October 14 - 16

Organization: San Francisco Symphony
Venue: Davies Symphony Hall
City: San Francisco
Date: Fri October 14, 2011 8:00pm
Price Range: $15 - $140
Tickets: (415) 864-6000

Dark Shostakovich: James Conlon, San Francisco Symphony

James Conlon If you’ve been dying to hear Shostakovich, his Symphony No. 14 is the one for you, because the end of life is what it’s all about. Soprano and baritone join the orchestra in 11 poems by various authors on topics of ill-fated love, war, suicide, political oppression, and decay. The piece will receive its first performance here by the San Francisco Symphony. With a coffin-opener like this on the program, along with Ravel’s orchestration of catacombs in Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, you’ll be all ready for Halloween two weeks later.

Jeff Dunn is a freelance critic with a B.A. in music and a Ph.D. in geologic education. A composer of piano and vocal music, he is a member of the National Association of Composers, USA, a former president of Composers, Inc., and has served on the Board of New Music Bay Area. A photomontage enthusiast, he illustrates his own reviews.