Younis Raza

October 9, 2010

Takács Quartet at Herbst

  After a summer of recuperation and preparation, San Francisco Performances is open for business again. Popular jazz vocalist Paula West, backed by the George Mesterhazy Quartet, unveiled her new material for their opening event on Friday, October 8, kicking off SF Performances’ jazz series before setting off for engagements in New York.   Hungarian wit propels...

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October 1, 2010

Del Sol Quartet at Berkeley Art Museum

  Jaunty Bay Area quartet fills art museum Pianist Sarah Cahill and the Berkeley Art Museum, hosts of the First Friday L@TE series, brought the Del Sol String Quartet to the museum’s ground floor on Oct 1. The concrete gallery, a cubist’s paradise, magnified the sound with echoes that reverberated up through the cantilevered levels. This series of unusual concerts blends...

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September 19, 2010

Chanticleer at San Francisco Conservatory of Music

  Earthly and unearthly—a vocal tradition that explores space The twelve gifted men of Chanticleer brought a new choral program to the SF Conservatory of Music this week. “Out of This World!” was a forum that used the harmonies of the human voice to point to the larger harmonies of space. Some physicists speak of the eleven dimensions of string theory—ten curling up...

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Berkeley Symphony with Jennifer Koh-preview

A tale of two concertos Two very different concertos will share the limelight in Berkeley Symphony Orchestra’s opening concert next Thursday, September 23 at 7:00. Renowned violinist Jennifer Koh will solo in both Beethoven’s and John Adams’ violin concerti, led by Joana Carneiro for the start of her second season as the BSO’s conductor and artistic director. The early start will allow...

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September 7, 2010

Gala at Davies

SF Symphony knows how to throw a party Soprano Jessye Norman made up for any lack of substance with incomparable style last Tuesday in a rare appearance with the San Francisco Symphony. At 65 she is semi-retired from operatic arias, the mainstay of a famous career, but helped open the Symphony’s 2010 season with Aaron Copland’s In the Beginning and a set of Duke Ellington jazz songs. ...

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