Classical Music Reviews

Every week, our professional critics attend concerts throughout the Bay Area to let you know what went well...and occasionally what didn't. Let their insights enrich your musical experiences, and feel free to share your own views!

Early Music/Baroque Review
January 14, 2020
Dowland’s Pleasant Melancholy Proves Contagious in the Hands of Les Voix Humaines
BY Michael Zwiebach

The viol consort gives a captivating account of Lachrimae in Berkeley.

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Opera Review
January 14, 2020
Long Beach Opera Pairs Purcell With Agitprop
BY Jim Farber

LBO’s King Arthur treads a fine line between 17th-century elegance and 21st-century political theater.

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Recital Review
January 14, 2020
Renée Rapier Captivates in Festival Opera’s “Nuit d’Espagne” Recital
BY Nicholas Jones

Pianist Robert Mollicone accompanies the mezzo in a program of “Spanish” music filtered through composers from France, Russia, Italy, and even Spain.

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Chamber Orchestra/Orchestra Review
January 14, 2020
Violinist Simone Porter Aspires to Stardom With Santa Rosa Symphony
BY Steve Osborn

The orchestra shows its strengths in Brahms’s Second Symphony.

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Chamber Orchestra/Orchestra Review
January 13, 2020
Macro to Micro: Wagner to Webern With the LA Phil and Zubin Mehta
BY Jim Farber

The LA Phil’s former music director puts the 12-tone system in context for those willing to listen and learn.

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Chamber Orchestra/Orchestra Review
January 11, 2020
MTT Wears His Composer Hat in Meditations on Rilke
BY Steven Winn

Soprano Sasha Cooke and baritone Ryan McKinny star in the world premiere.

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Chamber Orchestra/Orchestra Review
January 6, 2020
Zubin Mehta Reprises His Magnificent Take on Mahler’s Second
BY Richard S. Ginell

LA Phil audiences have heard a lot of the piece recently, but Mehta proves himself the master.

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Jazz Review
January 4, 2020
Ringing in the New Year With Dumpstaphunk and Maceo Parker
BY Jeff Kaliss

Funk reigns supreme in celebrations at the Great American Music Hall and SFJAZZ.

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Dance Review
January 2, 2020
Merce, the Movie
BY Janice Berman

Cunningham is a beautiful documentary that clarifies the choreographer’s place in dance history.

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Opera Review
December 23, 2019
Numi Opera Goes Small With a Delightful Korngold Opera
BY Jim Farber

A concert staging of Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s Der Ring des Polykrates is a success for the young company.

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