Arts & Entertainment Ian Bostridge at Herbst Theater Tonight. We have been singing "Happy we," thankful that Bostridge was coming to sing at Herbst tonight for SF Performances. Actually, we even were supposed to tease you with an interview, but Ian poor
Arts & Entertainment Happy Birthday, Pooch! You'll want to see other, um, microphones, too, when the provocative Angela Gheorghiu, who we were so smitten with in La Rondine, comes back for more Puccini via La Boheme. It seems that
misc SF Opera Passes the Popcorn Dude, why can't we all just get along. It's not like people in Chico are saturated with opera. They see eight performances from the Met. We think there's room enough for the six
Arts & Entertainment <i>Peter and the Wolf</i> Why, it's take-your-kid-to-the-symphony day on Sunday (Saturday in San Jose), featuring a performance of Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf. And here's a little claymation preview: It's so darling, isn't it? Hopefully it'll be
Arts & Entertainment Let Us Praise Ragnar Bohlin It's never too late to break the ice, and we have an excellent opportunity: usually Ragnar's work happens in the background, and is acknowledged after each chorus performance, when he springs up on
Arts & Entertainment Butterfly 2.0 The current run of Madama Butterfly had deja vu written all over it again: same set; same soprano; Patricia Racette in the role of Cio-cio-san, the Japanese wife betrayed by the American officer;
Arts & Entertainment Son of the Return of John Adams. We made much about Philip Glass turning 70, and not of a single peep when John Adams turned 60 this past February. Aw. We feel bad, since the contemporary composer lives in Berkeley,
Arts & Entertainment The Rake's Progress The patrons were willing to entertain an oil well and a 1950s Americana re-setting that dramatically differs from Stravinsky's original 18th Century,even though they were a tad skeptical. At first. After all,
Arts & Entertainment Ives Got Music, Who Can Ask for Anything More? In the program notes, we see that this violin concerto was written for and created by Ferdinand David, a violinist virtuoso friend of Mendelssohn. SF Symphony Concertmaster Alexander Barantschik happens to play on
Arts & Entertainment A Tale Full of Vile Sounds, Weird Fury So foul and poor a play we haven't seen. At least, not during this San Francisco Opera season. That is, until now: behold, the vile production that is Macbeth. It's easier to count
Arts & Entertainment Touched by an Angela: La Rondine at SF Opera. Now, Angela has some redeeming qualities: one could excuse her for her behavior; being diva in the truest operatic sense of the word, that's her job after all. Plus, she brings excitement to
Arts & Entertainment Labeque and Call We chatted with Marielle Labeque half asleep, as we could only schedule the interview for the morning in New York, where she was performing with her sister Katia, conducted by her husband Semyon
Arts & Entertainment Honey, I Shrunk the Opera We went to see The Magic Flute for Family on Saturday. Namely, we went to see Honey, I Shrunk the Opera. From 3h15, it got reduced to a lively 2 hours. And it
Arts & Entertainment Emerson String Quartet. We missed some of what he said, coverage was spotty up in the hills north of LA and once Phil starts talking, he's hard to stop. He just won't let a disconnected call
Arts & Entertainment SFist Interviews Pierre-Laurent Aimard We had quite a few questions for Pierre-Laurent: he is one of the prominent piano virtuoso right now, has won a Grammy award (for his collaboration with Susan Graham), his repertoire covers everyone
Arts & Entertainment Kurt Masur There were two highlights to the evening: an impeccable Totentanz by Franz Liszt with Louis Lortie soloing at the piano. As a composer, Liszt was much more an innovator than we give him
Arts & Entertainment SF Opera: the Magic Flute The set, originally designed for the 92-93 season of the LA opera, and seen for the first time in SF, is build around a massive pyramid: Mozart was a Mason when he composed
Arts & Entertainment Divisadero: Smelly, Dirty, Dangerous, and We Liked it That Way Ah, beautiful Diviz. Is there no boulevard more perfect, more blissful? When we think "nice places to take an afternoon constitutional," we are drawn instantly to its divine charm. It is, simply put,
Arts & Entertainment Anesthesia: Brain Numbing with Non-Sense Take tonight. There’s a cool concert at Herbst Theater, presented by Other Minds, an organization devoted to new music: Dennis Russell Davies and his partner, Maki Namekawa, playing music for two pianos
Arts & Entertainment Appomattox The most powerful moments are written for the chorus: the aforementioned opening women choir, for instance. But Glass also recycles We’re tenting tonight, a song of the era, to intense dramatic effect.
Arts & Entertainment SFist Interviews András Schiff Someone told us a story of a famous pianist who believed in bringing culture to the people, and went to a factory in Italy to give a lecture in front of a piano.
Arts & Entertainment Pre-Appomattox Interview: Christopher Hampton, We were eager to talk to Christopher, as he is the librettist for Philip Glass's opera Appomattox, which opens next Friday at the San Francisco Opera, and is the Big Event of the
Arts & Entertainment Our Glass Runneth Over As a prelude to the big event, the world premiere of Appomattox next Friday at the opera house, composer Philip Glass was hosting a night of chamber music at Herbst Theater last night.
Arts & Entertainment Mahler Lied, No One Died. MTT's take on Mahler, a forcefully engaged and expressive rendition, has been observed here quite a few times. We expect to be blown away by the orchestra. We actually demand it. But the
misc We Read The Weeklies Last week's winner, the San Jose Metro. Alas! They haven't updated their site for this week yet, and we didn't manage to snag a hard copy of the paper, so they'll have to
