The Opera Tattler
Reviews of Performances and their Audiences
Category: San Francisco Symphony
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* Notes * Maestro James Gaffigan conducted the San Francisco Symphony (pictured, photograph by Stefan Cohen) in a festive program of Carlos Simon, George Gershwin, and Duke Ellington last night at Davies Hall. Hélène Grimaud joined the orchestra as soloist in Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F, which she played with technical skill and relaxed aplomb.…
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* Notes *San Francisco Symphony gave the world premiere of John Adams’ piano concerto After the Fall (2024) with Víkingur Ólafsson as the soloist last Thursday with two following performances this weekend. The orchestra was very much together with Maestro David Robertson (pictured on the left with Adams in the center and Ólafsson on the…
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* Notes *San Francisco Symphony performed Schoenberg’s Erwartung (1909) for the first time on Friday. Conducted by outgoing music director Esa-Pekka Salonen, the orchestra sounded splendid at the Saturday performance I attended. The musicians were very clear and together, while soprano Mary Elizabeth Williams (pictured as the Woman, photograph by Kristen Loken) sounded hearty, always…
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September 5-8 2024: Joe Hisaishi Symphonic Concert: Music from the Studio Ghibli Films of Hayao MiyazakiSeptember 19-21 2024: Salonen conducts Verdi's RequiemSeptember 25 2024: Opening Gala with Salonen; Lang Lang, pianoSeptember 27-28 2024: Salonen conducts Nico MuhlyOctober 4-6 2024: Salonen conducts Brahms 4October 18-20 2024: Salonen conducts Beethoven's PastoralOctober 25-26 2024: Thomas Wilkens conducts Rhapsody…
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* Notes *Composer Kaija Saariaho (pictured) died last Friday on June 2, and San Francisco Symphony's presentation of her 2005 opera Adriana Mater last night showed what a profound loss this is. Her music is wholly unique and is very much a case for live performance. Saariaho turned Davies Hall into an instrument, her slow…
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* Notes * Last night’s opening of L’enfant et les sortilèges at San Francisco Symphony shimmered and shone. James Bonas’ semi-staged production (Anna Christie and Isabel Leonard pictured, photograph by Jean Pierre Maurin) made use of quirky animated projections. The nine soloists and three choruses all sang beautifully and the playing from the orchestra glittered. Maestro…
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San Francisco Symphony announced today that Esa-Pekka Salonen (pictured left, photograph by Andrew Eccles) is its next music director. He starts in September 2020, succeed Michael Tilson Thomas, who leaves after 25 years. Press Release | Press Kit
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* Notes * The opening of San Francisco Symphony‘s Boris Godunov was a gratifying way to spend the gap day between San Francisco Opera‘s Ring performances. The semi-staged production (Scene 2 pictured, photograph by Cory Weaver) from James Darrah is sleek and makes efficient use of the space. Most importantly though, the singing and playing was…
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June is going to be a very opera-heavy month in San Francisco this year, with the return of Der Ring des Nibelungen starting on Tuesday at the War Memorial Opera House. For those intimidated by Wagner's 15-hour epic (or maybe you don't think going to 12 operas in three weeks is enough), San Francisco Symphony…
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September 5 2018: Open Night Gala with MTT; Itzhak Perlman, violinSeptember 13-16 2018: MTT conducts Castiglioni, Ravel, Copland; Yuja Wang, piano September 21-23 2018: MTT conducts Stravinsky's Perséphone and The FirebirdSeptember 27-30 2018: MTT conducts Stravinsky's Petrushka, Violin Concerto, and The Rite of Spring; Leonidas Kavakos, violinOctober 11-13 2018: Manfred Honeck conducts Prokofiev and DvořákOctober…
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