Justin Davidson
Vulture
New York, NY, United States
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Past articles by Justin:
A Lohengrin Where You Might Root for the Bad Guy
The Wagner opera returns to the Met for the first time in 17 years. → Read More
The Met’s New Fedora Is Almost Luxe, Almost Enough
“David McVicar’s new production for the Metropolitan Opera gets partway to the right degree of too much.” → Read More
Geffen Hall Has Found Its Sound
An acoustical assessment of Geffen Hall’s renovated interior, after multiple concerts by the New York Philharmonic conducted by Jaap Van Zweden and others conducted by Rafael Payare and Klaus Mäkelä. → Read More
How True to the Conducting Life Is Tár?
Cate Blanchett plays a fierce orchestra conductor in the new film ‘Tár,’ but in real life, the path for women to the top jobs is steeper, and even the fiercest conductors aren’t quite so hard on the musicians. → Read More
The New Geffen Hall Is Open. How Does It Sound?
It’s too early to say. But the inaugural concert today—with two very different types of ensembles—was encouraging. → Read More
Tyshawn Sorey’s Rituals Take Over the Armory
Music review of Tyshawn Sorey’s ‘Monochromatic Light,’ performed at the Park Avenue Armory in NYC after an earlier version premiered at the Rothko Chapel in Houston. → Read More
42 New Classical Music Performances to Hear This Fall
From ‘Medea’ at the Metropolitan Opera to the return of the New York Philharmonic at David Geffen Hall and a full slate of concerts at Carnegie Hall, here are the classical music performances you will not want to miss in New York this fall. → Read More
Bradley As Bernstein
Here, behind the scenes with Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan on the set of “Maestro.” Cooper (who is directing the film and co-wrote the script) takes on the task of getting into the storm-strafed mind of the late Leonard Bernstein. → Read More
The 18th Century’s Surround-Sound Machine
A behind-the-scenes feature about the organ at St. Bartholomew’s Church on Park Avenue in New York City. → Read More
A Lucia di Lammermoor With Rust Belt Bloodshed
Opera Review: Simon Stone’s ‘Lucia di Lammermoor’ at the Metropolitan Opera in NYC starring Nadine Sierra → Read More
A St. Matthew Passion That Speaks Even to Nonbelievers
At Carnegie Hall, Bernard Labadie and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s brought out the drama in the Bach. → Read More
Don Carlos, a Dark Opera for Glum Times, Brings Plenty of Musical Brilliance
A new production of Giuseppe Verdi’s ‘Don Carlos’ at the Metropolitan Opera, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, in New York City jibes with the world’s somber moment. It’s a tough story undergirded by death and spangled with glorious music. → Read More
Quinn Kelsey Makes the Met’s Rigoletto Worth Masking Up For
Director Bartlett Sher has relocated the action to Weimar Germany, and he quickly gets past the black-leather clichés. → Read More
The Met Opera’s Eurydice Finds Fun in a Hopeless Place
Expertly wrought, finely produced, and performed with genuine show-biz verve, ‘Eurydice’ should provide management with an epiphany: This is what we’re supposed to be doing — and it’s fun. → Read More
With Bernstein, Beethoven, and a Tribute to Those 7 p.m. Shouts, Carnegie Reopens
Classical-Music Review: Carnegie Hall reopened last night after 529 silent days, featuring the Philadelphia Orchestra playing Bernstein’s Overture to Candide, Beethoven’s Fifth, and Valerie Coleman’s Seven O’Clock Shout. → Read More
The Emerson String Quartet’s Coda Begins
The Emerson String Quartet, which has dominated the genre for 45 years, will spend the next two years saying good-bye, including at least one more New York premiere, an all-Beethoven road show, a European tour, and an entire valedictory season. → Read More
18 New Classical Music Performances to Hear This Fall
The most anticipated classical music performances this fall include Conrad Tao on stage at 92Y, Jonas Kaufmann and Helmut Deutsch Carnegie Hall, Verdi’s Requiem at the Met Opera, Sun & Sea at BAM, New York Philharmonic at Alice Tully Hall, and more. → Read More
An Opera That Takes You to the Beach
The opera Sun & Sea was a hit at the Venice Biennale. Now it’s coming to BAM for its first US performance, on an indoor sand-covered stage. Justin Davidson speaks to creators Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė, Vaiva Grainytė, and Lina Lapelytė. → Read More
After 45 Years, the Emerson String Quartet Is Disbanding
After 45 Years, the Emerson String Quartet, the preeminent group in the genre, will disband and retire in 2023. → Read More
Lincoln Center Appoints Shanta Thake to Lead Its Revival
After over a decade at the Public, Shanta Thake’s eclecticism will challenge some of the institution’s deeply rooted traditions. → Read More