The Opera Tattler
Reviews of Performances and their Audiences
Category: San Francisco Performances
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* Notes * Violinist Midori (pictured, photograph by Nigel Parry) and pianist Özgür Aydin gave a recital inspired by Federico Garcia Lorca’s poem Casida of the Lament. The playing was vibrant and varied. Midori has an incredible range as far as her technique. She really can get all sorts of sounds and colors out of…
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* Notes * Pianist Marc-André Hamelin (pictured, photograph by Sim Cannety-Clarke) gave a recital full of contrasts at Herbst Theatre last night at SF Performances. His playing is technically superb, very fluid, efficient, and springy. Hamelin started the program with Hadyn’s Piano Sonata in D Major, Hob. XVI:37, which he played with straightforward clarity. It…
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* Notes * Violinist Midori (pictured, photograph by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders) played a solo performance of Bach, Thierry Escaich, and Annie Gosfield at Herbst Theatre Friday night at SF Performances. She plays another program of Bach, Jessie Montgomery, and John Zorn on Sunday, and I’m horribly tempted to attend, as Midori is such a singular talent.…
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* Notes * Last night the Emerson String Quartet (pictured, photograph by Jürgen Frank) played at Herbst Theatre as the penultimate show in the 2021-2022 season at SF Performances. The performance started with an absolutely lovely String Quartet No. 2 in D Major by Borodin. The Allegro moderato was played with a singing tone by…
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* Notes * Pieter Wispelwey performed Bach’s Complete Suites for Unaccompanied Cello last Saturday at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, San Francisco. His playing is focused, rapid, and crisp. The phrasing and inflection of the notes was idiosyncratic, and one could never mistake Wispelwey’s playing with someone else’s. Though one would be hard pressed to call his…
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* Notes *Bass-baritone Philippe Sly (pictured left, photograph by Adam Scotti) gave a recital with guitarist John Charles Britton for the Salons at the Rex series Wednesday evening. The evening's music consisted of fifteen Schubert Lieder, including ones from Die schöne Müllerin and Winterreise. Instead of providing the text in the program, Sly read translations…
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* Notes * San Francisco Performances presented baritone Matthias Goerne (pictured left, photograph by Marco Borggreve) in recital with pianist Leif Ove Andsnes on Monday. The performance focused on six Shostakovich songs from Suite on Verses of Michelangelo. These were interspersed selections from Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn, Rückert Lieder, and Kindertotenlieder. Goerne’s voice is unreal,…
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* Notes * Last night Ute Lemper (pictured left), the Vogler Quartet, and Stefan Malzew made their San Francisco debut at Herbst Theatre. The performance commenced with the three of Schulhoff's Five Pieces for String Quartet (1924), played by the Vogler Quartet. Before Lemper took the stage, Malzew brought out his accordion and clarinet, and…
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* Notes * Tonight Quatuor Ebène (pictured left, photograph by Julien Mignot) had a San Francisco debut at Herbst Theatre. The evening started with Mozart's String Quartet in D minor, K. 421, which was played with much personality, and what seemed to be an entirely historically uninformed manner. Somehow the confidence and rapport of the…
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* Notes * The Alexander String Quartet (pictured left with Jake Heggie and Joyce DiDonato, photograph by Brian Byrne) celebrated 30 years with a new commission presented by San Francisco Performances. Yesterday's performance at Herbst Theatre began with mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato singing Hahn's Venezia, accompanied by Jake Heggie on piano. DiDonato sang these evocative songs with…
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