James Conlon conducted a superb Verdi requiem with the SF Symphony five years ago, so we were not particularly surprised he delivered again last night with the same score. Technically, without the score, as he led the proceedings from memory, mouthing every lyric, pirouetting around his quartet of singers to catch his musicians outside of the blind side, almost poking his tenor with his baton in the process. He was a replacement for Fabio Luisi, who is himself replacing James Levine at the Met. more ›

Soprano Sondra Radvanovsky made an incandescent San Francisco Opera debut this month as Leonora in Il Trovatore, prompting reviewers to glow about her, and rediscover their faith in the workhorses of the Italian repertoire. "Even if nothing else happens during the rest of the San Francisco Opera's 2009 fall season, soprano Sondra Radvanovsky has already provided us with at least one extraordinary and indelible musical memory." the SF Chronicle said. "In her company debut Sondra Radvanovsky wielded her alluring voice with affecting power and poignant intimacy," chimed the NY Times. The Examiner extolled her "big, fabulously projected voice" which "had every note in place." And the SFCV book-ended a lauding paragraph about her with "nothing matched the vocal and dramatic impact Radvanovsky made as Leonora" and "It was all marvelous to hear and witness, from beginning to end." She has sung this role at venerated institutions such as the Met or Covent Garden, so the quality of her performance should not exactly come as a surprise. more ›

The Opera Opening Night is as glamorous as it gets, and Drew Altizer was kind enough to share pictures with us. Enjoy the pix gallery. There was also a performance and we kinda chuckled when we saw that some like, say, Arianna Huffington, were scheduled to skip straight to the gala. Her bad, she missed on a wonderfully exciting performance. One you can attend for free, broacast live on Saturday at the ball park. more ›