Arts & Culture » Music
Taking the 5th
The New York Philharmonic's new music director Jaap van Zweden made his second appearance at DSH with his own strong-minded interpretation of Bruckner's Symphony #5.
Writing his final opera "Death in Venice," Benjamin Britten, who knew he was dying, looked at his life's work and stripped it bare.
The San Francisco Opera's 2018 fall season and holiday events have ended, but preparations for the 2019 summer season are ongoing.
When it comes to LGBTQ music, the present, as well as the past and future, are female.
When composer Bryce Dessner was named one of the collaborative partners who will be joining Music Director Designate Esa-Pekka Salonen and the San Francisco Symphony in 2020, his name rang a bell with Out There.
His music may seem to say otherwise, but Claude Debussy came to a bitter end of an ill-tempered life begun in poverty and ended in complications from rectal cancer.
2018 was busy at the San Francisco Opera. Not really surprising, since it was the first season fully programmed (with one exception) by the administration of general director Matthew Shilvock.
Looking back at the San Francisco Symphony's 2018-19 season so far, it is hard to find many highlights that could outshine the announcement early in December of a new Music Director.
Even though this is an end-of-year playlist, not one of these 10 recordings was released in 2018! How's them apples! Still, here's music that quenched our aural thirst as we worked through the year.
Sony let Igor Levit record "Igor Levit, Life" and had a hit on its hands.
I've been doing these holiday music roundups for so long that I've lost track of what century we're in. Before it's too late, I invite you to take a read and a listen. Happy holidays!
In 30 years of reviewing "The Nutcracker," with which San Francisco Ballet returned to the Opera House last Wednesday night, I've never seen such glorious dancing as they brought to the last act.
Two recent musical events summed up the spirit of the holiday season with messages of love and good cheer. The San Francisco Symphony's "Messiah" and Opera Parallele's "The Little Prince" also provided some much-needed moments of reflection.
This time of year the airwaves are full of Christmas carols and other Yuletide ditties, but Out There's favorite holiday anthem has always been song satirist Tom Lehrer's "A Christmas Carol."
The Adler Fellows class of 2018 appeared in their final concert of the year, "The Future Is Now: Adler Fellows Concert" last Saturday night in Herbst Theatre.
When the San Francisco Symphony announced last week that conductor-composer Esa-Pekka Salonen has been chosen to serve as Music Director Designate effective immediately, there was an almost-audible gasp of relief in the Bay Area classical music community.
Musical iconoclast, mind-blowing performer and minimalist pioneer Terry Riley has always been hard to classify.
"Love Is Magic," the title track from John Grant's new album, tells a somber tale.
Stars of stage and cabaret will perform on Mon., Dec. 10, at the Marines Memorial Theater in "Help Is on the Way XVII," a gala fundraiser for the Richmond Ermet Aid Foundation.
There is a real need for moments of live musical entertainment and personal reflection amidst the ubiquitous soundtrack of Christmas cheer.
Performing artist-musician Laurie Anderson was Resident Artistic Director at SFJAZZ Center last week, during which she appeared in five consecutive nights of programming.
Tchaikovsky-savvy consumers will grock what's going on right from the cover of the new Paris Opera and Ballet pairing of Tchaikovsky's one-act opera "Iolanta" and two-act ballet "The Nutcracker" (BelAir).
Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony recorded Berlioz's "Romeo et Juliette" live at Davies Symphony Hall in June 2017.
The West Coast premiere of composer Jake Heggie and librettist Gene Scheer's "It's a Wonderful Life" opened at the San Francisco Opera last week to make a picturesque start for the holiday season.
Singer-songwriter Rosanne Cash and guitarist Ry Cooder will perform their rendition of the music of Johnny Cash on Dec. 5-6 at the War Memorial Opera House.
Avant-garde artist and pop music icon Laurie Anderson will present five different concerts in San Francisco beginning Nov. 28, as part of her tenure as Resident Artistic Director at SFJAZZ Center.
Two concerts with similar intentions brought opposite sides of the Bay in synch recently with the belief that music is a human right.
"Requiem Mass: A Queer Divine Rite" will have its San Francisco premiere on Nov. 16 & 17 at Grace Cathedral. The piece is an evening-length choral work by singer-composer Holcombe Waller.
A fall feast of classical music performances is ongoing through November in San Francisco. Concerts large and small are providing a fine soundtrack to the days before Thanksgiving.
It's interesting that Boy George and Culture Club would call their new studio album, their first such release in almost 20 years, "Life" (BMG), as that's the one thing it could use more of.
Tom Volf's new documentary "Maria by Callas" is essential viewing for anyone who cares about classical music, opera, the human psyche, or the biases of American media.