Reviews

Wednesday night, Michael Tilson Thomas and the San
Francisco Symphony played Mark Volkert’s Pandora for the first
time, and it was full of surprises.

The early-music quartet Musica Pacifica scored a seasonal concert hit with smart arrangements and excellent contributions from soprano Clara Rottsolk.

A rising star brings her spectacular musical presence to Santa Rosa Symphony’s night-of-operas program.

Heavy holiday fare takes some time to digest, as served up by Symphony Silicon Valley, with soloist Peter Serkin.

California Bach Society takes listeners on an enjoyable cruise through Dutch Christmas traditions.

The exciting promise of stardom graced S.F. Opera’s 2012 Adler Fellows gala concert, affirming that several current and departing Fellows are indeed primed to become the stars of tomorrow.

Gustavo Dudamel and the Simón Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela returned to the Bay Area this week, generating the kind of goodwill for music education and excitement for symphonic music that can turn even the most hardened cynic into a true believer.  

Elina Garanča sings perhaps too perfectly in her new CD, often reducing what should be emotional outpourings to lovely vocalises.

The S.F. Symphony beats the band, showing its idiosyncratic side in a terrific new release of scores by Cowell, Harrison, and Varèse.

As invasions go, it was a win-win. Sweeping into the golden glow of Weil Hall, just two nights after slaying her audience in Carnegie Hall, mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato took no prisoners.