Niels Swinkels

Independent recording label Naxos has flourished in an age of downloading and streaming music. Its head, Klaus Heymann, reflects on his successes and on industry trends.

Massed forces of the S.F. Choral Society performs a musical collage for Mother Earth, plus a semistaged version of the always-challenging Carmina Burana.

Bay Area–based Thomas Oliver Croen is a master craftsman of violin making. But before he really understood how to create these complex instruments, he had to learn to repair them.

J.S. Bach’s competitors for a staff position created superb music, examples of which were handsomely performed by American Bach Soloists at its current festival, in a rather dry hall.

San Francisco symphonic music lovers have a deep affection for the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the feeling must be mutual. Last weekend, the orchestra and Charles Dutoit presented crowd-pleasers.

Conductor David Robertson, renowned for his work presenting new music, describes his style of building programs that welcome a variety of listeners.

The composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich has to feel crazy in love with a proposed work, otherwise she doesn’t do it.

Oakland East Bay Symphony digs at the rich roots of Filipino culture in its next country-themed program.

The Eco ensemble road-tests premieres at UC Berkeley, leaving our critic intrigued but finally unmoved.

A French composer doesn’t quite respond to quartets by Beethoven and Haydn, but speaks in his own evocative voice.