Reviews

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Review

A Choir Apart

Thomas Busse - June 3, 2008
What's old becomes new. The New Harvard Dictionary of Music defines schola cantorum as "A choir that performs Gregorian chant." A 19th-century French institution founded by composer Vincent d'Indy took up the title to revive the art of plainchant and to "instruct" (not perform) in church music and counterpoint. Sunday's affair at San Francisco's St.
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Review

Who's Screwy Now?

Jason Victor Serinus - June 3, 2008
It was a bit like "second-try night." Only last fall, three of the principals in San Francisco Lyric Opera's current production of Benjamin Britten's Turn of the Screw — Anja Strauss (the Governess), Brooks Fisher (Miles), and Madelaine Matej (Flora) — appeared in the same roles in Oakland Opera Theater's abysmal production of that opera.

Tasty Bites

Noel Verzosa - June 3, 2008
In a fitting conclusion to a season that has featured works like Maurice Ravel's Mother Goose Suite and William Bolcom's Fairy Tales, the Gold Coast Chamber Players ended their 2008 cycle with a program of musical knickknacks both familiar and obscure.

A Tolling of Themes

Jules Langert - June 3, 2008
Earplay's 23rd season came to an end Wednesday night at Herbst Theatre with a concert of four chamber pieces written over the past quarter century, plus a major work by British composer Peter Maxwell Davies from 1975: his ample, richly textured Ave maris stella (Hail, star of the sea), for six instruments.
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Review

West Bay's Safe Harbor for Dutchman

Janos Gereben - May 27, 2008

How do you produce a Wagner opera on a stage not much bigger than a living room?
How do you present a "Wagnerian" (in fact and in size) score with an orchestra whose string section consists of six violins, two violas, two cellos, and a double bass?

The expected response of "very carefully" doesn't apply in the case of West Bay Opera's production of Der fliegende Holländer; the correct description is "amazingly well."

Touching the Sublime

Jason Victor Serinus - May 27, 2008
Although Johannes Brahms carried great pain over his apparently unconsummated relationship with Clara Schumann, the heartfelt beauty of his most popular music speaks far more of resolution and transcendence rather than enslavement to suffering. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the great German Requiem, Op.

The Art of the Cello

Heuwell Tircuit - May 27, 2008
Nothing about cellist Lynn Harrell's two all-Bach recitals last week in Grace Cathedral could be called ordinary, except for his insightful virtuosity. First and most strikingly, those performances of J.S. Bach's six highbrow Suites for unaccompanied cello, BWV 1007-1012, were presented as part of the four-month jazz festival, titled the 9th Annual SFJAZZ Spring Season.
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Review

End of Time

Michelle Dulak Thomson - May 20, 2008
The Left Coast Chamber Ensemble is unique among the Bay Area's new-music-focused ensembles in spending a fair amount of time outside the 21st or even 20th centuries.

Knack for the Future

Georgia Rowe - May 20, 2008
Judging by the programming choices of many of our major musical institutions, choral music belongs strictly to the past. Fortunately, forward-thinking music lovers can always turn to Volti.

The Promise of Youth

Jason Victor Serinus - May 20, 2008
On paper, American mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard reads like a filly breaking free from the pack. At 25, she has already debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in Roméo et Juliette, singing Stéphano alongside Anna Netrebko and Roberto Alagna. Other star turns include her recent Zerlina with Chicago Opera Theater, a forthcoming Cherubino in Santa Fe, and a gig at the Cincinnati May Festival.