Reviews

mussorgsky2.jpg
Review

Spaced-Out Mussorgsky

Jeff Dunn - May 7, 2009

Another milestone in the history of American showmanship hit Walnut Creek’s Hofmann Theater last Sunday and Tuesday: California Symphony's claim to the world’s first presentation of a 3-D video to accompany — or rather, subordinate — a live performance of a symphonic work. The plea for more funding that followed was justified by the quality of the previous numbers on the program.

martinez_gilbert2.jpg
Review

Putting on English Ayres and Rants

Anna Carol Dudley - May 5, 2009
Folks who showed up at Berkeley’s Music Sources Sunday evening, expecting to be transported to the Dorset Garden Theatre in 17th-century London, found that the Theatre’s advertised program had undergone some changes. Since a couple of key players in the Galileo Project had transported themselves back to Estonia, said Project had withdrawn from the program.
capellaromana2.jpg
Review

Byzantium in Rome

David Bratman - May 5, 2009
Stanford University’s Memorial Church turned into a Byzantine abbey for two hours on Sunday evening, with a concert of medieval Byzantine chant performed by the vocal group Cappella Romana, from Portland, Oregon.
fanCD3.2.jpg
Review

Joel Fan's Music of the Americas

Jason Victor Serinus - May 5, 2009
Pianist Joel Fan, a longtime member of Yo-Yo Ma’s genre-busting Silk Road Ensemble, has just released West of the Sun: Music of the Americas.
ivesquartet_wide.jpg
Review

Beating Expectations

Be'eri Moalem - May 4, 2009

On Thursday the Ives Quartet ended a season of high-quality playing with interesting programming, all in a friendly atmosphere at St. Mark’s Church in midtown Palo Alto. An intriguing new work by Dan Becker provided food for thought.

fiala_zane.jpg
Review

Raising a Joyful Song

Jaime Robles - May 4, 2009
In a very local and personal interpretation of its mission to perform “newly commissioned works of promising composers,” the vibrant young choral group International Orange Chorale sang a program on Friday of diverse and original work by contemporary California composers.
laurelensemble_0.jpg
Review

Passion and Absence

Jeff Dunn - April 29, 2009

The interaction of passion and absence at Monday's Laurel Ensemble concert made for a memorable and at times frustrating evening at Temple Emanu-El's Martin Meyer Sanctuary.

zimerman_krystian_wide_0.jpg
Review

Playing B's From the A-List

Jerry Kuderna - April 28, 2009

After two staggering performances of Bach and Beethoven at Krystian Zimerman’s recital Friday, sponsored by Cal Performances at Zellerbach Hall, the familiar thought came to mind: “How can you follow that?”

wangCD3.2.jpg
Review

Young Genius in a Hurry

Janos Gereben - April 28, 2009
Among the many astonishing things about Yuja Wang is her relationship to time. At 22, already a leading pianist in the world, she not only made her first appearance — as a virtual unknown — only three years ago in San Francisco at a Chinese New Year Concert matinee, but a mere eight years ago she was still studying at the Beijing Conservatory, where Western music meant the time before Brahms.
mosaiques2_wide_0.jpg
Review

Gesture Into Sound

Michelle Dulak Thomson - April 28, 2009
It’s a strange sensation, finally hearing in the flesh an ensemble you’ve wanted to hear in concert for a couple of decades. Judging by the friends I met and talked to at the Quatuor Mosaïques’ Bay Area debut Wednesday at Berkeley’s First Congregational Church, I’m not alone in having followed the quartet for decades without having had an opportunity to hear them live.