Reviews | San Francisco Classical Voice

Orff Gone Gaga

Jason Victor Serinus - May 25, 2009

Chora Nova certainly doesn’t shy away from challenges. Since its artistic director, the conductor and countertenor Paul Flight, came on board to direct the auditioned community chorus in July 2006, it has tackled the challenging works of Kodály, a number of greater and lesser Baroque masterworks, Brahms’ “German” Requiem and Neue Liebeslieder, and the music of Michael Haydn.

Review

Another Triumph From the Peninsula

Janos Gereben - May 25, 2009

There is something in Kenneithia Mitchell's voice that goes straight to the heart. Her debut this weekend in the title role of a sensational West Bay Opera Madama Butterfly impressed with a singularly mellow voice, effortless, brilliant phrasing.

Review

Spot-On Send-Off

Jeff Kaliss - May 21, 2009

“Shadows and Light” was the theme of the final four concerts of the New Century Chamber Orchestra’s current season, with the repertoire selected for references to the night. But what really shone through the five pieces on the variegated program was how wonderfully the music and the players were suited to each other.

Review

About the Size of It

Jeff Dunn - May 19, 2009

Small fit all at Sunday’s Berkeley Akadamie concert, but medium and large were another story. The opening number, Mozart’s Divertimento in D Major, K. 136, was played by only a string quintet. It was so well done, and the First Congregational Church acoustics were so beneficial, that the five sounded like a full string orchestra.

Review

The Joy of Ma

John Lutterman - May 19, 2009

Best known in recent years for his willingness to explore a broad variety of postmodern musical styles and cultures, on Thursday night Yo-Yo Ma graced the stage of the Mondavi Center at UC Davis with a program of J.S. Bach’s unaccompanied cello suites, a return to the repertoire that he cut his teeth on.

Review

Fiery Performances

Heuwell Tircuit - May 18, 2009

The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra featured two first symphonies in excellent performances in their concert at Davies Symphony Hall on Sunday. Conductor Benjamin Shwartz had clearly prepared his charges well as the orchestra outdid even their usual high standards. And there was a minor scare thrown in for good measure.

Review

Boat Taking on Water

Jason Victor Serinus - May 18, 2009

When it came to the soloists, the “Show Boat in Concert/From the Jerome Kern Songbook,” this season’s American Masterworks Series installment from the Oakland East Bay Symphony, scored a well-deserved 10.

Review

Netrebko and GarančaSing Rare Bellini

Jason Victor Serinus - May 18, 2009

Why Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi (The Capulets and the Montagues) is so infrequently staged becomes apparent once you hear Deutsche Grammophon’s new recording.

Review

For Mahler, 'Lenny Was the One'

Janos Gereben - May 18, 2009

For most American music fans in the middle of the last century, Gustav Mahler meant Leonard Bernstein. He was widely regarded as the single source of the Mahler revival or, for most listeners, their first experience.

Review

Turanga-lite

Steve Osborn - May 18, 2009

Olivier Messiaen’s 10-movement Turangalîla-Symphonie is rarely performed because of its length (about an hour and a quarter) and its unusual instrumentation (the score calls for ondes martenot, vibraphone, and glockenspiel, among many other instruments). The double whammy makes performances of this 20th-century masterpiece hard to find — and fund.