Younis Raza – Repeat Performances

October 25, 2022

Fallen and transcendent— “La Traviata” at West Bay Opera

After two years of pandemic-forced closures, West Bay Opera has returned to Palo Alto's Lucie Stern Theatre, where conductor and general manager José Luis Moscovich opened their 67th season with a glowing production of La Traviata. [caption id="attachment_2625" align="aligncenter" width="1156"] La...

Categories: opera

April 12, 2019

Piedmont East Bay Choirs: youthful voices, new music

The Piedmont Choirs were joined by the St Catharine’s College Girls’ Choir of Cambridge, England, for their spring concert last Friday in Berkeley’s First Congregational Church. Led by founding choral director Robert Geary, this concert was also a coming-out party for composer and new Piedmont Chorus Artistic Director Eric Tuan, whose own composition was featured on the program. The variety and abilities of the several choruses featured here were simply staggering, and it is no...

Categories: music

February 23, 2019

Howard’s End—a birth and re-birth

A powerful work of literature was given new life last Saturday, Feb. 23, at San Francisco’s Z-space, a venue known for its experimental theater and its many premieres. Howard’s End, a page-turner by E. M. Forster, was repurposed as the opera Howard’s End, America by composer Allen Shearer and librettist Claudia Stevens, and it was skillfully done. In the original story the lives of the wealthy Wilcoxes, the middle class Schlegels, and the poor Basts are twisted together...

Categories: opera

February 8, 2019

Oakland Symphony – creating a future

On Friday, Feb. 8, the Paramount Theater was heavily attended for one of the top pianists of our age, Emanuel Ax, as he performed with the Oakland Symphony in an all-Beethoven program. There was a second draw that helped to fill the three thousand seats: the students of Oakland’s MUSE Vivo program, performing with the regular orchestra members in the second half of the program. The many parents and relatives in the audience were a welcome sight amidst the classical fans, and a show of...

Categories: music

January 31, 2019

Berkeley Symphony – bold and satisfying

With a scant one week’s notice, guest conductor Joseph Young stepped in on January 31 for an ailing Jonathon Heyward, who was himself about to guest conduct the Berkeley Symphony during their year-long search for a new Musical Director. That one week was a very short time to learn the music, but Young stepped up to the plate (or podium, rather) and conducted with clarity and passion, leading the Berkeley Symphony musicians in a top-notch performance. [caption id="attachment_2233"...

Categories: music

January 1, 2019

2018—Music to brighten a year

Bay Area music made a strong showing in 2018. The arts are subtle but solid, a rock we can cling to despite a year when divisive voices and dire predictions roiled our society. Pointing the way through political differences, music is an art form of discourse, a place where every voice matters, where each of us tries to speak our truth in beauty and in harmony. That strong showing is not so surprising when one recalls that small lights burn...

Categories: music