* Notes * Opera Parallèle gave a splendid performance of two comedic one-act operas yesterday at SFJAZZ. Done in one go, the evening began with David T. Little's Vinkensport, or The Finch Opera (pictured, photograph by Kristen Loken), which was followed by Laura Karpman's Balls. It was impressive how cohesively these works were presented together, both visually and musically. Director Brian Staufenbiel put us in a 70s telecast of these two very disparate sporting events, with Mark Hernandez as sports announcer Howard Cosell engaging the audience and even the conductor. There were projections s ..read more

* Notes * Soprano Erin Morley (pictured, photograph by Dario Acosta) sang a garden-inspired recital Cal Performances this afternoon. Accompanied by pianist Malcom Martineau, we heard a number of unusual pieces by famous composers. Morley has a lucid toned soprano, she is very clear and precise without being boring. She began the performance with selections from Huit Chansons de Fleurs by Ricky Ian Gordon and then sang pieces by Bizet, Rachmaninoff, Rimsky-Korsakov, Saint-Saëns, and Debussy. I particularly liked her rendition of Rimsky-Korsakov's "The Rose Enslaves the Nightingale," her voice h ..read more

* Notes * Tenor Mark Padmore sang Schubert's Winterreise at Cal Performances yesterday afternoon. Accompanied by the pianist Mitsuko Uchida ( pictured with Padmore, photograph by Justin Pumfrey) we were taken on an intense journey with these 24 songs. Padmore has a bright voice and clear German diction. He was able to convey the text not only through his enunciation but by coloring the notes, the meaning felt completely obvious. I liked how he could sound like a perfectly pretty bell but also get across the passion of the words. There were times when his intonation was inexact, but this height ..read more

* Notes * The Joffrey Ballet's Anna Karenina was presented by Cal Performances last night at Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley for the first of three performances. The 2019 ballet with music by Ilya Demutsky was played live by Berkeley Symphony and conducted by Scott Speck. The music is eerie and busy, there is a lot going on with a full orchestra, piano, and vocalist Lindsay Metzger. Choreographed by Yuri Possokhov, the story is condensed into two acts and runs just shy of two hours. Possokhov uses the floor quiet a bit, but judiciously, the movements are beautifully fluid. The racehorse scene (Act ..read more

September 5-8 2024: Joe Hisaishi Symphonic Concert: Music from the Studio Ghibli Films of Hayao Miyazaki September 19-21 2024: Salonen conducts Verdi's Requiem September 25 2024: Opening Gala with Salonen; Lang Lang, piano September 27-28 2024: Salonen conducts Nico Muhly October 4-6 2024: Salonen conducts Brahms 4 October 18-20 2024: Salonen conducts Beethoven's Pastoral October 25-26 2024: Thomas Wilkens conducts Rhapsody In Blue; Michelle Cann, piano October 27 2024: Emanuel Ax, piano October 31 2024: Pyscho film with live orchestra November 1 2024: Coco film with live orchestra November 7 ..read more

September 14–29 2024: The Magic Flute November 16– December 1 2024: La bohème February 15– March 2 2025: Bluebeard's Castle April 19– May 4 2025: Héctor Armienta’s Zorro Today new General Director Shawna Lucey (pictured, photograph by David Allen) announced Opera San José's next season, which includes a regional premiere of Zorro by Héctor Armienta, which opened at Fort Worth Opera in 2022. Press Release | Official Site ..read more

* Notes * Livermore Valley Opera's The Magic Flute (Act I pictured with Liisa Davila, Megan Potter, Leandra Ramm, Victor Cardamone, and Alex DeSocio) opened last night with a delightful and well-characterized cast of singers.  The English-language production, directed by Yefim Maizel, is straightforward and the set is simple, a platform with three stairs and a background with video projections. There were also a pair of doors that came in to change the space. The backdrops that represented the outdoors looked more fairytale-inspired, while the interiors had more of a video game from the e ..read more

* Notes * Rigoletto opened at Opera San José last weekend, but I attended the fourth performance, today's matinée. The opera was very moving. Dan Wallace Miller's production has the title character with a large scar on the right side of his face, rather than a spinal deformity, while the Duke has pox on his left arm from syphilis. There are also a lot of books, the opening scene has Gilda sitting in the middle of the stage reading, books litter the space of Rigoletto's home, and the chorus is pretty gross and lascivious with one of Gilda's books in Act II. All of this is coherent and fits the ..read more

* Notes * The Bay Area premiere of Pina Bausch's The Rite of Spring was presented by Cal Performances last weekend at Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley. It was performed with common ground[s], a duet between Germaine Acogny and Malou Airaudo. The duet, choreographed and performed by Acogny and Airaudo, was performed first. Both are septuagenarians. Acogny is the co-founder of École des Sables, a center for traditional and contemporary African dance in Toubab Dialao, Senegal and Airaudo was in Tanztheater Wuppertal from its founding in 1973. The piece is slow and sculptural, and has a meditative qual ..read more

September 6–27 2024: Un ballo en maschera September 14–October 1 2024: Poul Ruders' The Handmaid's Tale October 19– November 1 2024: Tristan und Isolde October 26 2024: Beethoven's Ninth Symphony November 13–December 1 2024: Carmen June 3-21 2025: La bohème June 14–25 2025 Idomeneo June 27 2025: Pride Concert San Francisco Opera's 102nd season was announced today. Only six operas will be presented in the 2024-2025 season, along with one performance of Beethoven's Ninth and a special Pride Concert. Music Director Eun Sun Kim will conduct the Verdi, Wagner, and Beethoven this fall and returns fo ..read more