R&G Are Dead is a Boston Globe Critic's Pick

The upcoming April concert of Herschel Garfein's opera-in-development Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead is already creating a buzz in Beantown.  The performance of orchestrated scenes by Boston Classical Orchestra (in association with AOP) was picked by the critics at The Boston Globe as one of the season's must-see events.

The orchestral premiere of scenes from the new comic opera based on the play by Tom Stoppard will be performed with BCO's first performance of Schumann's Second Symphony (marking the 200th anniversary of Schumann's birth), all in celebration of the BCO's 30th anniversary. R&G will feature performances by Krista River, Chad Sloan, David Kravitz, and Jeffrey Tucker.

And while you're at it, check out the recent Sunday Times magazine article about the great jazz composer/pianist Fred Hersch (with extraordinary photos by Lee Friedlander).  It highlights the piece he and Herschel Garfein are working on together, dealing with his two-month long coma of a few years back.

“I was still alive for all that time I was unconscious, but the only life I had was in my dreams and nightmares, and they were incredibly strange and sometimes horrifying and sometimes beautiful,” Hersch said. “I was in a lot of physical pain and discomfort. I found out later that I had been restrained — I was strapped to the bed, and the dreams I had were unbelievably weird and mysterious. I’ve been trying to come to terms with what I went through, and the best way I know is to try to express it in music.” - Fred Hersch

Herschel says to look for the premiere in May 2011.