CONCERT REVIEW
June 18, 2025
The New York Times: The Best Classical Music of 2025, So Far
Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim from The New York Times included a review of our production of In A Grove at Prototype Festival in their wrap-up of “The Best Classical Music of 2025, So Far.”
Part murder mystery, part psychological séance, Christopher Cerrone’s opera adaptation of Ryunosuke Akutagawa’s short story became the highlight of this year’s Prototype Festival in January. Set in a fire-scorched American forest, the spellbinding chamber opera unfolds through shifting testimonies that are ostensibly about the deadly encounter between a married couple and a brigand, but leave the listener tangled in a dense web of conflicting passions. Mimi Lien’s ghostly sets and the Metropolis Ensemble’s shimmering performance contributed to the dreamlike unreality. Cerrone’s coolly caressing music, with its eerie haze of electronic and acoustic textures, deepens the mystery and leaves listeners suspended between ambiguity and wonder.
Photo credit Maria Baranova