Summer fun 2009
The Bay Area has grown in stature as its festivals have not only thrived but also multiplied in defiance of a scarcity of donation dollars. And this summer may reach a high-tide mark.
Santa Cruz’ Cabrillo Music Festival is the Mecca for those seeking cutting-edge orchestral music, with five full programs over two weekends in August. They will have ten composers-in-residence from around the world, and are planning multiple West Coast and World premieres. This venerable institution retains its spirit of discovery, and present director Marin Alsop, whose 12-year tenure has brought a surge of international interest, has helped them to win prestigious awards for adventurous programming. Most recently, ASCAP honored them with their highest award June 11, the John S. Edwards Award for Strongest Commitment to New American Music.
The San Francisco Symphony, building on last year’s successful “Summer in the City” series, is combining genre’s in a bid for wider audience share, using its stable of top talent to back up Pink Martini, jazz trumpeter Chris Botti and star of screen and Broadway musical Bernadette Peters. Adjusting to family budgets, the already reasonable tickets are half price for those 17 or younger.
In a bid to make classical music accessible to fresh audiences, they plan a series of classical “top 10” concerts, each night focused on a single well-known composer or genre. July 3, 6:30 p.m. is “my classic Tchaikovsky,” with excerpts from Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty and of course the 1812 Overture.
“My classic Beethoven” includes his grand Symphony No. 5 and the classic Russian program has three works most of us already know: A Night on Bald Mountain (that’s Mussorgsky, not Disney), Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, and Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2. OK. Most pianists know that last one.
On a lighter note, “Bugs Bunny on Broadway” returns for the last time July 17. If Elmer Fudd was your introduction to Wagner’s Ring cycle, this program is a must-see (“Wheahs da wabbit, Wheahs da rabbit?” to Gotterdamerung trumpets, with Elmer wielding Wotan’s lightning).
For those whose thumbs quiver at the thought of video gaming, Nubuo Uematso, the composer of Final Fantasy’s sound track, arrives July 18 with still and video accompaniment. This widely appealing program was sold out three weeks before show time, but last minute tickets are often available.
The Symphony’s finale features James Earl Jones as narrator for a red-blooded program of American composers, a mix of tasteful pride and tongue-in-cheek bombast, including the UC marching band.
Music@Menlo, running July 17 to August 8, returns for a seventh summer, following five extraordinary years that have solidified its World stature for chamber music. Husband-and-wife team cellist David Finckel and pianist Wu Han, festival founders and artistic directors, are also excellent musicians with a flair for organization and a passion for education. Their festival includes coaching and master classes for promising young musicians, educational CDs to better prepare the public, and three weeks of concerts, lectures, and encounter sessions. This summer the focus is on Mendelssohn, who celebrates his 200th birthday this year. The roster of artists reads like a musical Who’s who: The Pacifica and St Lawrence String Quartets, violist Paul Neubauer, pianists Jeffrey Kahane and Menahem Pressler, violinists Jorja Fleezanis and Joseph Swensen, eminent flutist Carol Wincenc, and clarinetist Anthony McGill, among others.
Festival del Sole is in their fourth year in Napa Valley, and is a first-rate stew of concerts and fine dining. This year the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas is featured, and the illustrious headliners include soprano Renée Fleming, violinists Sarah Chang and Nicolaj Znaider, pianists Leif Ove Andsnes and prodigy Conrad Tao, and festival founder and cellist Nina Kotova.
The Napa venues include Castello di Amorosa, a replica of a 14th-century Italian castle and a memorable place to hear the world’s finest musicians.
The Mendocino Music Festival, a truly giant event, is in progress in Northern California. Held in a 16,000 sq. ft. tent (which was engineered for concert-hall sound quality), it runs July 11-25 at the Mendocino Headlands State Park and nearby venues. Their opening concert included Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 and the Brahms Violin Concerto featuring Alexander Markov. Markov is also featured playing electric violin in a very different format later in the festival.
Along with classical, the festival’s eclectic programming includes blues, big band, electric violins, rock and jazz. For more information, see www.mendocinomusic.com.
Some top non-classical music can also be heard for FREE every Sunday at 2:00 at SF’s Stern Grove, and this Sunday talented sisters Les Nubians along with Rupa and the April Fishes will grace the grove.
June 25-July 24: “Summer in the City” with the San Francisco Symphony
www.sfsymphony.org/summer or 415-864-6000
July 11-25:Mendocino Music Festival
www.mendocinomusic.com
July 17-25: Festival del Sole
www.fdsnapa.org or 888-337-6272
July 16-26: Midsummer Mozart
www.midsummermozart.org or 800-838-3006
July 17-Aug. 1: Carmel Bach Festival
www.bachfestival.org
July 19, Aug. 9, Sept. 13: sfSoundSeries Summer2009
sfsound.org; all concerts 8:00 p.m. at ODC dance commons, 351 Shotwell St, San Francisco
July 17-Aug. 8: Music@Menlo
www.musicatmenlo.org
August 2-16: Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music
www.cabrillomusic.org or 831-426-6966
June 21-Aug 23: Stern Grove Festival, Sundays at 2:00 p.m.
www.sterngrove.org/2009season.html
—Compiled by Adam Broner
A version of this article originally appeared in the Piedmont Post