Month: July 2017

Slovak conductor Juraj Valčuha makes a very welcome return to Davies Symphony Hall this week as he leads the San Francisco Symphony in an all-Russian program, with guest artist Benjamin Beilman playing the magnificent Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto. The concert opens with Glazunov’s delightful Concert Waltz No 1, and closes with Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition.…

La Cage aux Folles – the latest production at San Francisco Playhouse – is a blast! Winner of six Tony Awards – including Best Musical – it’s fun and colorful, has some wonderful numbers, exuberant dance routines, plenty of humor – and just enough poignant moments to give us pause for thought, and indulge in…

The Merola Opera Program’s  2017 Summer Festival continues this week with a triple bill of fully-staged one-act operas – Pergolesi’s La serva padrona, Holst’s Sāvitri, and Walton’s The Bear. Christopher Ocasek conducts, and direction is by Peter Kazaras. Pergolesi’s La serva padrona (The Servant Turned Mistress) is a 45-minute opera buffa, with a libretto by…

The Caribbean Basin Songbook is the featured theme for week two of the SFJAZZ  Summer Sessions, and Dominican singer and songwriter Joan Soriano  is just the man to get things off on the right note. Known as ‘the Duke of Bachata’ for his complete immersion into this lilting, Caribbean style of music and dance, Joan…

  Gershwin and Bernstein – what a fabulous combination! And with a selection of other Broadway numbers, and vocalist Rhiannon Giddens performing songs from the American south, Edwin Outwater and the San Francisco Symphony plan a wonderful night out on Thursday! No matter how many times you hear Gershwin’s An American in Paris, there always…

Thursday evening heralds the opening of the SFJAZZ Summer Sessions – just over five weeks of fabulous music and performances running through August 20. Opening this season is “legendary singer, social activist, and Bay Area gem” (SFJAZZ), Barbara Dane, who’s also celebrating her 90th birthday!  Appearing with the Tammy Hall Trio , Dane – described…

The Met: Live in HD – Summer Encores Plácido Domingo stars in the title role of the Metropolitan Opera’s production of Verdi’s Nabucco, screened live in cinemas across the United States on July 12. The Met’s Music Director Emeritus, James Levine, leads the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus in a performance which features soprano Liudmyla…

What a good thing that the Declaration of Independence was signed within the first few days of July – it gives the San Francisco Symphony a grand platform from which to launch its Summer with the Symphony program – opening with a performance at The Annual 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular on Tuesday evening. At…