Younis Raza

Looking back, a whimsical list… After years of belt-tightening, the Bay Area’s classical music scene is standing as a vibrant example of hard work and clever programming. Despite facing under-funded public arts organizations and former donors struggling to pay their rising housing costs, most groups have squeaked through another year. And surprisingly, they did it with artistic integrity and creativity. In no particular order, here is a list...

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Mozart in Vienna – the good times Musicologist Robert Greenberg pooled resources with the excellent Alexander String Quartet at St. John’s Presbyterian Church in Berkeley last Saturday morning to recreate the heady music scene of eighteenth century Vienna. ...

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Scripting the visual – ten composers at Cal Performances A marvelous project, three years in the making, came to fruition at Zellerbach Playhouse last Friday, December 5. Composers Paul Dresher and Amy X Neuburg joined their considerable – and considerably different – forces to create a program in which ten composers joined photographs, text and music. Titled “They Will Have Been So Beautiful: Songs and Images of Now,”...

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Denk does Béla – a sensitive reading After days of turkey and pumpkin and fullness and family, Davies Symphony Hall was nearly sold out for a concert of good-natured music. Led by visiting Swedish conductor Susanna Mälkki, the San Francisco Symphony was gloriously responsive in the first half but more pedestrian in the second. ...

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From frogs to dead flies—a compelling quartet at Kohl Mansion Burlingame’s Music at Kohl Mansion welcomed the Escher Quartet to its Great Hall last Sunday, Nov. 16. This young foursome, with their magnificent technique and monumental interpretation, is at the height of their powers: last year they won a prestigious Avery Fisher career grant, highlighted Music@Menlo’s summer festival, and championed the four Zemlinsky quartets with two just-released...

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Two huge works and a gratifying performance Two massive epics rewarded a large and faithful audience on Opening Night of the Oakland East Bay Symphony. Last Friday, Nov. 7, Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 shared a program with an unusual jazz work at Oakland’s Paramount Theater. Led by conductor Michael Morgan with verve and wit, the symphony thundered in its big moments, was pithy in its textures and performed with agility...

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