Nell Nolan: Nocturne-MASNO, Brother Martin's Elysian Fields, Red Mass reception 2025

Liszt-en up!

When all were assembled for the program, in the ballroom under five chandeliers, the acclaimed pianist commenced playing. The first selection was six études after Paganini and by composer Franz Liszt. Two works by Rachmaninoff concluded the raved-about recital.

Held in the Ritz-Carlton, the Musical Arts Society of New Orleans presented Nocturne XXII. Formatted festively in three parts, the first was the Champagne reception in the hotel’s Lafayette Foyer. From there, guests moved to the Lafayette Ballroom for the program, after which was dinner in the Grand Ballroom. Described as “combining fierce pianism, an unrivalled breadth of repertoire, and a level of interpretive refinement,” Vadym Kholodenko, the star attraction, addressed the keyboard. He was born in Kyiv, Ukraine;