Younis Raza – Page 34 – Repeat Performances

December 9, 2012

Left Coast Chamber Ensemble in Mill Valley

Exploring music of the night. On Sunday, the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble explored “Night Music,” shuttling between the present and Schoenberg’s last fling with nineteenth century Romanticism. Held in Mill Valley’s cozy 142 Throckmorton Theatre, that concert was an absolute treat. Artistic Director and violinist Anna Presler created a varied program with a twist, works that spoke of the moods and magic of the night, from open-eyed dreaming to...

Categories: music

November 29, 2012

Gustavo Dudamel brings passionate musicians to Berkeley

Rocking the house… and the boat. A conductor of near-rock star status, Gustavo Dudamel brought the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela to UC Berkeley last week for two sold-out performances and a host of workshops and events. Presently a 200-strong professional touring orchestra, two years ago this was the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra, but its members are growing up—they currently range from 18 to 28 years old, and...

Categories: music

November 10, 2012

Philharmonia Orchestra performs Wozzeck in Berkeley

A tale of social pressures and personal madness at Zellerbach Famed Finish conductor and blossoming composer Esa-Pekka Salonen brought London’s Philharmonia Orchestra to Berkeley last week for a residency that included four different concerts, two interviews and a master class. ...

Categories: music

November 4, 2012

Conlon Nancarrow festival at UC Berkeley

Celebrating a shy purist Conlon Nancarrow, a composer fascinated by complex rhythms and the play of multiple tempos, would have celebrated his centennial last month. Living in some obscurity, he was rediscovered by Columbia records in 1969 and then by Charles Amirkhanian in the 1970s, who popularized his experiments with hand-punched piano rolls for the player piano. ...

Categories: music

October 26, 2012

“Einstein on the Beach” at Zellerbach Hall

When dreams come knocking on the portals of perception There is a space between waking and sleeping when ones’ thoughts gain a symbolic and surreal brightness, and when images are as small and vivid as the far-off sounds of children in a schoolyard. That hypnagogic state came to life last night at Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall. Part act of rebellion, part musical portrait, Philip Glass’ Einstein on the Beach fused synthesizers,...

Categories: opera

October 14, 2012

West Bay Opera performs Les Contes d’Hoffmann

Led by José Luis Moscovich, the spunky West Bay Opera hosted Jacques Offenbach’s Tales of Hoffmann Oct. 12 and 14, and will finish its run this weekend. At last Sunday’s matinee, this Palo Alto troupe brought a massive opera to the modest stage of Lucie Stern Theater, and did so with confidence and immediacy. Moscovich led a fine ensemble with wit and conviction—a number of the instrumentalists appear with other Bay Area symphonies....

Categories: opera