Georgia Rowe

Georgia Rowe has been a Bay Area arts writer since 1986. She is Opera News’ chief San Francisco correspondent, and a frequent contributor to San Francisco Classical Voice, Musical America, San Jose Mercury News, Contra Costa Times, and San Francisco Examiner. Her work has also appeared in Gramophone, San Francisco Magazine, and Songlines.

Articles By This Author

An Interview With Joyce DiDonato: Rossini as Her Barometer

Georgia Rowe - November 10, 2009

When mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato made her San Francisco Opera debut in 2003, as Rosina in The Barber of Seville, it was immediately apparent that audiences were hearing an artist of extravagant vocal gifts.

Review

Vänskä Victory

Georgia Rowe - October 30, 2009

Osmo Vänskä saved the best for last in his most recent guest appearance with the San Francisco Symphony. Wednesday night at Davies Symphony Hall, the Finnish conductor introduced his second program in two weeks, achieving his most dynamic and cohesive results with this orchestra to date.

Preview

Deal With the Devil

Georgia Rowe - October 27, 2009

Music lovers always sit up and take notice when L’Histoire du Soldat (The soldier’s tale) comes to town. Igor Stravinsky’s 1918 one-act, which incorporates music, dance, and spoken text in a wry fable about a Russian solider who makes a deal with the devil, occupies a unique niche in the composer’s career.

An Interview With Sara Jobin: It's All About the Music

Georgia Rowe - October 27, 2009

On November 7, 2004, Sara Jobin made opera history by becoming the first woman to conduct a San Francisco Opera main stage production. The opera was Tosca, and Jobin has since conducted the company’s performances of The Flying Dutchman, Norma, and Appomattox, as well as the S.F.

Feature

Osmo Vänskä Makes the Grade

Georgia Rowe - October 20, 2009

On Nov. 6, 2002, a conductor named Osmo Vänskä made his first appearance with the San Francisco Symphony. At that time, few Bay Area music lovers had heard of the Finnish maestro, who had just been named music director-designate of the Minnesota Orchestra. But his San Francisco debut made a big impression. Conducting Carl Nielsen’s Symphony No.

Review

All Together Now

Georgia Rowe - October 12, 2009

After last month’s impressive performances of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony, the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra returned to its 17th-century roots over the weekend with a program of short works, led by guest violinist Elizabeth Wallfisch.

The program, titled “The Concerto: An Adversarial Friendship,” was designed to explore the often-turbulent relationship between soloists and orchestras, and th

Review

Brewer Breathes Life Into American Songs

Georgia Rowe - September 28, 2009

The American song repertoire is often overlooked in vocal recitals, though it wasn’t always thus; as Christine Brewer observed in her splendid recital Sunday afternoon at Hertz Hall, sopranos including Eileen Farrell, Kirsten Flagstad, Eleanor Steber, and Helen Traubel used to regularly include English-language songs in their programs. Citing those artists as primary influences, Brewer made a sele

Review

From Left Coast to Around the Globe

Georgia Rowe - September 22, 2009

The Left Coast Chamber Ensemble does not confine itself to the region of its name. The Bay Area–based chamber ensemble opened its 2009-2010 season Monday evening at the Green Room of the Veterans Building in San Francisco with an engaging program of short works derived from such far-flung musical locales as Armenia, India, Iran, China, Russia, Kazakhstan, and the Balkans.

Christopher Honett Comes Home

Georgia Rowe - September 21, 2009

When Christopher Honett left the East Coast this summer to start his new job at the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, the journey felt like a homecoming. That’s not just because Honett was born and raised in the Bay Area. Joining the venerable new music ensemble, he says, gives him the opportunity to do the kind of work he’s always wanted to do.

Review

Magical Mahler From the S.F. Symphony and Susan Graham

Georgia Rowe - September 19, 2009

For many San Francisco Symphony fans, the orchestra’s 2009/2010 season finally got underway last Wednesday (Sept. 16). True, the season’s official start came one week earlier, with a glitzy gala that featured pianist Lang Lang.