Chamber Music

A Little Gem

Heuwell Tircuit - August 3, 2009

Among the gems in the crown of the San Francisco music scene are the Friday evening and Sunday 4 o’clocks at Old First Church. Those offer chamber music and recitals of quality programming by some of the Bay Area’s finer musicians — and at an exceptionally affordable price, too.

Review

Eos EnsembleAdmirable, but ...

Heuwell Tircuit - July 13, 2009

A program titled “Romancing the Voice” opened Old First Church’s summer season Friday evening, with the Eos Ensemble and guest mezzo-soprano Daniela Mack as featured soloist. The basic ensemble of five chamber musicians was made up of violinists Craig Reiss and Mariya Borozina, violist Caroline Lee, cellist Thalia Moore, and pianist Marilyn Thompson.

Review

Ticklin' the Palate at Old St. Mary's

Heuwell Tircuit - July 6, 2009

Before opening the annual Midsummer Mozart Festival, there’s a tradition that musicians from the festival orchestra get together for smaller chamber music concerts of the great composer’s music. Because the possibilities are nearly infinite as regards instrumentation, anything can turn up as they preach to the faithful.

Preview

Nothingset Ensemble Keeps It New at Old First

Brian Gleeson - June 17, 2009

Nothingset Ensemble, a grassroots collective of Bay Area musicians, composers, and conductors dedicated to performing new music, has just three prerequisites for selecting repertoire: The music must be less than 100 years old, should be performed infrequently, and must be great, according to Ted Hine and Darren Jones, the ensemble’s founders and creative directors.

Preview

Wyrick-Oh Duo:Russian Masters of the 20th Century

Michael Zwiebach - June 9, 2009

Yes, symphony musicians play music outside of their orchestral obbligations. It keeps them creative and engaged.

Review

To Heaven, By Way of Earth

Anna Carol Dudley - June 2, 2009

The Sanford Dole Ensemble performed a program called "Heaven and Earth" Saturday night at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. They were a month late for the celebration of Earth Day, but exactly on time for the anniversary of the premiere (on May 30, 1992) of Libby Larsen's Missa Gaia: Mass for the Earth. An additional touch of serendipity for me was that I attended that debut. It was good to hear the work again.

Review

Nimbly Nuanced

Jules Langert - May 25, 2009

Sheer inventiveness and originality were at the forefront of Earplay’s final concert of the season on Wednesday. This adventurous and enterprising group, which presents some of the best and most interesting contemporary music heard in the Bay Area, ended its 24th season with a fascinating, unusual program that looked both backward and forward from 1949 to the present.

Preview

Lynn Harrell and Friends

David Bratman - May 18, 2009

Lynn Harrell is a very fine, light-toned cellist who’s played concertos in the Bay Area and is capable of outshining his conductors.

Review

Saved From Drowning, by The Trout

Jeff Dunn - May 13, 2009

Radical contrast was the name of the game at Monday’s Left Coast Chamber Ensemble concert. A pair of impressive but gloomy premieres weighed listeners down during the first half. Then the sun came out for the second half: Franz Schubert’s “Trout” quintet restored faith in the future, from deep in the past.