Jeff Dunn

Two superstars will be playing two No. 2 concertos too difficult for most other mortals.

Many are familiar with Serge Prokofiev’s strikingly descriptive music for Serge Eisentstein’s film Alexander Nevsky. He also wrote equally expansive music, with vocal soloists and chorus, for another Eisenstein film extravaganza, Ivan the Terrible (1944)

If the prolonged cheers and standing ovation of the opening-night audience
are any indications, the outlook for Jake Heggie’s latest opera Moby
Dick is smooth sailing.

Bohemians in Paris populate Livermore Valley Opera’s lively, well-sung production of the Puccini classic.

Paul Dresher’s invention, the quadrachord, posed unanswered questions in a concerto that showed off the composer’s considerable gifts.

The “imagined places” of Samuel Carl Adams’ Drift and
Providence enriched the orchestral palette with new sounds, alongside Mahler's all-encompassing Fifth, reminding patrons of the S.F. Symphony’s world-class status.

Youth and age made for interesting comparisons at the season opener for Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg’s New Century Chamber Orchestra in Menlo Park.

Performance Indeterminate Cage Opera was its acronym. Audiovisual
plethora was its game. Pleased-and participating-attendees, its result.

Classics and new music sit side by side on the most exciting symphony concerts of the new season.

Red Tzar’s libretto is ill served by Lisa Scola-Prosek’s music at
the Thick House.