Orchestra

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Review

San Frantastic Symphony

Jeff Dunn - July 21, 2009
“What have you been smoking?” you say. But I saw the following with my own eyes at last Saturday’s San Francisco Symphony concert:
  • A sold-out Davies Symphony Hall where I could find only four people over 50 who were not employees or ushers. Almost everyone was under 35.
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Preview

Summer and the Symphony Finale

Michael Zwiebach - July 14, 2009
Bugs on Broadway
If you're a classic cartoon buff, don't miss Bugs on Broadway, part of the San Francisco Symphony's Summer and the Symphony series.
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Preview

San Francisco Symphony Puts Pop Into July

Brian Gleeson - June 24, 2009
In Boston, during the mid-1960s, it was commonly accepted that there were three people in town who would never in their lives need to pay for a drink at one of that city’s taverns: Carl Yastrzemski, the slugging left fielder for the Red Sox; Bill Russell, the center for the Celtics’ perennial championship teams; and Arthur Fiedler, the indefatigable conductor of the Boston Pops.

Peninsula Symphony Pops

Michael Zwiebach - June 23, 2009
Nothing says summer like an outdoor pops concert, especially if its free. The Peninsula Symphony scores big on all three counts, as they present a free concert on the steps of the Redwood City Courthouse Square. Besides great music from three Bs (Berlioz, Bizet, and Bernstein), the fun includes a raffle. Let the kids stay up late, bring a picnic, and enjoy.
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Preview

Music for a Fantasy Video Game

Jessica Balik - June 22, 2009
Anyone who has ever played a video game likely knows that, just as the contours of its control pad can become imprinted on the hand, so too can the game’s musical themes leave lasting impressions on the memory.
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Review

Astonishing S.F. Symphony Premiere

Michelle Dulak Thomson - June 15, 2009
The San Francisco Symphony’s “Dawn to Twilight” festival ended last week with a devastating double bill. Pairing Schubert and Berg might look like the sort of juxtaposition apt to work better on paper than in the event.
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Review

One Love in Common

Jeff Dunn - June 8, 2009

Friday's episode of the San Francisco Symphony's Franz Schubert/Alban Berg festival showed that Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas' abundant love for the two Viennese composers' music, despite commentators' attempts to argue the contrary, was the strongest element they had in common.

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Review

Mass for a Troubled Time

David Bratman - June 8, 2009
Saturday night’s Symphony Silicon Valley concert at the California Theatre in San José was full of interesting resonances and connections. For one thing, it was the anniversary of D-Day. What better time, as the organization’s President Andrew Bales pointed out in his welcoming talk, to hear a Mass, a work ending with the words “Dona nobis pacem” (Grant us peace)?
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Review

Adventures, in Spades

Heuwell Tircuit - June 8, 2009

Musical repertory is full of masterpieces that rarely get programmed. Largely, it’s a matter of either instrumentation or length. On Wednesday, with a full orchestra and a handful of soloists available, Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony concentrated on five of those masterpieces, as part of their “Schubert/Berg Journey.”

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Preview

Gilbert & Sullivan

Anna Carol Dudley - June 3, 2009
When Michael Tilson Thomas programmed the San Francisco Symphony's semistaged production of Gilbert and Sullivan's Iolanthe for June 18-21, little did he know how au courant it would be.