Sanford Dole celebrates vocal chamber music at St. Johns

  Accomplished singers, lively program in Berkeley The Sanford Dole Ensemble, created out of a vocal tradition to explore contemporary music for voices and instruments, opened their new season with a chamber concert Sunday, October 17, the first in what they hope to be an annual tradition. The four singers, violin and piano were neatly matched by the intimate space of St John’s Presbyterian...

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Madama Butterfly at SF Opera

A dream and a dream… San Francisco Opera’s production of Madama Butterfly, by Giacomo Puccini, stressed the magical surrealism of dream Friday night. Director Jose Maria Condemi and set designer Clarke Dunham created a miniature realm of fragile tranquility and stylized movement. The backdrops represented nature as if from a painted silk shoji screen, while the hilltop cottage, rotated by...

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Takács Quartet at Herbst

  After a summer of recuperation and preparation, San Francisco Performances is open for business again. Popular jazz vocalist Paula West, backed by the George Mesterhazy Quartet, unveiled her new material for their opening event on Friday, October 8, kicking off SF Performances’ jazz series before setting off for engagements in New York.   Hungarian wit propels...

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Del Sol Quartet at Berkeley Art Museum

  Jaunty Bay Area quartet fills art museum Pianist Sarah Cahill and the Berkeley Art Museum, hosts of the First Friday L@TE series, brought the Del Sol String Quartet to the museum’s ground floor on Oct 1. The concrete gallery, a cubist’s paradise, magnified the sound with echoes that reverberated up through the cantilevered levels. This series of unusual concerts blends...

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