The man-machine duality of a soloist performing alongside a recording has what in the pre-robotic, pre-AI age we might have called a futuristic quality. Today it touches on the "uncanny valley" effect.

The Taiwan Philharmonic Chamber Ensemble and Taiwu Ballads Troupe vocal ensemble unveiled a panoply of fascinating, mostly Taiwan-rooted music that incorporated Western classical, contemporary avant-garde, and Indigenous music.

The breakdown was once again romantic, sweet, but this time also tense and subdued, giving a sense that a lot of potential energy lurked within.

With Bryce Foley sparking a solid cast as a dangerous Marc Antony, Smith Street Stage's production makes great use of its outdoor space and excels at rendering Shakespearean language understandable and the story hit home.

French soprano Gwendoline Blondeel's incandescent voice embodies warmth as well as reserve, excitement but also resignation – emotions across the gamut.

Sometimes musicians create an atypical instrument combination simply because they have similar tastes or just like working together. Not so here – there's no sense of anything forced, or absent.

The talented cast of six gives (and shows) their all in this dreamlike collage of narrative. It shows a lot of heart – and a lot of skin. But its organs are in disarray.

The placement of the different instruments in the listener's ears creates a sense of surrounding space; the bleed of one tone's decay into the attack of the next seems to smooth over the passage of time.

It was clear in this vibey number that the violinist and the band were feeling the spirit of the mariachi rhythms.

Despite the presence of Stravinsky's 'Firebird,' it was a large new work by Pulitzer Prize winner Ellen Reid that proved the program's creative centerpiece.