Terry McNeill

Santa Rosa resident Terry McNeill produces classical piano recitals in the three-county Concerts Grand series, and he is currently researching the lives and artistry of keyboard titans Anton Rubinstein and Josef Hoffmann.

Articles by this Author

Light and Shade - Review
July 22, 2008

Often the repertoire and locale of summer festivals seem, on first glance, a disconcerting mix, as the music we are used to hearing in a formal concert hall setting doesn’t smoothly combine with bucolic surroundings. This anomaly kept coming to mind while attending the July 16 concert at Napa Valley’s Festival Del Sole, produced at Castello di Amorosa (near Calistoga), which is a replica of a 12th-century Tuscan stone stronghold, with eight levels, which cost untold millions to build.

Opposite Attractions - Review
January 22, 2008

A conventional all-Russian program sidetracked the Marin Symphony’s “Salute to the Silver Screen” season theme Jan. 20, but few seemed to miss the cinematic connections. All evening the playing was first rank, and violinist Vadim Gluzman’s interpretation of the Tchaikovsky concerto provided plenty of pyrotechnical sizzle to excite an audience that not quite filled the Marin Veteran’s Auditorium.

Fast Ride on a Lean Quartet Machine - Review
December 18, 2007

Tonal balance and homogeneity of sound, rather than sharply etched lines, seem to be the hallmark of the best of the current string quartets. The estimable Jupiter String Quartet provided three casebook examples of this in its concert last Monday at the Napa Opera House.

Smiling Through Wayfaring Planets - Review
October 16, 2007

From the evidence of the inaugural concerts of its 80th season, conductor Bruno Ferrandis has found a secure home with the Santa Rosa Symphony. Now the third-oldest in the state, this orchestra is playing better than ever for the French maestro, clearly finding his incisive section control and sonic balance to their liking, which was something not always present under predecessor Jeffrey Kahane.

Battle Ready - Review
October 16, 2007

The Marin Symphony launched its 55th season with a nearly impossible task — keep a full house at the Marin Civic Center concentrating on the music from the stage during a simultaneous screening of the famous film The Battleship Potemkin.

Songs in a Cavern - Review
September 4, 2007

Napa Valley's Music in the Vineyards summer festival draws a devoted group of enthusiasts to its 17 concerts, often held in small winery spaces. Friday's concert was no exception. Three disparate works were heard by 65 people in a barrel-aging cave at the Stag's Leap Winery on Silverado Trail.
Fanny Mendelssohn's first published work, Songs (Op. 1), got things off well. Baritone Timothy Jones' voice was forward but never raucous in the acoustic of the cave's concrete walls and granite floor.

French Conquest of Napa Valley - Review
August 21, 2007

Napa Valley's "Music in the Vineyards," now in its 13th season, produced an exciting and eclectic concert on Saturday afternoon in the small hall at the posh Silverado Cellars. Featuring mostly arcane but provocative repertoire, the event, titled "Carmen and Friends," was French to the core, though leagues removed from familiar Saint-Saëns, Ravel, and Debussy.
Debussy's unique Sonata for Flute, Viola, and Harp opened the program, disclosing immediately the bright acoustics of the all-wood room, filled with some 130 devotees of chamber music.