Arts & Entertainment SF Opera's Little Prince Photo credit Kristen Loken. Above, Tovi Wayne and Eugene Brancoveanu; below, Tovi with Marie Lenormand
Arts & Entertainment SFist Interviews Leif-Ove Andsnes In fact, we forced him to admit it; and guess what? He does! That, and more after the jump.
Arts & Entertainment SFist Interviews Anne-Sophie Mutter Anne-Sophie Mutter is classical music's attempt to attract the 18-34 male demographic. She's the symphony hall's answer to Monday Night Football. She can play the violin like no one else, but she also
Arts & Entertainment SFist Interviews Frederica Von Stade Pauline sang, she was an opera star, but she also composed and had her salon in Paris. And Thursday's show will try to re-capture the atmosphere of the salon, with songs by Viardot
Arts & Entertainment SFist Interviews Benjamin Shwartz The mix sounded intriguing, and when we showed up there, there was a line the length of a football field out at the door. Alas. But the place was packed with a young,
Arts & Entertainment Blow My Sackbut The shows' themes are "1508," as in 500 year ago, which is when Heinrich Isaac composed. Heinrich was also Franco-Flemish. (And it's for guys like that that Belgium was invented.) He and Josquin
Arts & Entertainment SFist Interviews Jamie Bernstein The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, an orchestra near and dear to Bernstein's heart for over 40 years, will play a tribute to him this Saturday, 2/9, at the SF Conservatory of Music (8
misc No losers there. Then somewhere north of 1,700 tickets (including our little single one!) will be metaphorically mixed in a giant non-safeway non-plastic bag, out of which maybe 50 will win (197 units will be
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
SF Restaurants, Food & Drink Thomas Keller Still Kicks Alice Waters's Michelin Ass! The bay area Michelin Guide 2008 is out, and there’s not much changed from last year: the French Laundry is the only place with 3 stars (the most) in the wider bay
