Younis Raza

Russians! Bruno Ferrandis conducted the Santa Rosa Symphony last Saturday with flamboyant gestures and exacting tempi, braving an all-Russian concert. This was the culmination of their first season in the blond magnificence of Weill Hall, recently built on the grounds of Sonoma State, and the hall’s wooden vibrancy may have factored in the success of the program. They began with the Prelude to Khovanshchina, composed by Modest Mussorgsky at the end of...

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Two poets, eleven composers and thirty-two lovely voices Two great American poets, set to music by a variety of modern composers, were the subjects of a concert last Saturday at Oakland’s St Paul’s Episcopal Church. Anthony Pasqua led the San Francisco Bay Area Chamber Choir through the diverse program, rendering hugely difficult harmonies into simple-sounding expressions that packed a wealth of nuance. Centered on poems by Emily Dickinson and...

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A program packed with religious Mysteries, swaggering horns, and coy piano phrases. For an end-of-season program that bordered on extravaganza, the Oakland East Bay Symphony paired the world premiere of Daniel Reiter’s Mysterium with Bach’s glorious Magnificat, with singers from the Pacific Boychoir and four excellent soloists. And that was all before intermission. After came pianistic fireworks in Beethoven’s...

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Oakland Symphony meets the Middle East Where can an Israeli, Palestinian, and Egyptian feel comfortable together? The Paramount Theater, it seems. Last Saturday, the Oakland Easy Bay Symphony showcased Notes from the Middle East, presenting European and Middle Eastern instruments and compositions—not as your typical East – West dichotomy but as an organic exchange. In fact, there were no strict categories or cultural divides that evening. An...

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Bridging the gap: bringing classical music to youthful audiences… At last Friday’s concert by the Cypress String Quartet, gray-haired connoisseurs shared Herbst Theater with hundreds of enthusiastic middle and high school students. The “Call and Response” program of Dvorak, Schubert and contemporary composer Jennifer Higdon makes a fascinating story. But the back-story is even better. The Cypress Quartet currently tours all over the...

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Categories: music