By Charles Michener 9/25/06 12:00am

Butterfly, Barber, and The Cave; Plus, Here’s the Messiah to Beat!

Strictly speaking, the classical-music season began Sept. 13 at the New York City Opera with Handel’s delicious Semele, with a superlative young cast led by the soprano Elizabeth Futral and the mezzo-soprano Vivica Genaux. On Sept. 20, the city’s newest concert hall—the Renzo Piano–designed jewel box of an auditorium at the Morgan Library—opened with “Baroque Read More

By Daisy Carrington 6/26/06 12:00am

Olivia Rain McCarthy

April 22, 2006

6:01 p.m.

6 pounds, 9 ounces

Holy Name Hospital

Color them overjoyed: Painters Genevieve and Joseph McCarthy (he is also a graphic designer at Koch Entertainment), both 33, have a new little blank canvas, prompting them to move from artsy Williamsburg to ( yikes) Bergenfield, N.J. Ms. McCarthy already Read More

By Charles Michener 2/06/06 12:00am

Gentle, Self-Effacing Pianist Displays His Unruffled Focus

Who is today’s best American pianist? In a poll of New York music lovers and critics, the names most frequently mentioned would probably be Emanuel Ax, Yefim Bronfman, Richard Goode, Garrick Ohlsson, Murray Perahia and Peter Serkin. Few would think to nominate Stephen Kovacevich.

And yet, among the 72 keyboard artists selected by Philips Read More

By Charles Michener 2/06/06 12:00am

Gentle, Self-Effacing Pianist Displays His Unruffled Focus

Who is today’s best American pianist? In a poll of New York music lovers and critics, the names most frequently mentioned would probably be Emanuel Ax, Yefim Bronfman, Richard Goode, Garrick Ohlsson, Murray Perahia and Peter Serkin. Few would think to nominate Stephen Kovacevich.

And yet, among the 72 keyboard artists selected by Philips Read More

By Charles Michener 12/26/05 12:00am

Performed Live or Recorded, The High Notes of the Year

Looking back on this past year of Manhattan Music columns, I’m struck by a misnomer: The term “classical music” can’t possibly cover 500 years of compositions, a history that embraces every form of human expression from the beatific to the bittersweet, the bellicose to the bacchanalian. With so much to choose from, picking “the best” Read More

By Daisy Carrington 8/15/05 12:00am

Lena Jane Gutman

July 15, 2005

11:19 p.m.

8 pounds

St. Luke’s–Roosevelt Hospital

No baby Beethoven for this kid! Ellen Umansky, 36, a funk-loving fiction writer and former features editor at The New York Sun, is playing bands like Outkast to her firstborn. “She likes their song about poop,” Ms. Umansky said, referring to “Roses.” “We say ‘poop’ Read More

By Charles Michener 7/12/04 12:00am

Beethoven Boot Camp For Budding Concert Pianists

From June to September, the Italian seaside village of Positano is a mecca for seekers of dolce far niente . The Mediterranean bustles with the world’s showiest yachts; the shops throng with people whose bodies fit comfortably into the skimpiest beach wear. For me, however, the most alluring attraction is an event that involves struggle, Read More