Younis Raza – Page 52 – Repeat Performances

November 13, 2009

Oakland Symphony scores knockout with “Night at the Opera”

Michael Morgan got to blow out his candles and share the cake last Friday at the Paramount Theatre, in a program he designed as a treat to himself for his 20th year anniversary with the Oakland East Bay Symphony. Before lifting his baton he turned to the audience and spoke on the “Night at the Opera” program. ...

Categories: opera

November 6, 2009

Terry Riley brings “Pipe Dreams” to the Berkeley Art Museum

Now in his 70’s, composer Terry Riley remains a musical adventurer. Friday night Nov. 6, he helped cook up a late night “happening” at the Berkeley Art Museum. Told to bring sleeping bags or pillows to the $5 concert, we sat or lay on the concrete floor. I gazed up at the concrete rectilinear forms jutting out into space—some forms fanciful, others a little ominous, as support columns have recently been added along one side. Berkeley Pianist and local celebrity Sarah Cahill was asked...

Categories: music

November 1, 2009

Newly commissioned works featured at Herbst

A celebration of diversity Classical musicians can’t always express their darker impulses with the “grunge” such impulses deserve. But a concert by the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players at Herbst Theater Nov. 1 had several darkly expressive candidates. Three of the four pieces on their Made to Order program had been commissioned by the SFCMP and two of them were World premieres. Despite a descent into the world of extended techniques, the material was often...

Categories: music

October 31, 2009

Violist Nils Bultmann and the UC Symphony Orchestra

Musicians soar, Halloween costumes and all Violist Nils Bultmann was fearless and tender in Bloch’s Suite Hébraïque for viola and orchestra Saturday night on the UC Campus. But the setting was a little unusual. A policeman, a surgeon and...

Categories: music

October 22, 2009

Finnish duo at Davies

A concert of John Adams, Tchaikovsky and Dvořák had intriguing parallels. Finnish-born Osmo Vänskä, currently music director of the Minnesota Orchestra, guest conducted the San Francisco...

Categories: music

October 15, 2009

Joana Carneiro launches new era at Berkeley Symphony

Kicking the tires The Berkeley Symphony Orchestra inaugurated their fall season Thursday, Oct. 15, at UC Berkeley’s Zellerbach Hall, and perhaps in deference to the gala dinner afterwards, many wore their finery, sprinkling the hall with gowns and tuxes. A buzz of excitement surrounded the induction of conductor Joana Carneiro, who follows Maestro Kent Nagano. The Berkeley Symphony signaled their on-going commitment to contemporary composers and the choice of one whose...

Categories: music