In the Sunday (1/31) edition of The Philadelphia Inquirer, Peter Dobrin reviews the Philadelphia Orchestra’s Academy of Music Concert and Ball, with guest artists Sting and tenor Juan Diego Flórez. “In a tough economy, this year’s Academy of Music Concert and Ball hit some high notes. The event grossed $2.9 million and attracted an additional $1.1 million in donations to the restoration fund… The ball and concert were something of a coming-out, too, for Allison Vulgamore, the former Atlanta Symphony Orchestra executive who arrived two weeks ago to take over as the orchestra’s president and chief executive officer. She sat in the box with the mayor and governor. The gig was no classical hit-and-run for the English-born Sting, 58, née Gordon Matthew Sumner. He appeared in a film about Robert and Clara Schumann, once took the part of the soldier in Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale, and has recorded works of Renaissance lutenist John Dowland. Last night he performed ‘Message in a Bottle,’ ‘Roxanne,’ ‘Moon Over Bourbon Street,’ ‘Every Breath You Take,’ and other songs … Sting was helped considerably in his eight songs by the orchestra he hailed as one of the most ‘august and celebrated in the world.’ ” Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos conducted.
Posted February 1, 2010
