On August 7 at Alice Tully Hall, Esa-Pekka Salonen conducted a joint orchestra of students from Juilliard and London’s Royal Academy of Music.

I went to hear Stravinsky, Berg, and Bartók

But somewhere during the concert, I stopped thinking about the music as something poetic, intellectual, or visual

I began to hear the physical reality of sound itself.

Salonen did not seem to move the orchestra from the outside. He allowed the musicians to generate sound from within—to breathe, listen, and move together while remaining free.

The students played with extraordinary concentration. Every sound seemed to have a place, a weight, a direction.

And as the music unfolded, I found myself asking a much simpler question

What is sound?

Hanna-Elisabeth Müller’s voice brought the timeless resonance of Mozart to Tanglewood.

I traveled to Tanglewood in the summer to meet HIMARI.

After the World Cup ended, Astorians lingered in the gentle summer twilight, embraced by the river breeze.
At Wylie’s, alcohol, music, and human voices continued to resonate, creating their own small symphony.

Elegance and Vulnerability

A Time When Lost Memories Return.

Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center

Chloé Van Soeterstède, conductor

Simone Lamsma, violin

Wasser. Water splashes — Strauss

Nick’s Burger in hot summer New York.

My summer list that inspired by Balse newsletter.

Seeking Light, The Met Orchestra’s Final gig in the Season, from Saariaho to Mahler

6.13.2026

Saturday afternoon. New York had the most beautiful weather of the summer.

I visited an Upper West Side apartment to see an artwork by Audrey Wright, a violinist with the New York Philharmonic, and Geoff Robertson, an artist.

The New York Philharmonic’s Concert in the Park

Timespans 2026 | Transforming perception across genres and nationalities, pointing toward a shared direction in which music controls the experience of time itself, with Wolfgang Rihm, Talea Ensemble, James Baker, Kelley Sheehan, Ty Bouque, Sarah Saviet, SWR Experimentalstudio, Philippe Manoury, Andreas Grau, Götz Schumacher, Michael Acker, Joachim Haas, Grossman Ensemble, Melinda Wagner, Sean Shepherd, Ramon Lazkano, Frédéric Durieux, Augusta Read Thomas, Sarah Hennies, Joseph Houston, American Modern Opera Company, Salvatore Sciarrino, Jonny Allen, Miranda Cuckson, Emi Ferguson, Coleman Itzkoff, Georg Friedrich Haas, Alarm Will Sound, Alan Pierson, and Rebecca Saunders.

Juilliard 26–27 “Three Centuries in One Season” with new eyes, and Grete Pedersen, Gemma New, Dalia Stasevska, David Robertson, Robert Mealy, Aaron Jay Kernis, Anna Thorvaldsdottir, Johannes Brahms, Ludwig van Beethoven, Jean Sibelius, Charles Ives.

The 2026–27 season is defined by major transitions and distinctive programming across leading U.S. orchestras. In Chicago, Klaus Mäkelä appears in multiple programs, with Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 4 highlighting both his interpretive clarity and the orchestra’s technical power. In Boston, Andris Nelsons’ final phase includes major works such as The Queen of Spades, marking an important artistic closing chapter. Philadelphia continues its strong focus on Mahler under Yannick Nézet-Séguin. The New York Philharmonic offers a wide range of conductors and repertoire, emphasizing diversity and contemporary perspectives. Cleveland concludes Franz Welser-Möst’s long tenure with works like Strauss’s Alpine Symphony and Haydn’s The Creation. Pianist Alexandre Kantorov also appears across Cleveland, New York, and Boston, reflecting his growing presence in major U.S. orchestras.

Noriko Koide’s Swaddling Silk and Gossamer Rain (2022) was rendered by the New York Philharmonic with extreme precision: rain made from breath and pencils, a delicate surface of sound. At David Geffen Hall, sound became almost visible—expanding and vanishing—while silence returned instantly.

In Saint-Saëns’ Cello Concerto No. 1, Carter Brey’s performance felt like a continuous flow, as if time itself were unbroken. The orchestral texture opened, revealing musicians listening deeply within the ensemble. His cello sounded vast, like a moving night sky. Alison Fierst’s flute stood out in clarity; the Romance was warm, focused, and unified.

Applause came instinctively. Brey returned for a brief memorial encore, and I thought of the cellist Oliver from the previous week.

In Prokofiev’s Cinderella, Elim Chan shaped a clear, restrained structure. Her conducting was athletic yet controlled, creating a stable sonic space where everything remained transparent. The midnight scene shattered the fairy tale into sudden reality, where Cynthia Phelps’ viola grounded the music in physical presence.

From the final waltz into “amoroso,” the sound world slowly dissolved. Chan smiled at the audience, and I remained suspended for a moment before returning to myself.

Prokofiev’s ballet emerged here as both dance and raw human expression, fully realized by Chan and the Philharmonic.