July 30, 2016
West Edge Opera presents “The Cunning Little Vixen”
Ah, Janacek, what music!
West Edge Opera opened their summer festival last weekend with the Czech composer’s Cunning Little Vixen. The 1924 opera, based...
July 2016
July 29, 2016
The daffy delights of Marin’s “Twelfth Night”
If you go to the Globe Theater in London to watch Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, you will surely see a production in which the high comedy characters conduct themselves with stylish aplomb. Refined accents and restrained...
July 21, 2016
Mendocino Music Festival turns Thirty
In 1986 Allan Pollack, Susan Waterfall and Walter Green turned their vision for a North Coast music festival into reality. Drawing on their Bay Area musician friends, particularly from the SF Symphony and SF Opera Orchestra, their festival was an instant success. Set in a large striped tent on the headlands of Mendocino looking out over the ocean, they eventually moved into an even larger tent, which, at 16,000 square feet can comfortably hold a substantial orchestra and chorus along with...
July 20, 2016
Summer Festivals- part 2
…and from the mountains to the valleys.
Last week the Piedmont Post ran a preview of several of our local and coastal music festivals. Today we turn our attention to the mountains and the valleys.
The Bear Valley Music Festival opened its doors in 1967 in the Stanislaus National Forest, a placid summer vale that was once better known as a winter ski destination. Originally a respite for classical musicians, this festival has...
July 14, 2016
Summer festivals- local and coastal
Local and coastal—a flood of music festivals
From the intimate to the majestic, the Bay Area’s summer music festivals are known for their adventurous spirit. Now in full swing, here’s a look at what’s up.
The Mendocino Music Festival is one of my personal favorites for its audacious variety. One may wonder how locale informs programming, and whether the breathtaking views of the Mendocino coast, its wrinkled lands and...
July 12, 2016
Previewing Garrett + Moulton Production’s “Speak, Angels”
Work of depth and daring
In the rehearsal room at ODC Commons, Janice Garrett is urging her dancers to “manipulate the energy.” She lunges, stretching her long elegant...