Author: Admin

After a break of nearly 20 years, San Francisco Opera brings Engelbert Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel back to the War Memorial House in the final work of this Fall season. A new co-production with The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, the opera features mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke as Hansel, soprano Heidi Stober as Gretel, and tenor…

The SFJAZZ Collective is in residence at San Francisco’s Jazz Center this week, during which they’ll celebrate the 50th anniversary of two hugely significant albums recorded in 1969 – Stand! by Sly & the Family Stone, and Miles Davis’ In A Silent Way. Not only did these albums represent what SFJAZZ terms “a beacon of…

Jules Massenet’s passionate and tragic opera, Manon, is the second of this season’s Live in HD cinema broadcasts by Metropolitan Opera. The largest provider of alternative cinema content in the world, the Met is broadcasting a season of ten productions live from the stage at Lincoln Center to cinemas in more than 70 countries on…

In complete contrast to Gluck’s season opener, English National Opera’s current production in the Orpheus quartet is Offenbach’s satirical operetta, Orpheus in the Underworld, with tenor Ed Lyon and soprano Mary Bevan in the title roles, and Sir Willard White as Jupiter. Director Emma Rice makes her ENO debut, and the production is led by…

This week the San Francisco Symphony is delighted to welcome young Spanish violinist Maria Dueñas in her debut performance with the Symphony. Miss Dueñas will play the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in a program which includes Hindemith’s Concert Music for String Orchestra and Brass, and Mozart’s Symphony No 41, Jupiter. The performance will be led by…

English National Opera opens the 2019-2020 season with an unusual and innovative programme, a quartet of works – each dedicated to a different interpretation of the Orpheus myth. Over the next two months, the London Coliseum will stage four very individual productions – Gluck’s Orpheus and Eurydice, Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld, The Mask of…

The Royal Ballet opens its 2019-2020 season with one of the Company’s showpiece works – Kenneth MacMillan’s gorgeous ballet Manon – the passionate and ultimately tragic story of a young girl who was as much in love with romance as with the trappings of wealth. Everything about this production is sheer enchantment – the brilliant…

The new San Francisco Opera season continues this weekend with Benjamin Britten’s powerful and turbulent work, Billy Budd. Written for an all-male cast of 75 artists, this production of Herman Melville’s dramatic sea-faring tale features tenor William Burden, baritone John Chest and bass-baritone Christian Van Horn. Dutch-Maltese conductor Lawrence Renes leads the San Francisco Opera…

It’s a busy week in San Francisco. With the opening of the new season there’s a lot going on, and San Francisco Opera is there in the midst of it all, with a wonderful weekend of performances ahead. Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet opens the season this evening, Britten’s Billy Budd follows tomorrow, and Sunday sees…

It’s the season that none of us wanted to to contemplate ever taking place – Michael Tilson Thomas’ final year as Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony – but it promises to be as sensational a program of top flight performances as ever, and we shall revel in the glorious selection of works to…