Reviews

The Sphinx Virtuosi opened the Stanford Lively Arts' season in a concert that was an exercise in overcoming cultural stereotypes by an orchestra of complete professionalism, winning personality, and a commitment to understanding works by old masters.

James Conlon led a thrilling performance of the Verdi Reqiuem, one of sweeping power, by turns terrifying, tender, and moving; succeeding brilliantly in bringing the performers together and making a musical and dramatic whole out of a work that is all too easy to fumble.

A big-voice operatic soprano crafts an unforgettable, intimate recital at the Salon of the Hotel Rex

It’s about time for the American composer’s symphonies to be heard again, and the Seattle Symphony under Gerard Schwarz does him honor.

A two-CD set celebrates the bicentennial of Franz Liszt’s birth, revealing threads connecting that visionary to other composers of note.

In its second of three all-Tchaikovsky concerts, the Mariinsky Orchestra shines a revealing light on the Fifth Symphony, giving it both dramatic urgency and ravishing lyricism.

Valery Gergiev’s Mariinsky Orchestra, playing two Tchaikovsky symphonies, scrubbed the varnish off the Pathétique and made “Winter Dreams” sound substantial.

José Luis Moscovich’s West Bay Opera again puts on a miracle of a production, on a small stage but with a big heart and an abundance of talent.

With superb soloists and instrumentalists, Magnificat delivers a perfect rendition of Charpentier’s masque Descent of Orpheus Into the Underworld.

San Francisco Opera unveiled director Gabriele Lavia's new production of Mozart's Don Giovanni in what revealed to be a thrilling and inspiring Hall of Mirrors.