music

April 3, 2011

Apples and Oranges in the South Bay

  Carducci and Harlem Quartets—two voyages of discovery Two brilliant young quartets graced the peninsula Sunday, April 3, each with programs that reveled in the old and wandered into the new. And, in uncanny resemblance, each warmed up with an early Beethoven quartet. The Carducci Quartet arrived from the United Kingdom for an afternoon at Stanford’s Dinkelspiel Auditorium, opening with Beethoven’s String Quartet in...

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February 26, 2011

Vienna Philharmonic at Zellerbach

Powerful—and anachronistic The Vienna Philharmonic came to Zellerbach Hall for three days in an unprecedented residency February 25 – 27. These were old-school Austrians with names like Johannes, as in Johannes Brahms, or Johann, as in Strauss or Bach. And there were seven Wolfgangs, as in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Their recordings are masterful, but in their group picture there are only three women and no people of color among a hundred and thirty...

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February 20, 2011

Sidney Outlaw recital in SF

  Stirring program at Temple Emanu-El A remarkable young man came to San Francisco Sunday evening for the West Coast Premiere of A Time to Break Silence, a song cycle inspired by the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., and composed by Juilliard’s Wayne Oquin. Part of a long-running series of recitals for singers who have been associated with the SF Opera’s Merola and Adler programs, baritone Sidney...

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February 7, 2011

Earplay at Herbst

  Contemporary ensemble, timeless music Earplay, an ensemble dedicated to new music, opened their 26th season Monday evening, February 7, at San Francisco’s Herbst Theatre. “Sound Science” proved to be an entertaining and noteworthy concert, with two of the four composers on hand to comment on their works. British composer Jonathan Harvey and American icon George...

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