Scott MacClelland

Opera San Jose is a first-rate demonstration of why opera companies have been rediscovering this pearl of an opera by the young Georges Bizet.

Fine playing at the Carmel Bach Festival brings sparkle to Stravinsky and the odd choice of valveless horns to Brahms.

Handel’s Alexander’s Feast made a welcome debut on opening weekend of the Carmel Bach Festival.

The San Jose Chamber Orchestra acquits itself well playing a reduction of Mahler’s score of his Fourth Symphony, revealing insights into the original.

Love and sacrifice gone awry lie at the heart of a famous short story, now set as a one-act opera.

Imaginative programming choices mark the Carmel Bach Festival’s “Landscapes of the Soul” program.

The multifaceted Peter Hanson emerges as a gracious, accessible concertmaster of the Carmel band.

Carmel Bach’s new director, Paul Goodwin, leads a powerful “rethink” of Bach’s St. John Passion that won the audience over.

Bruno Weil’s 19th, and last, season as music director of the Carmel Bach Festival happens, by timely rotation, to include the St. Matthew Passion. Heard Sunday at Carmel’s Sunset Center, this production of the great work was the most satisfying of the many times he has performed it there.