Search Our Site

Search Results

317 Results Found

Beethoven, Violins of Hope kick off year

  • MUSIC
  • by Philip Campbell
  • Jan 7, 2020

Celebrations of Ludwig van Beethoven's 250th birthday start Jan. 16-18 with MTT conducting Piano Concerto No. 2 featuring soloist Emanuel Ax.

Bay Area music, the year in review

  • MUSIC
  • by Philip Campbell
  • Dec 30, 2019

As we head into the new year, thoughts turn to Bay Area musical groups, leaders, and performers who manage to survive against the odds.

Two beloved singers delight in concert

  • MUSIC
  • by Philip Campbell
  • Dec 23, 2019

Swedish mezzo-soprano Anne Sofie von Otter and American soprano Dawn Upshaw are treasured singers with enduring careers

Hanukkah gelt

  • MUSIC
  • by Philip Campbell
  • Dec 10, 2019

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Chorale (PBO) and departing Music Director Nicholas McGegan made a warm-hearted gift to the holiday season last week with performances of Handel's stirring oratorio "Judas Maccabaeus."

Future opera stars concertize now

  • MUSIC
  • by Philip Campbell
  • Dec 10, 2019

It might seem impossible, but last week's "The Future Is Now: 2019 Adler Fellows Concert" at Herbst Theatre was more special than ever.

Wintertime concerts

  • MUSIC
  • by Philip Campbell
  • Dec 3, 2019

Love it or loathe it, or something in-between, the holidays are here, and Christmas music is everywhere. Regardless of taste, religion, or lack thereof, music-lovers can still agree: a cozy concert helps cure the wintertime blues.

Big names deliver at the symphony hall

  • MUSIC
  • by Philip Campbell
  • Nov 26, 2019

The San Francisco Symphony closed November with concerts featuring works by big-name Austrian and German composers. Impressive guest artists and conductors joined the Orchestra at Davies Symphony Hall.

Witch hunts: 'Hansel & Gretel'

  • MUSIC
  • by Philip Campbell
  • Nov 19, 2019

The final production in the San Francisco Opera's fall season is also the first big entertainment of the holidays. Engelbert Humperdinck's "Hansel and Gretel" opened last week.

Grand Opera's material girl, Manon Lescaut

  • MUSIC
  • by Philip Campbell
  • Nov 12, 2019

First impressions are important, but they shouldn't lead to snap judgment. It is usually wiser to stop and think, but in the world of opera – especially Puccini – lovers tend to fall in love at first sight.

Transcendental beauty of Ives symphonies

  • MUSIC
  • by Philip Campbell
  • Nov 5, 2019

Young Michael Tilson Thomas inherited a passion to popularize Gustav Mahler and Charles Ives from his legendary mentor Leonard Bernstein.

Percussive attack on climate change

  • MUSIC
  • by Philip Campbell
  • Oct 29, 2019

SFS Principal Percussion Jacob Nissly is one of the orchestra's standout players, usually showing his skills from the rear of the stage.

Celebrating a neglected composer

  • MUSIC
  • by Philip Campbell
  • Oct 22, 2019

Surviving war and political tyranny, the Polish composer and violin and piano virtuoso Grazyna Bacewicz wrote hundreds of scores, building a distinctive style influenced by everything from folk music to the avant-garde.

Figaro in Post-Revolutionary America

  • MUSIC
  • by Philip Campbell
  • Oct 15, 2019

After more than 200 years, the perpetually hip writing team of Mozart and Da Ponte still has a hit on their hands. "The Marriage of Figaro" opened at the War Memorial Opera House last week, and it's funnier and timelier than ever.

International music-making: San Francisco Symphony

  • MUSIC
  • by Philip Campbell
  • Oct 8, 2019

Guest conductors, soloists, and the world premiere of a San Francisco Symphony Commission will keep the home fires burning.

October brings performance ensembles

  • MUSIC
  • by Philip Campbell
  • Oct 1, 2019

Well-established Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale (PBO) and youthfully ambitious Bard Music West (BMW) are ready to light some musical bonfires in October.

Symphonic illuminations in September

  • MUSIC
  • by Philip Campbell
  • Sep 24, 2019

September concerts in Michael Tilson Thomas' 25th and final season as Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony are telling us what we may expect as he sets the seal on an historic legacy.

'Billy Budd's all-male travails

  • MUSIC
  • by Philip Campbell
  • Sep 17, 2019

"Billy Budd," Herman Melville's unfinished allegory of innocence and guilt upon a British war ship, deeply examined by composer Benjamin Britten and librettists E.M. Forster and Eric Crozier, is the second offering in San Francisco Opera's fall line-up.

SFS Opens: MTT XXV

  • MUSIC
  • by Philip Campbell
  • Sep 10, 2019

With a booming announcer citing his achievements and the orchestra blaring the theme from "Masterpiece Theatre," San Francisco Symphony Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas made his final Opening Night walk to the podium at Davies Symphony Hall last week.

SFO Opens: 'R&J' a hit

  • MUSIC
  • by Philip Campbell
  • Sep 10, 2019

The San Francisco Opera's 97th season opened last week with a sturdy, often stirring performance of Gounod's elegant version of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet."

Fall Preview: San Francisco Opera

  • MUSIC
  • by Philip Campbell
  • Sep 3, 2019

The great gold curtain of the War Memorial Opera House rises on the San Francisco Opera's Opening Night Gala celebrating its 97th season this week.