Month: September 2017

Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony invite us to an interesting performance this week – one that features works by two contrasting composers – Béla Bartók and Hector Berlioz. The guest artist is piano virtuoso Jeremy Denk who plays the Bartók Piano Concerto No 2 – which he recently played during this year’s…

San Francisco Opera’s Fall Season continues with La Traviata, Guiseppe Verdi’s widely loved interpretation of the French play, La dame aux Camélias, by Alexandre Dumas (the younger). While La Traviata is one of the world’s most performed operas, and one which the Company has staged on 32 occasions during the past 95 years, this season’s…

In the opening program of this new season, Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony pay tribute to a man who was surely one of the most creative and charismatic musicians of the 20th century – the legendary Leonard Bernstein – whose Centennial will be celebrated throughout the 2017-18 season. Composer, conductor, performer, educator…

Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony launch their 2017-18 season this week with a fabulous program, featuring one of classical music’s most illustrious artists, cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Getting the festivities of the Gala Opening off to a rousing start is Leonard Bernstein’s Overture to Candide, the first work by MTT and the Symphony…

Drama, bloodlust and murder rule onstage at the War Memorial Opera House for the second production in San Francisco Opera’s 2017-18 Season – Richard Strauss’ Elektra – which opened this evening. The inspiration for this work – Sophocles’ tragedy, Elektra – is a dark tale of the descent into insanity of the central figure, Elektra,…

San Francisco Opera celebrates the launch of its 95th season this coming week with two opening night galas – productions of Puccini’s Turandot and Richard Strauss’s Elektra – followed by the traditional admission-free Opera in the Park on Sunday afternoon. The first production is Giacomo Puccini’s final opera, Turandot, starring soprano Martina Serafin as the…

Women in Jazz – at SFJAZZ While Dee Dee Bridgewater is wowing audiences in the Miner Auditorium at SFJAZZ this week, there are plenty of great things going on in the Joe Henderson Lab as well. Thursday evening, September 7, sees two sessions by young saxophonist and vocalist Grace Kelly, hailed as “the future of…

Tomorrow, September 3, is the first Sunday of the month, which means that  a production from San Francisco Opera  will be broadcast on Classical KDFC  at 8.00 pm.  This month’s opera comes from the Company’s archives – a performance of Verdi’s Otello starring Plácido Domingo in the title role. Recorded at the War Memorial Opera…