Michael Zwiebach is the senior editor/content manager for SFCV. He assigns all articles and content, manages the writing staff, and does editing. A member of SFCV from the beginning, Michael holds a Ph.D. in music history from the University of California, Berkeley.
When a choral group with “Bach” in its name meets the St. John's Passion, you expect all the stops to be pulled, and California Bach Society is doing just that.
Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, the music director of New Century Chamber Orchestra, has made it clear that she doesn’t want her orchestra pigeonholed. So when she signed up her pal William Bolcom to be the orchestra’s featured composer this year, she gave him the widest latitude possible in his commissioned piece.
Long before the euphoria of their triumphant march through Haydn's string quartet legacy had evaporated, the New Esterházy Quartet were planning new adventures. Now comes the first in a series of concerts centered on works that were inspired by Haydn and — no surprise — the first calling card will be dropped by Amadeus himself.
Concerto Köln belongs to that rare breed of early-music bands that can make a beloved favorite sound remarkably fresh. Handel fans, for instance, may know them as the orchestra for Harmonia Mundi’s 1991 recording of Giulio Cesare with Jennifer Larmore and Barbara Schlick, still the pacesetter on that front.
If you grew up in the 1990s you probably know Duncan Sheik, the singer-songwriter who arrives this week to perform songs from his musical Whisper House with the San Francisco Symphony. His 1996 debut hit, Barely Breathing, about a stalled relationship, marries its catchy groove to an emotional honesty.
There are a lot of brilliant ideas out there about involving children in classical music, but San Francisco Chamber Orchestra can stake a claim for one of the most original: conducting paired with circus clowns.
Spring, the poets tell us, is the time for love, an emotion at the heart of many a musical work. It's also the time for Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra's annual Handel bash. And what better way to celebrate than with Orlando, Handel's operatic fantasy on love and madness?
Lots of orchestras give concerts for children, but the Fremont Symphony does it with a twist: They get kids involved. “Last year, we had eight kids come up to the front and conduct the orchestra,” says Music Director David Sloss.
After last year's hip, happening Switchboard Music Festival, one of the event's cocreators, Jonathan Russell, moved to Washington D.C and another, Ryan Brown, decamped to Princeton, New Jersey.
Sometimes it’s hard to remember, but the larger part of classical music as we now know it was written for use and even entertainment, not for musing on the abstract and infinite.
