Stephanie Jones
Stephanie Jones received her Bachelor of Science in Music Industry from the USC Thornton School of Music in 2008. She recently completed her Master of Arts in Specialized Journalism (arts journalism) in 2010 at USC and is currently a freelance journalist as well as a playwright, creative writer, and amateur poet.
Articles by this Author
Music@Menlo’s introduces Winds of France, a nontraditional chamber concert focusing on music for wind instruments, as a part of its winter series.
World-renowned pianist Kevin Cole and the Gershwin estate come together in a tribute concert to composer Ira and pianist George Gershwin at Stanford University on Dec. 3. Known for the musical similarity in his playing style to Gershwin, Cole was the perfect choice as the concert’s front man.
Nov. 12 brings together on the Mondavi Center stage a UC Davis artist in residence, the pianist Lara Downes, with a tribute to one of J.S. Bach’s most beloved solo pieces.
The average teenager in the 1980s donned a mullet and played the air guitar while jumping on his parents’ couch. In the ’90s, teens grew into grunge couture, dyed hair, and holey jeans but still settled for rockin’ out in the mosh pit. By the 2000s, video games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band had arrived, bringing the music closer.
As passionate about Baroque and Renaissance music as symphony patrons are about Brahms, the San Francisco Early Music Society begins a new season in good company with three September performances by the multi-instrument, do-all ensembles Catacoustic Consort and Wildcat Viols. (They even have a vocalist.) This year, SFEMS will focus on group sounds coming out of Europe from medieval to modern times.
Yuri Liberzon, something of a local hero of the classical guitar, will premiere original arrangements and pieces for guitar by 20th-century composers never heard before in the U.S., at Old First Church on Aug. 21. Although some of the pieces are a bit old, many will be new to guitar-lovers’ ears.
With a European tour, an American tour, and a Gershwin album, it’s safe to say the French pianist and artist extraordinaire Jean-Yves Thibaudet is a busy man. Even as I write this, Thibaudet is on his way to an airport in Boise, Idaho, then flying out just in time for a performance closing out a weeklong concertizing streak.
Lara St. John is rather a phenomenon in the classical music world. In addition to breaching the Iron Curtain before the age of 18, starting her own independent record label, and performing with her viola player brother, Scott, her latest album, titled Mozart, recently won a Juno Award.
The Pacifica Quartet recently ended its 2010–2011 season with a month-long tour to Europe and Asia. One of the cities the group was most eager to visit was post-tragedy Tokyo, a city other performers struck from their list.
The lounge orchestra Pink Martini — one part swank, two parts 1930s jazz, with a splash of Latin percussion and 12 or so of the best of the musicians to come out of Portland — will perform this June and July with the San Francisco Symphony, setting off a rather urbane holiday weekend. [Editor's note: Lucy Woodward has been announced as the replacement for China Forbes who will undergo vocal cord surgery]
Three living legends come together in a dramatization of the life of French spy Charles de Beaumont, the Chevalier d'Éon. Almost epic in and of itself, the story tells of a spy with many enemies who went to great lengths, including cross dressing, to rewrite the rules of espionage.
Music media company Smule just completed a soft release of its new application on iTunes earlier this month. The new “app” for the iPad, dubbed the Magic Fiddle, claims it will teach nonmusicians the quick ’n’ dirty basics of how to play the instrument. The product description states: “Your untrained fingers will play beautiful music in a matter of minutes.” The company’s Web site even features a YouTube video of the St.
Have you ever wanted to attend a dance performance but found that it was not within your budget? Ever sit on a sidewalk, listening for a hint of the San Francisco Opera or the Kronos Quartet wafting out on the breeze? Or gazed wistfully through a frosted window of a theater, wishing you were inside?
