Artist Spotlights

Terrance Kelly and his Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir showcase their infectious spirit at the Oakland East Bay Symphony's holiday celebration, “Let Us Break Bread Together.”

SFCV catches up with pianist Yefim Bronfman, loved by audiences as one of the more virtuosic and commanding soloists on the concert hall stage. Emanuel Ax calls him a “complete pianist,” and Esa-Pekka Salonen says, he “can play better than most other people on the planet.”

SFCV catches up with Turtle Island String Quartet violinist David Balakrishnan who is looking forward to an upcoming gig in San Francisco gig, featuring tributes to Jimi Hendrix.

Acclaimed cellist Tanya Tomkins is equally at home with early music, the classics, and contemporary compositions, but on the weekend of Nov. 19, it’s the early music and instrument that will be in the limelight.

Mark O’Connor — the protean superfiddler, composer, music educator, and inventor of “The O’Connor Violin Method,” which has helped school countless budding violinists — heads to the Bay Area this month. The New Century Chamber Orchestra has designated him the featured composer this season.

Celebrated pop singer and songsmith Rufus Wainwright tells SFCV why he's turned towards composing arias and settings of Shakespeare, and why writers of opera and snarky critics are uneasy bedfellows.

One the eve of the 25th anniversary of S.F. Conservatory's chamber music master's degree program, Bonnie Hampton talks about her life, the founding of the program, and the value of being present every day.

SFCV catches up with Conductor Alan Curtis, who is based in Florence, but is back in the Bay Area this week to lead Handel's Xerxes for Berkeley West Edge.

Much has been made of soprano Measha Brueggergosman’s endearing idiosyncrasies: performing barefoot, sporting a nose ring, and, if you consider it such, practicing and teaching Bikram Yoga. What’s most important is that she is a major artist, blessed with a gorgeous voice, a fine command of language, and a true commitment to musical expression.

Meeting face-to-face after an intense, six-hour rehearsal at S.F. Opera for her role debut as Emilia Marty in Leoš Janáček’s The Makropulos Case, soprano Karita Mattila no doubt would have preferred to luxuriate in a bubble bath. Nonetheless, the great singer-actress, who recently showed her all onstage in Salome, slowly revealed herself. Speaking in the opera house, the diva shared thoughts on her imminent debut, ill-prepared conductors, and life at 50.