Features

Looking the Other Way:Race in Classical Music

Jason Victor Serinus - May 12, 2009

When it comes to classical music and opera, we enlightened ones are supposed to be color-blind. Regardless of our race, the racial characteristics of singers and musicians are not supposed to matter … some of the time.

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Music News May 12, 2009

Janos Gereben - May 12, 2009

Dance, Dance, Dance

Tina LeBlanc and Gonzalo Garcia
in Balanchine's Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux

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The Silent Musician

Thomas Busse - May 5, 2009

Concert audiences can hear the seemingly impossible sound of a singer, watch a pianist type out an incomprehensible profusion of tones, be moved by someone scrubbing on a very little box, or survive an evening where, in spite of the band’s best efforts, it all falls apart.

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Music News: May 5, 2009

Janos Gereben - May 5, 2009

S.F. Opera Opts For Being Safe, Not Sorry

The economic downturn, which has hit art organizations with the double whammy of declining contributions and a drop in ticket sales, is really wreaking havoc on opera companies — always troubled by production costs, which are inevitably the highest among performing organizations.

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Deep Listening: Music, Our Brains, Ourselves

Jesse Hamlin - April 28, 2009

Like a lot of us, monkeys generally prefer a Russian lullaby to German techno music. But given a choice between music and silence, the apes opt for quiet. It seems their brains simply aren’t wired to enjoy music or pay it much mind. “They don’t care about it,” said Vinod Menon, the noted Stanford neuroscientist who’s deeply engaged in research on music and the brain.

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Music News: April 28, 2009

Janos Gereben - April 28, 2009

The Merolini are Coming!

With over half a century of tradition and a $2.1 million annual operating budget, the Merola Opera Program has begun its 2009 program by selecting 29 artists from eight countries for three months of coaching, training, and performances.