Music Features
Every week, our writers take an in‐depth look at an artist, program or topic of interest to us. Spend some time with this week's classical music feature, or scroll through the extensive SFCV archive for insights in many music topics.
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November 30, 2009
Given the large number of fine recordings released in the past year, a first-time visitor to Planet Earth would hardly suspect that the record industry is in the doldrums. Nor will the music lovers on your holiday gift list think anything is amiss, if you present them with one or more of the sonic goodies in the guide that follows.
For well over a year, SFCV has been publishing reviews of CDs and DVDs. Most recordings that we’ve already covered, which run the gamut from core repertoire to the new and upcoming, would make swell holiday gifts.
More "A Gift of Song For the Holidays" »article
November 24, 2009
New York, New York, a hell of a town: arts capital of the world and epicenter of American postclassical music since at least the days of George Gershwin. Think of the composers who lived and worked there from the 1940s on — Cage, Cowell, Thomson, Copland, Bernstein, Rorem, all the way down to younger generations like Bang on a Can, Nico Muhly, and the New Amsterdam composers. It’s almost easier to compile a list of major composers who aren’t from the Big Apple.
More "West to East: The Migration of American New Music" »article
November 24, 2009
For nearly 300 years, Bach’s Passions — oratorios retelling the story of Christ on the cross — have set the standard for musical depictions of suffering and redemption. Yet when David Lang set out to create a new work along similar lines, his first impulse was to leave Christian iconography behind. He began searching for a secular text that would capture the heartbreak and hopefulness of the passion stories without their religious overtones.
More "Seeing Passion in Everyday Life" »article
November 10, 2009
It’s holiday crush time. We’ve just passed Halloween, we have about two weeks to think about Thanksgiving (we’ll just get through that one — a turkey and football are all you need, right?), and then we’ll brace ourselves for the month-long winter holiday season ... that orgy of partying and spending and family visiting that ends with a hangover and a New Year’s Day splurge. Oh yes, and serious religious observance for many of us, though you might miss that part in the heavily commercialized “Christmas rush.” More "'Tis the Season to Go Wild With Holiday Music" »
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November 3, 2009
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More "San Francisco Classical Voice Awarded Third Prize in National Contest" »article
November 3, 2009
The high school selection process has begun for next fall with a flurry of open houses, fairs, school visits, and application forms. When the dust settles, some 5,260 eighth-graders in San Francisco will choose a public school in the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) for their high school experience. Kids who are talented and serious about getting the best musical education they can, do have a few excellent options. But most other high schools are struggling to find scarce resources for arts education and to meet the changing interests and needs of their students.
More "Real-Life High School Musical" »article
October 27, 2009
A perfect evening at the Symphony or a dazzling night at the Opera might begin with a new outfit, a trip to the barber, and, once you’re properly outfitted, dinner out. Whether having hors d’oeuvres and cocktails with friends, or a fine meal at a restaurant near the concert hall, you can be sure that many of your fellow diners are headed for the same enjoyable evening that you are. But once you’ve soared on the golden wings of Puccini or Mahler, you might find yourself unceremoniously dropped into the less than majestic scene of San Francisco’s Civic Center after 11 p.m.
More "Before and After the Performance: A “Where To?” Guide" »article
October 21, 2009
It is with great curiosity and a little trepidation that I approach my first “Chant Camp,” presented by the singers of Anonymous 4 and Stanford University on, Monday, October 19. After all, although I’m a trained musician, I don’t really fit the category of “experienced amateur and professional singers who want to know more about the nuts and bolts of Western plainchant,” their announcement asked for.
More "Some En-Chanting Evening" »article
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.
More "Osmo Vänskä Makes the Grade" »article
October 13, 2009
It was an accident.
I remember the day my daughter Sofia came home from the nursery school she attended and told me that her teacher played a guitar during song time.“I want to play guitar,” she said. She was 4. I didn’t listen.
More "The Joys of Musical Education" »