by Emily Parkhurst

Westbrook, ME, 14 July 2010. The only way to describe the Intermezzo Festival’s July 14 production of "The Turn of the Screw" by Benjamin Britten is deliriously haunting. While I am quite familiar with Britten’s works and the themes common throughout them, I still found myself slightly unprepared for the weight of this opera.

by Emily Parkhurst

Portland, ME, 11 July 2010. While the Bowdoin Summer Music Festival tends to stay in the mid-coast area of Maine, Portland classical music fans were lucky this year when the Festival decided to expand with its “Festival Extra” series.

By Mary Elizabeth Nordstrom

Ocean Park, ME, 11 July 2010. The historic octagonal Temple at Ocean Park provides an interesting and somewhat challenging venue for PortOpera’s Young Artists Program, currently on summer tour throughout Maine. Outstanding 2010 voices were selected from among prize-winning applicants from across the United States, yet proudly included a number of participants who are products of vocal training at the University of Southern Maine.

By Mary Elizabeth Nordstrom

Portland, ME, 27 June, 2010. Next year, new readers and reviewers alike will want to watch for this annual festival event hosted by the up-and-coming Portland Conservatory at its new quarters in the building adjoining the Woodford’s Congregational Church sanctuary. A nine-foot Steinway is placed below the stage at audience seating level, affording the greatest potential response to the touch of Master pianists.