Marin Symphony in “Romance of Rodrigo”

North Bay Symphony promises… Led by Alasdair Neale, the Marin Symphony delivered a solid and entertaining show last Sunday, Feb. 28, at the Marin Center Veteran’s Memorial Auditorium. In the 15 years that Neale has been their Music Director, this orchestra has established its reputation, and this week they polished that. Alasdair prefaced the concert, giving a nod to the other event of the evening. “Thank you for attending this Academy...

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Eugene Onegin at West Bay Opera

Glorious concept, difficult theme Last Friday, West Bay Opera opened Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin at Palo Alto’s Lucie Stern Theater. Centered on a man who can’t seem to engage in life but skirts the edges, this was not the usual opera fare – grand passions on a tapestry of grand music. Instead we had the straitjackets of society and the drifting purposelessness of a baritone, albeit set to Russian lushness. ...

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“Champion: An Opera in Jazz”

  Terrence Blanchard’s musical eulogy An older man sits hunched on a bed, holding a shoe. As he sings, his vibrant bass penetrating the surrounding darkness of the theater, he muses on the shoe and its missing mate. The...

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