The Opera Tattler
Reviews of Performances and their Audiences
Category: San Francisco Symphony
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* Notes * The Schubert/Berg Festival over at San Francisco Symphony ends this week with performances of Berg's Violin Concerto and Schubert's Mass No. 6 in E-Flat major, D. 950. The soloist for the former, Gil Shaham, seemed very immersed in the work, and made frequent eye-contact with the members of the orchestra. Shaham played assiduously, the…
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Jonathan Vinocour has been appointed the next principal violist of San Francisco Symphony, starting next season. Press Release [PDF] | San Francisco Symphony's Official Site
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* Notes * San Francisco Symphony's Schubert/Berg Festival, entitled Dawn to Twilight, began yesterday evening with a performance of the Schubert's Rosamunde Overture. The playing was sloppy, and the entrance of the winds was rather poor. The brass sounded brash, as usual. Things picked up with Berg's Sieben frühe Lieder, as the soloist, mezzo-soprano Michelle…
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Michael Tilson Thomas is no longer conducting SF Symphony's performances of Iolanthe. George Manahan shall conduct instead, with Joyce Castle replacing Felicity Palmer as Queen of the Fairies. Sasha Cooke sings the title role, former Merolina Joélle Harvey sings Leila, and former Adler Fellow Lucas Meachem sings Strephon. Event Details | Press Release [PDF]
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* Notes * In his second week of performances with San Francisco Symphony, Bernard Labadie conducts an all-Händel program. The Thursday performance in San Francisco started quite impressively with Zadok the Priest. The piece ranged from beautifully stately to entertainingly bombastic. The trumpets were very fastidious, and the chorus perfectly lucid. My heart is inditing lacked the immediacy of the…
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* Notes * This week Bernard Labadie conducts San Francisco Symphony in a program of Haydn and Mozart. The Friday performance in San Francisco began with Haydn's Sinfonia concertante in B-flat major. The strings sounded precise and the brass clear, the overall effect was refined but jaunty. Dan Nobuhiko Smiley (violin), Peter Wyrick (cello), Jonathan Fischer…
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San Francisco Symphony has launched an online social network of its own. It has the catchy name of the "San Francisco Symphony Social Network." Press Release [PDF] | SFS Social Network
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Donato Cabrera has been appointed Music Director of the SF Symphony Youth Orchestra. Press Release [PDF] | Official Site of SFS
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* Notes * James Gaffigan is conducting San Francisco Symphony in a program of Haydn, Thomas Adès, and Mozart this week. Gaffigan is a tiny sprite of a person, brimming with energy from the beginning in the Allegro assai con brio of Haydn's Symphony No. 52 in C minor. The woodwinds sounded slightly squeaky in their entrance for…
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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…
The Opera Tattler 