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Month: April 2024

A PRECARIOUS POLITICAL BALANCE

A PRECARIOUS POLITICAL BALANCE

If you were riled by Shostakovich’s Stalinist anthem opening the S.F. Symphony program, the worries were balanced by a much bigger selection from Ukraine’s stellar product, Sergei Prokofiev, whose grand-scale Symphony No. 3 took up half the program and shook the rafters. So, the 9-minute Funeral March from the movie “Great Citizen” honoring the Stalinist patriot Kirov gets a pass this time, however bad the taste left in your mouth by its genuflections and fortissimos. Following on April 25 came…

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SCHOENBERG’S EPIC LANDMARK CYCLE

SCHOENBERG’S EPIC LANDMARK CYCLE

Without the clown costume and makeup, Schoenberg’s “Pierrot Lunaire” was still a success, thanks to a super-charged singer who could dot all the erratic i’s. Even a century later, the song cycle/monodrama can shock and outrage audiences almost as much as in 1912, given its ruthless abandonment of tonality as well as the depressing nihilism of the poems in the text. It was undeniably a landmark opus. But credit the devotees of the Contemporary Music Players for enthusiasm at the…

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DANCE TROUPE’S THEATER PIECES, REVIVING A HISTORIC PAST

DANCE TROUPE’S THEATER PIECES, REVIVING A HISTORIC PAST

BERKELEY, CA—-Always count on the dean of US modern-dance choreographers, Mark Morris, 67, to pull rabbits out of the hat. The company director has lost none of his mojo. The Mark Morris Dance Group did a rarity at Zellerbach Hall. Not only was MM’s “Via Dolorosa” a world premiere, but it was the first time in memory that the veteran ever tackled a sacred-religious theme in dance with his troupe. His dancers—nine of them here, all stellar interchangeable parts—are exquisitely…

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THE SING-AND-SWING HISTORICAL OPERA, IN DOUBLE-BILL

THE SING-AND-SWING HISTORICAL OPERA, IN DOUBLE-BILL

This operatic double-bill ended in rousing fashion, with the closing “Balls” improbably linkinga historic tennis match with singing in technological wizardry beyond anything we’ve encountered before, even on major stages. In “Balls,” imagine reenacting the historic 1973 women’s lib tennis victory of Billie Jean King (without tennis balls) over the outspoken sexist Bobby Riggs, the single most publicized event of women’s sports coming of age, with 90 million viewing it worldwide. This required vintage televideo images, a videographer along the…

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STAND BACK, MALES: TIME FOR ‘DOS MUJERES’

STAND BACK, MALES: TIME FOR ‘DOS MUJERES’

A rousing celebration of Hispanic culture came off with the S.F. Ballet’s “Dos mujeres” program, continuing offstage well into the night before the large and wildly enthusiastic crowd. The entire Opera House was decorated high and low with multi-color South-of-the-Border images, including the oversize flowers enhancing the box seats. The new Artistic Director Tamara Rojo hit the nail on the cabeza with her unique pairing, one celebrating the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo in the US-premiere gala spectacle “Broken Wings,” the…

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