Choral

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Review

Approaching Perfection in Pergolesi and Handel

Jason Victor Serinus - April 6, 2009
There are moments when a musical performance is so carefully conceived or so sublimely delivered that all you can do is surrender to the beauty of it and express gratitude for being alive.
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Review

Winges Takes Flight

Jason Victor Serinus - March 30, 2009
Mark Winges, composer for and advisor to the chamber choir Volti, certainly knows how to initiate an intriguing conversation. The proof can be heard on his second CD, But This Is This. Released on the Chicago-based Centaur label, the music on this all-instrumental recording is a bona fide Bay Area effort.
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Review

Honoring Bach

Heuwell Tircuit - March 24, 2009
The San Francisco Bach Choir celebrated the 324th anniversary of Bach's birth on Sunday afternoon in Calvary Presbyterian Church by presenting three of his cantatas and three of his even finer motets. Actually, the concert was a repeat of their Saturday performance, his actual birthday.
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Review

Beauty and Danger, in Song

Georgia Rowe - March 23, 2009
Chanticleer was founded in 1978 to explore the vocal music of the Renaissance, but the ever-questing 12-man chorus makes a regular habit of looking to the future. Last Tuesday, at Berkeley’s First Congregational Church, the San Francisco–based ensemble ushered three newly commissioned works into the repertoire, giving each the kind of vibrant, lustrous performance that has become synonymous with t
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Review

In Praise of Righteousness

Jaime Robles - March 23, 2009
The symphonic chorale of the Oakland-based Cantare Con Vivo paid homage to Felix Mendelssohn on Saturday by performing one of his last compositions, the massive, two-hours-plus oratorio Elijah. Artistic Director David Morales led the excellent chorale and orchestra.
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Review

Truths Out of Time

Jerry Kuderna - March 16, 2009

The pianist Rudolf Serkin took a year off from concertizing to study the Bach Cantatas because, as he said, “They are such beautiful music.” On hearing the American Bach Soloists perform four of them Saturday at the First Congregational Church in Berkeley, and after witnessing the vitality, spirit, and timeless human truths that they contain, I realized it would take a lifetime to fully get to know the wonders of this music.

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Preview

Chanticleer's Composers for Our Age

Jason Victor Serinus - March 9, 2009
Our very own internationally renowned male a cappella ensemble Chanticleer celebrates the close of its 30th anniversary season with three commissions by composers of the same age. The program, titled "Composers/Our Age," showcases new works by Tarik O'Regan, Shawn Crouch, and Mason Bates.
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Review

Pride and Courage

Heuwell Tircuit - March 3, 2009

Holding aloft its dedication and musicianship like a banner, Artistic Director Robert Geary led the Volti chamber choir through eight contemporary works Saturday evening, four of which were premieres. The program, at St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church, also included the services of the amazing Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir.

Ye Sacred Clerestory

Catherine Getches - March 2, 2009
In a concert titled "Ye Sacred Muses — Music of the Chapel Royal" the choral group Clerestory gets back to its cathedral roots and music that inspired the ensemble's name. On the program are lesser-known a cappella works by Purcell, Byrd, Tallis, and Handel, side by side with a few compliations devoted to great Queens, and more familiar works by other greats (composers, that is).
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Review

Consolation and Joy

Jerry Kuderna - February 24, 2009

While speaking with one of the singers of the Pacific Collegium during the intermission of their Sunday concert giving the complete motets of Johann Sebastian Bach, I mentioned that I came to love these works only via recordings, while attending the Carter centenary at Tanglewood this past summer.