ArtsSF

A sold-out house greeted the most powerful conductor in Russia, Valery Gergiev, with his elite Mariinsky Orchestra from St. Petersburg, a group he has led for 30 years. Several things stood out right away: This is a crack orchestra, with a younger ensemble than expected (only a few gray hairs showing). Unlike so many of our orchestras, they don’t tootle on stage beforehand; they enter together, tune up, and play. And the group had 22 women on stage Oct. 22,…

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The Phoenix of the Moment Leads the Way ROHNERT PARK, CA—Inspiration from the Santa Rosa Symphony is smoothing the long winding trek back to a vibrant life in fire-wracked Sonoma County. Music’s healing force has been much needed, particularly for those imperiled symphony-goers who fled for their lives at 3 AM to escape the Tubbs wildfire and experienced destruction of  their dearest belongings. Some 44 died. To mark the one-year anniversary on the first weekend of October when the renewal…

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There’s a notable changing of the guard on area symphonic podiums. Two of the new figures are Asian-American, perhaps destined to follow the earlier Northern Californian paths of Seiji Ozawa and Kent Nagano. While Francesco Lecce-Chong  starts his tenure at the Santa Rosa Symphony, the Berkeley Symphony hosted guest Ming Luke for its opening concert Oct. 4. Luke stepped in to a vacancy unique in music history, caused by departing Music Director Joana Carneiro missing most of the past two…

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