June 10, 2014
Show Boat at the SF Opera
Stunning show in unusual treatment
For regular readers of these reviews, a word of caution: this is a rave, pure and simple.
The San Francisco Opera’s...
Younis Raza
May 22, 2014
SF Symphony, Summer music festivals and beyond
Wrapping up a hot year for the SF Symphony…
With May flowers in full bloom and the school year winding down, it is time to get ready for Summer Music Festival Madness. This year’s festivals have lots of pizzazz, from the serious offerings of the Carmel Bach Festival to Bear Valley’s jazz stylings and the Ojai Festival’s cutting edge. Here is a list, in no particular order.
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May 16, 2014
Oakland Symphony closes their season
Oakland Symphony packs them in – and packs a punch!
Balancing mysterious and stern passages with a crisp delivery, the Oakland East Bay Symphony joined the Oakland Youth Symphony and the Oakland Symphony Chorus in a massive undertaking – Hector Berlioz’ Requiem. Conceived to be a grand experience, Berlioz called for 400 ...
May 1, 2014
Berkeley Symphony and mezzo Laura Krumm at Zellerbach
A full house and a pair of Finns – Berkeley Symphony wins another hand.
Last Thursday, May 1, Joana Carneiro led the Berkeley Symphony in the last concert of the season, featuring two audacious and contemporary Finnish composers and Beethoven’s powerhouse Fifth Symphony.
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April 28, 2014
Festival Opera pays tribute to Holocaust Day
Chamber opera explores the scars of survival in moving program…
Last Monday in Walnut Creek, a star-studded cast of seven singers and 13 musicians joined together to honor Yom HaShoah, the Day of Remembrance for the six million Jews who died in Hitler’s concentration camps.
Festival Opera staged two chamber operas on April 28 at the Unitarian Universalist Church, one deeply felt and one darkly humorous. In Another Sunrise,...
April 13, 2014
Berkeley Symphony Chamber at Piedmont Center for the Arts
Big names in a cozy hall…
The fifth and last “Berkeley Symphony & Friends” chamber music concert was held at the Piedmont Center for the Arts last Sunday, Apr. 13, starring three very accomplished musicians. Violinist Rene Mandel, the Executive Director of the Berkeley Symphony, forsook pen for bow to party with Peter Wyrick, the Associate Principal Cellist of the SF Symphony, along with virtuoso German pianist Markus Pawlik, recently...