Chris Walton ❌👑
@philocrites.bsky.social
Preoccupied with music, culture, religion, and liberal democracy. Practicing composition in Greater Boston.
Two very fine 21st century American works on BSO Chamber Players program today: Valerie Coleman’s trio “Rubispheres” (2012) and Carlos Simon’s new “Gardner Suite” for woodwinds and string quintet, a “Pictures at an Exhibition”-like tour of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.
January 18, 2026 at 10:28 PM
Two very fine 21st century American works on BSO Chamber Players program today: Valerie Coleman’s trio “Rubispheres” (2012) and Carlos Simon’s new “Gardner Suite” for woodwinds and string quintet, a “Pictures at an Exhibition”-like tour of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.
Tufts Now profiles the concert/imaginary radio play that my composition classmates and I put together last fall with Afghan writer Sola Mahfouz.
An Afghan’s Life Story as Performance Art
A music composition class at Tufts University tells of the hopes and fears of a young woman’s journey from Afghanistan to the United States
now.tufts.edu
January 13, 2026 at 8:22 PM
Tufts Now profiles the concert/imaginary radio play that my composition classmates and I put together last fall with Afghan writer Sola Mahfouz.
Sarah Kirkland Snider’s new opera “Hildegard” is simultaneously accessible — emotionally gripping, musically evocative, dramatically taut — and provocative, perhaps the most compelling new opera I’ve seen. So glad I came down to New York for it! Immediate standing ovation for a superb production.
January 12, 2026 at 4:09 AM
Sarah Kirkland Snider’s new opera “Hildegard” is simultaneously accessible — emotionally gripping, musically evocative, dramatically taut — and provocative, perhaps the most compelling new opera I’ve seen. So glad I came down to New York for it! Immediate standing ovation for a superb production.
Classical karaoke, how awesome! Monthly “Vibrato Bar” nights in Beverly MA: “Our main mission with the Vibrato Bar is to reconnect singers to why they love singing in the first place, and to provide a place where they can be in community with one another without the perfectionism.”
At Vibrato Bar, singers perform ‘classical karaoke’ without formalities - The Boston Globe
Hosted by chamber ensemble North Shore Voices, the monthly live music pop-up event features anything from baroque arias to choral arrangements.
www.bostonglobe.com
January 10, 2026 at 3:33 PM
Classical karaoke, how awesome! Monthly “Vibrato Bar” nights in Beverly MA: “Our main mission with the Vibrato Bar is to reconnect singers to why they love singing in the first place, and to provide a place where they can be in community with one another without the perfectionism.”
With my pal @peacebang.bsky.social at the Boston Symphony Orchestra/Boston Lyric Opera performance of Samuel Barber’s 1958 “Vanessa.” I am fascinated by Barber, probably need to see a few performances more to know what I think. Parts of it are extraordinary.
January 9, 2026 at 3:29 AM
With my pal @peacebang.bsky.social at the Boston Symphony Orchestra/Boston Lyric Opera performance of Samuel Barber’s 1958 “Vanessa.” I am fascinated by Barber, probably need to see a few performances more to know what I think. Parts of it are extraordinary.
Reposted by Chris Walton ❌👑
As a collector of coins that celebrate America's expansiveness, I complained about this ideological whitewashing when the U.S. Mint sent me a customer satisfaction survey last month. Deeply unsatisfied doesn't begin to convey how I feel.
In 2024, the committee that recommends U.S. coin designs proposed paying tribute to the civil rights, abolitionist and suffrage movements on the quarters marking the 250th anniversary of the country’s founding. But in December, Trump’s Treasury secretary overruled the coins. https://bit.ly/3LwORrd
January 5, 2026 at 11:07 PM
As a collector of coins that celebrate America's expansiveness, I complained about this ideological whitewashing when the U.S. Mint sent me a customer satisfaction survey last month. Deeply unsatisfied doesn't begin to convey how I feel.
Grateful the Times gave mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves a platform to describe why she is retiring from opera after 45 years. I’m so glad I saw her perform in “Porgy and Bess” on my last outing to the Met, in Feb 2020.
Opinion | I’m Bidding My Opera Career Adieu. Here’s Why.
www.nytimes.com
January 4, 2026 at 12:17 AM
Grateful the Times gave mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves a platform to describe why she is retiring from opera after 45 years. I’m so glad I saw her perform in “Porgy and Bess” on my last outing to the Met, in Feb 2020.
I made it through a lot of my 2025 reading list. Except for Gardiner’s “Bach,” which I started several years back, I began and finished all of these (and a few library books) last year. Best? Gioia’s “Weep, Shudder, Die,” Woodard’s “Union,” Harvey’s “Orbital.”
January 2, 2026 at 6:57 PM
I made it through a lot of my 2025 reading list. Except for Gardiner’s “Bach,” which I started several years back, I began and finished all of these (and a few library books) last year. Best? Gioia’s “Weep, Shudder, Die,” Woodard’s “Union,” Harvey’s “Orbital.”
Huh. Did not expect to roll into the new year as a guy who unthinkingly bought charcoal toothpaste.
January 2, 2026 at 6:01 PM
Huh. Did not expect to roll into the new year as a guy who unthinkingly bought charcoal toothpaste.
Data point of just me: I really enjoyed Boston Lyric Opera's spare post-pandemic production of Yuval Sharon's "backward Bóheme," and loved the live Odyssey Opera production of "X" and the Met broadcast of its production of "X."
A Bold Alliance Ends as Innovative Opera Director Bows Out in Detroit
www.nytimes.com
December 29, 2025 at 10:00 PM
Data point of just me: I really enjoyed Boston Lyric Opera's spare post-pandemic production of Yuval Sharon's "backward Bóheme," and loved the live Odyssey Opera production of "X" and the Met broadcast of its production of "X."
Wim Wenders, in “An Attempted Description of an Indescribable Film”: “That’s how it begins, making a film, writing a book, painting a picture, composing a tune… You have a wish. You wish that something might exist, and then you work on it until it does.”
December 28, 2025 at 11:53 PM
Wim Wenders, in “An Attempted Description of an Indescribable Film”: “That’s how it begins, making a film, writing a book, painting a picture, composing a tune… You have a wish. You wish that something might exist, and then you work on it until it does.”
Christmas book bounty: Kilpatrick’s “Maurice Ravel,” Shattuck’s short stories “History of Sound,” Slocumb’s novel “Symphony of Secrets,” Powers’s novel “The Overstory,” and Horowitz’s “Dvořák’s Prophecy and the Vexed Fate of Blck Classical Music”!
December 26, 2025 at 4:29 PM
Christmas book bounty: Kilpatrick’s “Maurice Ravel,” Shattuck’s short stories “History of Sound,” Slocumb’s novel “Symphony of Secrets,” Powers’s novel “The Overstory,” and Horowitz’s “Dvořák’s Prophecy and the Vexed Fate of Blck Classical Music”!
🎶🎄 Miró Quartet's holiday album is awesome. New string quartet arrangements by lots of composers: Clarice Assad, Michael Begay, Alex Berko, Anna Clyne, Reena Esmail, Hyung-ki Joo, Gabriel Kahane, Sam Lipman, Joel Love, Karl Mitze, Paola Prestini, Kevin Puts, Jeff Scott, Derrick Skye, Michi Wiancko!
Hearth - Pentatone
www.pentatonemusic.com
December 17, 2025 at 4:00 PM
🎶🎄 Miró Quartet's holiday album is awesome. New string quartet arrangements by lots of composers: Clarice Assad, Michael Begay, Alex Berko, Anna Clyne, Reena Esmail, Hyung-ki Joo, Gabriel Kahane, Sam Lipman, Joel Love, Karl Mitze, Paola Prestini, Kevin Puts, Jeff Scott, Derrick Skye, Michi Wiancko!
This scrappy snowman is my mascot right now. Made by my neighbors and their kid out of whatever was at hand, because that’s all we ever have, this beautiful ugly impermanent statue transcends everything it’s made of, twiggy arms raised in jubilation and defiance.
December 16, 2025 at 6:24 PM
This scrappy snowman is my mascot right now. Made by my neighbors and their kid out of whatever was at hand, because that’s all we ever have, this beautiful ugly impermanent statue transcends everything it’s made of, twiggy arms raised in jubilation and defiance.
Ennio Morricone's only opera, composed in 1995, is premiering five years after his death. "The orchestra consists mostly of wind instruments — with no violins — and the percussion includes drums mostly used in Neapolitan folk music: the tamorra, the tamburello and the putipù."
From ‘Spaghetti Western’ Scores to the Opera Stage
www.nytimes.com
December 15, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Ennio Morricone's only opera, composed in 1995, is premiering five years after his death. "The orchestra consists mostly of wind instruments — with no violins — and the percussion includes drums mostly used in Neapolitan folk music: the tamorra, the tamburello and the putipù."
Woohoo just got my Cinemark Wrapped: Good for me seeing (checks note) one movie
December 13, 2025 at 2:42 AM
Woohoo just got my Cinemark Wrapped: Good for me seeing (checks note) one movie
Reposted by Chris Walton ❌👑
Featuring:
– An Alma Mahler Labubu
– The Britten Seaside Trauma snow globe
– “Fratres” for Cats
– The “Anna Netrebko Accountability” Advent Calendar
– Lush’s “Shostakovich Panic Attack” bath bomb
– An Alma Mahler Labubu
– The Britten Seaside Trauma snow globe
– “Fratres” for Cats
– The “Anna Netrebko Accountability” Advent Calendar
– Lush’s “Shostakovich Panic Attack” bath bomb
The Ultimate Classical Music Gift Guide for the Terminally Online and Historically-Burdened
Because we've all read too much music theory to be merry.
www.criticaldrift.org
December 3, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Featuring:
– An Alma Mahler Labubu
– The Britten Seaside Trauma snow globe
– “Fratres” for Cats
– The “Anna Netrebko Accountability” Advent Calendar
– Lush’s “Shostakovich Panic Attack” bath bomb
– An Alma Mahler Labubu
– The Britten Seaside Trauma snow globe
– “Fratres” for Cats
– The “Anna Netrebko Accountability” Advent Calendar
– Lush’s “Shostakovich Panic Attack” bath bomb
Tidal tells me what my ears have been up to this year — "Nordic folk, progressive chamber, ethereal classical, contemporary classical, string quartet, cinematic indie, vibrant traditional, experimental rock, percussive innovation, serene acoustic" — and it checks out
December 4, 2025 at 4:12 PM
Tidal tells me what my ears have been up to this year — "Nordic folk, progressive chamber, ethereal classical, contemporary classical, string quartet, cinematic indie, vibrant traditional, experimental rock, percussive innovation, serene acoustic" — and it checks out
Enjoying Ken Burns’s “The American Revolution” but finding that it doesn’t elicit enough side-splitting laughter? I recommend Caity Weaver’s fantastic article about Revolutionary War reenactors, which is a riot.
You Have No Idea How Hard It Is to Be a Reenactor
Benedict Arnold’s boot wouldn’t come off, and other hardships from my weekend in the Revolutionary War.
www.theatlantic.com
November 28, 2025 at 8:16 PM
Enjoying Ken Burns’s “The American Revolution” but finding that it doesn’t elicit enough side-splitting laughter? I recommend Caity Weaver’s fantastic article about Revolutionary War reenactors, which is a riot.
Composer profile: Davis Amram turns 95. Good advice: “Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. Repeat as long as possible.”
At 95, David Amram Still Makes Music. And Nobody Can Put Him in a Box.
www.nytimes.com
November 26, 2025 at 1:10 PM
Composer profile: Davis Amram turns 95. Good advice: “Breathe in, breathe out. Breathe in, breathe out. Repeat as long as possible.”
Harvard’s graduate school Student Center Orchestra performed works by Debussy, Dorothy Howell, Lili Boulanger, and Frank Bridge!
November 24, 2025 at 3:01 AM
Harvard’s graduate school Student Center Orchestra performed works by Debussy, Dorothy Howell, Lili Boulanger, and Frank Bridge!
Exciting opera news! Joshua Barone raves about San Francisco Opera's "The Monkey King" by Huang Ruo and David Henry Hwang: "a jaw-dropping feat of music theater, making a thrilling case for the vitality and potential of opera on a grand scale." The opera streams live tonight!
Review: A Chinese Classic Comes to Spectacular Operatic Life
www.nytimes.com
November 18, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Exciting opera news! Joshua Barone raves about San Francisco Opera's "The Monkey King" by Huang Ruo and David Henry Hwang: "a jaw-dropping feat of music theater, making a thrilling case for the vitality and potential of opera on a grand scale." The opera streams live tonight!
@lukeburbank.bsky.social @walsh.bsky.social @tbtl.net A very knowledgeable reporter offers a very funny report on the fate of all our pennies: www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
Pennies Are Trash Now
The government has no plan for America’s 300 billion pennies.
www.theatlantic.com
November 17, 2025 at 3:55 PM
@lukeburbank.bsky.social @walsh.bsky.social @tbtl.net A very knowledgeable reporter offers a very funny report on the fate of all our pennies: www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...
A+ church today, at Boston University's 75th anniversary celebration of Marsh Chapel, where the Rev. Dr. Raphael Warnock (U.S. Senator from Georgia) was the guest speaker. Definitely recommend listening to Warnock's sermon—link below!—but I also want to highlight some of the music.
November 16, 2025 at 11:41 PM
A+ church today, at Boston University's 75th anniversary celebration of Marsh Chapel, where the Rev. Dr. Raphael Warnock (U.S. Senator from Georgia) was the guest speaker. Definitely recommend listening to Warnock's sermon—link below!—but I also want to highlight some of the music.