Reviews

Georgia Rowe - February 24, 2009

Even in these tough economic times, the Bay Area’s regional opera companies continue to spread their wings. Midway through its 53rd season, West Bay Opera presented its first Orfeo ed Euridice last weekend in a well-conceived production that caught much of the radiant splendor of Gluck’s 1762 masterpiece.

John Karl Hirten - February 17, 2009

While he was alive, Max Reger enjoyed considerable popularity as a composer of chamber and orchestral works, but since his untimely death in 1916, he has been sparsely represented in concert halls. Not so with his organ music.

Heuwell Tircuit - February 17, 2009

For those of an eclectic bent, pianist Ivan Ilić’s Friday recital at San Francisco’s Old First Church proved a delight. The program was an adventure in learning as well as a brilliant display of technical prowess, all free of clichés.

Jason Victor Serinus - February 17, 2009

Baritone Quinn Kelsey has a gorgeous voice. It’s large and sonorous, with a distinctive, slightly throaty (aka husky) quality, and a top so beautiful at forte that it could melt the hardest heart. Such a fine instrument, allied to an energetic stage presence, recently made for a most endearing Marcello in San Francisco Opera’s first-cast La Bohème, and an unusually warm, beautiful contribution to Michael Tilson Thomas’ recent San Francisco Symphony performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8.

Lisa Hirsch - February 17, 2009

Classical music has had a few notable sibling acts in its history. Wolfgang and Nannerl Mozart toured as duo pianists; violinist Yehudi and pianist Hephzibah Menuhin performed recitals together.

Michelle Dulak Thomson - February 17, 2009

We Bay Area concertgoers see a fair number of visiting soloists, but they tend to come playing with either our orchestras or their own accompanists. Violinist Julia Fischer has been here several times before — twice with the San Francisco Symphony, once with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, once in recital, and always as the star attraction.

Jonathan Rhodes Lee - February 17, 2009

On Valentine’s Day weekend, in four cities, three members of the American Bach Soloists presented a chamber music performance of great variety, including music by such contrasting composers as François Couperin, Heinrich Biber, J.S. Bach, and Arcangelo Corelli. The program selections were a bit disjointed for my taste to say the least, but in the concert I heard Sunday at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in San Francisco the performers managed to tie things together well enough, balancing fireworks with remarkable poise and an elegant intimacy.

Jaime Robles - February 17, 2009

Ballet aspires to the otherworldly. The dancer on the tips of her toes seems freed from the constraints of gravity: able to spin unrestrainedly, to move like quicksilver or a cloud. The ballerina’s partner helps her escape the earth’s physical confinements, allowing her to take flight. The male dancer’s great leaps seem to suspend him in midair.

Jeff Dunn - February 17, 2009

Two works on last Wednesday’s San Francisco Symphony program; two different conductors with the same name. Kurt Masur 1 nicely portrayed the manifold strengths of Sofia Gubaidulina’s composition The Light of the End, which he premiered with the Boston Symphony in 2003. Then Kurt Masur 2 came out after intermission and cruelly exposed all the flaws of Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No.

Be'eri Moalem - February 10, 2009

A concert that features only one composer is a fascinating opportunity, not only to get a thorough picture of that composer’s style, but also to track changes in it over time. San Francisco State University’s 60th birthday retrospective of Richard Festinger presented what, to me, seemed like two different approaches to music — yet still in the same basic style. I later noticed that the two perceived methods came from two different time periods: one from the 1990s, the other from last few years.