FrontRow

Wayne Lee Gay

Wayne Lee Gay has covered classical music, dance, and related fields in the north Texas region for almost three decades; he holds degrees in music history and musicology from Baylor University and the University of Iowa. He recently completed the PhD in creative writing at the University of North Texas, and teaches in the English department at UNT. He was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for criticism in 1990, and has received multiple first place winner from both the Dallas Press Club (Katie) and Texas Associated Press Managing Editors Association for arts criticism.

Articles by Wayne Lee Gay

  • Opera

    Opera Review: The Dallas Opera Brings Wagner’s Tristan & Isolde Into The 21st Century

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    February 17th, 2012 6:41am

    Rating

    G Y R

    Location

    Winspear Opera House 2403 Flora St. Dallas, TX 75201

    Dates

    Feb 16 thru Feb 25

    Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde poses more than the usual challenges of opera presentation. The new production by the Dallas Opera, which opened Thursday night at Winspear Opera House, answers all of those challenges, rendering that masterpiece from the 19th century as meaningful as ever in the 21st.

    Based on a medieval romance, Tristan und Isolde is essentially a four-hour rumination on the nature of romantic love. Traditional staging of Wagner can be tricky at best: neither quasi-realism nor fantastical backdrops are ..read more

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  • Classical Music

    Concert Review: Placing Wagner In Context, With Help From Debussy and Mozart

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    Post date:
    February 3rd, 2012 9:03am

    Rating

    G Y R

    Location

    Meyerson Symphony Center 2301 Flora St. Dallas, TX 75201 Buy Tickets

    Dates

    Feb 2 thru Feb 5

    Dallas Symphony Music director Jaap van Zweden pulled off a neat bit of programming in Thursday night’s concert at Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center—and, intentionally or not, gave a boost to the folks next door at the Dallas Opera with a taste of symphonic Wagner, two weeks before that company takes on Tristan und Isolde.

    The great thing about the repertoire for the evening was the way it revolved around Wagner, inviting the listener to ponder that titan of romanticism in ..read more

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  • Classical Music

    Concert Review: A Program Fit for Van Zweden’s Laurelled Return

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    January 27th, 2012 8:15am

    Rating

    G Y R

    Location

    Meyerson Symphony Center 2301 Flora St. Dallas, TX 75201

    Dates

    Jan 26 thru Jan 29

    Thursday night, music director Jaap van Zweden returned to the podium of the Dallas Symphony for the first time since being awarded Musical America’s 2012 Conductor of the Year Award. A greeting from the mayor and a warm reply from Van Zweden  provided an appropriately cheerful opening for the evening. However, the irony of upcoming cuts in the orchestra’s classical season hung heavily over the moment. A city that has the privilege of being the home of a great conductor ..read more

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  • Classical Music

    Concert Review: A 19-Year-Old Violinist’s Energy, Precision Highlights Night of Finnish Music

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    Post date:
    January 20th, 2012 8:34am

    Rating

    G Y R

    Location

    Meyerson Symphony Center 2301 Flora St. Dallas, TX 75208 Buy Tickets

    Dates

    Jan 19 thru Jan 22

    Finland’s cold climate has produced a good deal of musical warmth, as demonstrated by an all-Finnish concert featuring the Dallas Symphony under the baton of Finnish conductor Pietari Inkinen Thursday night at Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center.

    Inkinen opened the evening with Einojuhani Rautavaara’s Manhattan Trilogy of 2004, a work which, though obviously inspired by an American setting (and commissioned by the Juilliard School, where Rautavaara studied during the 1950s), definitely continues the legacy of Jean Sibelius’ opulent early twentieth-century romanticism. ..read more

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  • Classical Music

    Concert Review: Joyce Yang’s ‘Collage’ Performance Casts Old Music in New Light

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    January 18th, 2012 8:59am

    It has been said, and with good reason, that real music criticism does not exist. What you are reading now is a review—an evaluation, if you wish. Real criticism of music, in terms of the speculative investigation and analysis that characterizes literary criticism, is virtually nonexistent.

    However, in her recital Tuesday night on the Cliburn Foundation’s concert series at Bass Performance Hall inFort Worth, pianist Joyce Yang created a program that did, indeed, invite the listener to hear and respond to ..read more

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  • Classical Music

    Concert Review: Does Philip Glass’ ‘The American Four Seasons’ Need to Lose the Synth?

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    January 6th, 2012 10:59am

    Rating

    G Y R

    Location

    Meyerson Symphony Center 2301 Flora St. Dallas, TX 75201 Buy Tickets

    Dates

    Jan 5 thru Jan 7

    Philip Glass’ rambling, 40-minute Violin Concerto No. 2 (The American Four Seasons) of 2009 provided the centerpiece for Thursday night’s concert of the Dallas Symphony at Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center. Soloist Robert McDuffie won the audience over for the work with a passionate, virtuosic reading in which there is little physical or emotional rest for the soloist.

    Still, for this listener at least, the performance posed many questions concerning the ultimate quality and durability of the piece. Glass’ essential minimalism, ..read more

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  • Classical Music

    The Year In Classical Music: Programming Cuts, But the Hydrogen Jukebox Rages On

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    December 22nd, 2011 8:58am

    First, the bad news. The brave tone of the press releases didn’t hide the hard facts: the two flagships of the classical musical establishment in Dallas, the Dallas Symphony and the Dallas Opera, made substantial, noticeable cuts in their core product. The 2012-13 classical subscription series of the Dallas Symphony will feature five fewer classical subscription concert weekends than in recent years (down from twenty-one to sixteen), and Dallas Opera subscribers were faced, for 2011-12, with a season that was ..read more

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  • Classical Music

    Concert Review: Dallas Bach Society Delivers Messiah Of “Authentic” Size, Shape

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    December 19th, 2011 8:54am

    Rating

    G Y R

    Location

    Meyerson Symphony Center 2401 Flora St. Dallas, TX 75201 Buy Tickets

    Dates

    Dec 19, 7 p.m.

    Two weeks ago, I reported on what might be termed a “post authentic” version of Handel’s Messiah presented by the Fort Worth Symphony at Bass Performance Hall. Sunday, I took in my second Messiah of the season, a purist, devotedly authentic version presented by the Dallas Bach Society at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Arlington and scheduled to be repeated tonight, Monday, December 19, at Morton H.MeyersonSymphonyCenter.

    Both performances had much in common: both strove toward the lean textures, pungent sonorities, ..read more

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  • Classical Music

    Do the Requisite Annual Performances Tarnish the Messiah’s Luster?

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    December 6th, 2011 8:26am

    Conductor David Thye of the music faculty of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary revealed visionary insight into Handel’s Messiah Monday night at Bass Performance Hall in the traditional annual presentation of the venerable oratorio by the Fort Worth Symphony.

    Philosphically, one could question the annual presentation of the same work, year after year, to the point that it becomes more of an icon that a work of art. Likewise, one could question the necessity of trimming the piece into a version that ..read more

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  • Classical Music

    Concert Review: Rachmaninoff Hampered By Blunt, Oblivious Soloist

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    Post date:
    November 18th, 2011 11:08am

    Rating

    G Y R

    Location

    Meyerson Symphony Center 2301 Flora St. Dallas, TX 75201 Buy Tickets

    Dates

    Nov 17 thru Nov 20

    Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 used to be one of the most frequently performed works in the orchestral repertoire. An increased interest and understanding of the composer’s other works has pushed it into the background in recent decades, allowing a fresh look at its remarkable and subtle structure, and its intriguing intertwining of virtuosity and expression.

    However, Thursday night’s performance of the concerto at Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, featuring soloist Lise de la Salle with the Dallas Symphony and guest ..read more

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