music

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...

Continue reading

Categories: music

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...

Continue reading

Categories: music

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...

Continue reading

Categories: music

Early modernism to moving contemporary… and lots of fun in between! Earplay, a pillar of the Bay Area’s contemporary music scene, held a concert on Monday March 18 in San Francisco’s ODC Theater, a newly built facility in the Mission with a lively sound. While Herbst is closed for construction, the ODC should be getting lots of play. Their new theater on 17th St and Shotwell, though substantially smaller than Herbst, is a choice location for dance,...

Continue reading

Categories: music

  Polished pair charm Burlingame A spirited concert in Burlingame’s Kohl Mansion made this a record year for the Music at Kohl program, now celebrating its thirtieth season. According to Executive Director Patricia Kristof Moy, the concerts are nearly all sold out, a combination of intimate hall, top performers and a widening reputation. On March 17 we heard a polished piano and clarinet duo, the remarkably fluid Jon Nakamatsu, winner of...

Continue reading

Categories: music

Serving up dishes with gusto… A hugely talented young winner of the Van Cliburn piano competition wowed an East Bay audience last Sunday at the Lesher Center for the Arts. It also offered a joyous remembrance of Cliburn, who died on Wednesday, Feb. 27 and whose memorial service was held that same Sunday, March 3. The 22-year-old pianist, Haochen Zhang, gave a truly memorable performance that translated the searing passions of two hundred years ago, framed with...

Continue reading

Categories: music