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Month: February 2019

Surprise Verdi, Surprise Troupe

Surprise Verdi, Surprise Troupe

PALO ALTO, CA—The miracle here these days is West Bay Opera producing repertory on a par with professional ones in Italian towns. And only a generation ago WBO was still a sleepy troupe presenting mostly honest amateur productions. Yet more surprises: In the current Verdi staging, the singer who saved the night wasn’t even in the cast. And the New-World conductor in the pit performing like a true Italian maestro, with poetic baton and a passion for cuing singers, also…

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Women Battling Racial Bias

Women Battling Racial Bias

Intimate opera flashed and flickered with insight and drama in the world premiere of Allen Shearer’s “Howards End, America,” given by Earplay in San Francisco on Feb. 22. Based on the E.M. Forster novel, it is now updated to mid-20th-century Boston, focusing on racial conflicts and class distinctions. Its unlikely principals are two white sisters, a hard-striving black man as society’s victim, and the millionaire’s family mansion (Has any edifice apart from Valhalla had a starring role in opera before?)….

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Historical Musical: Irish vs. Blacks

Historical Musical: Irish vs. Blacks

BERKELEY, CA—When the critic of the Bay Area’s leading newspaper gave an unenthusiastic review to “Paradise Square,” and yet so many patrons emerged from the Berkeley Rep contending this was their best show ever, some comment seemed in order. Now, just after close of the stunning run, a modest riposte is offered, based on attendance at a preview: Even in previews, Berkeley Rep’s world premiere production of “Paradise Square” had the feel of a hit Broadway musical. This theatrical exuberance…

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Ballet Premiere/Derniere

Ballet Premiere/Derniere

You’ve got to admire the chutzpah of a frustrated Benjamin  Millepied, resigning his Paris Opera Ballet directorship the night before premiering his dazzling “Appassionata” there in 2016. This month the French choreographer set the S.F. Opera House afire with that same “Appassionata,” using absolute-minimum forces: Six dancers and a pianist (no orchestra). And not even pointe shoes. And he didn’t even resign. Bodies flying uninhibitedly about the vast stage, whirling, thrusting, grabbing. The high-energy piece set to Beethoven  brought the…

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Moving Story Ballet; Others, Not So Moving

Moving Story Ballet; Others, Not So Moving

Story ballets are an endangered species these days, certainly nothing compared to the mid-20th century when Agnes deMille and others reigned. New ballets coming down the pike today emphasize ever sharper athleticism and technique, with acting and mime usually stashed away in the closet or confined to oldie revivals. The English choreographer Cathy Marston  still dares to be raconteur, and her reprise of “Snowblind” (2018) was the vibrant centerpiece of the S.F. Ballet’s otherwise uneven Program Three opener. It features…

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Pianist: The father of us all?

Pianist: The father of us all?

You could write a book about pianist/teacher Leon Fleisher: Childhood prodigy, collaborator with Hertz and Monteux, student of Artur Schnabel, recipient of Rachmaninoff’s advice, victim of a severe three-decade right-hand injury, commissioner and performer of numerous left-hand-only compositions, eminent Peabody teacher. Now 90, the indestructible Fleisher returned to San Francisco to play a Mozart concerto, cautious solo pieces and reminiscences. Some think that the Year One for American pianists bursting onto the international scene was 1958, with Van Cliburn winning…

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‘Moby Dick’ a hit despite Absent Whale

‘Moby Dick’ a hit despite Absent Whale

SAN JOSE—A very good American opera becomes a great experience through a highly theatrical production currently at Opera San Jose. This is Jake Heggie’s “Moby Dick” (2010) in a super-charged dramatic concept, thanks to both Kristine McIntyre stage director and Gene Scheer, who wrote the visionary libretto. McIntyre, a master of the art, should be giving boundless master classes to conservatories full of budding directors, even those in major prestige opera houses hard pressed to provide her sort of animation….

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Where There’s Hope, There’s Life

Where There’s Hope, There’s Life

BERKELEY—A great new era was launched here. Now there is Hope for us all. British leader/violin virtuoso Daniel Hope, that is, who is our latest classical-music rock star. He led the most exquisite “Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis” you have ever heard in his debut as artistic director Feb. 8. His New Century Chamber Orchestra produced breath-taking sonorities and perfect tuning in  playing an updating of a 17th-century theme reenkindled a century ago by Ralph Vaughn Williams. A…

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Berkeley Symphony: Equality and Premieres

Berkeley Symphony: Equality and Premieres

BERKELEY, CA—The Berkeley Symphony seeks to carve out a role on the forefront on equality and social-justice issues.  And it is well on the way. Disregarding the Asian players in the orchestra, this week I counted more players of color (two) in the ensemble than in nearly all the professional orchestras around. Furthermore, on Jan. 31 all the guest artists were black: Conductor Joseph Young, actor Michael Asberry, and the English composer Hannah Kendall, 34. And Kendall’s world-premiere opus  was…

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Stunning Ballet, Miscast Music

Stunning Ballet, Miscast Music

If amazing dancing throughout the night is your thing, “Don Quixote” is your ballet. But if plausible music is your driving force, better send Don Q off to joust with  some windmills. The most famous early Spanish novel inspired this classic ballet standard which was launched exactly 150 years ago, in Russia, thanks to an Austrian composer. I think you see where this is headed. If you expect an abundance of jotas, asturias, and flamenco themes and rhythms, muy español, forget it. Composer…

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