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Author: Paul Hertelendy

THE SEA COMES TO THE SYMPHONY

THE SEA COMES TO THE SYMPHONY

ROHNERT PARK, CA—Get a Frenchman back on the podium, and the fans line up to hear Debussy’s “La mer” (The Sea). That exquisite century-old tone poem has you rocking in the swell and maybe reaching for a lifejacket. At seaside, you hear the waves crashing on rocks and sand, then receding having left just its sound and foam behind. Debussy denied vehemently that he was an impressionist. Fine. But more than any one, Debussy’s master illusion lay in eliminating clear-cut…

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BELLISSIMO BARTÓK

BELLISSIMO BARTÓK

Was Béla Bartók his own worst enemy? He composed his fiendishly difficult Piano Concerto No. 2, in which the world-premiere piano soloist was to be Béla Bartók himself. The net result established him not only as prime modernist/technician/theoretician, ahead of his time composing thus in 1930-31, but also as a paragon super keyboard soloist. It was a Béla Bartók weekend, with the S.F. Symphony in action under Esa-Pekka Salonen, and a block away at Herbst Theatre his chamber music as…

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PRANKS, SPOOKS AND LOVERS ENKINDLE “FALSTAFF”

PRANKS, SPOOKS AND LOVERS ENKINDLE “FALSTAFF”

SAN JOSE, CA—-Doubts abounded, with nay-sayers smirking that not even Verdi could set a Shakespearean comedy into a good opera. Those doubting Thomases were silenced when nearing the then-doddering age of 80, Verdi brought off that sparkling operatic masterpiece, “Falstaff,” which is getting its due and more from a highly animated production at Opera San José. Major companies, take note: This smaller troupe with its actor-singers, only in its 39th season, can run circles around many grand-opera troupes having major…

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A CHALLENGING T-SHIRT NIGHT AT THE SYMPHONY

A CHALLENGING T-SHIRT NIGHT AT THE SYMPHONY

The nonconformist composer Gabriel Kahane, 41, unreeled a powerful iconoclastic message in Davies Hall, where politics is normally taboo. His abrasive oratorio may have left the walls trembling from the bitterness of his counter-culture poetry. Kahane’s “emergency shelter intake form“ (sic) brought to mind other protest-movement works we’ve run into previously——-from Weill-&-Brecht musical theater, to the incendiary Berkeley rhetoric of the anti-establishment 1960s firebrand Mario Savio, to the gentler saga of John Adams’ “El Niño,” the Nativity story as seen…

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BALLET FESTIVAL AFTERMATH

BALLET FESTIVAL AFTERMATH

There’s hope for us all when a lead dancer here moves on to choreography and finds his inspiration with 13thcentury Persian poets. The Frenchman Nicolas Blanc, a principal here shortly after the Millennium, turned to the poet Rumi in creating his new “Gateway to the Sun” for the San Francisco Ballet. The main character is the lonely, reflective Poet, presumably Rumi himself, separate but connected with the community around him. Max Cauthorn played that lead barefoot in a breakthrough dancing…

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A HEARTFELT ACCOLADE FOR A RETURN

A HEARTFELT ACCOLADE FOR A RETURN

Waves of applause greeted the appearance of beloved conductor emeritus Michael Tilson Thomas on stage, with patrons leaping to their feet willy-nilly in tribute. Great relief for the fans, who had little confidence to believe he’d ever return after his 2021 surgery for an aggressive form of brain cancer. The 78-year-old now walked slowly, traversing steps cautiously. But his leadership on the podium showed no frailty as he brought off a triumphant choral-orchestral finale to a largely French program of…

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STORY BALLETS’ COMEBACK IN A RARE CORNUCOPIA

STORY BALLETS’ COMEBACK IN A RARE CORNUCOPIA

Just when you thought they’d gone out of vogue—swans, mouse-kings, sylphs and all, with pantomime—story ballets are back this month, accounting for half of the six new works to date at the S.F. Ballet. Only now, it’s without all those kookie oldie characters. It’s not the kiddies’ tales of old any more. Sorry, no gnomes, just tomes of modern-ballet story-telling. And now, it’s not enough to dance; the cast must also act. The latest one—–No. five of the rare cornucopia…

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SINGER ENTERING MULTI-DIMENSIONAL SPACES, With that Joyce Voice

SINGER ENTERING MULTI-DIMENSIONAL SPACES, With that Joyce Voice

BERKELEY, CA—-With soprano Joyce DiDonato, it’s never just another glowing recital by a Met star. It’s a talk, it’s a tribute, it’s a message, it’s a staged monodrama, this time it’s even a postlude by an inspired youth choir. Breaking the bonds of the elderly recital medium, she is an object lesson for aspiring vocalists who absolutely need to tune in on her trajectory—a mandatory master class for conservatory students, whether they’re violin, kazoo, piano or piccolo specialists planning their…

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NEW BALLETS AS DRAMA, BUT ON SPEED

NEW BALLETS AS DRAMA, BUT ON SPEED

For the ballet’s 90th-season celebration, if you were looking for “A nice new white ballet,” forget it. The San Francisco Ballet came out with guns blazing, firing artistic six-shooters exuberantly in the air, and delving into deep drama where dance troupes often fear to tread. This was the new regime, loaded down with new thought-provoking works under new leadership, breaking with preconceived convention. It presented two story ballets as stormy as our the whirlwind winter  weather among the three world premieres….

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MINORITIES AT WORK, HALOES AROUND THE MOON

MINORITIES AT WORK, HALOES AROUND THE MOON

Lost in the hurrahs of the San Francisco Symphony concerts this week was emergence of an even more significant course change this season: The unprecedented emphasis on creativity by women and minorities, front and center. Conductors like Xian Zhang, Elim Chan, C.M. Prieto, Masaaki Suzuki, Daniel Bartholomew-Peyser and Jose Hernandez; soloists like Leif-Aruhn-Solen, Conrad Tao, and Sterling Elliott; and composers like Gabriela Lena Frank, Gabriella Smith, Florence Price, Jose Gonzalez-Granero and Elizabeth Ogonek. It’s as if this one season were…

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