United States Various: San Francisco Symphony / Esa-Pekka Salonen (conductor). Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco, 24.6.2021. (HS)
Salonen and San Francisco Symphony seeking their sweet spot
San Francisco
San Francisco Opera in 2021/22
An unusual 2021-2022 season for San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera’s upcoming 2021-2022 season looks very different from anything they have ever done. It is not the repertory – which consists of familiar works by Mozart, Beethoven and Puccini and a reprise of one of its more successful contemporary commissions – but the format.
Live performances in the War Memorial Opera House for the first time since December 2019 feature five fully staged operas and two concerts. For the first time in the company’s history, operas will not be run in repertory. Instead, they are spread out to allow three weeks between opera runs, a concession to COVID-19 protocols.
Hadelich’s liquid Brahms in San Francisco included his own cadenza
United States Various: Augustin Hadelich (violin), San Francisco Symphony / Esa-Pekka Salonen (conductor). Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco. 17.6.2021. (HS)
San Francisco Symphony presents barely a whiff of Czech musical sunshine
United States Martinů, Florence Price, Dvořák: John Wilson (piano), Edward Stephan (timpani), San Francisco Symphony / Joshua Weilerstein (conductor). Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco, 10.6.2021. (HS)
Local conductor makes a strong impression with San Francisco Symphony
United States Montgomery, Simon, Bizet: San Francisco Symphony / Joseph Young (conductor). Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco, 3.6.2021. (HS)
Bang on a Can video revives evocative ‘John Henry’ oratorio
United States Julia Wolfe, Steel Hammer: Bang on a Can All-Stars / David Bloom (music director), soundtrack recorded at the Bunker Studio, Brooklyn, and David’s Studio, New York, for video made exclusively for Cal Performances, Berkeley. Streamed first on 6.5.2021, and available on demand through 4.8.2021. (HS)
Esa-Pekka Salonen harnesses 900 years of ‘Patterns’ into a compelling Minimalist program
United States Various: Musicians of San Francisco Symphony / Esa-Pekka Salonen (curator & music director). Recorded at Davies Symphony Hall and first streamed on 15.4.2021. (HS)
Getting virtually around the Ring with San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera’s Ring Festival passes the halfway mark More than halfway through San Francisco Opera’s virtual Ring Festival, it is clear that a good deal of thought and creativity have gone into it, even beyond director Francesca Zambello’s decidedly American take on Richard Wagner’s four-opera marathon. Before the wrap-up on the weekend of 27-28 March, … Read more