A few things to wrap up the 2010-11 classical music season: more ›

Die Götterdämmerung concluded last night the SF Opera's first run though the Ring cycle (part I, part II, part III, two more cycle performances 6/21-26 and 6/28-7/3). We listened to seventeen hours of Wagner, but we have no urge to conquer Poland.We feel sad rather than bellicose: because we got slightly addicted to the music eventually, and because it ends on a desperate lament so beautifully sung by Nina Stemme (Brünnhilde) that we left all teary eyed. more ›

Act II of the Ring Cycle at SF Opera: last night, die Walküre. Das Rheingold was two and a half hours, just a teaser compared to the next three heavy weight operas, all getting bigger and none shorter than four and half hours. The sequence of starting times goes 8pm, 7pm, 6:30pm and 1pm to match. Die Walküre had an earlier run just a year ago, same Zambello/Runnicles production with some of the same lead singers, so instead of repeating ourselves a lot, let's just do a play-by-play of the evening. more ›

The Ring has arrived: Richard Wagner's four-operas-in-a-week cycle kicked off last night and you could see in the audience that this was not the regular season anymore, it's playoff time.... more ›

If the fat lady with a Viking helmet became a symbol for opera, it's both a compliment and a condemnation of Richard Wagner. His staging of the Norse mythology has been influential and pervasive enough to suffuse the wider culture (and inspire costume contests); and at the same time, the cliché conveys the dreariness of many productions relying on the same tired props. Well, SF Opera's Valkyrie last night wore not horned headgear, and it was an exhilarating production where inventive staging, impressive singing and masterful conducting made sure that it would be stay exciting throughout. Four hour and a half of Wagner tedious? Heck no, not last night! more ›

Lang Lang's appeal draws beyond the boundaries of classical music. Lang Lang is "the Yao Ming of the piano." You don't get to become a global mega-star by showing restraint and humility and understated sophistication. Since we last saw him here two years ago, he became the face of the Olympics, performing during the Opening ceremony, and received endorsements by Audi, Sony or Rolex.Ca-shing! Check that clip above of him playing the Yellow River concerto in a red tuxedo on a red piano, and you get everything that's wrong with him: tacky and kitschy, he's that close from making Elton John look refined. Lang Lang and Chopin, paired in a symphony series last week, seemed a match made in heaven: over the top, schmaltzy, Romanticism on steroids. Perfect for swooning teenage girls. Boy were we wrong: Lang Lang's performance of Chopin 1st piano concerto was, aside a sparkling brooch affixed to his black jacket which was missing its companion tiara, a model of taste and refinement. It was spec-ta-cu-lar. more ›

Wagner's Ring, which opened its new and awaited SF Opera production last week with das Rheingold, made the Gods human. Francesca Zambello went one step further, and made them American. Zambello has decided to stage Wagner's tetralogy, which will unfold over the next few seasons, as an American Ring. more ›