Features

Music@Menlo has kicked off its eighth season, bringing a burst of chamber music to the Peninsula. Each summer, esteemed guest artists thrill audiences in the concert hall, but that’s not all. The dream of working with them in the rehearsal studio is what brings top talent to the Chamber Music Institute. Meet the Gray siblings, two such aspiring teen musicians who have journeyed from Illinois for this intensive learning experience.

Michael Lawrence's BACH & friends documentary created a big
splash with the audience at the West Coast premiere that took place at
the Sundance Kabuki Theater in San Francisco last Wednesday evening.
Presented by San Francisco Classical Voice as a fundraiser for
the organization, the film about Bach's
impact on music and musicians was greeted with cheers, laughter, and
occasionally, stunned silence from the sold-out crowd.

Every year around this time, something remarkable happens in Santa Cruz: The annual Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music convenes, and this sunny beach town best known for its boardwalk becomes a thriving new-music laboratory. Under Music Director Marin Alsop, the two-week festival attracts an impressive array of top composers, musicians, and aficionados eager for a total immersion in the music of our time.

The SFCV premiere of BACH & friends is SOLD OUT!  Thank you for your support.

A heavy air of reverence fills the theater space as audience members
quietly take their seats — the viewing ritual of a centuries-old art
form. The lights dim and people are afforded the luxury of whispered
anonymity: “It’s based on a true story, you know.” David Gockley, San
Francisco Opera’s sixth general director, greets the audience with an
introduction to Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. The orchestra
tunes. Silence descends before the curtain rises.