MODERNS INSPIRED BY BEETHOVEN

MODERNS INSPIRED BY BEETHOVEN

Jennifer Koh Scores in Old-New Juxtapositions Beethoven and the Moderns—a new look. The San Francisco Performances concert series collaborated with stellar violinist Koh to create and perform a bold four-night ”Bridge to Beethoven” series. It’s Beethoven sonatas cum new and recent musical reflections on the latter, as created by active composers from both sides of the Atlantic. In recognition of this and other innovative recital enterprises, Chicagoan Koh was named the 2016 Instrumentalist of the Year by the publication Musical…

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SACRIFICE TO ATTAIN WISDOM, REVELATIONS

SACRIFICE TO ATTAIN WISDOM, REVELATIONS

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S.F. SoundBox Thrives with Unique Concerts The San Francisco Symphony’s highly innovative SoundBox series has sparked national interest among musicians, concert managers and music critics alike. It’s a seminar in rather unfamiliar live music by a cornucopia of small ensembles, with complementary projections of custom-designed videos created for the occasion, now in its second season. Soundbox tickets sell out in a couple of hours when announced, making this arguably the hottest ticket in San Francisco. They bring in an audience…

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PRIZE-WINNING PLAY ABOUT THE OFFICE SCENE

PRIZE-WINNING PLAY ABOUT THE OFFICE SCENE

Playwright Rachel Bond’s “Swimmers” is a play about small and personal subjects set in an office. Large subjects would include the rest of the world out of the office where these dissatisfied workers are stuck. This play underwent two weeks of previews to straighten out some of the kinks, but could use a few more weeks of the fine tuning that it will undoubtedly get if it moves on to other theaters. Is it just a coincidence that two works…

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MONTREAL SYMPHONY CROSSES THE BORDER

MONTREAL SYMPHONY CROSSES THE BORDER

Nagano Accentuates Montreal-Paris Nexus in NorCal Tour ROHNERT PARK, CA—A touring orchestra dares to play a bold all-20th-century program, without even a note of Rachmaninoff or Sibelius? Yes, workable if that music-explorer Kent Nagano is at the helm, with his Montreal Symphony pulling the load. They brought the audience to its feet more than once here with mostly-Parisian servings of Debussy, Stravinsky and Prokofiev. And there’s proximity there: Culturally, Montreal and Paris have long been cheek-to-cheek. And, despite his 10-year…

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OPTIMISM AS OBFUSCATION

OPTIMISM AS OBFUSCATION

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ODC’s Dance Downtown Program Postmodern aesthetics emphasizes inclusivity, the value of difference and the “beauty” of the mundane. Translated into dance, the aesthetic tends to imply that all bodies are lovely, all movements are to be treasured and all moments are equal. This thinking supposedly produces a sense of optimism, since all that is excluded is conflict, struggle, drama, differences that cannot be reconciled, or incompatibilities that cannot be resolved through the simple exchange or interchangeability of movement. The idea…

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CURIOUS FIGHTS BY THE ACOUSTICS

CURIOUS FIGHTS BY THE ACOUSTICS

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The S.F. Conservatory’s Contemporary Concert By Paul Hertelendy artssf.com, the independent observer of San Francisco Bay Area music and dance Week of March 20-27, 2016 Vol. 18, No. 56 A quintet of living composers provided an ambitious set of instrumental works from a solo to a 40-plus-member wind ensemble knocking the roof off the S.F. Conservatory of Music. Here is the new genre of cross-over composer, of utmost versatility, creating everything from hiphop to DJ electronica to instrumentals to conducting….

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NEGLECTED JEWEL AT THE OAKLAND SYMPHONY

NEGLECTED JEWEL AT THE OAKLAND SYMPHONY

Cherubini Requiem, Alongside New Piccolo Concerto OAKLAND—In symphony concerts, give me the thrill of discovery every time. The Oakland Symphony offered not one but two revelations in a single concert, one very old, the other very new. When, if ever, have you heard a piccolo concerto? Or Cherubini’s Requiem of 1816? Never? Me neither. But then, I’ve only reviewed some 6,500 concerts lifetime. The Italian-French composer Luigi Cherubini (1760-1842) was a stodgy symphonist of the early romantic era. In his…

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DIGGING UP NEW MUSIC, DIGGING UP AN OLD POPE

DIGGING UP NEW MUSIC, DIGGING UP AN OLD POPE

Other Minds in Unusual Vocal Music Zounds! A contemporary concert takes up sacred music along with a satirical work highly critical of Church history. If you hate the one, you might LOVE the other! Such was the opening event of the unique Open Minds festival, which brings in close to a dozen living composers for residencies and three tightly-packed concerts over three days—then often goes dormant for another 364. It’s a dizzying, high-quality whirl that can and should attract a…

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‘THE NETHER:’ IN AND OUT OF A VIRTUAL WORLD

‘THE NETHER:’ IN AND OUT OF A VIRTUAL WORLD

Image that you live part time in real time, and part time in virtual reality time. Image that all your wishes from one could turn into fait accompli in the other. Of your fantasies, which are morally right? Can anything go? This is the main question posed by Jennifer Haley in her drama “The Nether” now playing at the San Francisco Playhouse. It has played in Los Angeles and New York as well as internationally. It raises the moral questions…

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INDIA’S KATHAK DANCE

INDIA’S KATHAK DANCE

In Troupe’s Posthumous Tribute to Chitresh Das BERKELEY—The idea of “modern” Indian dance is perhaps difficult for many spectators to grasp, because the concept of “Indian” dance has become so intensely associated with a notion or memory of India from a pre-modern era. Indian dance means for the most part preserving “traditions” from pre-modern times rather than breaking with them. Teacher and choreographer Pandit Chitresh Das (1944-2015) exemplified throughout his life an inclination to adapt traditional Indian dance forms, particularly…

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