San Francisco’s Switchboard Music Festival

When classical musicians let their hair down Blurring genres, San Francisco’s second annual Switchboard Music Festival entertained the serious, the curious and the jaded for eight hours on Sunday, March 29, with a sundry cast of Bay Area musicians who have broken away from established territories in their search for personal sound. Organized by composer Ryan Brown and bass clarinetists Jeff Anderle and Jonathan Russell, 11 separate programs were held at 24th St.’s...

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Chora Nova at First Congregational in Berkeley

Hungarian rapture The Berkeley-based Chora Nova presented a concert of choral works primarily by Hungarian composer Zoltán Kodály on Sunday, March 22. The second half of the concert, titled “Hungarian Rhapsodies,” presented several of Kodály’s compositions based on Hungarian folk melodies. In his program notes, Artistic Director Paul Flight quotes Kodály on the nature of folk music: “To write a folksong is as much beyond the bounds of possibility as to write a...

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Evgeny Kissin comes to SF Performances

Extraordinary pianist thrills crowd in rare appearance In a nod to San Francisco Performances for agility and to their audience for flexibility, the long-awaited Evgeny Kissin recital at Davies Symphony Hall was successfully rescheduled at the last moment. Kissin’s illness...

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Sorelle Octet sings at Berkeley’s First Congregational

Sorelle, a little-known choral gem, mustered strength and flexibility in a program March 1 at the Loper Chapel of Berkeley’s First Congregational Church. The cozy accoustics fit the careful blend of this female octet. Founded 12 years ago by SF Early Music Society’s Meryl Sacks, Sorelle now has as artistic director Marcelle Dronkers, who crafted a lively program spanning from early music to world premiere. As the lights darkened, two voices floated down from the rear balcony singing...

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Sophia Gubaidulina at San Francisco Symphony

At the present moment Composer Sophia Gubaidulina first discussed her violin concerto, In tempus praesens, with Anne-Sophie Mutter, the violinist who commissioned the work and to whom it is dedicated, one hour before their first rehearsal for its...

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Music in the 21st Century: San Francisco State hosts ambitious new symposium

How do faith and science interact in the creative arts? In the octatonic, according to rumors at a two-day symposium of 21st-century music held at SF State Feb. 6 and 7. The high-powered gathering included a fascinating retrospective of works by SF State professor and composer Richard Festinger and a concert of pieces by seven winners of the Emerging Composers competition. Saturday’s events also focused on Olivier Messiaen and Elliott Carter, honoring these two modern giants with papers, a...

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