Features

'There's a Place for Us, Somewhere'

Janos Gereben - August 19, 2008

The wistful lyrics from West Side Story must have had a special meaning for David Gockley as he contemplated the lack of appropriate performance venues in the city. It was a couple of years ago, and Gockley had just arrived as the new general director of San Francisco Opera.

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My Love Affair With Internet Radio

Jeff Rosenfeld - August 12, 2008

On the day my lifelong infatuation with classical radio died, I hardly realized it would be revived by the Internet just a year later and become better than ever — so exciting that my CDs are quickly becoming superfluous, forgotten on their dusty shelves. Studio recordings simply can't compare to the magnetism of the great live performances on Internet radio.

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Of Banana Splits and the Classics

Heuwell Tircuit - August 5, 2008

My sister forwarded me a menu last week from an early 1950s Woolworth’s diner counter, which she intended to give me price shock.

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The Adventure Continues

Jason Victor Serinus - July 29, 2008

It goes without saying that the Cabrillo Festival is going to win next year's ASCAP annual award for the most Adventurous Programming of Orchestral Music by a festival. It has won every year since the award was initiated in 1982. Some might argue that winning the ASCAP award does not signify cutting edge programming.

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Rediscovering a Norwegian Master

Jeff Dunn - July 22, 2008

Last month I witnessed an unusual spectacle at the Bergen Music Festival in Norway. After three or four curtain calls, clapping in unison began and, as if by prearranged signal, everyone stood at once in enthusiastic acknowledgement. The orchestra that did the playing was the visiting Stavanger Symphony Orchestra conducted by Ole Kristian Ruud.

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Growth You Can Hear

Robert Moon - July 15, 2008

"In chamber music, you play the way you are. Are you generous and giving? Are you responding to your friend's suggestions?

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Under the Napa Sun (via Tuscany)

Georgia Rowe - July 8, 2008

The summer music season has arrived and, as always, there’s no shortage of worthy events in and around the Bay Area.

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Symphony Orchestra 2.0

David Bratman - July 1, 2008

San José, as its boosters like to point out, is now the largest city in Northern California. But if it’s the leader in population, it has a ways to go to catch up to San Francisco in cultural influence. Still, San José is far from the cultural desert that its flat sprawling landscape might suggest to residents of hillier, more congested parts of the Bay Area.