October 25, 2014
Sonic Harvest returns to Berkeley
An opera based on a painting based on an ancient Greek myth. Contemporary? Absolutely.
A new treatment of “Europa and the Bull” opened the first day of Sonic Harvest, an annual...
Younis Raza
October 21, 2014
Hausmann Quartet at Berkeley Chamber Performances
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October 17, 2014
Il trovatore at West Bay Opera
Great cast, crazy plot… and that’s opera!
A strong cast lit up the stage last Friday in Palo Alto’s Lucie Stern Theater, where the West Bay Opera launched Verdi’s triumphant Il trovatore. While two or three top talents can carry a show, the presence of five exceptionally strong singers made this a night to savor.
Verdi based his “Troubadour” on a tale of fourteenth century Spain that was so gripping and twisted...
October 10, 2014
Un Ballo in Maschera at SF Opera
Swedish politics, Italian style?
The San Francisco Opera revived their 2006 production of Un Ballo in Maschera (A Masked Ball) with lavish costumes, grandly Italianate sets, and moody lighting. The SF Opera Orchestra, conducted by Nicola Luisotti, rendered the quick-shifting moods of Verdi’s steamy potboiler, based on a true assassination, with panache.
And what a potboiler! Setting a serene field, violin plucks and woodwind questions gave way...
October 2, 2014
Berkeley Symphony begins a new season
Virtuosity and enigmas at Zellerbach
After five successful seasons, Joana Carneiro returned to rehearse and lead the Berkeley Symphony in “Enigma,” their opening concert. Zellerbach Hall on the UC Campus was nearly sold out to hear this popular conductor, and the after-concert dinner, a fund-raiser for education, was booked solid weeks out.
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September 25, 2014
SF Symphony Chorus Shines at Davies
Thirteen years after the future
The San Francisco Symphony placed their faith in a strangely hopeful future last Thursday, September 25, with a program that included themes from Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke’s landmark film, 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Richard Strauss’ stirring Also sprach Zarathustra became famous as the opening for this film, huge chords climbing to resolution as ape-like hominids capered around an alien...