Reviews

Guest conductor Semyon Bychkov launches S.F. Symphony’s 101st season with fine playing, even without the typical opening-night glitz ’n’ glamour.

ETHEL goes to great extremes to play down the fact that it’s a classical ensemble, but in the end it doesn’t matter. The album is great and well-played.

Handel’s best-known opera has achieved popularity due to a staggering succession of supremely engaging melodies. The reason for the full-house in Salzburg was the stars.

Here is a readable, restless, illuminating study of John Cage, a musician who influenced how all of us think about music.

After a game of musical chairs in recent years, the Artemis Quartet is still up on its game, as heard on its latest CD of Schubert masterworks.

Red Tzar’s libretto is ill served by Lisa Scola-Prosek’s music at
the Thick House.

Judd Greenstein’s “thrill-ride” highlights a winning chamber music program in a Napa Valley vineyard.

Tom Chiu and Christopher Jones free notes from traditional shackles at a centenary concert in honor of a great 20th-century innovator.

The Merola Grand Finale, which presented — and said farewell to — one of the finest Merola classes in years, presented six tenors all of whom are ready for prime time.

Massed forces of the S.F. Choral Society performs a musical collage for Mother Earth, plus a semistaged version of the always-challenging Carmina Burana.