Janos Gereben

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

Articles By This Author

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Review

West Bay's Safe Harbor for Dutchman

Janos Gereben - May 27, 2008

How do you produce a Wagner opera on a stage not much bigger than a living room?
How do you present a "Wagnerian" (in fact and in size) score with an orchestra whose string section consists of six violins, two violas, two cellos, and a double bass?

The expected response of "very carefully" doesn't apply in the case of West Bay Opera's production of Der fliegende Holländer; the correct description is "amazingly well."

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Review

Scaling the Bartók-Ravel Summit

Janos Gereben - May 6, 2008
Another huge feather — Cyrano's famed plume, even — in Berkeley Opera's tiny cap, the double-bill of Béla Bartók's 1918 A Kékszakállú Herceg Vára (Bluebeard's Castle) and Maurice Ravel's 1925 L'Enfant et les sortilèges (The child and the magic spells) opened Saturday night at the Julia Morgan Theatre with a fabulous production and some kind of prestidigitation. Jonathan Khuner's
Feature

Taking Measure of Brahms

Janos Gereben - May 6, 2008
Leif Ove Andsnes is a pianist with an enormous repertory, ranging from classics to many contemporary composers, so you might presume that performing the Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat Major Op.
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Review

Young Singers Reanimate History

Janos Gereben - April 15, 2008
San Francisco Conservatory of Music's young artists went way back in time to present an opera three-and-a-half centuries old, last weekend in Fort Mason Center's Cowell Theater.

Don't Cry for Her Argentina

Janos Gereben - April 8, 2008
Mezzo-soprano Daniela Mack comes from Buenos Aires, and her home is now in San Francisco, but her future is in the great opera houses and recital halls of the world.

Unexaggerated Brilliance

Janos Gereben - March 25, 2008
It doesn't matter how much hype is swirling around conductor Gustavo Dudamel. He is the real deal, a great all-around young talent, who consistently delivers the goods, as his debut concerts with the San Francisco Symphony last week proved. All of Davies Hall’s 2,750 seats were sold for a 10 a.m.
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Review

For the Love of Donizetti

Janos Gereben - March 18, 2008
L'elisir d'amore (The elixir of love) is not only one of most melodious and rhythmically exciting works in all opera, it also testifies to its composer's defiant humanity.
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Review

One Hell of a Funny Opera

Janos Gereben - March 11, 2008
When Jacques Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld was first performed in Paris, in 1858, the famed critic Jules Noriac, of mighty Le Figaro, stammered with delight: "Unheard-of. Splendid. Outrageous. Graceful. Charming. Witty. Amusing. Successful.

Instruments Sing in West Bay Così

Janos Gereben - February 19, 2008
West Bay Opera's current production of Così fan tutte stands tall on the twin ramparts of Barbara Day Turner's rock-solid conducting of a fair-to-middling orchestra, and Douglas Nagel's vital, if risky, staging.

A Beautiful Müllerin

Janos Gereben - February 5, 2008
Schubert’s song cycle Die Schöne Müllerin may be the richest treatment of a simple story in all music. Young man loves the miller's daughter, she prefers a hunter, young man drowns himself in the brook — and that's all there is. And yet, for some 70 minutes, there is a universe of variety and beauty unfolding before the listener.