Reviews

After decades of superb performances, the Tokyo String Quartet rings down the curtain, in its farewell San Francisco concert.

The return of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater for its second engagement at Zellerbach Hall since Robert Battle took over the artistic directorship is, to judge from Tuesday’s opening, a rip-roaring audience success.

That consummate pianist András Schiff enraptures a capacity crowd with his mastery of his instrument, playing Bach’s “English” Suites.

After two widely touted triumphs at the Bavarian State Opera, the gifted ball of smiling Irish energy known as mezzo-soprano Tara Erraught performs at Weill Hall in the Green Music Center.

The Cypress String Quartet “Call and Response” has come full circle, commissioning new works for long enough that is has come around to composer Jennifer Higdon for the second time.

A fascinating moment in the Ives String Quartet’s concert is the last movement of Lou Harrison’s Quartet Set Usul; a case-study in string literature monophony.

Alonzo King Lines Ballet throws itself an elegant, if late, 30th-anniversary celebration, with a work in collaboration with virtuoso Edgar Meyer central to the occasion.

Herbert Blomstedt draws mixed results and leaking energy from the S.F. Symphony, conducting Beethoven and Nielsen.

Consolation and beauty are offered to those mourning a loss, including SFCV founding editor Robert Commanday, in a spellbinding concert by the Marin Symphony and Orchestra.

Pinnacles of the variation genre receive sublime, spirited, deeply felt performances by Emanuel Ax.