Arts & Entertainment SFist Reviews: Erin Wall and the SF Symphony Robin Holloway wrote his opera, Clarissa, in 1976; it wasn't premiered until 1990, for a performance run in London that MTT attended. MTT was so excited by the music, he asked for an
Arts & Entertainment SFist Reviews: MTT conducts Stravinsky, Bernstein, Ravel. The SF Symphony intended to present Threni this week, one of the few twelve-tone works of Stravinsky. Intriguing, definitely. But visa issues would not let the vocal ensemble EXAUDI, cross the pond, and
Arts & Entertainment SFist Interviews: Pianist Simon Trpčeski Simon Trpčeski (pronounced Terp-chess-ki) would have us believe he's just a regular> guy. Don't be fooled, he's such an amazing pianist he's hardly over thirty and has already been invited to perform
Arts & Entertainment SFist Interviews: Composer Victor Kissine Charles Ives was such an avant-garde composer in his time, his place in the musical canon still has to be explained. To us. By MTT. Yet, it's a testament to his lasting influence
Arts & Entertainment SFist Interviews: Michael Tilson Thomas San Francisco Symphony music director Michael Tilson Thomas looks like a laid back conductor on stage: he makes sweeping gestures which sometimes seem (to us, anyway) too vague to contain a beat; often
Arts & Entertainment SFist Reviews: Yo-Yo Ma At The Symphony Yo-Yo Ma is one of the world's most celebrated musicians, his name one of the most recognizable. To wit: he played for millions of people at Obama's inauguration, and has won tons of
Arts & Entertainment SFist Interviews Gabriela Lena Frank As part of its family activities, the SF Symphony organizes a Dia de los Muertos celebration on Sunday, November 1st. There will be vivid, animated displays of spooky papier-mâché figures (you can already
Arts & Entertainment Lang Lang at the SF Symphony Gala The SF Symphony waltzed us into the new '09-'10 music season on Wednesday night, with a sparkling opening night gala. The evening started with complimentary champagne in the hallways of Davies Symphony Hall,
Arts & Entertainment Fall Music Preview: Classical Edition The Fall music season has been launched in orbit with a glitzy gala at the Symphony. This week continues with classical music galore: the other heavy hitter, the SF Opera introduces his new
Arts & Entertainment Gil Shaham and the SF Symphony The SF Symphony journey from Schubert to Berg is coming to an end this week, with a final program combining Berg's Violin Concerto with Schubert's Mass in E flat major. We believe that
Arts & Entertainment SFist Reviews: Schubert Lied, Berg Too The SF Symphony journey from Schubert to Berg continued on Wednesday with an intimate exploration of some lieder and chamber music, as well as the Lulu suite. The directions for the voyage (which
Arts & Entertainment SFist Interviews Jennifer Higdon Jennifer Higdon's blue cathedral will make its first appearance tonight on the program of the SF Symphony (at Flint in Cupertino, tomorrow through Saturday at Davies Symphony hall, along with a Mozart piano
Arts & Entertainment SFist Interviews Leila Josefowicz We heard of Leila Josefowicz for the first time after she won a MacArthur Genius Grant in 2008. "Out of blue, $500,000, no strings," declares the fellowship's page. But! Some strings were
Arts & Entertainment The Composer Is Dead You have to enjoy the irony of a composer whose most widely played piece is titled The Composer Is Dead. Indeed, it's so popular that it got turned into the cutest, funnest children's
Arts & Entertainment SFist Interviews Anne-Sophie Mutter The Sofia Gubaidulina residency with the SF Symphony continues tonight and tomorrow with the US premiere of her Violin Concerto No. 2, , with the magnificent Anne-Sophie Mutter as the soloist, for whom the
Arts & Entertainment SFist Interviews Sofia Gubaidulina We came to chat music with Sofia Gubaidulina, and ended up with a physics lesson. Sofia is the Phyllis Wattis Composer in Residence with the SF Symphony, which means she's around to see
Arts & Entertainment Stephen Hough at the SF Symphony On a program featuring a McArthur genius/blogger and the promise of ecstasy, it's the unassuming Finnish symphonic tone poem which proved to be the wonderful surprise of the evening. David Robertson, aka.
Arts & Entertainment SFist Interviews Carolyn Kuan Considering the weather lately, you might want to do your Chinese New Year celebration indoors. Always attentive to your needs, the SF Symphony is hosting a concert this Sunday at 4pm inside the
SF News Peskin to Strip SF Symphony Funding After reading Matt Smith's fantastic article (Nov. 18, "Business Conductor") on how much the San Francisco Symphony gets annually via taxpayers -- Michael Tilson Thomas alone is one of the highest-paid conductors in
Arts & Entertainment MTT Joins YouTube Symphony Project "'Classical' music does not need gimmicks OR marketers/managers," hrumphs an SFGate commenter. Oh, but it does. Joining the likes of Gavin Newsom with this here YouTube craze your father just heard about,
Arts & Entertainment SFist Interviews: Leon Fleisher Political agendas aside, Leon Fleisher will tickle the keys, performing the Emperor concerto with the SF Symphony, and give a Master Class you can attend at the SF Conservatory. A San Francisco native,
Arts & Entertainment Summer in the City Symphony Series The SF Symphony's Summer in the City is all about giving the audience easy aural pleasure. The program we attended included Dvořák's New World Symphony, a Beethoven piano concerto No. 5, and a
misc How Good Was Your AIM? The eduction program is blowing twenty candles this year, so a slew of kids who went through it (22,000 a year!) must be now SFist commenters. Teachers, feel free to give us
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,
misc The Philistine Has An SFist Polyphony We had a little San Francisco Polyphony of our own on our way to the SF Symphony concert yesterday night to see Gyorgy Ligeti's shimmerily-dissonant orchestral piece of the same name -- the
