December 30, 2003

MUSIC NEWS

San Francisco Opera Season, 2004-05

Macabre Looms Grand Again, Troyens Fall

By Janos Gereben

Reviews

CHORAL MUSIC

Girls Just Wanna Sing

By Janos Gereben

San Francisco Girls Chorus
(12/23/03)

YEAR'S HIGHLIGHTS

The Best of 2003

YEAR'S HIGHLIGHTS

Highlights of 2003

OP-ED

Response to 'A Tale of Two Opera Companies'

By Charles Barber

LISTENERS' BOX

More on 'A Tale of Two Opera Companies'

QUESTION OF THE WEEK

Responses to Our 12/23/03 Question of the Week

Robert Commanday, Senior Editor

Question of the Week Here’s a question we put to you, inviting your response this week.
Question of the week: Do you have a choice or choices (limit 4) of outstanding musical events of your year which you would nominate and share?
Please click here.

A Musically Rich Year
This week, though lacking in events to review, SFCV offers its own year-end wrap-up in a format unlike any annual selection encountered in a newspaper. In the two features listed on the left, one devoted to the top selections among the events reviewed by SFCV in 2003, the other devoted to the highlights among all those events, honorable mentions in effect, the lead paragraph of each review is given, and with it, the link to take the reader back to the complete original review. Enjoy reminiscing.

We at San Francisco Classical Voice are proud of our record as the music journal of record for the Bay Area and the most comprehensive source of music commentary in Northern California, offering more reviews, by a factor of three, than any other publication. The statistics at the bottom of this page summarize our year's activity. The reviews of the choice events given today are written by a representative group of our reviewers, whose individual styles and insights offer a distinctive choice for the reader. We hope and try always to expand our coverage, and invite you, the reader, to give us your suggestions, requests and other feedback.

We wish you a happy New Year filled with wonderful music.

(Robert P. Commanday, the senior editor of San Francisco Classical Voice, was the music critic of the San Francisco Chronicle, 1965-93, and before that a conductor and lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley.)

©2003 Robert P. Commanday, all rights reserved

___________________________________

SFCV is a not-for-profit enterprise supported by foundation grants and individual contributions. If you enjoy what you find here and can help with a contribution, that support will help insure our continuance. By virtue of a generous matching grant, it will be doubled. Your contribution (tax-deductible) may be made by credit card by clicking here, or by a check sent either to San Francisco Classical Voice, 6000 Wood Drive, Oakland, CA 94611, or to the San Francisco Foundation CIF, (San Francisco Classical Voice account), 225 Bush St. # 500, San Francisco, CA 94104.

From September 1, 1998 to December 31, 2003, we have published, in addition to the Music News, feature pieces and weekly editorials, 1667 reviews of Bay Area performances by: 47 symphony orchestras (351 reviews), 72 chamber groups (181), 33 new music ensembles and programs (182), 34 opera companies (231), 26 choral groups (116), 15 music festivals (70), 32 early music ensembles (118), 21 chamber orchestras (74), 5 musical theater groups (13), world music (14), recitals (296), youth music (10), other (11).

_________________________

Robert Commanday, Senior Editor; Michelle Dulak, Editor; Richard Thomas, Associate Editor

______________________________________

We welcome commentary, suggestions and reactions to the articles. Simply click on editor@sfcv.org and send your response by e-mail. Please do not send anything in attachments. Because of the persistent traffic in virus-bearing attachments, most messages with attachments are deleted unopened.

Also — all previous reviews and articles are available. For last week's issue and articles, click on "Last Week." To retrieve earlier pieces, click on "archives" at the bottom of the page, enter the category and/or specifics of the search query, then click "Submit." If an article fails to appear, please notify us by e-mail (editor@sfcv.org).