Ken-David Masur leads Berkeley Symphony

Four world-class soloists, one hundred and seventy-five tightly knit choristers, and a remarkable young German conductor wowed a sold-out audience at Zellerbach Hall last Thursday, April 19. For their season finale the Berkeley Symphony performed one of the pillars of Western music, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, written three years before his death. That larger-than-life work was a game-changer, ushering in the Romantic era and inspiring Wagner and Mahler to their own out-sized works,...

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Other Minds speaks out

In his lecture on sound poetry, Italian poet and artist Enzo Minarelli briefly described his practice, saying all his sound poems began with words. That may seem obvious and not much help as a definition, but in the context of the Other Minds festival that ran last week at ODC Theater in San Francisco it made startling and concise sense. For the sound, rather than the meaning, of words was essential to the pieces performed. How each performer broke words into sound units and reassembled those...

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“Ode to California” – Ferrandis leads the Santa Rosa Symphony

Luminous and thoughtful. For the past eleven years Bruno Ferrandis has led the Santa Rosa Symphony with skill and balance. After this season he is stepping down to return to his home in France. I was able to see him last weekend in a program titled “Ode to California” in the lively acoustics of Weill Hall at Sonoma State, and enjoyed his genius for programming and the wordless way that he communicated his insights into the music. This has been a busy year for North...

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Classical and Hip-Hop Party at the Paramount

In some courageous genre bending, the Oakland Symphony teamed up with Hip-Hop artist Kev Choice at Oakland’s Paramount Theater last Friday, March 23. The results were mixed, with deep sentiments, sparkling runs, and sometimes bland arrangements, but the crowd lapped it up and demanded more. [caption id="attachment_1809" align="alignright" width="261"]...

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Vitamin Em: electronics and Vivaldi at Piedmont Center for the Arts

Turning foreign languages into close dialects… “Berkeley Symphony and Friends” had their fourth concert this year at the Piedmont Center for the Arts. Last Sunday, March 11, an accomplished foursome forged new music out of professionalism and whimsey from very different branches of the musical tree. PCA founding member Gray Cathrall welcomed a packed audience to the hall and to this series, curated by Berkeley Symphony Executive Director René Mandel. “This series is now in...

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Henschel Quartett shines at Kohl Mansion

Riches in Burlingame Last Sunday while most people were busy watching the Oscars, a lucky few of us got to hear two polished string quartets in the perfect and intimate acoustics of Kohl Mansion, just south of the SF Airport in Burlingame. The Henschel Quartett is a formidable and prize-winning group (and yes, that is the German spelling of “quartet”), and they anchored a diverse program. And more importantly for some, the three men wore black with red ties and their violist...

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