The Opera Tattler
Reviews of Performances and their Audiences
Category: San Francisco Performances
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* Notes *Soprano Leah Crocetto gave a recital of her favorite songs with pianist Tamara Sanikidze for the Salons at the Rex series yesterday evening. Crocetto began with “Ain’t it a pretty night?” from Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah. She learnt this piece at the age of 18, and it sounded very natural for her. This was followed by…
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* Notes * Yesterday afternoon San Francisco Performances presented baritone Eugene Brancoveanu in a recital of Georgy Sviridov, Maurice Ravel, Henri Duparc, Franz Schubert, and Carl Loewe. The performance began with Sviridov's Russia cast adrift (1987), songs set to 12 episodic poems by Sergey Yesenin. Brancoveanu conveyed the range of emotions in the music and…
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October 8 2010: Paula West, vocalist with the George Mesterhazy QuartetOctober 9 2010: Takács Quartet October 15 2010: 31st Season Gala October 16 2010: András Schiff, pianoOctober 17 2010: John Williams, guitar November 2 2010: Robert McDuffie, violin with Venice Baroque OrchestraNovember 10 2010: Measha Brueggergosman, soprano and Justus Zeyen, piano November 11 2010: Arnaldo Cohen…
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* Notes * San Francisco Performances presented a delightful lecture from Alex Ross this morning in San Francisco's Herbst Theatre. The performance included musical examples from pianist Ethan Iverson. We were basically given a tour of 20th century music, Ross would talk about Schoenberg or Stravinsky or Charlie Parker, and then Iverson would play their music…
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* Tattling * Marino Formenti's recent performance at Los Angeles Philharmonic convinced me to get a ticket for his performance of Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant-Jésus in Berkeley yesterday, although I neither like nor understand Messiaen. Unfortunately, it turned out that I had to return to Southern California on Saturday morning for personal reasons, but was able…
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September 30 2009: Thomas Hampson, baritone October 4 2009: Imani Winds October 10 2009: Paula West, vocalistOctober 10 2009: Peter and Zoltán Katona, guitars October 18 2009: Juilliard String Quartet November 12-14 2009: DV8 Physical TheatreNovember 13 2009: Xuefei Yang, guitar November 16 2009: Joyce DiDonato, mezzo-soprano December 1 2009: Angela Hewitt, pianoDecember 3 2009: Anonymous 4…
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* Notes * Magdalena Kožená opened gave an abbreviated recital on Tuesday night in San Francisco. She was ill, and the low notes in her opening Purcell songs were a bit rough. Her accompanist, Karel Kosarek, seemed to lose his place during Schumann's Frauenliebe und -leben, but Kožená sang well. Her voice is rich and…
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* Notes * András Schiff performed his penultimate recital in his two-year cycle of Beethoven Piano Sonatas yesterday evening at Davies Hall. He played with a great intensity, with a beautiful legato without being overly luxuriant. By the time he got to his two encores, Bach's Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue in D minor and Mozart's Gigue in…
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* Notes * Countertenor David Daniels is currently on tour with the English Concert, to promote his latest recording with that ensemble. The first half of evening was devoted to Bach, starting off with Harry Bicket leading the English Concert in the Orchestral Suite No. 1 in C Major. They played primly, but not dispassionately. Daniels sang a…
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* Notes * Trio Mediæval had a concert last Sunday at Herbst Theatre. The singing certainly had a hypnotic quality, and the singers’ voices sounded perfectly beautiful together. Some of the percussion from Birger Mistereggen was silly, though I very much liked the use of hand chimes. * Tattling * The audience was well-behaved. There was…
The Opera Tattler 