Is there classical music anywhere but the Main Stage?

[POA1]

I know classical music is coming back, but is it going to be in any smaller venue?

 

This might be a @Copper10-8

question.

[cwd79]

Currently on the Zaandam and there has been classical music played in the Explorer's Lounge several nights. A Piano player and Cello player. They've played many classical numbers. 

[RetiredMustang]

3 hours ago, cwd79 said:

Currently on the Zaandam and there has been classical music played in the Explorer's Lounge several nights. A Piano player and Cello player. They've played many classical numbers. 

 

That's pretty much what was on Zuiderdam on the recent Voyage of the Vikings.

 

Dave

[POA1]

Thanks!

[MomentsNotice]

How often is there classical music on the main stage? I have upcoming Rotterdam cruise and am very disappointed that HAL has eliminated Lincoln Center quartet. Any classical music details would be appreciated. 

[ShipWalker]

On 8/30/2023 at 10:27 AM, POA1 said:

I know classical music is coming back, but is it going to be in any smaller venue?...

I can get classical music in my cabin from my TV. Is that small enough a venue?

[TiogaCruiser]

It’s been a while (April of 2023) but this lovely duo was on Zaandam. They played a set or 2 most afternoons and the same in the evening. All sets on a given day were the SAME.
 

While I appreciate their performances, it made no sense to me to repeat the exact same program several times a day. It’s almost like HAL programming thinks people only want a sample…..  I would be one to stay for all if the sets were different. (I’m sure the other venues -RSRR and BBK- don’t play the same set all night.

[OlsSalt]

3 hours ago, ShipWalker said:

I can get classical music in my cabin from my TV. Is that small enough a venue?

 

Only if you like small, dead sounds too. It could work. 

[TiogaCruiser]

10 hours ago, TiogaCruiser said:

It’s been a while (April of 2023) but this lovely duo was on Zaandam. They played a set or 2 most afternoons and the same in the evening. All sets on a given day were the SAME.
 

While I appreciate their performances, it made no sense to me to repeat the exact same program several times a day. It’s almost like HAL programming thinks people only want a sample…..  I would be one to stay for all if the sets were different. (I’m sure the other venues -RSRR and BBK- don’t play the same set all night.

Correction on this- it was Volendam.

[Crewbie]

On 9/3/2023 at 4:17 PM, MomentsNotice said:

How often is there classical music on the main stage? I have upcoming Rotterdam cruise and am very disappointed that HAL has eliminated Lincoln Center quartet. Any classical music details would be appreciated. 

 

Another checking in from the recent Zuiderdam Voyage of the Vikings: Yes, we had a classical duo of a pianist and cellist (Manuel and Ashley) with performance offerings onboard; I believe they disembarked in Boston at the end of the VoV with the pianist quite possibly moving to another duo partnership on another HAL ship while the cellist had another commitment on land. Their performance schedules were under the Explorer's Lounge in the music programming listing of the Daily Program with usually three performances/two programs (i.e., program 1, program 2, program 1) scheduled regularly - not every day, but very frequently, sometimes spanning the afternoon and sometimes afternoon and evenings.

 

Concerts were usually around 30-40 minutes each. They certainly did repeat programs, but it was still varied enough, including composer-specific sets for Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, and Rachmaninov, and branching into a mix of works and topics - German works, French composers, song and dance, and even the doctoral studies underway from the pianist in researching the role of music and musical compositions in the Holocaust. I really enjoyed their musical offerings, to the point that revisiting some of their performances became part of my 'last few days on the ship' priorities.

 

@MomentsNotice As to the main stage, all I can note from our VoV is that it may really depend on the cast of entertainment booked for the cruise and the duration. The VoV was 35 days; our entertainment performers boarded for different periods of time and then disembarked. We had one pianist (Elliot Finkel) whose evening shows were more diverse in genre, but he also performed a classical (or classically oriented) program on the main stage as an afternoon concert. This sounded like it was something more loosely arranged and at the willingness of all involved to make it happen - fortunately for us, as I thought the afternoon show really did display both the breadth and depth of his career very capably. We were also fortunate to have a Lincoln Center Presents quintet (violin, cello, guitarist, woodwind, piano) perform a handful of times for the evening main stage programs - very wonderful, high-quality performance from what I saw, but all too short a time before they disembarked as well. I hope that you have an opportunity to be pleasantly surprised like we were during any cruises you embark on. 

[rj59]

There's no longer a Lincoln Center quartet on the ships? I know it's rather sad and distracting for them to be on the Music Walk on the new ships, with the blasting from the Rolling Stone and Billboard and drunks strolling past and loud salespeople whipping up excitement for some stupid sale. I actually prefer the Adagio duos that used to be on all the ships, in the Explorer's Lounge, since they were free to play what they wanted and I met lots of friendly Ukrainians over the years. The Lincoln Center groups have to play what their corporate overlords dictate on their ipads, and every program is the same on every ship, so there's nothing new, ever, no freedom or innovation or originality. It's the same as the Mainstage shows now--you get a choice of dance program A, B, or C, or the lame Billboard hit parade (god please don't make me watch Whitney Houston's sweaty face again), all the same on every ship, or you get a nature movie with the classical group pretending to play over the deafening synth soundtrack. Wow. Every other line in the world allows music performers to play what they want, to take requests, and rotates them around bars and restaurants, so every cruise and every venue is different. But HAL didn't want to pay for singers and production shows, while NCL and Royal do full Broadway shows. Celebrity does amazing production shows with the incredible LED screens on their new ships, but the ones on the new HAL ships are wasted, because they're just a background for 4 interpretive dancers. I met a former HAL singer/dancer on Celebrity Apex who I remembered from some great Westerdam production shows, and we both lamented how far HAL mainstage entertainment has fallen, compared to every other line. 

[3rdGenCunarder]

15 hours ago, Crewbie said:

We were also fortunate to have a Lincoln Center Presents quintet (violin, cello, guitarist, woodwind, piano) perform a handful of times for the evening main stage programs - very wonderful, high-quality performance from what I saw, but all too short a time before they disembarked as well.

 

Ooh! That's a new combination. I never saw a guitar or woodwind as part of LC. That change presents opportunities for new sets. I doubt we'll have anything like that in the Caribbean this winter, but maybe HAL will be a bit generous on the entertainment since it's a 2-week cruise. 

[happywandering]

On 9/3/2023 at 11:56 PM, TiogaCruiser said:

It’s been a while (April of 2023) but this lovely duo was on Zaandam. They played a set or 2 most afternoons and the same in the evening. All sets on a given day were the SAME.
 

While I appreciate their performances, it made no sense to me to repeat the exact same program several times a day. It’s almost like HAL programming thinks people only want a sample…..  I would be one to stay for all if the sets were different. (I’m sure the other venues -RSRR and BBK- don’t play the same set all night.

Saw these two as part of a quartet on Nieuw Statendam.  Pianist is quite good.  She did several solos.

Wouldn't mind seeing them again!

[TiogaCruiser]

1 minute ago, happywandering said:

Saw these two as part of a quartet on Nieuw Statendam.  Pianist is quite good.  She did several solos.

Wouldn't mind seeing them again!

The cellist also-  I enjoyed watching her expressions.  I thought they were quite balanced.