Orchestra

Jesse Hamlin - April 20, 2009
David Ramadanoff
David Ramadanoff first encountered Carl Orff’s irresistible Carmina Burana as a student at Temple University in the late 1960s, sing
Steve Osborn - April 20, 2009
Bruno Ferrandis
A ballet suite is not a symphony, but don’t tell that to Bruno Ferrandis.
George Loomis - April 16, 2009

NEW YORK — The YouTube Symphony Orchestra gave its first — and as far as anyone knows, only — concert last night and a good time was had by all. Isaac Stern Auditorium of Carnegie Hall glowed festively, or at least differently, with atmospheric lighting.

Jeff Dunn - April 14, 2009
Yan Pascal Tortelier

The British composer Ralph Vaughan Williams is beloved for his evocation of pastoral, folk-song-infused landscapes in works like

Georgia Rowe - April 13, 2009

This is the time of year when San Francisco Symphony Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas, for better or worse, yields the podium to a series of guest conductors. Later this month, and in the first part of May, Oliver Knussen, Yan Pascal Tortelier, and Bernard Labadie will take up the baton; this past weekend it was Stéphane Denève’s turn.

Dan Leeson - April 13, 2009

For its 2008-2009 season finale on Saturday, the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, under Benjamin Simon’s effective direction, presented an eclectic program with a theme of “Bach to Bach” — meaning, of course, that the concert would both begin and end with a Bach composition, though the finale was a very different kind of Bach.

Janos Gereben - April 10, 2009
Michael Morgan

The Oakland East Bay Symphony's April 17 concert at the Paramount Theatre "pairs two composers who were revolutionaries in their time, and who cha

Jeff Dunn - April 9, 2009

Noisy music with imaginary animals from both sides of the program threatened to cage the central Mozart concerto at Tuesday's Marin Symphony concert. But the songbird in the Mozart wound up soaring above the surrounding beasts, thanks to fine playing by principals Dan Levitan on harp and Monica Daniel-Barker on flute.

Michael Zwiebach - April 7, 2009
Benjamin Simon

San Francisco Chamber Orchestra concerts are always lively affairs.

Jeff Dunn - April 6, 2009

"We're part of a bigger thing," declared British composer Thomas Adès in a surprise visit to the stage of Davies Symphony Hall on Friday night. His 2005 violin concerto Concentric Paths, painstakingly and passionately interpreted by soloist Leila Josefowicz and San Francisco Symphony Associate Conductor James Gaffigan, proved just that.