February 2010 – Repeat Performances

February 26, 2010

Oakland Symphony at Paramount

The search for American treasure Michael Morgan took the Oakland East Bay Symphony for a fishing expedition Friday night, Feb. 26, searching out American idioms in a program titled “Diverse views of America.” Morgan put the...

Categories: music

February 25, 2010

Kronos Quartet at Z Space @ Artaud

Theory is often a feature of experimental or avant-garde art; artists need to wrestle with what they feel is predictable in their art, and to undermine and recreate that art to better fit their vision of the world. But it often seems as if theory undermines the pure...

Categories: music

February 23, 2010

‘The White Election’ at Cal Performances

The words tell of another world As a wordsmith and one who regularly writes lyrics for classical music, I was curious about Lisa Delan’s Cal Performances’ recital, which was held at First Congregational Church in Berkeley on Tuesday, February 23. The songs...

Categories: opera

February 20, 2010

‘Don Giovanni’ at Berkeley Opera

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="469"] Eugene Brancoveanu in "Don Giovanni" at Berkeley Opera[/caption] A mighty gorgeous voice One of the best things about living in the Bay Area is enjoying the talents of the many artists who live and perform...

Categories: opera

February 19, 2010

Russian National Orchestra at Zellerbach

Cal Performances brings out heavy ammunition The Russian National Orchestra hit the Bay Area last Friday while touring the West Coast, and gave us a taste of how Russians do Russian masterpieces. Muscle and musicianship their watchwords, they played a chilling and incisive version of Dmitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 9 and accompanied Stefan Jackiw for a dynamic rendition of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto. Mikhail Pletnev founded the Russian...

Categories: music

Akram Khan Company at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

Global Nomads Anyone who has traveled will recognize the scene: a barren space with people loitering here and there along the edge of an open central area; bored, reading newspapers, sleeping uncomfortably in chairs,...

Categories: dance