Janos Gereben

Janos Gereben appreciates news tips, corrections, and words of encouragement at [email protected].

Articles By This Author

Feature

LeRoux: A Life in Music and Motion

Janos Gereben - January 6, 2009

What better way to start the new year than by looking back at half a century in the life of one of our most distinguished musicians?

Music News: December 24, 2008

Janos Gereben - December 24, 2008

The Seven Percent ‘Solution’

UPDATE: According to reports from San Francisco City Hall Tuesday afternoon, the Board of Supervisors tabled Aaron Peskin’s budget-cutting proposals, including the 50 percent reduction in support to the Opera, Symphony, Ballet, and other organizations.

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Review

Titanic Pianist, With Icebergs Lurking

Janos Gereben - December 9, 2008
My first encounter with the piano came from a Tom and Jerry cartoon, where Tom plays Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2. I had no idea what it was, but it made me want to play the piano.
Lang Lang was 2 years old when that historic event occurred. A few months later, he started playing the piano, at age 5 he won his first contest ...
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Review

Maestro of Disguise

Janos Gereben - November 26, 2008

Halloween has long gone, but Berkeley Symphony music director candidate Paul Haas arrived wearing a disguise. Thursday night at Zellerbach Auditorium: that of a competent, careful, and traditional wandsman with barely enough energy befitting his relative youth (37).

Feature

Holiday Music Tips With a Twist

Janos Gereben - November 25, 2008
Religious holidays occur in the context of philosophies favoring the small over the big, the poor over the rich. Accordingly, this report will relegate the usual large and often costly events to an end-of-file roundup. Up front, there will be smaller, less familiar, and less costly events.
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Review

A Sound to Shake Heaven

Janos Gereben - November 25, 2008
Mahler's 1910 Eighth Symphony, called by some (but surely not by high-minded musicologists) "Symphony of a Thousand," is among the most massive works in all of music.
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Review

The Elixir of Generous Casting

Janos Gereben - November 4, 2008
Donizetti's most effervescent music, a simple and heartwarming story, melodies galore — The Elixir of Love is a virtually foolproof opera. Small companies, even schools produce it successfully, and even in a big house, you can't really fault a "prudent" approach to casting young singers, not-quite-stars, and such.
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Review

Godunov, in Short

Janos Gereben - October 28, 2008
Not all Russians are alike. Modest Mussorgsky wrote big, earthshaking operas.
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Feature

Cloning El Sistema in Oakland

Janos Gereben - October 21, 2008

St. Martin de Porres is a small parochial school in North Oakland. It is named for a 17th-century Dominican brother from Peru who was famous for establishing orphanages and children’s hospitals. He was canonized in 1962.

Feature

Cloning El Sistema in Oakland

Janos Gereben - October 21, 2008

St. Martin de Porres is a small parochial school in North Oakland. It is named for a 17th-century Dominican brother from Peru who was famous for establishing orphanages and children's hospitals. He was canonized in 1962. St.