats and young Fanny Brawne cut short due to Keats’s death at the age of 25. In telling this intimate tale of first love, the gifted director and writer Jane Campion (The Piano) has crafted a film that plays like one of Keats’s poems brought to life.

November 27, 2009 - 11:15am
A review of "Wishful Drinking," a one-woman show performed by Carrie Fisher at Studio 54 in New York City.

About halfway through “Wishful Drinking” one begins to wonder for whom the show is intended.  Traditionally, theatre is performed to bring about an emotional response from the audience but “Wishful Drinking” balances that purpose with the needs of its creator and star.  The one-woman show is a vehicle for Carrie Fisher to take control of her demons by confronting them—in full view of an audience.    

November 20, 2009 - 8:00pm
"The Invention of Lying", the new film from comedian Ricky Gervais, sparks debate with its polarizing views on religion.

The Invention of Lying, the new inflammatory (and very funny) comedy from TV mastermind Ricky Gervais, starts off simply enough.

November 17, 2009 - 12:47pm
SU Professor Jeff Mayer's collection of vintage couture is his life's passion

Closet space is a precious commodity.

But in Jeff Mayer’s house, five of his six closets are crammed with clothes he doesn’t wear.

Mayer, 45 and an associate professor of fashion history and design at Syracuse University since 1992, has amassed a large private collection of vintage couture, perhaps one of the largest in Central New York.

November 17, 2009 - 12:31am
Heavy metal gets the video game treatment in "Brütal Legend," the new game featuring Jack Black.

 Combining unique worlds and laugh-out-loud dialogue is nothing new for video game designer Tim Schaffer.  From the alien controlled future in “Day of the Tentacle” to the Aztec-inspired afterlife of “Grim Fandango,” he’s made a career of it.  But with his latest game, “Brütal Legend” (available for Xbox360 and Playstation 3), he’s added his love of all things heavy metal.  And this affection, evident from the smallest details of a character’s wardrobe to the unnecessary umlauts in the title, helps to...

November 16, 2009 - 11:43pm
A review of "Up In the Air," the upcoming film directed by Jason Reitman and starring George Clooney

November 16, 2009 - 12:24pm
SU drama students talk nonsense in a pair of absurd plays by Eugene Ionesco.

It’s hard enough to make small talk at a party. Watching actors do it for almost three hours is almost unbearable. The SU drama department productions of “The Bald Soprano” and “The Chairs” embody playwright Eugene Ionesco’s belief that English language is full of empty clichés, the actors speaking nonsense for minutes at a time, repeating each other and altogether acting foolish. Their conversation has no art or meaning; it is words, occasionally even devolving into gibberish. Nevertheless, the gibberish is well produced.

November 12, 2009 - 2:09pm
The Haydn Trio Eisenstadt will premiere a work by South African composer Bongani Ndodana-Breen for a free SU concert.

The Austrian composer Joseph Haydn once said that his musical language could be understood anywhere in the world. 

The Haydn Trio Eisenstadt is celebrating this sentiment for the bicentennial of Haydn's death this year. In a project entitled “D2H” (dedicated to Haydn), the group commissioned six Austrian composers, six composers from other European countries and six composers from outside the continent to write a piano trio in his honor.

November 8, 2009 - 7:52pm
The varying range of musicianship among the members of the New York Chamber Soloists allowed for an enjoyable, but unstable, night of chamber music.

The New York Chamber Soloists do not fit easily into a mold. 

They champion repertoire for unusual combinations of instruments, which a core ensemble of 12 musicians undertakes in a variety of formations. The ensemble’s age-range extends from musicians in their early thirties to octogenarians.