Georgia Rowe

About to visit the Bay Area for a recital, Gil Shaham talks about new works he’ll perform and an unusual flowering of violin concertos in the 1930s.

Debussy’s 150th birthday, celebrated fittingly by the S.F. Symphony with two great orchestral works, was lent a special luster with performances by Renée Fleming.

In his thorough remaking of a holiday classic, choreographer Mark Morris has created a new tradition showing us how great, new art can emerge from older classics, forging an enduring bond with a new audience.

In her farewell-to-San Francisco recital at the Hotel Rex, soprano Nadine Sierra gave a memorable performance throughout; her warmth and intelligence shone through.

Gustavo Dudamel and the Simón Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela returned to the Bay Area this week, generating the kind of goodwill for music education and excitement for symphonic music that can turn even the most hardened cynic into a true believer.  

In Wozzeck's return to the Bay Area, conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen led London’s Philharmonia Orchestra in the kind of brilliantly authoritative performance that left no doubt as to the enduring power of Alban Berg’s masterpiece.

Up-and-coming Chinese baritone Ao Li, enjoying a success at S.F. Opera, readies for his salon performance.

Philharmonia Baroque essays Henry Purcell’s rarely performed Dioclesian, a semi-opera chockful of stories of love, lust, and politics, all dressed in splendid music.

The hard-charging Albanian tenor Saimir Pirgu, about to make his S.F. Opera debut, found his calling when he heard the Three Tenors on TV. Now he’s chasing their fame; next spring he plays “son” to Plácido Domingo.

Love for lieder and years of singing opera made baritone Håkan Hagegård an impassioned artist, who now conveys his insights to young artists around the globe.