Music and the National Mood February 6, 2017 by Joseph Horowitz PostClassical Ensemble – the DC chamber orchestra I co-founded a dozen years ago – produced a concert at the Washington National Cathedral last Saturday night that seemed to address the national mood. These are fractious times – times in which the arts can acquire […]

PostClassical Ensemble’s principal trumpeter Chris Gekker sits down with Dimension Media’s Behrouz Jamali in conversation about his career on the stage and in the studio. Chris next appears with PostClassical Ensemble in The Trumpet Shall Sound on February 4, 2017 at Washington National Cathedral.

PostClassical Ensemble’s Resident Artists and Soloist in the upcoming program The Trumpet Shall Sound on February 4 at the National Cathedral, Kevin Deas joined WETA’s Marilyn Cooley for a Classical Conversation. The PostClassical Ensemble and Washington National Cathedral join forces on Saturday February 4 at the Cathedral for a concert titled The Trumpet Shall Sound — A […]

Trifonov Plays Shostakovich by Joseph Horowitz   No other music so instantly evokes a sense of place as that of Dmitri Shostakovich. When Daniil Trifonov launched Shostakovich’s E minor Prelude at Carnegie Hall last week, the bleakness and exigency of Stalin’s Russia at once chilled the huge space. The Shostakovich affect can seem exotic or […]

More Than Hitchcock’s Handmaiden There’s more to Bernard Herrmann’s career than his celebrated scores for Hitchcock films. Bernard Herrmann rehearsing a radio drama in 1941. PHOTO: CBS VIA GETTY IMAGES By DAVID MERMELSTEIN April 26, 2016 5:26 p.m. ET Washington In many ways, it’s remarkable that the composer Bernard Herrmann, who died at age 64 in 1975, […]