New Music

Giacomo Fiore - February 5, 2015

Ingratiating, swinging, but also refined and transparent, So Percussion were at the top of their game in their Bay Area concerts.

Edward Ortiz - February 3, 2015

The Empyrean Ensemble presented new works by Pulitzer Prize-winner Melinda Wagner and UC Davis composers at the 2015 Music and Words Festival.

Zoe Madonna - January 15, 2015

With an emphasis on women creators, New York's Prototype Festival challenges stereotypes but also delivers powerful music theater.

Edward Ortiz - November 10, 2014

The opening night of the 2014 Festival of New Music hits off with Loadbang, pianist Lara Downes, and percussion ensemble Rootstock Trio at Sacramento State campus.

Michael Zwiebach - July 19, 2013

The Cabrillo Festival opens with its usual bang, behind the powerhouse Christopher Rouse whose vibrant, propulsive (and loud) music is made for opening festivals.

Michael Zwiebach - July 11, 2013

Sometimes it’s good to venture out to the boundaries, find out what’s going on on the wild side of music. The annual Outsound Festival of experimental and improvisational music is as good a time as any to do this exploration. 

Michael Zwiebach - June 3, 2013

The latest concert of the young, well-received duo ZOFO features music from several space-age composers and, of course, excursions to Gustav Holst’s The Planets

Michael Zwiebach - April 30, 2013

Eos Ensemble, made up of members of the San Francisco Opera and Ballet Orchestras, celebrates their 10th anniversary with a Beethoven perennial, the Septet and Stravinsky’s laconic, darkly humorous Soldier’s Tale.

Michael Zwiebach - January 30, 2013

The Calder Quartet, which formed at the Thornton School at USC and then continued training at Colburn School in Los Angeles, has been seen frequently in the Bay Area over the past few years. 

Michael Zwiebach - November 28, 2012

Magen Solomon’s San Francisco Choral Artists, having justreceived a favorable review in Fanfare for their recent With Strings Attached CD, should makeanyone’s shortlist of choral concerts to attend.