Georgia Rowe
Georgia Rowe is a Bay Area arts writer. Her work has appeared in Opera News, Gramophone, The San Jose Mercury News, The Oakland Tribune, The San Francisco Examiner, and The Contra Costa Times.
Articles by this Author
Camille Claudel may be an ideal subject for operatic treatment. The French artist (1864–1943) spanned two centuries, created a significant body of work, loved passionately, and died tragically. Not since Floria Tosca has a woman seemed so ripe for dramatization.
Under the best circumstances, a vocal recital can take the listener on a vast journey within the confines of an intimate space. Christopher Maltman’s performance Thursday at Herbst Theatre was an arresting case in point — a remarkable traversal by an artist who inhabits the recital stage as if to the manor born.
From his first San Francisco Symphony assignment, in 1984, Herbert Blomstedt became a podium favorite with audiences and critics alike. Today the award-winning conductor, who was the Symphony’s music director from 1985 to 1995, remains one of the Bay Area’s most beloved musical figures. Born in Massachusetts, raised in Sweden, Blomstedt led orchestras in Oslo, Stockholm, and Dresden before coming to San Francisco.
Over the last decade, bass-baritone Eric Owens has sung an astonishingly wide range of repertoire.
When Igor Stravinsky composed The Soldier’s Tale, his instructions were explicit: The 1918 work was meant “to be read, played, and danced.” This month at the Aurora Theatre, a stellar group of artists is coming together to do just that.
Bay Area audiences don’t have to leave town to hear the great American orchestras this season, since many of those orchestras will be coming to us, as part of the San Francisco Symphony’s new American Orchestra series. Between now and June, the Symphony will host appearances by the Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, New York Philharmonic, and Philadelphia orchestras.
Music lovers expecting the ordinary at Stephanie Blythe’s vocal recital Thursday evening at Herbst Theatre received several splendid surprises. Presented by San Francisco Performances, the great mezzo-soprano defied expectations at every turn, and the results were nothing short of brilliant.
San Francisco loves a long-distance race, whether it’s Bay to Breakers or the Giants’ quest for the pennant. This month, though, another endurance event is taking place in the city — one that involves a different kind of performing elite. For young opera artists, the Merola Program offers the kind of intensive, high-powered training that might leave even seasoned athletes in the dust.
Berkeley West Edge Opera Dreams of Caliban
-
Article
July 12, 2011
The San Francisco Symphony did some marvelous multitasking over the weekend. Even as Michael Tilson Thomas and the orchestra were in Vienna, wowing audiences with Mahler’s music on the first leg of their three-week European tour, the San Francisco Symphony Chorus under Ragnar Bohlin stayed in town to perform a splendid concert Sunday afternoon in Davies Symphony Hall.
Castrati voices played such a significant role in Baroque opera, it’s tempting to think that 18th-century composers didn’t care much for tenors. In their excellent program Sunday afternoon for Cal Performances, Ian Bostridge and Les Violons du Roy quickly put that supposition to rest, offering a bracing reminder of the beauty and variety of Baroque tenor roles — and a tribute to three of the tenors who sang them.
When Lorin Maazel stepped down as music director of the New York Philharmonic, he could have done what most retirees do — travel, play a little golf, take it easy. Instead, he started an opera company. And he decided to house it in his own backyard.
