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"content": "\u003cp>It’s officially summer blockbuster season, and for the War Memorial Opera House, that means \u003cem>La bohème\u003c/em>. So popular is Puccini’s timeless tale of Parisian bohemian life that San Francisco Opera has staged it more frequently than than any other opera. (\u003cem>Madama Butterfly\u003c/em> and \u003cem>Tosca\u003c/em> run a close second and third; Giacomo, watch him go.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Confession time: I have never truly loved \u003cem>La bohème\u003c/em>. Like nearly any major commercial work of art that purports to chronicle the broke-artist substratum, it feels written from a place of easy contentment. Tonally, it’s not desperate and insane enough to me, and to my own years of living in unheated attics, laundry rooms and garages. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13977305\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/75A2776.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13977305\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/75A2776.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/75A2776-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/75A2776-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/75A2776-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Andrea Carroll as Musetta and Dale Travis as Alcindoro in Puccini’s ‘La bohème.’ \u003ccite>(Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The challenge for a director, then, is to make its characters believably destitute, instead of Parisians playacting as starving artists before returning to the bourgeoisie. The current production at San Francisco Opera does not succeed in this, but no matter — that’s a me problem. Most audiences will assuredly find it enjoyable, and find it a faithful presentation of one of the most loved operas of all time. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco Opera leans into this populism with acrobats, jugglers and unicyclists performing in the opera house lobby, among set pieces evoking the Latin Quarter of the 1830s. John Caird’s staging draws inspiration from the absinthe-hued work of Toulouse-Lautrec; the set of the four main male characters’ apartment is full of haphazardly strewn canvases (\u003cem>they! are! artists!\u003c/em>). \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13977308\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1334px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/75A2309-crop.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1334\" height=\"2000\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13977308\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/75A2309-crop.jpg 1334w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/75A2309-crop-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/75A2309-crop-768x1151.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/75A2309-crop-1025x1536.jpg 1025w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1334px) 100vw, 1334px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Karen Chia-ling Ho as Mimì and Pene Pati as Rodolfo in Puccini’s ‘La bohème.’ \u003ccite>(Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The run is double-cast; on Saturday, it was Pene Pati as Rodolfo and Karen Chia-ling Ho as Mimì, both remarkable, and who share a welcome, natural chemistry on the stage. (On the page, these are characters who fall in love only because Puccini says they did.) Pati, especially, comes into his own in the third act, when Rodolfo becomes wracked with guilt over his inability to help the woman he loves. As for Ho, her Mimì plays wonderfully with apprehension, coyness and ardor — and, eventually, capitulation to her failing health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The café scene of Act II comes alive with members of the San Francisco Boys and Girls Choruses, an onstage marching band and well-played humor. Conductor Ramón Tebar keeps the score lively for this scene, and for flirtatious teasing between Marcello (Lucas Meachem) and Musetta (Andrea Carroll), while noticeably milking it for all available emotion in others — one of few tinkerings in an otherwise standard-issue production. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13977307\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/74A4057_edit.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1211\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13977307\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/74A4057_edit.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/74A4057_edit-160x97.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/74A4057_edit-768x465.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/74A4057_edit-1536x930.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The set for the café scene in Act II of Puccini’s ‘La bohème‘ at San Francisco Opera. \u003ccite>(Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>With an opera like this, sometimes “standard issue” is what’s called for. And what does it matter? School’s out, love is in the air, and to the extent that there are any starving artists left in San Francisco, \u003cem>La bohème\u003c/em> is still the star attraction. \u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfopera.com/operas/la-boheme/\">La bohème\u003c/a>’ runs through June 21 at the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco. An abridged version of ‘La bohème,’ directed by Jose Maria Condemi and titled ‘\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfopera.com/seasons/opera-out-of-the-box/\">Bohème Out of the Box\u003c/a>,’ features San Francisco Opera Adler Fellows performing from a shipping container for two remaining performances, June 28 and 29, at Heritage Plaza in Hayward.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>It’s officially summer blockbuster season, and for the War Memorial Opera House, that means \u003cem>La bohème\u003c/em>. So popular is Puccini’s timeless tale of Parisian bohemian life that San Francisco Opera has staged it more frequently than than any other opera. (\u003cem>Madama Butterfly\u003c/em> and \u003cem>Tosca\u003c/em> run a close second and third; Giacomo, watch him go.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Confession time: I have never truly loved \u003cem>La bohème\u003c/em>. Like nearly any major commercial work of art that purports to chronicle the broke-artist substratum, it feels written from a place of easy contentment. Tonally, it’s not desperate and insane enough to me, and to my own years of living in unheated attics, laundry rooms and garages. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13977305\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/75A2776.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13977305\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/75A2776.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/75A2776-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/75A2776-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/75A2776-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Andrea Carroll as Musetta and Dale Travis as Alcindoro in Puccini’s ‘La bohème.’ \u003ccite>(Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The challenge for a director, then, is to make its characters believably destitute, instead of Parisians playacting as starving artists before returning to the bourgeoisie. The current production at San Francisco Opera does not succeed in this, but no matter — that’s a me problem. Most audiences will assuredly find it enjoyable, and find it a faithful presentation of one of the most loved operas of all time. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco Opera leans into this populism with acrobats, jugglers and unicyclists performing in the opera house lobby, among set pieces evoking the Latin Quarter of the 1830s. John Caird’s staging draws inspiration from the absinthe-hued work of Toulouse-Lautrec; the set of the four main male characters’ apartment is full of haphazardly strewn canvases (\u003cem>they! are! artists!\u003c/em>). \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13977308\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1334px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/75A2309-crop.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1334\" height=\"2000\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13977308\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/75A2309-crop.jpg 1334w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/75A2309-crop-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/75A2309-crop-768x1151.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/75A2309-crop-1025x1536.jpg 1025w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1334px) 100vw, 1334px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Karen Chia-ling Ho as Mimì and Pene Pati as Rodolfo in Puccini’s ‘La bohème.’ \u003ccite>(Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The run is double-cast; on Saturday, it was Pene Pati as Rodolfo and Karen Chia-ling Ho as Mimì, both remarkable, and who share a welcome, natural chemistry on the stage. (On the page, these are characters who fall in love only because Puccini says they did.) Pati, especially, comes into his own in the third act, when Rodolfo becomes wracked with guilt over his inability to help the woman he loves. As for Ho, her Mimì plays wonderfully with apprehension, coyness and ardor — and, eventually, capitulation to her failing health.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The café scene of Act II comes alive with members of the San Francisco Boys and Girls Choruses, an onstage marching band and well-played humor. Conductor Ramón Tebar keeps the score lively for this scene, and for flirtatious teasing between Marcello (Lucas Meachem) and Musetta (Andrea Carroll), while noticeably milking it for all available emotion in others — one of few tinkerings in an otherwise standard-issue production. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13977307\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/74A4057_edit.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1211\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13977307\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/74A4057_edit.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/74A4057_edit-160x97.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/74A4057_edit-768x465.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/06/74A4057_edit-1536x930.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The set for the café scene in Act II of Puccini’s ‘La bohème‘ at San Francisco Opera. \u003ccite>(Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>With an opera like this, sometimes “standard issue” is what’s called for. And what does it matter? School’s out, love is in the air, and to the extent that there are any starving artists left in San Francisco, \u003cem>La bohème\u003c/em> is still the star attraction. \u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfopera.com/operas/la-boheme/\">La bohème\u003c/a>’ runs through June 21 at the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco. An abridged version of ‘La bohème,’ directed by Jose Maria Condemi and titled ‘\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfopera.com/seasons/opera-out-of-the-box/\">Bohème Out of the Box\u003c/a>,’ features San Francisco Opera Adler Fellows performing from a shipping container for two remaining performances, June 28 and 29, at Heritage Plaza in Hayward.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Strauss’ “Blue Danube” is heading into space this month to mark the 200th anniversary of the waltz king’s birth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The classical piece will be beamed into the cosmos as it’s performed by the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. The celestial send-off on May 31 — livestreamed with free public screenings in Vienna, Madrid and New York — also will celebrate the European Space Agency’s founding 50 years ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='pop_102906']Although the music could be converted into radio signals in real time, according to officials, ESA will relay a pre-recorded version from the orchestra’s rehearsal the day before to avoid any technical issues. The live performance will provide the accompaniment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The radio signals will hurtle away at the speed of light, or a mind-blowing 670 million mph (more than 1 billion kph).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That will put the music past the moon in 1 ½ seconds, past Mars in 4 ½ minutes, past Jupiter in 37 minutes and past Neptune in four hours. Within 23 hours, the signals will be as far from Earth as NASA’s Voyager 1, the world’s most distant spacecraft at more than 15 billion miles (24 billion kilometers) in interstellar space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>NASA also celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2008 by transmitting a song directly into deep space: the Beatles’ “Across the Universe.” And last year, NASA beamed up Missy Elliott’s “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)” toward Venus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Music has even flowed from another planet to Earth — courtesy of a NASA Mars rover. Flight controllers at California’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory sent a recording of will.i.am’s “Reach for the Stars” to Curiosity in 2012 and the rover relayed it back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These are all deep-space transmissions as opposed to the melodies streaming between NASA’s Mission Control and orbiting crews since the mid-1960s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13976634']Now it’s Strauss’ turn, after getting passed over for the Voyager Golden Records nearly a half-century ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Launched in 1977, NASA’s twin Voyagers 1 and 2 each carry a gold-plated copper phonograph record, along with a stylus and playing instructions for anyone or anything out there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The records contain sounds and images of Earth as well as 90 minutes of music. The late astronomer Carl Sagan led the committee that chose Bach, Beethoven, Mozart and Stravinsky pieces, along with modern and Indigenous selections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among those skipped was Johann Strauss II, whose “Blue Danube” graced Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 sci-fi opus \u003cem>2001: A Space Odyssey\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZoSYsNADtY\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The tourist board in Vienna, where Strauss was born on Oct. 25, 1825, said it aims to correct this “cosmic mistake” by sending the “the most famous of all waltzes” to its destined home among the stars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13976567']ESA’s big radio antenna in Spain, part of the space agency’s deep-space network, will do the honors. The dish will be pointed in the direction of Voyager 1 so the “Blue Danube” heads that way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Music connects us all through time and space in a very particular way,” ESA’s director general Josef Aschbacher said in a statement. “The European Space Agency is pleased to share the stage with Johann Strauss II and open the imaginations of future space scientists and explorers who may one day journey to the anthem of space.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Although the music could be converted into radio signals in real time, according to officials, ESA will relay a pre-recorded version from the orchestra’s rehearsal the day before to avoid any technical issues. The live performance will provide the accompaniment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The radio signals will hurtle away at the speed of light, or a mind-blowing 670 million mph (more than 1 billion kph).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That will put the music past the moon in 1 ½ seconds, past Mars in 4 ½ minutes, past Jupiter in 37 minutes and past Neptune in four hours. Within 23 hours, the signals will be as far from Earth as NASA’s Voyager 1, the world’s most distant spacecraft at more than 15 billion miles (24 billion kilometers) in interstellar space.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>NASA also celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2008 by transmitting a song directly into deep space: the Beatles’ “Across the Universe.” And last year, NASA beamed up Missy Elliott’s “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)” toward Venus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Music has even flowed from another planet to Earth — courtesy of a NASA Mars rover. Flight controllers at California’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory sent a recording of will.i.am’s “Reach for the Stars” to Curiosity in 2012 and the rover relayed it back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These are all deep-space transmissions as opposed to the melodies streaming between NASA’s Mission Control and orbiting crews since the mid-1960s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Now it’s Strauss’ turn, after getting passed over for the Voyager Golden Records nearly a half-century ago.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Launched in 1977, NASA’s twin Voyagers 1 and 2 each carry a gold-plated copper phonograph record, along with a stylus and playing instructions for anyone or anything out there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The records contain sounds and images of Earth as well as 90 minutes of music. The late astronomer Carl Sagan led the committee that chose Bach, Beethoven, Mozart and Stravinsky pieces, along with modern and Indigenous selections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among those skipped was Johann Strauss II, whose “Blue Danube” graced Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 sci-fi opus \u003cem>2001: A Space Odyssey\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/0ZoSYsNADtY'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/0ZoSYsNADtY'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>The tourist board in Vienna, where Strauss was born on Oct. 25, 1825, said it aims to correct this “cosmic mistake” by sending the “the most famous of all waltzes” to its destined home among the stars.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>ESA’s big radio antenna in Spain, part of the space agency’s deep-space network, will do the honors. The dish will be pointed in the direction of Voyager 1 so the “Blue Danube” heads that way.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Music connects us all through time and space in a very particular way,” ESA’s director general Josef Aschbacher said in a statement. “The European Space Agency is pleased to share the stage with Johann Strauss II and open the imaginations of future space scientists and explorers who may one day journey to the anthem of space.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "best-classical-music-concerts-opera-bay-area-summer-2025",
"title": "8 Great Classical Music Experiences in the Bay Area This Summer",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Be sure to check out our full \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/summer-guide-2025\">2025 Summer Arts Guide to live music, movies, art, theater, festivals and more\u003c/a> in the Bay Area.\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When it comes to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/classical-music\">classical music\u003c/a>, for most of the year, I tend to be a champion of new works and rarely performed obscurities. But in the summertime, something about the season invites popular chestnuts of the repertoire — and helps my ear hear them in new ways. Luckily, this summer in the Bay Area, there’s a healthy mix of both. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13976640\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/HarveyMilkReimagined.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13976640\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/HarveyMilkReimagined.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/HarveyMilkReimagined-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/HarveyMilkReimagined-768x576.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Michael Kelly is Harvey Milk in ‘Harvey Milk Reimagined.’ \u003ccite>(Matt Simpkins Photography)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘\u003ca href=\"https://ybca.org/event/harvey-milk-reimagined/\">Harvey Milk Reimagined\u003c/a>’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>May 31–June 7, 2025\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>YBCA Theater, San Francisco\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thirty years after its debut, the opera \u003cem>Harvey Milk\u003c/em> has been “reimagined” by Stewart Wallace and Michael Korie, its original composer and librettist. In this anticipated production by Opera Parallèle, it’s now two acts instead of three, but the emotional core of Milk’s inspiring life and tragic assassination remains. In St. Louis, this reworked, two-hour version was \u003ca href=\"https://www.riverfronttimes.com/arts/review-harvey-milk-at-opera-theatre-of-saint-louis-is-a-triumph-37902678\">hailed\u003c/a> as “nothing short of a triumph.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13976641\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/MarcOlivierLeBlanc-3606.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13976641\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/MarcOlivierLeBlanc-3606.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/MarcOlivierLeBlanc-3606-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/MarcOlivierLeBlanc-3606-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/MarcOlivierLeBlanc-3606-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/MarcOlivierLeBlanc-3606-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/MarcOlivierLeBlanc-3606-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/MarcOlivierLeBlanc-3606-1920x1281.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Heidi Moss Erickson. \u003ccite>(Marc Olivier LeBlanc)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘\u003ca href=\"https://www.livermoreamadorsymphony.org/nextconcert.html\">Celestial Sounds\u003c/a>’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>May 31, 2025\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>Bankhead Theater, Livermore\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We all have that friend who’s trepidatious about classical music, or even downright positive that they hate it. The cure? This outer space–themed program at the Livermore-Amador Symphony, with works they’ll recognize (Debussy’s \u003cem>Clair de Lune\u003c/em>; Richard Strauss’ \u003cem>Also Sprach Zarathustra\u003c/em> opening, used in the film \u003cem>2001\u003c/em>) alongside pieces featuring soprano (and \u003ca href=\"https://www.heidimosserickson.com/scientist\">scientist\u003c/a>) Heidi Moss Erickson. Holst’s \u003cem>The Planets\u003c/em> and John Williams’ rugged \u003cem>Star Wars\u003c/em> Suite, perfect for kids, round out the evening. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13976642\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/37A1674.jpg\" alt=\"A man in a scarf and ragged clothing holds the hand of a woman, similarly dressed, both kneeling on the ground\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1395\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13976642\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/37A1674.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/37A1674-800x558.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/37A1674-1020x711.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/37A1674-160x112.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/37A1674-768x536.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/37A1674-1536x1071.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/37A1674-1920x1339.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘La bohème’ comes to San Francisco Opera in June. \u003ccite>(Cory Weaver/SF Opera)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfopera.com/operas/la-boheme/\">La bohème\u003c/a>’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>June 3–21, 2025\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’ll grant you this: Once upon a time, this tale of starving artists in 19th-century Paris might have felt more relevant in San Francisco, now wealthy with tech money. But as the city’s few remaining artists get \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13975661/national-endowment-for-the-arts-grants-canceled-nonprofits\">defunded\u003c/a> by forces of fascism, it’s time to watch Puccini’s masterpiece in a new light. If you want just a taste, SF Opera’s “\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfopera.com/press/press-releases/Boheme-Out-of-the-Box-2025/\">Bohème Out of the Box\u003c/a>” mini-tour concludes in Hayward on June 28 and 29.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13976644\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/hannahkendall.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1112\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13976644\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/hannahkendall.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/hannahkendall-800x445.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/hannahkendall-1020x567.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/hannahkendall-160x89.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/hannahkendall-768x427.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/hannahkendall-1536x854.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/hannahkendall-1038x576.jpg 1038w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/hannahkendall-1920x1068.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hannah Kendall. \u003ccite>(Artist photo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘\u003ca href=\"https://www.leftcoastensemble.org/spring-contrasts\">Spring Contrasts\u003c/a>’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>June 7, 2025, Piedmont Center for the Arts, Piedmont\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>June 9, 2025, Noe Valley Ministry, San Francisco\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In this inspired program for piano, clarinet and violin, the sturdy Left Coast Chamber Ensemble performs newer works by two Black composers: Kevin Day’s thrilling \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVSGnN3Gf_8\">Unquiet Waters\u003c/a>\u003c/em> and Hannah Kendall’s magnificent \u003cem>Processional\u003c/em>. Pieces by Puerto Rico’s Roberto Sierra and 19th-century Parisian Mel Bonis provide contrasts, thematically threaded by Bartók’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lg_Ss2tmhFw\">1938 composition\u003c/a> of the same name.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13918983\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1994px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/Screen-Shot-2022-09-09-at-1.54.12-PM.png\" alt=\"A conductor in action, arm flexed out before him, before a black background. He is wearing a casual black t-shirt, rather than a suit.\" width=\"1994\" height=\"1398\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13918983\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/Screen-Shot-2022-09-09-at-1.54.12-PM.png 1994w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/Screen-Shot-2022-09-09-at-1.54.12-PM-800x561.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/Screen-Shot-2022-09-09-at-1.54.12-PM-1020x715.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/Screen-Shot-2022-09-09-at-1.54.12-PM-160x112.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/Screen-Shot-2022-09-09-at-1.54.12-PM-768x538.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/Screen-Shot-2022-09-09-at-1.54.12-PM-1536x1077.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/Screen-Shot-2022-09-09-at-1.54.12-PM-1920x1346.png 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1994px) 100vw, 1994px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San Francisco Symphony’s music director Esa-Pekka Salonen, in action. \u003ccite>(Minna Hatinen)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfsymphony.org/Buy-Tickets/2024-25/salonen-mahler2\">Salonen conducts Mahler’s second\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>June 12–14, 2025\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco\u003c/em> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And so Esa-Pekka Salonen’s time in San Francisco comes to an end. (Did he ever \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13846535/its-esa-pekkas-city-eventually\">go to a Giants game or get a Mission burrito\u003c/a>?) The maestro’s final concerts as the San Francisco Symphony’s Music Director seem pretty dang final — he didn’t appear at \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13975328/michael-tilson-thomas-80th-birthday-concert-symphony-review\">Michael Tilson Thomas’ 80th birthday concert\u003c/a>, nor is he part of the symphony’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13973375/san-francisco-symphony-new-season-2025-2026\">upcoming season\u003c/a>. Catch him conducting Mahler’s second — with Heidi Stober, Sasha Cooke and the symphony chorus — before he shoves off. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13955628\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Kedrick-Armstrong-conducts-Oakland-Symphony-credit-Scott-Chernis-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A conductor waves his baton as orchestra musicians look on,\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13955628\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Kedrick-Armstrong-conducts-Oakland-Symphony-credit-Scott-Chernis-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Kedrick-Armstrong-conducts-Oakland-Symphony-credit-Scott-Chernis-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Kedrick-Armstrong-conducts-Oakland-Symphony-credit-Scott-Chernis-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Kedrick-Armstrong-conducts-Oakland-Symphony-credit-Scott-Chernis-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Kedrick-Armstrong-conducts-Oakland-Symphony-credit-Scott-Chernis-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Kedrick-Armstrong-conducts-Oakland-Symphony-credit-Scott-Chernis-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Kedrick-Armstrong-conducts-Oakland-Symphony-credit-Scott-Chernis-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Kedrick-Armstrong-conducts-Oakland-Symphony-credit-Scott-Chernis-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kedrick Armstrong conducts the Oakland Symphony in February 2024. \u003ccite>(Scott Chernis)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://www.oaklandsymphony.org/event-category/tickets-available/\">Kedrick Armstrong conducts Beethoven’s ninth\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>June 13, 2025\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>Paramount Theatre, Oakland\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beethoven’s warhorse, complete with the Oakland Symphony Chorus and vocalists Hope Briggs, Zoie Reams, Ashley Faatoalia and Adam Lau, will be the main draw here. But \u003cem>Mighty River\u003c/em>, by Belize-born composer Errollyn Wallen, is sure to be a highlight of not only this program but the entire summer season. Interweaving musical themes from spirituals and gospel, the piece meditates on the British slave trade, delivering a deeply poignant listening experience. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13961162\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/9400-fnv-opening-240712.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13961162\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/9400-fnv-opening-240712.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/9400-fnv-opening-240712-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/9400-fnv-opening-240712-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/9400-fnv-opening-240712-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/9400-fnv-opening-240712-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/9400-fnv-opening-240712-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Soprano Pretty Yende sings at Charles Krug Winery in St. Helena for the opening night of Festival Napa Valley, July 12, 2024. \u003ccite>(Drew Alitzer Photography)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://festivalnapavalley.org/\">Festival Napa Valley\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>July 5–20, 2025\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>Various venues, Napa County\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You could try to pigeonhole this wine country festival as a hotbed of wealth — opening night at Charles Krug Winery features songs by Gordon Getty and a tribute to the late venture capitalist Richard Kramlich. But you’d be overlooking its many free and choose-your-own-price events accessible to locals, including the U.S. debut of the Versailles Royal Opera performing Donizetti’s \u003cem>La fille du régiment\u003c/em>. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13976646\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/RafaelAguirre.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1239\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13976646\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/RafaelAguirre.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/RafaelAguirre-800x496.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/RafaelAguirre-1020x632.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/RafaelAguirre-160x99.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/RafaelAguirre-768x476.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/RafaelAguirre-1536x952.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/RafaelAguirre-1920x1189.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rafael Aguirre. \u003ccite>(Liz Isles)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://www.symphonysanjose.org/attend/2024-2025-season/concerts/espana/\">España\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>June 7 and 8, 2025\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>California Theatre, San Jose\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Latin American-tinged \u003cem>Escaramuza\u003c/em> by Berkeley-born composer Gabriela Lena Frank kicks off this program, which includes pieces by Ravel and Rimsky-Korsakov that explore the rhythms and influence of Spain. But the centerpiece here, with guitarist Rafael Aguirre, is Rodrigo’s \u003cem>Concierto de Aranjuez\u003c/em>, the very definition of an oft-performed classic that deserves the renewed ear of summertime.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "With new works and reappraised classics, this summer’s opera and orchestral offerings are rich. ",
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"title": "Your Guide to Classical Music in the Bay Area This Summer | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Be sure to check out our full \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/summer-guide-2025\">2025 Summer Arts Guide to live music, movies, art, theater, festivals and more\u003c/a> in the Bay Area.\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When it comes to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/classical-music\">classical music\u003c/a>, for most of the year, I tend to be a champion of new works and rarely performed obscurities. But in the summertime, something about the season invites popular chestnuts of the repertoire — and helps my ear hear them in new ways. Luckily, this summer in the Bay Area, there’s a healthy mix of both. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13976640\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/HarveyMilkReimagined.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13976640\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/HarveyMilkReimagined.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/HarveyMilkReimagined-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/HarveyMilkReimagined-768x576.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Michael Kelly is Harvey Milk in ‘Harvey Milk Reimagined.’ \u003ccite>(Matt Simpkins Photography)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘\u003ca href=\"https://ybca.org/event/harvey-milk-reimagined/\">Harvey Milk Reimagined\u003c/a>’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>May 31–June 7, 2025\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>YBCA Theater, San Francisco\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thirty years after its debut, the opera \u003cem>Harvey Milk\u003c/em> has been “reimagined” by Stewart Wallace and Michael Korie, its original composer and librettist. In this anticipated production by Opera Parallèle, it’s now two acts instead of three, but the emotional core of Milk’s inspiring life and tragic assassination remains. In St. Louis, this reworked, two-hour version was \u003ca href=\"https://www.riverfronttimes.com/arts/review-harvey-milk-at-opera-theatre-of-saint-louis-is-a-triumph-37902678\">hailed\u003c/a> as “nothing short of a triumph.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13976641\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/MarcOlivierLeBlanc-3606.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13976641\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/MarcOlivierLeBlanc-3606.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/MarcOlivierLeBlanc-3606-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/MarcOlivierLeBlanc-3606-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/MarcOlivierLeBlanc-3606-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/MarcOlivierLeBlanc-3606-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/MarcOlivierLeBlanc-3606-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/MarcOlivierLeBlanc-3606-1920x1281.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Heidi Moss Erickson. \u003ccite>(Marc Olivier LeBlanc)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘\u003ca href=\"https://www.livermoreamadorsymphony.org/nextconcert.html\">Celestial Sounds\u003c/a>’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>May 31, 2025\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>Bankhead Theater, Livermore\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We all have that friend who’s trepidatious about classical music, or even downright positive that they hate it. The cure? This outer space–themed program at the Livermore-Amador Symphony, with works they’ll recognize (Debussy’s \u003cem>Clair de Lune\u003c/em>; Richard Strauss’ \u003cem>Also Sprach Zarathustra\u003c/em> opening, used in the film \u003cem>2001\u003c/em>) alongside pieces featuring soprano (and \u003ca href=\"https://www.heidimosserickson.com/scientist\">scientist\u003c/a>) Heidi Moss Erickson. Holst’s \u003cem>The Planets\u003c/em> and John Williams’ rugged \u003cem>Star Wars\u003c/em> Suite, perfect for kids, round out the evening. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13976642\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/37A1674.jpg\" alt=\"A man in a scarf and ragged clothing holds the hand of a woman, similarly dressed, both kneeling on the ground\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1395\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13976642\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/37A1674.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/37A1674-800x558.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/37A1674-1020x711.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/37A1674-160x112.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/37A1674-768x536.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/37A1674-1536x1071.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/37A1674-1920x1339.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">‘La bohème’ comes to San Francisco Opera in June. \u003ccite>(Cory Weaver/SF Opera)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfopera.com/operas/la-boheme/\">La bohème\u003c/a>’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>June 3–21, 2025\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’ll grant you this: Once upon a time, this tale of starving artists in 19th-century Paris might have felt more relevant in San Francisco, now wealthy with tech money. But as the city’s few remaining artists get \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13975661/national-endowment-for-the-arts-grants-canceled-nonprofits\">defunded\u003c/a> by forces of fascism, it’s time to watch Puccini’s masterpiece in a new light. If you want just a taste, SF Opera’s “\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfopera.com/press/press-releases/Boheme-Out-of-the-Box-2025/\">Bohème Out of the Box\u003c/a>” mini-tour concludes in Hayward on June 28 and 29.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13976644\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/hannahkendall.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1112\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13976644\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/hannahkendall.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/hannahkendall-800x445.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/hannahkendall-1020x567.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/hannahkendall-160x89.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/hannahkendall-768x427.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/hannahkendall-1536x854.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/hannahkendall-1038x576.jpg 1038w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/hannahkendall-1920x1068.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hannah Kendall. \u003ccite>(Artist photo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>‘\u003ca href=\"https://www.leftcoastensemble.org/spring-contrasts\">Spring Contrasts\u003c/a>’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>June 7, 2025, Piedmont Center for the Arts, Piedmont\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>June 9, 2025, Noe Valley Ministry, San Francisco\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In this inspired program for piano, clarinet and violin, the sturdy Left Coast Chamber Ensemble performs newer works by two Black composers: Kevin Day’s thrilling \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVSGnN3Gf_8\">Unquiet Waters\u003c/a>\u003c/em> and Hannah Kendall’s magnificent \u003cem>Processional\u003c/em>. Pieces by Puerto Rico’s Roberto Sierra and 19th-century Parisian Mel Bonis provide contrasts, thematically threaded by Bartók’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lg_Ss2tmhFw\">1938 composition\u003c/a> of the same name.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13918983\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1994px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/Screen-Shot-2022-09-09-at-1.54.12-PM.png\" alt=\"A conductor in action, arm flexed out before him, before a black background. He is wearing a casual black t-shirt, rather than a suit.\" width=\"1994\" height=\"1398\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13918983\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/Screen-Shot-2022-09-09-at-1.54.12-PM.png 1994w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/Screen-Shot-2022-09-09-at-1.54.12-PM-800x561.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/Screen-Shot-2022-09-09-at-1.54.12-PM-1020x715.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/Screen-Shot-2022-09-09-at-1.54.12-PM-160x112.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/Screen-Shot-2022-09-09-at-1.54.12-PM-768x538.png 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/Screen-Shot-2022-09-09-at-1.54.12-PM-1536x1077.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/Screen-Shot-2022-09-09-at-1.54.12-PM-1920x1346.png 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1994px) 100vw, 1994px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">San Francisco Symphony’s music director Esa-Pekka Salonen, in action. \u003ccite>(Minna Hatinen)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfsymphony.org/Buy-Tickets/2024-25/salonen-mahler2\">Salonen conducts Mahler’s second\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>June 12–14, 2025\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco\u003c/em> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And so Esa-Pekka Salonen’s time in San Francisco comes to an end. (Did he ever \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13846535/its-esa-pekkas-city-eventually\">go to a Giants game or get a Mission burrito\u003c/a>?) The maestro’s final concerts as the San Francisco Symphony’s Music Director seem pretty dang final — he didn’t appear at \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13975328/michael-tilson-thomas-80th-birthday-concert-symphony-review\">Michael Tilson Thomas’ 80th birthday concert\u003c/a>, nor is he part of the symphony’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13973375/san-francisco-symphony-new-season-2025-2026\">upcoming season\u003c/a>. Catch him conducting Mahler’s second — with Heidi Stober, Sasha Cooke and the symphony chorus — before he shoves off. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13955628\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Kedrick-Armstrong-conducts-Oakland-Symphony-credit-Scott-Chernis-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A conductor waves his baton as orchestra musicians look on,\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13955628\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Kedrick-Armstrong-conducts-Oakland-Symphony-credit-Scott-Chernis-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Kedrick-Armstrong-conducts-Oakland-Symphony-credit-Scott-Chernis-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Kedrick-Armstrong-conducts-Oakland-Symphony-credit-Scott-Chernis-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Kedrick-Armstrong-conducts-Oakland-Symphony-credit-Scott-Chernis-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Kedrick-Armstrong-conducts-Oakland-Symphony-credit-Scott-Chernis-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Kedrick-Armstrong-conducts-Oakland-Symphony-credit-Scott-Chernis-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Kedrick-Armstrong-conducts-Oakland-Symphony-credit-Scott-Chernis-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/Kedrick-Armstrong-conducts-Oakland-Symphony-credit-Scott-Chernis-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kedrick Armstrong conducts the Oakland Symphony in February 2024. \u003ccite>(Scott Chernis)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://www.oaklandsymphony.org/event-category/tickets-available/\">Kedrick Armstrong conducts Beethoven’s ninth\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>June 13, 2025\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>Paramount Theatre, Oakland\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Beethoven’s warhorse, complete with the Oakland Symphony Chorus and vocalists Hope Briggs, Zoie Reams, Ashley Faatoalia and Adam Lau, will be the main draw here. But \u003cem>Mighty River\u003c/em>, by Belize-born composer Errollyn Wallen, is sure to be a highlight of not only this program but the entire summer season. Interweaving musical themes from spirituals and gospel, the piece meditates on the British slave trade, delivering a deeply poignant listening experience. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13961162\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/9400-fnv-opening-240712.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13961162\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/9400-fnv-opening-240712.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/9400-fnv-opening-240712-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/9400-fnv-opening-240712-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/9400-fnv-opening-240712-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/9400-fnv-opening-240712-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/07/9400-fnv-opening-240712-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Soprano Pretty Yende sings at Charles Krug Winery in St. Helena for the opening night of Festival Napa Valley, July 12, 2024. \u003ccite>(Drew Alitzer Photography)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://festivalnapavalley.org/\">Festival Napa Valley\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>July 5–20, 2025\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>Various venues, Napa County\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You could try to pigeonhole this wine country festival as a hotbed of wealth — opening night at Charles Krug Winery features songs by Gordon Getty and a tribute to the late venture capitalist Richard Kramlich. But you’d be overlooking its many free and choose-your-own-price events accessible to locals, including the U.S. debut of the Versailles Royal Opera performing Donizetti’s \u003cem>La fille du régiment\u003c/em>. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13976646\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/RafaelAguirre.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1239\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13976646\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/RafaelAguirre.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/RafaelAguirre-800x496.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/RafaelAguirre-1020x632.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/RafaelAguirre-160x99.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/RafaelAguirre-768x476.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/RafaelAguirre-1536x952.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/05/RafaelAguirre-1920x1189.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rafael Aguirre. \u003ccite>(Liz Isles)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca href=\"https://www.symphonysanjose.org/attend/2024-2025-season/concerts/espana/\">España\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>June 7 and 8, 2025\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n\u003cem>California Theatre, San Jose\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Latin American-tinged \u003cem>Escaramuza\u003c/em> by Berkeley-born composer Gabriela Lena Frank kicks off this program, which includes pieces by Ravel and Rimsky-Korsakov that explore the rhythms and influence of Spain. But the centerpiece here, with guitarist Rafael Aguirre, is Rodrigo’s \u003cem>Concierto de Aranjuez\u003c/em>, the very definition of an oft-performed classic that deserves the renewed ear of summertime.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>In the 1990s, the freestyle rapper \u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/zoUsLm_Kf6Q?feature=shared&t=39\">Supernatural\u003c/a> had a routine that always won over the club. He’d solicit suggestions for words or phrases from the audience, or even items from rap fans’ pockets or purses, and then tell the DJ to drop the beat. Three minutes of complex wordplay would follow, all tightly in rhythm, involving the crowd’s suggestions. It \u003cem>killed\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Thursday night, the pianist Gabriela Montero brought this approach into the classical concert hall. As an encore to her piano concerto, she asked patrons at Davies Symphony Hall for a melody upon which she could improvise. A few loudly sung suggestions followed: Beethoven’s \u003cem>Missa solemnis\u003c/em>, Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s “What the World Needs Now Is Love.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I didn’t recognize the winning melody, but Montero plunked it out on the piano a few times, thought it over for a few seconds, and then launched into a dazzling improvisation — something like Louis Moreau Gottschalk, with more meat on its bones — that lasted several minutes and inspired the crowd to its feet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13974440\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/2425-Concerts-MarinAlsop-Brandon-Patoc_0040.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1332\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13974440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/2425-Concerts-MarinAlsop-Brandon-Patoc_0040.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/2425-Concerts-MarinAlsop-Brandon-Patoc_0040-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/2425-Concerts-MarinAlsop-Brandon-Patoc_0040-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/2425-Concerts-MarinAlsop-Brandon-Patoc_0040-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/2425-Concerts-MarinAlsop-Brandon-Patoc_0040-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/2425-Concerts-MarinAlsop-Brandon-Patoc_0040-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/2425-Concerts-MarinAlsop-Brandon-Patoc_0040-1920x1279.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pianist Gabriela Montero and conductor Marin Alsop take a bow with the San Francisco Symphony on April 10, 2025 at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Brandon Patoc)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Improvisation in music is a gooey concept. What, really, is pre-written, and what is the performer’s input? Is some improvisation planned beforehand? Isn’t soloing in jazz, as the saxophonist Gary Bartz once told me, “composing all the time” rather than “improvising”? Is a singer’s particular phrasing of a lyric improvisation?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Within the relative rigidity of classical music, Montero is an outlier. I’ve heard other improvisations-as-encores (speaking of gooey, Jeffrey Kahane’s “America the Beautiful,” played just after 9/11, comes to mind), but they’ve been preordained to some degree. With Monerto, her style, filigree and technique may all be prepared tools of construction, but I have to believe the blueprint was spontaneous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was a highlight of a program of music from Mexico, Venezuela and the United States, conducted by Marin Alsop. Highly decorated worldwide, Alsop is especially loved in the Bay Area for her 25 years as director of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in Santa Cruz. Understandably, then, the best moments of Thursday’s concert involved new works.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13974441\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/2425-Concerts-MarinAlsop-Brandon-Patoc_0027.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1332\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13974441\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/2425-Concerts-MarinAlsop-Brandon-Patoc_0027.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/2425-Concerts-MarinAlsop-Brandon-Patoc_0027-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/2425-Concerts-MarinAlsop-Brandon-Patoc_0027-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/2425-Concerts-MarinAlsop-Brandon-Patoc_0027-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/2425-Concerts-MarinAlsop-Brandon-Patoc_0027-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/2425-Concerts-MarinAlsop-Brandon-Patoc_0027-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/2425-Concerts-MarinAlsop-Brandon-Patoc_0027-1920x1279.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pianist Gabriela Montero performs with the San Francisco Symphony, conducted by Marin Alsop, on April 10, 2025 at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Brandon Patoc)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Gabriela Ortiz’s \u003cem>Antrópolis\u003c/em> led things off, sounding like a Martin Denny album from the late 1950s: a repetitive bass line, triplets on the wood block, vibraphone, a wooden fish güiro. Upon this Polynesian foundation, the strings and brass rose and collapsed, not as batty as Juan García Esquivel, but tilting in that direction. The brass had some timing issues in the faster sections (this is not music of most of the musicians’ native land), but the crowd ate it up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Speaking before Montero performed her own Piano Concerto No. 1, Alsop quipped of Montero that “she’s always complaining that the composer wrote too many notes.” I may have to agree. To the extent that there is a melody in the first movement, a mambo, it was hidden beneath a constant thrum of fingers-as-pistons, churning the engine along. A second movement replaced the pistons with arpeggios, but the third brought back the busywork on the keys. For all its impressive technique, I could barely notice the congas and maracas, let alone Montero’s intention to show the malevolence and corruption of her home country of Venezuela. Is it possible for a piano concerto to \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/28/us/politics/trump-policy-blitz.html\">flood the zone\u003c/a>?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Levity was found in the second half opener, a pairing of Aaron Copland’s \u003cem>Fanfare for the Common Man\u003c/em> with, hilariously, Joan Tower’s \u003cem>Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman\u003c/em> — the latter dedicated to and conducted by Alsop. Whereas Copland’s Olympic games staple trumpets mankind’s entrance and loudly announces his importance, the “uncommon woman” in Tower’s fanfare furtively sidles her way into the proceedings and usurps them from within. The pairing was welcome.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13974444\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/2425-Concerts-MarinAlsop-Brandon-Patoc_0068.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1332\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13974444\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/2425-Concerts-MarinAlsop-Brandon-Patoc_0068.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/2425-Concerts-MarinAlsop-Brandon-Patoc_0068-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/2425-Concerts-MarinAlsop-Brandon-Patoc_0068-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/2425-Concerts-MarinAlsop-Brandon-Patoc_0068-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/2425-Concerts-MarinAlsop-Brandon-Patoc_0068-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/2425-Concerts-MarinAlsop-Brandon-Patoc_0068-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/2425-Concerts-MarinAlsop-Brandon-Patoc_0068-1920x1279.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Marin Alsop, center, appears with the San Francisco Symphony on April 10, 2025 at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Brandon Patoc)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It was also the moment I realized that this program was alive with things we don’t ordinarily get at the symphony: audience participation, Latin rhythms, improvisation, humor. (I also couldn’t help but hear it in contrast to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13973375/san-francisco-symphony-new-season-2025-2026\">the San Francisco Symphony’s upcoming season\u003c/a>, disappointingly heavy on \u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Classical+Music+for+People+Who+Hate+Classical+Music&i=popular&crid=3AUZSAD3I8KSR&sprefix=classical+music+for+people+who+hate+classical+music%2Cpopular%2C143&ref=nb_sb_noss_1\">tried-and-true repertoire\u003c/a>.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And at its peaks, the night contained one more element. In the Andante tranquillo section of Samuel Barber’s Symphony No. 1, the oboe solo led to a moving climax, during which Alsop ceased her demands from the orchestra and allowed herself to become engulfed in that simple, unexplainable thing: beauty.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Alsop Conducts Music of the Americas’ with the San Francisco Symphony repeats on Friday, April 11 and Saturday, April 12 at Davies Symphony Hall. \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfsymphony.org/Buy-Tickets/2024-25/marin-alsop-americas\">Details here\u003c/a>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In the 1990s, the freestyle rapper \u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/zoUsLm_Kf6Q?feature=shared&t=39\">Supernatural\u003c/a> had a routine that always won over the club. He’d solicit suggestions for words or phrases from the audience, or even items from rap fans’ pockets or purses, and then tell the DJ to drop the beat. Three minutes of complex wordplay would follow, all tightly in rhythm, involving the crowd’s suggestions. It \u003cem>killed\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Thursday night, the pianist Gabriela Montero brought this approach into the classical concert hall. As an encore to her piano concerto, she asked patrons at Davies Symphony Hall for a melody upon which she could improvise. A few loudly sung suggestions followed: Beethoven’s \u003cem>Missa solemnis\u003c/em>, Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s “What the World Needs Now Is Love.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I didn’t recognize the winning melody, but Montero plunked it out on the piano a few times, thought it over for a few seconds, and then launched into a dazzling improvisation — something like Louis Moreau Gottschalk, with more meat on its bones — that lasted several minutes and inspired the crowd to its feet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13974440\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/2425-Concerts-MarinAlsop-Brandon-Patoc_0040.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1332\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13974440\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/2425-Concerts-MarinAlsop-Brandon-Patoc_0040.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/2425-Concerts-MarinAlsop-Brandon-Patoc_0040-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/2425-Concerts-MarinAlsop-Brandon-Patoc_0040-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/2425-Concerts-MarinAlsop-Brandon-Patoc_0040-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/2425-Concerts-MarinAlsop-Brandon-Patoc_0040-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/2425-Concerts-MarinAlsop-Brandon-Patoc_0040-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/2425-Concerts-MarinAlsop-Brandon-Patoc_0040-1920x1279.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pianist Gabriela Montero and conductor Marin Alsop take a bow with the San Francisco Symphony on April 10, 2025 at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Brandon Patoc)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Improvisation in music is a gooey concept. What, really, is pre-written, and what is the performer’s input? Is some improvisation planned beforehand? Isn’t soloing in jazz, as the saxophonist Gary Bartz once told me, “composing all the time” rather than “improvising”? Is a singer’s particular phrasing of a lyric improvisation?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Within the relative rigidity of classical music, Montero is an outlier. I’ve heard other improvisations-as-encores (speaking of gooey, Jeffrey Kahane’s “America the Beautiful,” played just after 9/11, comes to mind), but they’ve been preordained to some degree. With Monerto, her style, filigree and technique may all be prepared tools of construction, but I have to believe the blueprint was spontaneous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was a highlight of a program of music from Mexico, Venezuela and the United States, conducted by Marin Alsop. Highly decorated worldwide, Alsop is especially loved in the Bay Area for her 25 years as director of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in Santa Cruz. Understandably, then, the best moments of Thursday’s concert involved new works.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13974441\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/2425-Concerts-MarinAlsop-Brandon-Patoc_0027.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1332\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13974441\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/2425-Concerts-MarinAlsop-Brandon-Patoc_0027.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/2425-Concerts-MarinAlsop-Brandon-Patoc_0027-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/2425-Concerts-MarinAlsop-Brandon-Patoc_0027-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/2425-Concerts-MarinAlsop-Brandon-Patoc_0027-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/2425-Concerts-MarinAlsop-Brandon-Patoc_0027-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/2425-Concerts-MarinAlsop-Brandon-Patoc_0027-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/2425-Concerts-MarinAlsop-Brandon-Patoc_0027-1920x1279.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pianist Gabriela Montero performs with the San Francisco Symphony, conducted by Marin Alsop, on April 10, 2025 at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Brandon Patoc)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Gabriela Ortiz’s \u003cem>Antrópolis\u003c/em> led things off, sounding like a Martin Denny album from the late 1950s: a repetitive bass line, triplets on the wood block, vibraphone, a wooden fish güiro. Upon this Polynesian foundation, the strings and brass rose and collapsed, not as batty as Juan García Esquivel, but tilting in that direction. The brass had some timing issues in the faster sections (this is not music of most of the musicians’ native land), but the crowd ate it up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Speaking before Montero performed her own Piano Concerto No. 1, Alsop quipped of Montero that “she’s always complaining that the composer wrote too many notes.” I may have to agree. To the extent that there is a melody in the first movement, a mambo, it was hidden beneath a constant thrum of fingers-as-pistons, churning the engine along. A second movement replaced the pistons with arpeggios, but the third brought back the busywork on the keys. For all its impressive technique, I could barely notice the congas and maracas, let alone Montero’s intention to show the malevolence and corruption of her home country of Venezuela. Is it possible for a piano concerto to \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/28/us/politics/trump-policy-blitz.html\">flood the zone\u003c/a>?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Levity was found in the second half opener, a pairing of Aaron Copland’s \u003cem>Fanfare for the Common Man\u003c/em> with, hilariously, Joan Tower’s \u003cem>Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman\u003c/em> — the latter dedicated to and conducted by Alsop. Whereas Copland’s Olympic games staple trumpets mankind’s entrance and loudly announces his importance, the “uncommon woman” in Tower’s fanfare furtively sidles her way into the proceedings and usurps them from within. The pairing was welcome.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13974444\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/2425-Concerts-MarinAlsop-Brandon-Patoc_0068.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1332\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13974444\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/2425-Concerts-MarinAlsop-Brandon-Patoc_0068.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/2425-Concerts-MarinAlsop-Brandon-Patoc_0068-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/2425-Concerts-MarinAlsop-Brandon-Patoc_0068-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/2425-Concerts-MarinAlsop-Brandon-Patoc_0068-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/2425-Concerts-MarinAlsop-Brandon-Patoc_0068-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/2425-Concerts-MarinAlsop-Brandon-Patoc_0068-1536x1023.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/04/2425-Concerts-MarinAlsop-Brandon-Patoc_0068-1920x1279.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Marin Alsop, center, appears with the San Francisco Symphony on April 10, 2025 at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Brandon Patoc)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>It was also the moment I realized that this program was alive with things we don’t ordinarily get at the symphony: audience participation, Latin rhythms, improvisation, humor. (I also couldn’t help but hear it in contrast to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13973375/san-francisco-symphony-new-season-2025-2026\">the San Francisco Symphony’s upcoming season\u003c/a>, disappointingly heavy on \u003ca href=\"https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Classical+Music+for+People+Who+Hate+Classical+Music&i=popular&crid=3AUZSAD3I8KSR&sprefix=classical+music+for+people+who+hate+classical+music%2Cpopular%2C143&ref=nb_sb_noss_1\">tried-and-true repertoire\u003c/a>.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And at its peaks, the night contained one more element. In the Andante tranquillo section of Samuel Barber’s Symphony No. 1, the oboe solo led to a moving climax, during which Alsop ceased her demands from the orchestra and allowed herself to become engulfed in that simple, unexplainable thing: beauty.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Alsop Conducts Music of the Americas’ with the San Francisco Symphony repeats on Friday, April 11 and Saturday, April 12 at Davies Symphony Hall. \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfsymphony.org/Buy-Tickets/2024-25/marin-alsop-americas\">Details here\u003c/a>. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>The wildfires that ravaged Los Angeles burned for four weeks, but Angelenos will spend far longer rebuilding their livelihoods and homes. Clearing toxic ash, assessing damage and dealing with insurance all take an immense amount of time and energy, as does maintaining access to necessities like clean water, shelter and clothing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For musicians, getting back to work comes with the additional costly challenge of replacing instruments, cases, mouthpieces, reeds and bows, among other music-related essentials. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To raise funds for musicians affected by the wildfires, a benefit concert will being held on Saturday, March 8, at Davies Symphony Hall. Presented by the San Francisco Symphony, Musicians of the San Francisco Symphony and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the benefit’s proceeds will be split evenly between two vital organizations: Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles’ ReBUILD LA campaign and the Entertainment Community Fund.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13972538']Both organizations offer critical services to wildfire survivors; the ReBUILD LA campaign helps wildfire survivors relocate and provides essential goods, while the Entertainment Community Fund’s emergency financial assistance funds go toward providing health care and covering other basic living expenses. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The concert, featuring pianist Garrick Ohlsson and conducted by Edwin Outwater, will feature Aaron Copland’s “The Promise of Living” (from \u003cem>The Tender Land\u003c/em>), Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 and Dvořák’s “New World” Symphony. Special guest soloists include mezzo-soprano Nikola Printz and tenor Christopher Oglesby. Ticket prices for the event range between $50 and $200; donations of all amounts will be accepted. \u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘SF Musicians for LA: A Benefit for Fire Relief’ takes place Saturday, March 8, at Davies Symphony Hall. \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfsymphony.org/Buy-Tickets/2024-25/SF-for-LA-Fire-Benefit\">Details here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The wildfires that ravaged Los Angeles burned for four weeks, but Angelenos will spend far longer rebuilding their livelihoods and homes. Clearing toxic ash, assessing damage and dealing with insurance all take an immense amount of time and energy, as does maintaining access to necessities like clean water, shelter and clothing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For musicians, getting back to work comes with the additional costly challenge of replacing instruments, cases, mouthpieces, reeds and bows, among other music-related essentials. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To raise funds for musicians affected by the wildfires, a benefit concert will being held on Saturday, March 8, at Davies Symphony Hall. Presented by the San Francisco Symphony, Musicians of the San Francisco Symphony and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the benefit’s proceeds will be split evenly between two vital organizations: Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles’ ReBUILD LA campaign and the Entertainment Community Fund.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Both organizations offer critical services to wildfire survivors; the ReBUILD LA campaign helps wildfire survivors relocate and provides essential goods, while the Entertainment Community Fund’s emergency financial assistance funds go toward providing health care and covering other basic living expenses. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The concert, featuring pianist Garrick Ohlsson and conducted by Edwin Outwater, will feature Aaron Copland’s “The Promise of Living” (from \u003cem>The Tender Land\u003c/em>), Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 and Dvořák’s “New World” Symphony. Special guest soloists include mezzo-soprano Nikola Printz and tenor Christopher Oglesby. Ticket prices for the event range between $50 and $200; donations of all amounts will be accepted. \u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘SF Musicians for LA: A Benefit for Fire Relief’ takes place Saturday, March 8, at Davies Symphony Hall. \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfsymphony.org/Buy-Tickets/2024-25/SF-for-LA-Fire-Benefit\">Details here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "review-vikingur-olafsson-goldberg-variations-davies-yuja-wang-canceled",
"title": "With Yuja Wang Out, Víkingur Ólafsson Performs a ‘Goldberg Variations’ Full of Life",
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"content": "\u003cp>Mutterings filled Davies Symphony Hall. Some people gasped. Still others, at least 11 that I counted, rose from their seats and left.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And all before a note was played. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Such was the reaction to the stage announcement before Sunday’s concert that Yuja Wang had come down with an affliction, and canceled her appearance with Víkingur Ólafsson of a highly anticipated program for two pianos. The man on stage with the night’s most unenviable job reported that instead, Ólafsson had prepared, on just two hours’ notice, to perform Bach’s complete \u003cem>Goldberg Variations\u003c/em>. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wang has a large, diehard fanbase here in the Bay Area, where an appetite coexists for modern composers like Luciano Berio, John Cage and Conlon Nancarrow, all who had works in the jettisoned program. Stylistically, Bach was a 180-degree turn. And no Wang? In the moment, the disappointment was obvious. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ólafsson, then, entering quickly thereafter, had the night’s hardest job: turning that disappointment around. At least from my perspective, and against the odds, he did.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13972553\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1333px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/3.2.25_KL-1045-Enhanced-NR.jpg\" alt=\"A man in blue slacks and patterned jacket plays the grand piano on a sparsely lit stage\" width=\"1333\" height=\"2000\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13972553\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/3.2.25_KL-1045-Enhanced-NR.jpg 1333w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/3.2.25_KL-1045-Enhanced-NR-800x1200.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/3.2.25_KL-1045-Enhanced-NR-1020x1530.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/3.2.25_KL-1045-Enhanced-NR-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/3.2.25_KL-1045-Enhanced-NR-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/3.2.25_KL-1045-Enhanced-NR-1024x1536.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1333px) 100vw, 1333px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pianist Víkingur Ólafsson performs Bach’s ‘Goldberg Variations’ on March 2, 2025 at Davies Symphony Hall.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Over the course of the 30 variations, Ólafsson upended the reputation of Bach as mathematical. Through tempo, dynamics and a precise command of touch, he made what on paper appears as a musical crossword puzzle into something porous, elastic and alive. At multiple points, he raised his right hand to “conduct” the playing of his left, as if it were a separate organism from the rest of his body. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Icelandic pianist knows this material well. He released a \u003ca href=\"https://www.deutschegrammophon.com/en/artists/vikingur-olafsson/news/vkingur-olafsson-wins-his-first-grammy-275053\">Grammy-winning\u003c/a> recording of the \u003cem>Goldberg Variations\u003c/em> on Deutsche Grammophon in 2023, and in the following year toured it across six continents, including a performance at Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley. On Sunday, across its 75-minute run time, he used no sheet music. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13970454']That familiarity has bred a facility in Ólafsson that was alternately sublime and thrilling to witness. In variation No. 5, his hands performed like electrocuted spiders, jumping over each other with twittering fingers as legs. On challenging variations like No. 14, those fingers competed for real estate on the piano keys with the cutthroat determination of someone trying to rent a place in North Beach. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By about 45 minutes in, my furrowed brow had turned into a ridiculous grin. \u003cem>Can humans really do this?\u003c/em> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But this was more than pyrotechnics. These rapid-fire passages could easily be played rote, and flat. If you want to hear a computer play them, \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-_SNlOHMEQ\">go ahead\u003c/a>. Then check in on Ólafsson’s renditions and get back to me. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13972554\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1333px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/3.2.25_KL-1268-Enhanced-NR.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1333\" height=\"2000\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13972554\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/3.2.25_KL-1268-Enhanced-NR.jpg 1333w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/3.2.25_KL-1268-Enhanced-NR-800x1200.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/3.2.25_KL-1268-Enhanced-NR-1020x1530.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/3.2.25_KL-1268-Enhanced-NR-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/3.2.25_KL-1268-Enhanced-NR-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/3.2.25_KL-1268-Enhanced-NR-1024x1536.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1333px) 100vw, 1333px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pianist Víkingur Ólafsson performs Bach’s ‘Goldberg Variations’ on March 2, 2025 at Davies Symphony Hall. \u003ccite>(Kristen Loken/San Francisco Symphony)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Some additional audience members did leave at periodic times throughout the performance — a half hour in, an hour in, or near the end. The \u003cem>Goldberg Variations\u003c/em> are, to be fair, stylistically similar, and mostly in the same key. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Perhaps Ólafsson had those people on his mind when he addressed the audience after his standing ovation, remarking that “one should never apologize for the \u003cem>Goldberg Variations\u003c/em>, or Johann Sebastian Bach.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ólafsson also explained that Wang had to bow out due to a “crazy infection to her finger,” and that the sudden change in program caused him no small amount of anxiety. He specifically thanked the backstage staff at the San Francisco Symphony for “calming me down.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ideally, he calmed the audience, as well, who were expecting something completely different, and who didn’t receive emails regarding the change; this was due to the last-minute timing of the cancellation, according to the symphony. (A symphony representative confirmed that refunds were given to those who requested them.) \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The San Francisco date would have been the two star pianists’ final tour date together after a string of acclaimed performances. Wang’s next scheduled dates are next week, with Gustavo Dudamel conducting the New York Philharmonic. Ólafsson, meanwhile, heads to his home country this week for performances in Reykjavik.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Mutterings filled Davies Symphony Hall. Some people gasped. Still others, at least 11 that I counted, rose from their seats and left.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And all before a note was played. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Such was the reaction to the stage announcement before Sunday’s concert that Yuja Wang had come down with an affliction, and canceled her appearance with Víkingur Ólafsson of a highly anticipated program for two pianos. The man on stage with the night’s most unenviable job reported that instead, Ólafsson had prepared, on just two hours’ notice, to perform Bach’s complete \u003cem>Goldberg Variations\u003c/em>. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Wang has a large, diehard fanbase here in the Bay Area, where an appetite coexists for modern composers like Luciano Berio, John Cage and Conlon Nancarrow, all who had works in the jettisoned program. Stylistically, Bach was a 180-degree turn. And no Wang? In the moment, the disappointment was obvious. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ólafsson, then, entering quickly thereafter, had the night’s hardest job: turning that disappointment around. At least from my perspective, and against the odds, he did.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13972553\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1333px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/3.2.25_KL-1045-Enhanced-NR.jpg\" alt=\"A man in blue slacks and patterned jacket plays the grand piano on a sparsely lit stage\" width=\"1333\" height=\"2000\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13972553\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/3.2.25_KL-1045-Enhanced-NR.jpg 1333w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/3.2.25_KL-1045-Enhanced-NR-800x1200.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/3.2.25_KL-1045-Enhanced-NR-1020x1530.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/3.2.25_KL-1045-Enhanced-NR-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/3.2.25_KL-1045-Enhanced-NR-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/3.2.25_KL-1045-Enhanced-NR-1024x1536.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1333px) 100vw, 1333px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pianist Víkingur Ólafsson performs Bach’s ‘Goldberg Variations’ on March 2, 2025 at Davies Symphony Hall.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Over the course of the 30 variations, Ólafsson upended the reputation of Bach as mathematical. Through tempo, dynamics and a precise command of touch, he made what on paper appears as a musical crossword puzzle into something porous, elastic and alive. At multiple points, he raised his right hand to “conduct” the playing of his left, as if it were a separate organism from the rest of his body. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Icelandic pianist knows this material well. He released a \u003ca href=\"https://www.deutschegrammophon.com/en/artists/vikingur-olafsson/news/vkingur-olafsson-wins-his-first-grammy-275053\">Grammy-winning\u003c/a> recording of the \u003cem>Goldberg Variations\u003c/em> on Deutsche Grammophon in 2023, and in the following year toured it across six continents, including a performance at Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley. On Sunday, across its 75-minute run time, he used no sheet music. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>That familiarity has bred a facility in Ólafsson that was alternately sublime and thrilling to witness. In variation No. 5, his hands performed like electrocuted spiders, jumping over each other with twittering fingers as legs. On challenging variations like No. 14, those fingers competed for real estate on the piano keys with the cutthroat determination of someone trying to rent a place in North Beach. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>By about 45 minutes in, my furrowed brow had turned into a ridiculous grin. \u003cem>Can humans really do this?\u003c/em> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But this was more than pyrotechnics. These rapid-fire passages could easily be played rote, and flat. If you want to hear a computer play them, \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-_SNlOHMEQ\">go ahead\u003c/a>. Then check in on Ólafsson’s renditions and get back to me. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13972554\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1333px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/3.2.25_KL-1268-Enhanced-NR.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1333\" height=\"2000\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13972554\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/3.2.25_KL-1268-Enhanced-NR.jpg 1333w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/3.2.25_KL-1268-Enhanced-NR-800x1200.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/3.2.25_KL-1268-Enhanced-NR-1020x1530.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/3.2.25_KL-1268-Enhanced-NR-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/3.2.25_KL-1268-Enhanced-NR-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/03/3.2.25_KL-1268-Enhanced-NR-1024x1536.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1333px) 100vw, 1333px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pianist Víkingur Ólafsson performs Bach’s ‘Goldberg Variations’ on March 2, 2025 at Davies Symphony Hall. \u003ccite>(Kristen Loken/San Francisco Symphony)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Some additional audience members did leave at periodic times throughout the performance — a half hour in, an hour in, or near the end. The \u003cem>Goldberg Variations\u003c/em> are, to be fair, stylistically similar, and mostly in the same key. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Perhaps Ólafsson had those people on his mind when he addressed the audience after his standing ovation, remarking that “one should never apologize for the \u003cem>Goldberg Variations\u003c/em>, or Johann Sebastian Bach.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ólafsson also explained that Wang had to bow out due to a “crazy infection to her finger,” and that the sudden change in program caused him no small amount of anxiety. He specifically thanked the backstage staff at the San Francisco Symphony for “calming me down.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ideally, he calmed the audience, as well, who were expecting something completely different, and who didn’t receive emails regarding the change; this was due to the last-minute timing of the cancellation, according to the symphony. (A symphony representative confirmed that refunds were given to those who requested them.) \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The San Francisco date would have been the two star pianists’ final tour date together after a string of acclaimed performances. Wang’s next scheduled dates are next week, with Gustavo Dudamel conducting the New York Philharmonic. Ólafsson, meanwhile, heads to his home country this week for performances in Reykjavik.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Sue Leonardi’s trumpet lay dormant in its case for 14 years until one day in 1997, when one of her neighbors came by to welcome her to her new neighborhood in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/oakland\">Oakland\u003c/a>. He had heard she was a trumpet player and wanted her to join his band. To her own surprise, she said yes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The neighbor’s gig turned out to be a mariachi band, a style of music Leonardi had never played before. But it got her to pick up her horn again and helped erase her regret of having ever set it down in the first place. Leonardi moved on from mariachi to playing with the San Francisco Pride Band, where, at a rehearsal in 2000, a colleague told her there was a women’s orchestra in dire need of a trumpet player. She went to one of their rehearsals, and the rest was history: Twenty-five years later, Leonardi is still playing with that all-women’s group — the \u003ca href=\"https://www.communitywomensorchestra.org/\">Community Women’s Orchestra\u003c/a> in Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel like a women’s orchestra is such an underdog,” said Leonardi. “And I’m a really big fan of underdogs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The orchestra, founded in 1985, was originally created to be a supplementary group to the professional, San Francisco-based Women’s Philharmonic. The two coexisted until 2004, when the Philharmonic shuttered, but the Community Women’s Orchestra carried on. Now, the CWO is one of just a handful of all-women’s orchestras left in the country. “There’s only three that I’m aware of,” says the orchestra’s conductor, Samantha Burgess.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, the CWO is celebrating its 40th anniversary and gearing up for two concerts to commemorate the season. The first of the two is happening Sunday, March 2, ahead of International Women’s Day, and will feature women composers like Louise Farrenc.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What I love about Louise Farrenc is that she was one of the first female professors at the Paris Conservatory of Music,” Burgess says, noting that Farrenc managed to use her success as a composer to demand and win equal pay to her male colleagues in the 1800s. “It’s such a great story,” Burgess says. “I thought it fit really well with the program.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sunday’s concert will be in-person, but for a few years, like so many other organizations, the orchestra had to choose between pausing or moving online when COVID-19 hit. The orchestra opted to go virtual. Leonardi says it’s miraculous that the orchestra made it through the pandemic, especially as an amateur orchestra, considering how badly the live music scene was hit at the time. In the early pandemic years, the CWO was still able to put on three online concerts. Leonardi explains that with the help of a click track (a digital audio track that acts as a metronome), every musician individually recorded their own part, then sent it in to oboe and English horn player Wendy Shiraki, who compiled all of the recordings and turned them into one unified orchestral piece.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It wasn’t easy,” says Leonardi. “But it kept us together.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">[aside postID='arts_13970454,arts_13969242,arts_13967421']\u003c/span>\u003c/span>Throughout its 40 years of existence, the Community Women’s Orchestra has been a home and community for countless musicians and conductors. Leonardi says it’s wonderful to see women of all ages, from their 20s into their 70s, come and go over the years — and to see them gain experience not just with playing instruments, but with composing and conducting too. CWO’s composer-in-residence June Bonacich, for example, once had the orchestra perform a piece she created called “The Visit with Grandpa” in which the tuba part was “grandpa,” and two flutes and a piccolo took on the role of the grandkids.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Burgess feels similarly to Leonardi. “It’s hard to find opportunities as a young female conductor that really allow you to develop and have an outlet for your artistic voice,” she says. “So I feel very lucky to have this group that I can do that with.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When asked what sets the CWO apart in being able to keep its doors open after so many years, Leonardi says she wishes she knew. Maybe it’s because the orchestra isn’t professional level, because it’s based in Oakland, because it doesn’t require auditions. Maybe it’s just that there are so many women interested in celebrating and uplifting other women in music.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I really don’t know what the key is,” she says. “I just think it’s miraculous that we’re still here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>The Community Women’s Orchestra concert “La Femme Francaise” will be on Sunday, March 2 at 4 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church of Oakland (2619 Broadway). Get tickets \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.communitywomensorchestra.org/concert-tickets\">\u003ci>here\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Sue Leonardi’s trumpet lay dormant in its case for 14 years until one day in 1997, when one of her neighbors came by to welcome her to her new neighborhood in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/oakland\">Oakland\u003c/a>. He had heard she was a trumpet player and wanted her to join his band. To her own surprise, she said yes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The neighbor’s gig turned out to be a mariachi band, a style of music Leonardi had never played before. But it got her to pick up her horn again and helped erase her regret of having ever set it down in the first place. Leonardi moved on from mariachi to playing with the San Francisco Pride Band, where, at a rehearsal in 2000, a colleague told her there was a women’s orchestra in dire need of a trumpet player. She went to one of their rehearsals, and the rest was history: Twenty-five years later, Leonardi is still playing with that all-women’s group — the \u003ca href=\"https://www.communitywomensorchestra.org/\">Community Women’s Orchestra\u003c/a> in Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I feel like a women’s orchestra is such an underdog,” said Leonardi. “And I’m a really big fan of underdogs.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The orchestra, founded in 1985, was originally created to be a supplementary group to the professional, San Francisco-based Women’s Philharmonic. The two coexisted until 2004, when the Philharmonic shuttered, but the Community Women’s Orchestra carried on. Now, the CWO is one of just a handful of all-women’s orchestras left in the country. “There’s only three that I’m aware of,” says the orchestra’s conductor, Samantha Burgess.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, the CWO is celebrating its 40th anniversary and gearing up for two concerts to commemorate the season. The first of the two is happening Sunday, March 2, ahead of International Women’s Day, and will feature women composers like Louise Farrenc.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What I love about Louise Farrenc is that she was one of the first female professors at the Paris Conservatory of Music,” Burgess says, noting that Farrenc managed to use her success as a composer to demand and win equal pay to her male colleagues in the 1800s. “It’s such a great story,” Burgess says. “I thought it fit really well with the program.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sunday’s concert will be in-person, but for a few years, like so many other organizations, the orchestra had to choose between pausing or moving online when COVID-19 hit. The orchestra opted to go virtual. Leonardi says it’s miraculous that the orchestra made it through the pandemic, especially as an amateur orchestra, considering how badly the live music scene was hit at the time. In the early pandemic years, the CWO was still able to put on three online concerts. Leonardi explains that with the help of a click track (a digital audio track that acts as a metronome), every musician individually recorded their own part, then sent it in to oboe and English horn player Wendy Shiraki, who compiled all of the recordings and turned them into one unified orchestral piece.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It wasn’t easy,” says Leonardi. “But it kept us together.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"color: #2b2b2b;font-weight: 400\">\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/span>\u003c/span>Throughout its 40 years of existence, the Community Women’s Orchestra has been a home and community for countless musicians and conductors. Leonardi says it’s wonderful to see women of all ages, from their 20s into their 70s, come and go over the years — and to see them gain experience not just with playing instruments, but with composing and conducting too. CWO’s composer-in-residence June Bonacich, for example, once had the orchestra perform a piece she created called “The Visit with Grandpa” in which the tuba part was “grandpa,” and two flutes and a piccolo took on the role of the grandkids.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Burgess feels similarly to Leonardi. “It’s hard to find opportunities as a young female conductor that really allow you to develop and have an outlet for your artistic voice,” she says. “So I feel very lucky to have this group that I can do that with.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When asked what sets the CWO apart in being able to keep its doors open after so many years, Leonardi says she wishes she knew. Maybe it’s because the orchestra isn’t professional level, because it’s based in Oakland, because it doesn’t require auditions. Maybe it’s just that there are so many women interested in celebrating and uplifting other women in music.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I really don’t know what the key is,” she says. “I just think it’s miraculous that we’re still here.”\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ci>The Community Women’s Orchestra concert “La Femme Francaise” will be on Sunday, March 2 at 4 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church of Oakland (2619 Broadway). Get tickets \u003c/i>\u003ca href=\"https://www.communitywomensorchestra.org/concert-tickets\">\u003ci>here\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003ci>.\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>One of my favorite moments in John Adams’ 2008 autobiography \u003cem>Hallelujah Junction\u003c/em> comes when Adams, as a teenager on the East Coast, decides to sit next to Duke Ellington on his piano bench — \u003cem>while Ellington is in the middle of a concert\u003c/em>. I love the brashness of this act; it is borne not of rudeness but a pure, unfiltered enthusiasm, with which I am very familiar. Adams studies Ellington’s fingers on the keys, and his subtle communication signals to the rest of the band, getting a close-up of a master at work. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During Thursday night’s world premiere with the San Francisco Symphony of Adams’ extraordinary new piano concerto, \u003cem>After the Fall\u003c/em>, I kept returning to that image, of a young Adams soaking up game from an American genius, fascinated with jazz and its possibilities. Adams has unlocked those possibilities time and time again, incorporating syncopation from swing-era dance bands into his works, alongside ingredients from Nancarrow, Webern and others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With \u003cem>After the Fall\u003c/em>, performed Thursday night with David Robertson conducting and Víkingur Ólafsson at the piano, that melding becomes so natural as to almost be imperceptible, fully assimilated into Adams’ singular musical language. It’s a remarkable composition, one which unties all the knots of his previous piano concerto (2020’s beautiful and dense \u003cem>Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes?\u003c/em>). A recording of it cannot come soon enough. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13970487\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/2425-Concerts-JohnAdamsCarminaBurana-Brandon-Patoc_0046.jpg\" alt=\"A young man in glasses and black suit sitting at a grand piano, playing\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13970487\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/2425-Concerts-JohnAdamsCarminaBurana-Brandon-Patoc_0046.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/2425-Concerts-JohnAdamsCarminaBurana-Brandon-Patoc_0046-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/2425-Concerts-JohnAdamsCarminaBurana-Brandon-Patoc_0046-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/2425-Concerts-JohnAdamsCarminaBurana-Brandon-Patoc_0046-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/2425-Concerts-JohnAdamsCarminaBurana-Brandon-Patoc_0046-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/2425-Concerts-JohnAdamsCarminaBurana-Brandon-Patoc_0046-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/2425-Concerts-JohnAdamsCarminaBurana-Brandon-Patoc_0046-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson performs with the San Francisco Symphony during the world premiere of John Adams’ piano concerto ‘After the Fall’ at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco on Jan. 16, 2025. \u003ccite>(Brandon Patoc/San Francisco Symphony)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>After opening with cascading notes on harp and celeste reminiscent of Bernard Herrmann’s \u003cem>Vertigo\u003c/em> score, Thursday’s world premiere at Davies Symphony Hall of \u003cem>After the Fall\u003c/em> presented blissful, clustered melodies on the piano, and the type of sharp jabs that Ellington once delivered on his piano from the brass and woodwinds. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’ve never thought of Adams’ music as film soundtrack fodder, but \u003cem>After the Fall\u003c/em> is laden with imagery — fields, flight, turbulence, pursuit, heartbeat. The serene second movement is a slow float through mild gales of wind. To my liking, it could have been even more quiet, and Ólafsson’s touch lighter, leading up to a pivot in which the orchestra thunders in. More pianissimo beforehand would add contrast, instead of the passages Silly-Puttying into each other. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13919101']But oh! That third movement! Jazz soloists \u003ca href=\"https://peterspitzer.blogspot.com/2011/12/charlie-parkers-musical-quotes.html\">“quote” from other standards\u003c/a> as a tradition, but it’s less common in classical music. I swear I heard a bit of the 1940s standard “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_POsNlkeYo\">Undecided\u003c/a>” in the third movement, but then came an interpolation of Bach’s “The Well-Tempered Clavier,” recontextualized in Adams’ landscape, like a skilled DJ blend that makes you ask, “Why hasn’t it been this way all along?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If Ólafsson was having fun in the final minutes, a thrill ride increasing in intensity, his science-teacher demeanor didn’t betray it. But Robertson turned to Ólafsson multiple times with the joy of creation written upon his face. At the end, as a few harp notes faded, Ólafsson recoiled, leaning backward on the piano bench, like he’d just slayed something exquisite. It took three curtain calls, with Adams himself eventually joining, to quell the sustained standing ovation that followed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13970485\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/2425-Concerts-JohnAdamsCarminaBurana-Brandon-Patoc_0053.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13970485\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/2425-Concerts-JohnAdamsCarminaBurana-Brandon-Patoc_0053.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/2425-Concerts-JohnAdamsCarminaBurana-Brandon-Patoc_0053-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/2425-Concerts-JohnAdamsCarminaBurana-Brandon-Patoc_0053-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/2425-Concerts-JohnAdamsCarminaBurana-Brandon-Patoc_0053-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/2425-Concerts-JohnAdamsCarminaBurana-Brandon-Patoc_0053-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/2425-Concerts-JohnAdamsCarminaBurana-Brandon-Patoc_0053-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/2425-Concerts-JohnAdamsCarminaBurana-Brandon-Patoc_0053-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Composer John Adams, onstage with conductor David Robertson (at left) and pianist Víkingur Ólafsson (at right), after the world premiere with the San Francisco Symphony of Adams’ piano concerto ‘After the Fall’ at Davies Symphony Hall on Jan. 16, 2025. \u003ccite>(Brandon Patoc/San Francisco Symphony)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Preceding \u003cem>After the Fall\u003c/em> in Thursday’s program was Charles Ives’ \u003cem>The Unanswered Question\u003c/em>, a piece as delicate as damp tissue paper. This pairing with Adams made sense. What came after the intermission did not. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People either love or hate Carl Orff’s \u003cem>Carmina Burana\u003c/em>. I am in the latter camp, but had never before heard it live. It was performed very well, and I now dislike it more. Forever associated with Nazis, to my ear, it’s essentially overpuffed emo poetry set to gaudy, ostentatious music ripped off to profitable effect in Hollywood. Bereft of ambiguity or nuance, it is the orchestral equivalent of a Hawk Tuah podcast episode. Lyrically, its primary message seems to be “sex is cool.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13970488\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/2425-Concerts-JohnAdamsCarminaBurana-Brandon-Patoc_0075.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13970488\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/2425-Concerts-JohnAdamsCarminaBurana-Brandon-Patoc_0075.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/2425-Concerts-JohnAdamsCarminaBurana-Brandon-Patoc_0075-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/2425-Concerts-JohnAdamsCarminaBurana-Brandon-Patoc_0075-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/2425-Concerts-JohnAdamsCarminaBurana-Brandon-Patoc_0075-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/2425-Concerts-JohnAdamsCarminaBurana-Brandon-Patoc_0075-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/2425-Concerts-JohnAdamsCarminaBurana-Brandon-Patoc_0075-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/2425-Concerts-JohnAdamsCarminaBurana-Brandon-Patoc_0075-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The San Francisco Symphony Chorus joins the orchestra, with soloists Will Liverman and Susanna Phillips seated, for a performace of Carl Orff’s ‘Carmina Burana’ at Davies Symphony Hall on Jan. 16, 2025. \u003ccite>(Brandon Patoc/San Francisco Symphony)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>With apologies to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13969387/san-francisco-symphony-chorus-agreement\">symphony chorus\u003c/a> led by Jenny Wong, the wonderful soloists (Will Liverman, Susanna Phillips and Arnold Livingston Geis) and the San Francisco Girls Chorus — and acknowledging the enthusiasm of my fellow concertgoers throughout the hall — it moved me not a bit.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfsymphony.org/Buy-Tickets/2024-25/carmina-burana\">John Adams’ ‘After the Fall’ and Carl Orff’s ‘Carmina Burana’\u003c/a> repeat on Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 18 and 19, at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco. \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfsymphony.org/Buy-Tickets/2024-25/carmina-burana\">Details here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>One of my favorite moments in John Adams’ 2008 autobiography \u003cem>Hallelujah Junction\u003c/em> comes when Adams, as a teenager on the East Coast, decides to sit next to Duke Ellington on his piano bench — \u003cem>while Ellington is in the middle of a concert\u003c/em>. I love the brashness of this act; it is borne not of rudeness but a pure, unfiltered enthusiasm, with which I am very familiar. Adams studies Ellington’s fingers on the keys, and his subtle communication signals to the rest of the band, getting a close-up of a master at work. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During Thursday night’s world premiere with the San Francisco Symphony of Adams’ extraordinary new piano concerto, \u003cem>After the Fall\u003c/em>, I kept returning to that image, of a young Adams soaking up game from an American genius, fascinated with jazz and its possibilities. Adams has unlocked those possibilities time and time again, incorporating syncopation from swing-era dance bands into his works, alongside ingredients from Nancarrow, Webern and others.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With \u003cem>After the Fall\u003c/em>, performed Thursday night with David Robertson conducting and Víkingur Ólafsson at the piano, that melding becomes so natural as to almost be imperceptible, fully assimilated into Adams’ singular musical language. It’s a remarkable composition, one which unties all the knots of his previous piano concerto (2020’s beautiful and dense \u003cem>Must the Devil Have All the Good Tunes?\u003c/em>). A recording of it cannot come soon enough. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13970487\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/2425-Concerts-JohnAdamsCarminaBurana-Brandon-Patoc_0046.jpg\" alt=\"A young man in glasses and black suit sitting at a grand piano, playing\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13970487\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/2425-Concerts-JohnAdamsCarminaBurana-Brandon-Patoc_0046.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/2425-Concerts-JohnAdamsCarminaBurana-Brandon-Patoc_0046-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/2425-Concerts-JohnAdamsCarminaBurana-Brandon-Patoc_0046-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/2425-Concerts-JohnAdamsCarminaBurana-Brandon-Patoc_0046-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/2425-Concerts-JohnAdamsCarminaBurana-Brandon-Patoc_0046-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/2425-Concerts-JohnAdamsCarminaBurana-Brandon-Patoc_0046-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/2425-Concerts-JohnAdamsCarminaBurana-Brandon-Patoc_0046-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson performs with the San Francisco Symphony during the world premiere of John Adams’ piano concerto ‘After the Fall’ at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco on Jan. 16, 2025. \u003ccite>(Brandon Patoc/San Francisco Symphony)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>After opening with cascading notes on harp and celeste reminiscent of Bernard Herrmann’s \u003cem>Vertigo\u003c/em> score, Thursday’s world premiere at Davies Symphony Hall of \u003cem>After the Fall\u003c/em> presented blissful, clustered melodies on the piano, and the type of sharp jabs that Ellington once delivered on his piano from the brass and woodwinds. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’ve never thought of Adams’ music as film soundtrack fodder, but \u003cem>After the Fall\u003c/em> is laden with imagery — fields, flight, turbulence, pursuit, heartbeat. The serene second movement is a slow float through mild gales of wind. To my liking, it could have been even more quiet, and Ólafsson’s touch lighter, leading up to a pivot in which the orchestra thunders in. More pianissimo beforehand would add contrast, instead of the passages Silly-Puttying into each other. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>But oh! That third movement! Jazz soloists \u003ca href=\"https://peterspitzer.blogspot.com/2011/12/charlie-parkers-musical-quotes.html\">“quote” from other standards\u003c/a> as a tradition, but it’s less common in classical music. I swear I heard a bit of the 1940s standard “\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_POsNlkeYo\">Undecided\u003c/a>” in the third movement, but then came an interpolation of Bach’s “The Well-Tempered Clavier,” recontextualized in Adams’ landscape, like a skilled DJ blend that makes you ask, “Why hasn’t it been this way all along?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If Ólafsson was having fun in the final minutes, a thrill ride increasing in intensity, his science-teacher demeanor didn’t betray it. But Robertson turned to Ólafsson multiple times with the joy of creation written upon his face. At the end, as a few harp notes faded, Ólafsson recoiled, leaning backward on the piano bench, like he’d just slayed something exquisite. It took three curtain calls, with Adams himself eventually joining, to quell the sustained standing ovation that followed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13970485\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/2425-Concerts-JohnAdamsCarminaBurana-Brandon-Patoc_0053.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13970485\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/2425-Concerts-JohnAdamsCarminaBurana-Brandon-Patoc_0053.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/2425-Concerts-JohnAdamsCarminaBurana-Brandon-Patoc_0053-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/2425-Concerts-JohnAdamsCarminaBurana-Brandon-Patoc_0053-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/2425-Concerts-JohnAdamsCarminaBurana-Brandon-Patoc_0053-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/2425-Concerts-JohnAdamsCarminaBurana-Brandon-Patoc_0053-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/2425-Concerts-JohnAdamsCarminaBurana-Brandon-Patoc_0053-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/2425-Concerts-JohnAdamsCarminaBurana-Brandon-Patoc_0053-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Composer John Adams, onstage with conductor David Robertson (at left) and pianist Víkingur Ólafsson (at right), after the world premiere with the San Francisco Symphony of Adams’ piano concerto ‘After the Fall’ at Davies Symphony Hall on Jan. 16, 2025. \u003ccite>(Brandon Patoc/San Francisco Symphony)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Preceding \u003cem>After the Fall\u003c/em> in Thursday’s program was Charles Ives’ \u003cem>The Unanswered Question\u003c/em>, a piece as delicate as damp tissue paper. This pairing with Adams made sense. What came after the intermission did not. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>People either love or hate Carl Orff’s \u003cem>Carmina Burana\u003c/em>. I am in the latter camp, but had never before heard it live. It was performed very well, and I now dislike it more. Forever associated with Nazis, to my ear, it’s essentially overpuffed emo poetry set to gaudy, ostentatious music ripped off to profitable effect in Hollywood. Bereft of ambiguity or nuance, it is the orchestral equivalent of a Hawk Tuah podcast episode. Lyrically, its primary message seems to be “sex is cool.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13970488\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/2425-Concerts-JohnAdamsCarminaBurana-Brandon-Patoc_0075.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13970488\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/2425-Concerts-JohnAdamsCarminaBurana-Brandon-Patoc_0075.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/2425-Concerts-JohnAdamsCarminaBurana-Brandon-Patoc_0075-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/2425-Concerts-JohnAdamsCarminaBurana-Brandon-Patoc_0075-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/2425-Concerts-JohnAdamsCarminaBurana-Brandon-Patoc_0075-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/2425-Concerts-JohnAdamsCarminaBurana-Brandon-Patoc_0075-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/2425-Concerts-JohnAdamsCarminaBurana-Brandon-Patoc_0075-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/2425-Concerts-JohnAdamsCarminaBurana-Brandon-Patoc_0075-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The San Francisco Symphony Chorus joins the orchestra, with soloists Will Liverman and Susanna Phillips seated, for a performace of Carl Orff’s ‘Carmina Burana’ at Davies Symphony Hall on Jan. 16, 2025. \u003ccite>(Brandon Patoc/San Francisco Symphony)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>With apologies to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13969387/san-francisco-symphony-chorus-agreement\">symphony chorus\u003c/a> led by Jenny Wong, the wonderful soloists (Will Liverman, Susanna Phillips and Arnold Livingston Geis) and the San Francisco Girls Chorus — and acknowledging the enthusiasm of my fellow concertgoers throughout the hall — it moved me not a bit.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfsymphony.org/Buy-Tickets/2024-25/carmina-burana\">John Adams’ ‘After the Fall’ and Carl Orff’s ‘Carmina Burana’\u003c/a> repeat on Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 18 and 19, at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco. \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfsymphony.org/Buy-Tickets/2024-25/carmina-burana\">Details here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "the-10-best-classical-albums-of-2024",
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"content": "\u003cp>The year 2024 was an emotional roller coaster. Wars kept rampaging, a tortured election season further divided an already polarized nation and climate change served up the most scorching summer on record. Still, in the midst of the chaos, I found astonishing beauty in many places: Simone Biles’ performances at the Paris Olympics, the kaleidoscopic late-night aurora borealis light shows and in much soul-nourishing music that helped mitigate those low points in what remains a wild ride.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I witnessed astounding performances this year, too many to describe in total. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/artists/16354188/berlin-philharmonic-orchestra\">Berlin Philharmonic\u003c/a> proved that \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/artists/15033227/antonin-dvorak\">Dvorak\u003c/a>‘s Seventh Symphony is the jewel in his crown, while the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra luxuriated in \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/artists/15438778/sergey-rachmaninov\">Rachmaninoff\u003c/a>‘s Second. Pianist \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/artists/112055562/marc-andre-hamelin\">Marc-André Hamelin\u003c/a> paid homage to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/artists/90901153/charles-ives\">Charles Ives\u003c/a> sesquicentennial with an uncanny performance of the knuckle-twisting “Concord” Sonata, and the redoubtable Evgeny Kissin offered electrifying \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/artists/15866095/sergey-prokofiev\">Prokofiev\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/artists/15379968/frederic-chopin\">Chopin\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/artists/89532661/meredith-monk\">Meredith Monk\u003c/a>, still spry in her 80s, danced and sang in her restorative theatre work \u003cem>Indra’s Net\u003c/em>. Soprano \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/artists/940390176/julia-bullock\">Julia Bullock\u003c/a> delivered a diverse range of songs from \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/artists/15193203/bob-dylan\">Bob Dylan\u003c/a> to \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/artists/89529197/francis-poulenc\">Francis Poulenc\u003c/a> in recital, and took the lead in a colorful version of \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/artists/14996733/john-adams\">John Adams\u003c/a>‘ \u003cem>El Niño\u003c/em> at the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/artists/869938581/metropolitan-opera\">Metropolitan Opera\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/artists/15189623/sigur-r-s\">Sigur Rós\u003c/a> toured with a full orchestra. And then, there was the seamless blend of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/artists/570269172/estonian-philharmonic-chamber-choir\">Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir\u003c/a>, pairing \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/artists/91476506/giovanni-pierluigi-da-palestrina\">Palestrina\u003c/a> with \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/artists/16070552/arvo-part\">Arvo Pärt\u003c/a> in an unforgettable evening in a small church.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13967712']Naturally, not all of my favorite artists were touring this year, but many were in the studio, making terrific albums. The 10 recordings below, plus a few honorable mentions, kept my ears focused and delighted throughout the year. Opera singers Aigul Akhmetshina and \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/artists/1050164280/emily-dangelo\">Emily D’Angelo\u003c/a> submitted two satisfying approaches — Akhmetshina releasing a standard arias album while D’Angelo filled hers mostly with folk and pop songs, imaginatively arranged.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Women composers, still too often overlooked in concert halls, have released amazing albums this year — a glittering symphonic tour-de-force from Mexico’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2024/10/04/nx-s1-5081260/the-borderless-music-of-gabriela-ortiz\">Gabriela Ortiz\u003c/a>, ethereal choral works by Lithuania’s Žibuoklė Martinaitytė and warm-hearted melodies for soloists and chamber orchestra from the Brit \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/artists/884906471/anna-clyne\">Anna Clyne\u003c/a>. Lutenist Jakob Lindberg lowered my stubbornly high blood pressure, as did a shimmering ambient adventure from Christopher Rountree.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The albums below were sources of joy, introspection and hope for me this year. Perhaps they’ll do the same for you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmnH7iFEYLk\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 22px;font-weight: bold\">Gabriela Ortiz, \u003c/span>\u003cem style=\"font-size: 22px;font-weight: bold\">Revolución Diamantina\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>For Those Who Like: \u003c/strong>Stravinsky, social justice, Mexico\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Story:\u003c/strong> With a colorful family history in her native Mexico — including a grandfather who worked as Pancho Villa’s physician and parents who founded a popular Latin American folk group — Gabriela Ortiz has slowly emerged as one of today’s must-hear composers. Luckily, hearing her is easier than ever, as she’s in residence this season at Carnegie Hall. Her luminous orchestral works have been championed by star conductor Gustavo Dudamel, who calls her one of the most talented composers in the world and leads the Los Angeles Philharmonic on this dazzling album.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Music: \u003c/strong>Ortiz says \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2024/10/04/nx-s1-5081260/the-borderless-music-of-gabriela-ortiz\">music has no borders\u003c/a>, and she practices what she preaches. Her compositional voice is singular, but the jagged rhythms in Act IV of this politically charged ballet almost out-Stravinsky Stravinsky, just moments after oscillating figures in the winds channel John Adams. A Huichol folk melody from Mexico’s western Sierra Madres inspires the colorful symphonic showpiece \u003cem>Kauyumari\u003c/em>, and in \u003cem>Altar de Cuerda\u003c/em>, an atmospheric violin concerto played with precision and passion by Maria Dueñas, you might hear the ghosts of 20th century modernists György Ligeti and Olivier Messiaen. With this album, the distinctive, hardworking composer finally relishes the spotlight she has deserved for years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3e0Nim9XuM\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Maya Beiser, \u003cem>Maya Beiser x Terry Riley: In C\u003c/em>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>For Those Who Like: \u003c/strong>Steve Reich, cellos, magic mushrooms\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Story:\u003c/strong> It’s pretty gutsy to take on a revered, pioneering piece of minimalism designed for a couple dozen people to play and reduce it to only a stack of cello loops and a pair of percussionists. But cellist Maya Beiser has triumphed, releasing one of the most groove-laden and listenable renditions of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13967712/in-c-terry-riley-minimalism-music-history-maya-beiser\">\u003cem>In C\u003c/em>, Terry Riley\u003c/a>‘s enduring 60-year-old score. And it’s fitting that Beiser deploys loops for her version, given that the seeds of \u003cem>In C\u003c/em> were sown in Riley’s earlier experiments in cutting and looping tape.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Music: \u003c/strong>Beiser’s vision is all about pulses, drones and the low C string of her instrument, which tends to ricochet off drummers Shane Shanahan and Matt Kilmer. She likes to unfurl long, singing cello lines over oscillating beats, creating grooves with the power to intoxicate or get you wired for an all-night road trip. In one section, she interleaves her voice with cello in a nod to the medieval vocal technique of hocketing. In another, she distorts her instrument and amps up the beat, creating a kind of headbanging grunge moment. Along the way, Beiser cuts the engine to provide a couple of calming rest stops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBqsViTL1G8\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Emily D’Angelo, \u003cem>Freezing\u003c/em>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>For Those Who Like: \u003c/strong>June Tabor, Kathleen Ferrier, voluptuous voices\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Story: \u003c/strong>Emerging opera stars aren’t supposed to release albums stuffed with folk and pop songs, but the velvet-voiced Canadian mezzo-soprano has done just that, tossing off old British ballads and a Randy Newman number with supreme beauty and homespun confidence. She can sing Mozart and Rossini as well as anyone today, and never mind at all that she opened the Metropolitan Opera season this fall — her curious mind, smart curation and inherently gorgeous instrument are enough to render this decidedly non-operatic album essential listening.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Music: \u003c/strong>Spanning five centuries, D’Angelo’s eclectic vocal mixtape ranges from \u003cem>Grounded\u003c/em>, the brand new opera written for her by Jeanine Tesori, to a song by Elizabethan gloom master John Dowland, to a synth-laden arrangement of the English ballad “Cold Blows the Wind,” inspired by \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/artists/16518232/ween\">Ween\u003c/a>. The title track is a fresh take of a Philip Glass/Suzanne Vega collaboration that unleashes a molten electric guitar. The mood of \u003cem>Freezing\u003c/em> is wistful, lovelorn and a little chilly, but D’Angelo’s buttery, burgundy-colored voice, concise diction and luxurious phrasing is your warm fire to keep away the cold.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MkoTjjs1jg\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Christopher Rountree, \u003cem>3 BPM\u003c/em>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>For Those Who Like: \u003c/strong>Brian Eno, Julius Eastman, chill rooms\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Story:\u003c/strong> Composer-conductor Christopher Rountree is perhaps best known as the founder and leader of Wild Up, the Los Angeles-based new music outfit responsible for resuscitating (on four extraordinary albums) the lost music of Julius Eastman. This year, with help from his band, the piano duo Hocket and intrepid violist Nadia Sirota, Rountree released \u003cem>3 BPM\u003c/em>, a 28-minute safe haven for calming reflection. The music also serves as a lasting tribute to pianist and composer Sarah Gibson (one half of Hocket), \u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2024/07/19/sarah-gibson-composer-dead-obituary/\">who died\u003c/a> in July at 38 — a cruel gut punch to the new music community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Music: \u003c/strong>\u003cem>3 BPM \u003c/em>(three beats per minute) is a flight through tranquil spaces marked with little episodes of euphoria. Brian Eno’s ambient music may come to mind, and Eastman’s jubilance. But Rountree has crafted his own musical language here, one he’s called a musical framework for togetherness. A tolling piano and a whoosh of air usher us into the piece; by the time we reach our final stop with “Almanac,” a wheezy viola emerges and gently rolled piano chords bloom like a celestial portal opening, calling you to travel beyond yourself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RkhxEiXLtw\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Experiential Orchestra, \u003cem>American Counterpoints\u003c/em>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>For those Who Like: \u003c/strong>Bartók, violin concertos, musical archeology\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Story: \u003c/strong>This long overdue release spotlights two singular Black American composers whose music had fallen into neglect. Julia Perry found success in the 1950s after her \u003cem>Stabat Mater\u003c/em> debuted and a Guggenheim Fellowship funded her study with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. But the 1960s brought health and financial problems, and when she died in 1979 her music was all but forgotten. Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson’s music was also overlooked until after his death in 2004. A versatile pianist who collaborated with Marvin Gaye and Max Roach, Perkinson composed in a variety of idioms for television, film and the concert hall. He co-founded an orchestra and was a key figure at the Center for Black Music Research at Chicago’s Columbia College.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Music:\u003c/strong> The album is anchored by Perry’s austere, sometimes Bartók-leaning Violin Concerto from 1968, whose score was left in disarray. This newly reconstructed version receives a probing performance by soloist Curtis Stewart and the Experiential Orchestra. Perry’s experimental style emerges in the darkly hued \u003cem>Symphony in One Movement for Violas and Basses\u003c/em>, while an almost Copland-like freshness pervades her Prelude for Strings. Perkinson proves a formidable presence in his Sinfonietta No. 1, composed when he was all of 22, the opening movement of which elegantly weaves strands of baroque counterpoint that would make Handel jealous. Stewart gets down and gritty for Perkinson’s \u003cem>Louisiana Blues Strut: A Cakewalk\u003c/em>, which, in its slurred and syncopated lines, conjures Black music from before the Civil War.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiZftXoSL3o\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Žibuoklė Martinaitytė, \u003cem>Aletheia\u003c/em>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>For Those Who Like: \u003c/strong>Björk, Tanya Tagaq, choirs\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Story:\u003c/strong> Žibuoklė Martinaitytė, raised in Soviet-era Lithuania and now a denizen of New York, has emerged as a composer poised for maximum visibility. Those following her career understand her command of a symphony orchestra, via recordings released on the Finnish Ondine label. Her latest proves she may also be one of the leading choral composers of our time — a sonically shimmering album for unaccompanied chorus featuring magnificent performances by the Latvian Radio Choir, which continues to assert itself as perhaps the finest chorus singing today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Music:\u003c/strong> No actual words are sung on \u003cem>Aletheia\u003c/em>. Martinaitytė trusts in styles of vocalizing that communicate beyond language, not unlike Meredith Monk. The title track, composed during the onset of the war in Ukraine, gives voice to resilient people under siege in passages of bottled claustrophobia and joyous “whooping.” \u003cem>Chant des Voyelles\u003c/em>, where only vowels are sung, evokes clouds of heavenly synthesizers, radiant and breathtaking when the choir is in full cry. \u003cem>Ululations\u003c/em> is at once beautiful and terrifying, a symphonic weave of vocalizing that is halfway between howling and yodeling. In this complex music, the choir offers its signature unified blend of sounds, transparent and seemingly limitless in color and lighting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNPYRprKQ6Q\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Anna Clyne, \u003cem>Shorthand\u003c/em>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>For Those Who Like: \u003c/strong>Yo-Yo Ma, strings, mandolins\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Story: \u003c/strong>In college, British composer Anna Clyne made a last-minute pivot from literature to music. She was already 20 when she took up her first formal composition lessons, and after she moved to New York in 2002, she spent time as a florist and even contemplated investment banking. It was a glowing email from Steve Reich, telling her she was “the real deal” after looking over one of her pieces, that helped Clyne’s career to fully blossom. Today, she’s one of the most commissioned composers, writing music that can be experimental — she’s developed software to shapeshift the sounds of individual instruments in live symphonic performances — but always unapologetically melodic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Music: \u003c/strong>Yo-Yo Ma’s burnished cello tone caresses the lachrymose theme of the title track, a miniature cello concerto inspired by Tolstoy’s quote that “Music is the shorthand of emotion.” Clyne isn’t afraid to spin opulent, wistful melodies, nowhere more so than in the album’s impassioned centerpiece, \u003cem>Within Her Arms\u003c/em>, an elegy for strings written in response to the death of her mother. Mandolinist Avi Avital twinkles, shreds and sweetly serenades in the concerto \u003cem>Three Sisters\u003c/em>, inspired by the stars in Orion’s belt. \u003cem>Prince of Clouds\u003c/em>, a sensuous double concerto for two violins, finds committed soloists in Colin Jacobsen and Pekka Kuusisto. And throughout, the New York-based orchestra The Knights plays the music like it was written just for them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3MFRRF189Q\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Aigul Akhmetshina, \u003cem>Aigul\u003c/em>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>For Those Who Like: \u003c/strong>Bizet’s \u003cem>Carmen\u003c/em>, the Republic of Bashkortostan, fresh opera stars\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Story: \u003c/strong>Mezzo-soprano Aigul Akhmetshina’s rise to fame reads like a fairy tale. Raised by a single mom in a rural village in Bashkortostan, she learned music on her grandfather’s accordion because space and finances precluded a piano in their small apartment. At just 14, she moved away to study, supporting herself by entertaining as a stilt walker and waiting tables. After being denied admission to a Moscow conservatory, and then suffering a debilitating car accident, she tossed all her singing awards in a box she labeled “Aigul’s Bulls***” and called it quits. But her teacher was persuasive. Akhmetshina rehabilitated her voice, landed in a young artists program in London (without speaking English) and, at 21, got her big break singing \u003cem>Carmen\u003c/em> at London’s storied Covent Garden.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Music: \u003c/strong>Naturally, scenes from \u003cem>Carmen\u003c/em> dominate this debut album. Hearing her plush, aubergine-colored voice, coquettish and confident in the drama, one understands why she’s in top demand for the role. Better still are two arias from Massenet’s emotionally fraught \u003cem>Werther\u003c/em>. In the “Letter Scene,” where the character nervously reads letters from her troubled lover, you can hear a complex swirl of regret, fear and guilt in Akhmetshina’s voice. Selections from Bellini’s \u003cem>I Capuleti e I Montecchi\u003c/em> and Rossini’s \u003cem>La Cenerentola\u003c/em> and \u003cem>The Barber of Seville\u003c/em> show off her seamless agility throughout the registers, with ringing top notes and smoldering low ones. At 28, the young mezzo has a full career ahead, and opera fans will want to keep their ears open.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spaekeaBiVE\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Jakob Lindberg, \u003cem>Robert De Visée: Theorbo Solos\u003c/em>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>For Those Who Like: \u003c/strong>guitars, Baroque elegance, quiet cups of tea\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Story:\u003c/strong> The French lutenist and composer Robert de Visée could often be found serenading his boss, Louis XIV, at his bedside. He also taught the monarch how to play the guitar. Fast forward about 300 years to the Swedish musician Jakob Lindberg, who as a teen picked up the guitar after hearing The Beatles, then turned to early music and studied in London. Now, in his early 70s, Lindberg is a lute magus who performs on his various instruments around the world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Music: \u003c/strong>In this collection of suites and pieces by de Visée, Lindberg deploys a particularly large theorbo — a member of the lute family, in this case a spectacular five-footer that boasts a kaleidoscope of colors and luxurious low bass strings. The “Musette” from the G-major suite offers a sparkling melody, steady bass line and strumming to imitate a bagpipe. But not all is delicate and rosy; deep pain is found in the low, thrumming strings in the “Tombeau” that de Visée wrote to mourn the deaths of his two daughters. This is an exquisite, quiet album for our very loud world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCbFcAG0jJY\u003c/p>\n\u003ch3>Timo Andres, \u003cem>The Blind Banister\u003c/em>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>For Those Who Like: \u003c/strong>Nico Muhly, piano concertos, Pulitzer finalists\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Story:\u003c/strong> Timo Andres, a thoughtful pianist-composer who turns 40 next year, has his agile fingers in many pies. Last year, he edited \u003cem>Philip Glass Piano Etudes\u003c/em>, a new edition of the music, which he performed in various venues. Earlier this year, his orchestrations graced the Sufjan Stevens-inspired Broadway show \u003cem>Illinoise\u003c/em>. And the title work of his third album, a piano concerto called \u003cem>The Blind Banister\u003c/em>, earned much-deserved street cred after it became a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2016. This is the work’s recorded debut, with the composer as soloist and tailor-made accompaniment by the Metropolis Ensemble.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Music: \u003c/strong>What goes up must come down in \u003cem>The Blind Banister\u003c/em>. The 20-minute concerto, inspired by Beethoven, presents a series of variations on a descending scale, which gets built up again, only to fall even harder — and lower on the keyboard — by the time warm string figures emerge in the coda. Often mesmerizing, \u003cem>Banister\u003c/em> is a beautiful journey that concludes with a satisfying jolt of release. \u003cem>Colorful History\u003c/em> is a darkly textured, cyclically driven solo piano work played by Andres, while \u003cem>Upstate Obscura\u003c/em>, a cello concerto, offers the attentive soloist Inbal Segev opportunities to soar at the top of her instrument’s register, chase themes in strings and winds and, finally, guide us through open spaces, pensive yet filled with promise.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003ch2>10 (Very) Honorable Mentions:\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Reto Bieri, Polina Leschenko:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>Take 3\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>John Luther Adams:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>An Atlas of Deep Time\u003c/em> (South Dakota Symphony)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Yuja Wang:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>The\u003c/em> \u003cem>Vienna Recital\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Yunchan Lim:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>Chopin Etudes\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Christopher Cerrone:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>Beaufort Scales \u003c/em>(Lorelei Ensemble)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>C.P.E. Bach:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>Symphonies — From Berlin to Hamburg\u003c/em> (Akademie fur Alte Musik Berlin)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Valentin Silvestrov:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>Postludium & Dedication\u003c/em> (Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kurt Weill:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>The Kurt Weill Album\u003c/em> (Konzerthausorchester Berlin)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Danish String Quartet:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>Keel Road\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>John Zorn:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>Hannigan Sings Zorn, Volume One\u003c/em> (Barbara Hannigan)\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The year 2024 was an emotional roller coaster. Wars kept rampaging, a tortured election season further divided an already polarized nation and climate change served up the most scorching summer on record. Still, in the midst of the chaos, I found astonishing beauty in many places: Simone Biles’ performances at the Paris Olympics, the kaleidoscopic late-night aurora borealis light shows and in much soul-nourishing music that helped mitigate those low points in what remains a wild ride.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I witnessed astounding performances this year, too many to describe in total. The \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/artists/16354188/berlin-philharmonic-orchestra\">Berlin Philharmonic\u003c/a> proved that \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/artists/15033227/antonin-dvorak\">Dvorak\u003c/a>‘s Seventh Symphony is the jewel in his crown, while the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra luxuriated in \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/artists/15438778/sergey-rachmaninov\">Rachmaninoff\u003c/a>‘s Second. Pianist \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/artists/112055562/marc-andre-hamelin\">Marc-André Hamelin\u003c/a> paid homage to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/artists/90901153/charles-ives\">Charles Ives\u003c/a> sesquicentennial with an uncanny performance of the knuckle-twisting “Concord” Sonata, and the redoubtable Evgeny Kissin offered electrifying \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/artists/15866095/sergey-prokofiev\">Prokofiev\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/artists/15379968/frederic-chopin\">Chopin\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/artists/89532661/meredith-monk\">Meredith Monk\u003c/a>, still spry in her 80s, danced and sang in her restorative theatre work \u003cem>Indra’s Net\u003c/em>. Soprano \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/artists/940390176/julia-bullock\">Julia Bullock\u003c/a> delivered a diverse range of songs from \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/artists/15193203/bob-dylan\">Bob Dylan\u003c/a> to \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/artists/89529197/francis-poulenc\">Francis Poulenc\u003c/a> in recital, and took the lead in a colorful version of \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/artists/14996733/john-adams\">John Adams\u003c/a>‘ \u003cem>El Niño\u003c/em> at the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/artists/869938581/metropolitan-opera\">Metropolitan Opera\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/artists/15189623/sigur-r-s\">Sigur Rós\u003c/a> toured with a full orchestra. And then, there was the seamless blend of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/artists/570269172/estonian-philharmonic-chamber-choir\">Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir\u003c/a>, pairing \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/artists/91476506/giovanni-pierluigi-da-palestrina\">Palestrina\u003c/a> with \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/artists/16070552/arvo-part\">Arvo Pärt\u003c/a> in an unforgettable evening in a small church.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Naturally, not all of my favorite artists were touring this year, but many were in the studio, making terrific albums. The 10 recordings below, plus a few honorable mentions, kept my ears focused and delighted throughout the year. Opera singers Aigul Akhmetshina and \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/artists/1050164280/emily-dangelo\">Emily D’Angelo\u003c/a> submitted two satisfying approaches — Akhmetshina releasing a standard arias album while D’Angelo filled hers mostly with folk and pop songs, imaginatively arranged.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Women composers, still too often overlooked in concert halls, have released amazing albums this year — a glittering symphonic tour-de-force from Mexico’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2024/10/04/nx-s1-5081260/the-borderless-music-of-gabriela-ortiz\">Gabriela Ortiz\u003c/a>, ethereal choral works by Lithuania’s Žibuoklė Martinaitytė and warm-hearted melodies for soloists and chamber orchestra from the Brit \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/artists/884906471/anna-clyne\">Anna Clyne\u003c/a>. Lutenist Jakob Lindberg lowered my stubbornly high blood pressure, as did a shimmering ambient adventure from Christopher Rountree.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The albums below were sources of joy, introspection and hope for me this year. Perhaps they’ll do the same for you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/rmnH7iFEYLk'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/rmnH7iFEYLk'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 22px;font-weight: bold\">Gabriela Ortiz, \u003c/span>\u003cem style=\"font-size: 22px;font-weight: bold\">Revolución Diamantina\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>For Those Who Like: \u003c/strong>Stravinsky, social justice, Mexico\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Story:\u003c/strong> With a colorful family history in her native Mexico — including a grandfather who worked as Pancho Villa’s physician and parents who founded a popular Latin American folk group — Gabriela Ortiz has slowly emerged as one of today’s must-hear composers. Luckily, hearing her is easier than ever, as she’s in residence this season at Carnegie Hall. Her luminous orchestral works have been championed by star conductor Gustavo Dudamel, who calls her one of the most talented composers in the world and leads the Los Angeles Philharmonic on this dazzling album.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Music: \u003c/strong>Ortiz says \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2024/10/04/nx-s1-5081260/the-borderless-music-of-gabriela-ortiz\">music has no borders\u003c/a>, and she practices what she preaches. Her compositional voice is singular, but the jagged rhythms in Act IV of this politically charged ballet almost out-Stravinsky Stravinsky, just moments after oscillating figures in the winds channel John Adams. A Huichol folk melody from Mexico’s western Sierra Madres inspires the colorful symphonic showpiece \u003cem>Kauyumari\u003c/em>, and in \u003cem>Altar de Cuerda\u003c/em>, an atmospheric violin concerto played with precision and passion by Maria Dueñas, you might hear the ghosts of 20th century modernists György Ligeti and Olivier Messiaen. With this album, the distinctive, hardworking composer finally relishes the spotlight she has deserved for years.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/F3e0Nim9XuM'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/F3e0Nim9XuM'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003ch3>Maya Beiser, \u003cem>Maya Beiser x Terry Riley: In C\u003c/em>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>For Those Who Like: \u003c/strong>Steve Reich, cellos, magic mushrooms\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Story:\u003c/strong> It’s pretty gutsy to take on a revered, pioneering piece of minimalism designed for a couple dozen people to play and reduce it to only a stack of cello loops and a pair of percussionists. But cellist Maya Beiser has triumphed, releasing one of the most groove-laden and listenable renditions of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13967712/in-c-terry-riley-minimalism-music-history-maya-beiser\">\u003cem>In C\u003c/em>, Terry Riley\u003c/a>‘s enduring 60-year-old score. And it’s fitting that Beiser deploys loops for her version, given that the seeds of \u003cem>In C\u003c/em> were sown in Riley’s earlier experiments in cutting and looping tape.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Music: \u003c/strong>Beiser’s vision is all about pulses, drones and the low C string of her instrument, which tends to ricochet off drummers Shane Shanahan and Matt Kilmer. She likes to unfurl long, singing cello lines over oscillating beats, creating grooves with the power to intoxicate or get you wired for an all-night road trip. In one section, she interleaves her voice with cello in a nod to the medieval vocal technique of hocketing. In another, she distorts her instrument and amps up the beat, creating a kind of headbanging grunge moment. Along the way, Beiser cuts the engine to provide a couple of calming rest stops.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/MBqsViTL1G8'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/MBqsViTL1G8'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003ch3>Emily D’Angelo, \u003cem>Freezing\u003c/em>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>For Those Who Like: \u003c/strong>June Tabor, Kathleen Ferrier, voluptuous voices\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Story: \u003c/strong>Emerging opera stars aren’t supposed to release albums stuffed with folk and pop songs, but the velvet-voiced Canadian mezzo-soprano has done just that, tossing off old British ballads and a Randy Newman number with supreme beauty and homespun confidence. She can sing Mozart and Rossini as well as anyone today, and never mind at all that she opened the Metropolitan Opera season this fall — her curious mind, smart curation and inherently gorgeous instrument are enough to render this decidedly non-operatic album essential listening.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Music: \u003c/strong>Spanning five centuries, D’Angelo’s eclectic vocal mixtape ranges from \u003cem>Grounded\u003c/em>, the brand new opera written for her by Jeanine Tesori, to a song by Elizabethan gloom master John Dowland, to a synth-laden arrangement of the English ballad “Cold Blows the Wind,” inspired by \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/artists/16518232/ween\">Ween\u003c/a>. The title track is a fresh take of a Philip Glass/Suzanne Vega collaboration that unleashes a molten electric guitar. The mood of \u003cem>Freezing\u003c/em> is wistful, lovelorn and a little chilly, but D’Angelo’s buttery, burgundy-colored voice, concise diction and luxurious phrasing is your warm fire to keep away the cold.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/4MkoTjjs1jg'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/4MkoTjjs1jg'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003ch3>Christopher Rountree, \u003cem>3 BPM\u003c/em>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>For Those Who Like: \u003c/strong>Brian Eno, Julius Eastman, chill rooms\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Story:\u003c/strong> Composer-conductor Christopher Rountree is perhaps best known as the founder and leader of Wild Up, the Los Angeles-based new music outfit responsible for resuscitating (on four extraordinary albums) the lost music of Julius Eastman. This year, with help from his band, the piano duo Hocket and intrepid violist Nadia Sirota, Rountree released \u003cem>3 BPM\u003c/em>, a 28-minute safe haven for calming reflection. The music also serves as a lasting tribute to pianist and composer Sarah Gibson (one half of Hocket), \u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2024/07/19/sarah-gibson-composer-dead-obituary/\">who died\u003c/a> in July at 38 — a cruel gut punch to the new music community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Music: \u003c/strong>\u003cem>3 BPM \u003c/em>(three beats per minute) is a flight through tranquil spaces marked with little episodes of euphoria. Brian Eno’s ambient music may come to mind, and Eastman’s jubilance. But Rountree has crafted his own musical language here, one he’s called a musical framework for togetherness. A tolling piano and a whoosh of air usher us into the piece; by the time we reach our final stop with “Almanac,” a wheezy viola emerges and gently rolled piano chords bloom like a celestial portal opening, calling you to travel beyond yourself.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/8RkhxEiXLtw'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/8RkhxEiXLtw'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003ch3>Experiential Orchestra, \u003cem>American Counterpoints\u003c/em>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>For those Who Like: \u003c/strong>Bartók, violin concertos, musical archeology\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Story: \u003c/strong>This long overdue release spotlights two singular Black American composers whose music had fallen into neglect. Julia Perry found success in the 1950s after her \u003cem>Stabat Mater\u003c/em> debuted and a Guggenheim Fellowship funded her study with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. But the 1960s brought health and financial problems, and when she died in 1979 her music was all but forgotten. Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson’s music was also overlooked until after his death in 2004. A versatile pianist who collaborated with Marvin Gaye and Max Roach, Perkinson composed in a variety of idioms for television, film and the concert hall. He co-founded an orchestra and was a key figure at the Center for Black Music Research at Chicago’s Columbia College.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Music:\u003c/strong> The album is anchored by Perry’s austere, sometimes Bartók-leaning Violin Concerto from 1968, whose score was left in disarray. This newly reconstructed version receives a probing performance by soloist Curtis Stewart and the Experiential Orchestra. Perry’s experimental style emerges in the darkly hued \u003cem>Symphony in One Movement for Violas and Basses\u003c/em>, while an almost Copland-like freshness pervades her Prelude for Strings. Perkinson proves a formidable presence in his Sinfonietta No. 1, composed when he was all of 22, the opening movement of which elegantly weaves strands of baroque counterpoint that would make Handel jealous. Stewart gets down and gritty for Perkinson’s \u003cem>Louisiana Blues Strut: A Cakewalk\u003c/em>, which, in its slurred and syncopated lines, conjures Black music from before the Civil War.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/PiZftXoSL3o'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/PiZftXoSL3o'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003ch3>Žibuoklė Martinaitytė, \u003cem>Aletheia\u003c/em>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>For Those Who Like: \u003c/strong>Björk, Tanya Tagaq, choirs\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Story:\u003c/strong> Žibuoklė Martinaitytė, raised in Soviet-era Lithuania and now a denizen of New York, has emerged as a composer poised for maximum visibility. Those following her career understand her command of a symphony orchestra, via recordings released on the Finnish Ondine label. Her latest proves she may also be one of the leading choral composers of our time — a sonically shimmering album for unaccompanied chorus featuring magnificent performances by the Latvian Radio Choir, which continues to assert itself as perhaps the finest chorus singing today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Music:\u003c/strong> No actual words are sung on \u003cem>Aletheia\u003c/em>. Martinaitytė trusts in styles of vocalizing that communicate beyond language, not unlike Meredith Monk. The title track, composed during the onset of the war in Ukraine, gives voice to resilient people under siege in passages of bottled claustrophobia and joyous “whooping.” \u003cem>Chant des Voyelles\u003c/em>, where only vowels are sung, evokes clouds of heavenly synthesizers, radiant and breathtaking when the choir is in full cry. \u003cem>Ululations\u003c/em> is at once beautiful and terrifying, a symphonic weave of vocalizing that is halfway between howling and yodeling. In this complex music, the choir offers its signature unified blend of sounds, transparent and seemingly limitless in color and lighting.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/pNPYRprKQ6Q'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/pNPYRprKQ6Q'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003ch3>Anna Clyne, \u003cem>Shorthand\u003c/em>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>For Those Who Like: \u003c/strong>Yo-Yo Ma, strings, mandolins\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Story: \u003c/strong>In college, British composer Anna Clyne made a last-minute pivot from literature to music. She was already 20 when she took up her first formal composition lessons, and after she moved to New York in 2002, she spent time as a florist and even contemplated investment banking. It was a glowing email from Steve Reich, telling her she was “the real deal” after looking over one of her pieces, that helped Clyne’s career to fully blossom. Today, she’s one of the most commissioned composers, writing music that can be experimental — she’s developed software to shapeshift the sounds of individual instruments in live symphonic performances — but always unapologetically melodic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Music: \u003c/strong>Yo-Yo Ma’s burnished cello tone caresses the lachrymose theme of the title track, a miniature cello concerto inspired by Tolstoy’s quote that “Music is the shorthand of emotion.” Clyne isn’t afraid to spin opulent, wistful melodies, nowhere more so than in the album’s impassioned centerpiece, \u003cem>Within Her Arms\u003c/em>, an elegy for strings written in response to the death of her mother. Mandolinist Avi Avital twinkles, shreds and sweetly serenades in the concerto \u003cem>Three Sisters\u003c/em>, inspired by the stars in Orion’s belt. \u003cem>Prince of Clouds\u003c/em>, a sensuous double concerto for two violins, finds committed soloists in Colin Jacobsen and Pekka Kuusisto. And throughout, the New York-based orchestra The Knights plays the music like it was written just for them.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/Q3MFRRF189Q'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/Q3MFRRF189Q'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003ch3>Aigul Akhmetshina, \u003cem>Aigul\u003c/em>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>For Those Who Like: \u003c/strong>Bizet’s \u003cem>Carmen\u003c/em>, the Republic of Bashkortostan, fresh opera stars\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Story: \u003c/strong>Mezzo-soprano Aigul Akhmetshina’s rise to fame reads like a fairy tale. Raised by a single mom in a rural village in Bashkortostan, she learned music on her grandfather’s accordion because space and finances precluded a piano in their small apartment. At just 14, she moved away to study, supporting herself by entertaining as a stilt walker and waiting tables. After being denied admission to a Moscow conservatory, and then suffering a debilitating car accident, she tossed all her singing awards in a box she labeled “Aigul’s Bulls***” and called it quits. But her teacher was persuasive. Akhmetshina rehabilitated her voice, landed in a young artists program in London (without speaking English) and, at 21, got her big break singing \u003cem>Carmen\u003c/em> at London’s storied Covent Garden.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Music: \u003c/strong>Naturally, scenes from \u003cem>Carmen\u003c/em> dominate this debut album. Hearing her plush, aubergine-colored voice, coquettish and confident in the drama, one understands why she’s in top demand for the role. Better still are two arias from Massenet’s emotionally fraught \u003cem>Werther\u003c/em>. In the “Letter Scene,” where the character nervously reads letters from her troubled lover, you can hear a complex swirl of regret, fear and guilt in Akhmetshina’s voice. Selections from Bellini’s \u003cem>I Capuleti e I Montecchi\u003c/em> and Rossini’s \u003cem>La Cenerentola\u003c/em> and \u003cem>The Barber of Seville\u003c/em> show off her seamless agility throughout the registers, with ringing top notes and smoldering low ones. At 28, the young mezzo has a full career ahead, and opera fans will want to keep their ears open.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/spaekeaBiVE'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/spaekeaBiVE'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003ch3>Jakob Lindberg, \u003cem>Robert De Visée: Theorbo Solos\u003c/em>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>For Those Who Like: \u003c/strong>guitars, Baroque elegance, quiet cups of tea\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Story:\u003c/strong> The French lutenist and composer Robert de Visée could often be found serenading his boss, Louis XIV, at his bedside. He also taught the monarch how to play the guitar. Fast forward about 300 years to the Swedish musician Jakob Lindberg, who as a teen picked up the guitar after hearing The Beatles, then turned to early music and studied in London. Now, in his early 70s, Lindberg is a lute magus who performs on his various instruments around the world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Music: \u003c/strong>In this collection of suites and pieces by de Visée, Lindberg deploys a particularly large theorbo — a member of the lute family, in this case a spectacular five-footer that boasts a kaleidoscope of colors and luxurious low bass strings. The “Musette” from the G-major suite offers a sparkling melody, steady bass line and strumming to imitate a bagpipe. But not all is delicate and rosy; deep pain is found in the low, thrumming strings in the “Tombeau” that de Visée wrote to mourn the deaths of his two daughters. This is an exquisite, quiet album for our very loud world.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/ZCbFcAG0jJY'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/ZCbFcAG0jJY'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003ch3>Timo Andres, \u003cem>The Blind Banister\u003c/em>\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>For Those Who Like: \u003c/strong>Nico Muhly, piano concertos, Pulitzer finalists\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Story:\u003c/strong> Timo Andres, a thoughtful pianist-composer who turns 40 next year, has his agile fingers in many pies. Last year, he edited \u003cem>Philip Glass Piano Etudes\u003c/em>, a new edition of the music, which he performed in various venues. Earlier this year, his orchestrations graced the Sufjan Stevens-inspired Broadway show \u003cem>Illinoise\u003c/em>. And the title work of his third album, a piano concerto called \u003cem>The Blind Banister\u003c/em>, earned much-deserved street cred after it became a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2016. This is the work’s recorded debut, with the composer as soloist and tailor-made accompaniment by the Metropolis Ensemble.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Music: \u003c/strong>What goes up must come down in \u003cem>The Blind Banister\u003c/em>. The 20-minute concerto, inspired by Beethoven, presents a series of variations on a descending scale, which gets built up again, only to fall even harder — and lower on the keyboard — by the time warm string figures emerge in the coda. Often mesmerizing, \u003cem>Banister\u003c/em> is a beautiful journey that concludes with a satisfying jolt of release. \u003cem>Colorful History\u003c/em> is a darkly textured, cyclically driven solo piano work played by Andres, while \u003cem>Upstate Obscura\u003c/em>, a cello concerto, offers the attentive soloist Inbal Segev opportunities to soar at the top of her instrument’s register, chase themes in strings and winds and, finally, guide us through open spaces, pensive yet filled with promise.\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003ch2>10 (Very) Honorable Mentions:\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Reto Bieri, Polina Leschenko:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>Take 3\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>John Luther Adams:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>An Atlas of Deep Time\u003c/em> (South Dakota Symphony)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Yuja Wang:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>The\u003c/em> \u003cem>Vienna Recital\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Yunchan Lim:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>Chopin Etudes\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Christopher Cerrone:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>Beaufort Scales \u003c/em>(Lorelei Ensemble)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>C.P.E. Bach:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>Symphonies — From Berlin to Hamburg\u003c/em> (Akademie fur Alte Musik Berlin)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Valentin Silvestrov:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>Postludium & Dedication\u003c/em> (Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Kurt Weill:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>The Kurt Weill Album\u003c/em> (Konzerthausorchester Berlin)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Danish String Quartet:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>Keel Road\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Has a Waltz Written by Frederic Chopin Been Discovered in an NYC Museum?",
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"content": "\u003cp>The brooding waltz was carefully composed on a sheet of music roughly the size of an index card. The brief, moody number also bore an intriguing name, written at the top in cursive: “Chopin.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A previously unknown work of music penned by the European master Frederic Chopin appears to have been found at the Morgan Library & Museum in Manhattan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13967421']The untitled and unsigned piece is on display this month at the opulently appointed institution, which had once been the private library of financier J. P. Morgan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Robinson McClellan, the museum curator who uncovered the manuscript, said it’s the first new work associated with the Romantic era composer to be discovered in nearly a century.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But McClellan concedes that it may never be known whether it is an original Chopin work or merely one written in his hand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The piece, set in the key of A minor, stands out for its “very stormy, brooding opening section” before transitioning to a melancholy melody more characteristic of Chopin, McClellan explained.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is his style. This is his essence,” he said during a recent visit to the museum. “It really feels like him.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McClellan said he came across the work in May as he was going through a collection from the late Arthur Satz, a former president of the New York School of Interior Design. Satz had acquired it from A. Sherrill Whiton Jr., an avid autograph collector who had been director of the school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McClellan then worked with experts to verify its authenticity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The paper was found to be consistent with what Chopin favored for manuscripts, and the ink matched a kind typical in the early 19th century when Chopin lived, according to the museum. But a handwriting analysis determined the name “Chopin” written at the top of the sheet was penned by someone else.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Born in Poland, Chopin was considered a musical genius from an early age. He lived in Warsaw and Vienna before settling in Paris, where he died in 1849 at the age of 39, likely of tuberculosis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s buried among a pantheon of artists at the city’s famed Père Lachaise Cemetery, but his heart, pickled in a jar of alcohol, is housed in a church in Warsaw, in keeping with his deathbed wish for the organ to return to his homeland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13968348']Artur Szklener, director of the Fryderyk Chopin Institute in Warsaw, the Polish capital city where the composer grew up, agreed that the document is consistent with the kinds of ink and paper Chopin used during his early years in Paris.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Musically, the piece evokes the “brilliant style” that made Chopin a luminary in his time, but it also has features unusual for his compositions, Szklener said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“First of all, it is not a complete work, but rather a certain musical gesture, a theme laced with rather simple piano tricks alluding to a virtuoso style,” Szklener explained in a lengthy statement released after the document was revealed last month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He and other experts conjecture the piece could have been a work in progress. It may have also been a copy of another’s work, or even co-written with someone else, perhaps a student for a musical exercise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jeffrey Kallberg, a University of Pennsylvania music professor and Chopin expert who helped authenticate the document, called the piece a “little gem” that Chopin likely intended as a gift for a friend or wealthy acquaintance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Many of the pieces that he gave as gifts were short — kind of like ‘appetizers’ to a full-blown work,” Kallberg said in an email. “And we don’t know for sure whether he intended the piece to see the light of day because he often wrote out the same waltz more than once as a gift.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>David Ludwig, dean of music at The Juilliard School, a performing arts conservatory in Manhattan, agreed the piece has many of the hallmarks of the composer’s style.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It has the Chopin character of something very lyrical and it has a little bit of darkness as well,” said Ludwig, who was not involved in authenticating the document.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Ludwig noted that, if it’s authentic, the tightly composed score would be one of Chopin’s shortest known pieces. The waltz clocks in at under a minute long when played on piano, as many of Chopin’s works were intended.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postid='arts_13968322']“In terms of the authenticity of it, in a way it doesn’t matter because it sparks our imaginations,” Ludwig said. “A discovery like this highlights the fact that classical music is very much a living art form.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Chopin reveal comes after the Leipzig Municipal Libraries in Germany announced in September that it had uncovered a previously unknown piece likely composed by a young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in its collections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Associated Press video journalist John Minchillo in New York contributed to this story.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The piece, set in the key of A minor, stands out for its “very stormy, brooding opening section” before transitioning to a melancholy melody more characteristic of Chopin, McClellan explained.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is his style. This is his essence,” he said during a recent visit to the museum. “It really feels like him.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McClellan said he came across the work in May as he was going through a collection from the late Arthur Satz, a former president of the New York School of Interior Design. Satz had acquired it from A. Sherrill Whiton Jr., an avid autograph collector who had been director of the school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>McClellan then worked with experts to verify its authenticity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The paper was found to be consistent with what Chopin favored for manuscripts, and the ink matched a kind typical in the early 19th century when Chopin lived, according to the museum. But a handwriting analysis determined the name “Chopin” written at the top of the sheet was penned by someone else.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Born in Poland, Chopin was considered a musical genius from an early age. He lived in Warsaw and Vienna before settling in Paris, where he died in 1849 at the age of 39, likely of tuberculosis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He’s buried among a pantheon of artists at the city’s famed Père Lachaise Cemetery, but his heart, pickled in a jar of alcohol, is housed in a church in Warsaw, in keeping with his deathbed wish for the organ to return to his homeland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Artur Szklener, director of the Fryderyk Chopin Institute in Warsaw, the Polish capital city where the composer grew up, agreed that the document is consistent with the kinds of ink and paper Chopin used during his early years in Paris.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Musically, the piece evokes the “brilliant style” that made Chopin a luminary in his time, but it also has features unusual for his compositions, Szklener said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“First of all, it is not a complete work, but rather a certain musical gesture, a theme laced with rather simple piano tricks alluding to a virtuoso style,” Szklener explained in a lengthy statement released after the document was revealed last month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He and other experts conjecture the piece could have been a work in progress. It may have also been a copy of another’s work, or even co-written with someone else, perhaps a student for a musical exercise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jeffrey Kallberg, a University of Pennsylvania music professor and Chopin expert who helped authenticate the document, called the piece a “little gem” that Chopin likely intended as a gift for a friend or wealthy acquaintance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Many of the pieces that he gave as gifts were short — kind of like ‘appetizers’ to a full-blown work,” Kallberg said in an email. “And we don’t know for sure whether he intended the piece to see the light of day because he often wrote out the same waltz more than once as a gift.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>David Ludwig, dean of music at The Juilliard School, a performing arts conservatory in Manhattan, agreed the piece has many of the hallmarks of the composer’s style.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It has the Chopin character of something very lyrical and it has a little bit of darkness as well,” said Ludwig, who was not involved in authenticating the document.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Ludwig noted that, if it’s authentic, the tightly composed score would be one of Chopin’s shortest known pieces. The waltz clocks in at under a minute long when played on piano, as many of Chopin’s works were intended.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“In terms of the authenticity of it, in a way it doesn’t matter because it sparks our imaginations,” Ludwig said. “A discovery like this highlights the fact that classical music is very much a living art form.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Chopin reveal comes after the Leipzig Municipal Libraries in Germany announced in September that it had uncovered a previously unknown piece likely composed by a young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in its collections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Associated Press video journalist John Minchillo in New York contributed to this story.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "A World-Premiere Oratorio for a Anti-Slavery Abolitionist",
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"content": "\u003cp>A few years ago, the pianist and composer Allison Lovejoy was looking into her family history when a name of a distant relative caught her attention.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Elijah Parish Lovejoy, born in 1802 to a deeply spiritual family, was a newspaper editor and devout abolitionist. Decades before the Civil War, Lovejoy received what he referred to as a calling from God to fight for an end to slavery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Missouri, Lovejoy was warned to stop printing and distributing his anti-slavery materials, and his printing presses were destroyed multiple times. Lovejoy kept replacing them, and continued his work until a pro-slavery mob murdered him in 1837. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Allison Lovejoy shared her findings with longtime friend and former San Francisco Poet Laureate Jack Hirschman. Hirschman recognized the Lovejoy name, and asked if she knew about Elijah’s legacy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I said Jack, yes, I was just reading about him the other night,” Lovejoy tells me today. “I was thinking of writing an opera.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This week, Lovejoy is in rehearsals with the with the Golden Gate Symphony Orchestra and Chorus to premiere her oratorio dedicated to Lovejoy, \u003cem>Elijah’s Call\u003c/em>, on Sunday, Nov. 3 at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. It’s the culmination of years of work, sparked by a single family discovery, and a desire to honor a fearless ancestor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13967445\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Allison-Lovejoy_Composer_Elijahs-Call_2024_usedforPressRelease.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"2015\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13967445\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Allison-Lovejoy_Composer_Elijahs-Call_2024_usedforPressRelease.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Allison-Lovejoy_Composer_Elijahs-Call_2024_usedforPressRelease-800x806.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Allison-Lovejoy_Composer_Elijahs-Call_2024_usedforPressRelease-1020x1028.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Allison-Lovejoy_Composer_Elijahs-Call_2024_usedforPressRelease-160x161.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Allison-Lovejoy_Composer_Elijahs-Call_2024_usedforPressRelease-768x774.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Allison-Lovejoy_Composer_Elijahs-Call_2024_usedforPressRelease-1525x1536.jpg 1525w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Allison-Lovejoy_Composer_Elijahs-Call_2024_usedforPressRelease-1920x1934.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Allison Lovejoy. \u003ccite>(Artist Photo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>An Internal Conflict\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Elijah Lovejoy’s mother taught her children to read the Bible. But in early adulthood, Elijah felt lost, waiting for God to show him his life’s calling. Restless, he set out on an incredible journey on foot, walking from his hometown in Maine to what was then the edge of the country: St. Louis, Missouri.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was this internal conflict, Lovejoy says, that would become the starting point for Lovejoy’s work. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Needing a librettist, Lovejoy brought in San Francisco writer and historian Gary Kamiya. Together, the two dove head-first into Elijah Lovejoy’s life and career. Kamiya helped select the most significant events of Lovejoy’s life to include; he also wrote lyrics, using Elijah Lovejoy’s words as a guide. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We interpolated quite a few of Elijah Lovejoy’s own writings, as well as statements made by his enemies — political defenders of slavery,” Kamiya tells me. He studied books for added context, as well as family histories written by other relatives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[There was] a book written by his brothers, Joseph and Owen Lovejoy, called Memoir of the Reverend Elijah P. Lovejoy that has a lot of lengthy quotations, including poems that he wrote,” Kamiya says. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Allison Lovejoy, meanwhile, researched the language of the time to better understand Elijah Lovejoy’s rhetoric, and its influences from the era’s church preachers. She also read up on music of the 1820s. “I didn’t want to write in that style,” she says, “but I wanted to understand that sound.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ultimately, Lovejoy felt that an oratorio, not an opera or a cantata, would best tell Elijah Lovejoy’s story. She was worried, though.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Oratorios sound scary because it sounds very biblical, very intimidating, like Handel’s \u003cem>Messiah\u003c/em>,” she says. “And I said, well then, I can’t call it ‘Elijah.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She kept thinking about Lovejoy on his long trek to St. Louis, waiting for his life’s calling, and about the moment he’d found that calling in abolition work. The oratorio’s title came to her: \u003cem>Elijah’s Call\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13967443\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Gary-and-Allison-phto-by-Kate-Stilley-Steiner.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13967443\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Gary-and-Allison-phto-by-Kate-Stilley-Steiner.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Gary-and-Allison-phto-by-Kate-Stilley-Steiner-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Gary-and-Allison-phto-by-Kate-Stilley-Steiner-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Gary-and-Allison-phto-by-Kate-Stilley-Steiner-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Gary-and-Allison-phto-by-Kate-Stilley-Steiner-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Gary-and-Allison-phto-by-Kate-Stilley-Steiner-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Gary-and-Allison-phto-by-Kate-Stilley-Steiner-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gary Kamiya and Allison Lovejoy in rehearsal for ‘Elijah’s Call.’ \u003ccite>(Kate Stilley Steiner)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>A Life Cut Short By a Violent Mob\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>“The whole thing about ‘the call’ is someone walking, step, step,” Lovejoy says. “A tired person, walking with this constant motor with this ostinato rhythm underneath, so you have a feeling of movement, but then you also have the voices of the chorus like a Greek choir, calling his conscience. ‘What are you going to do? Where are you going?’ And they give him the courage to move forward.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Courage was certainly a necessity for an abolitionist in the slave state of Missouri. As the editor of the \u003cem>St. Louis Observer\u003c/em> in the early to mid-1830s, Elijah Lovejoy published editorials that began as anti-slavery pieces, but over time grew more radical, eventually calling for universal emancipation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As his writings spread, Lovejoy’s enemies grew larger in rank, destroying his presses. Eventually Lovejoy left Missouri for the free state of Illinois and his family’s safety. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Settling across the Mississippi River in the town of Alton, Lovejoy ordered a new printing press to begin his work again. When it arrived in 1837, a violent mob formed and stormed the warehouse where the printing press was stored. While trying to stop the mob, Lovejoy was shot and killed. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reviewing the tragic events of Lovejoy’s life and death, Allison Lovejoy thought long and hard on how to best evoke emotion through the oratorio. Lovejoy’s choices of tempo and key are one piece of it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But in addition to that, it’s dynamic layering and buildup,” she says. To that end, Lovejoy opted to tap a variety of influences for \u003cem>Elijah’s Call\u003c/em>, including Black gospel music. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13967430\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/ratio3x2_1920_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13967430\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/ratio3x2_1920_.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/ratio3x2_1920_-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/ratio3x2_1920_-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/ratio3x2_1920_-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/ratio3x2_1920_-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/ratio3x2_1920_-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/ratio3x2_1920_-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Walter Riley. \u003ccite>(Courtesy photo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>The Civil Rights Attorney Joins\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Lovejoy’s initial dive into her family history began around 2020, when George Floyd was murdered. Lovejoy saw parallels between Elijah Lovejoy and Floyd — how their murders are part of a larger, intersectional fight for justice and safekeeping of Black lives and those who advocate for them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In choosing the narrator of \u003cem>Elijah’s Call\u003c/em>, then, Lovejoy found a perfect fit in Oakland-based civil rights activist and lawyer Walter Riley. The father of musician and filmmaker Boots Riley and a longtime friend of Lovejoy, Riley was immediately drawn to Elijah Lovejoy’s story. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The idea of fighting slavery … and the history of those folks who were building a movement resonates with me,” he says. “It’s the kind of work I do now: civil rights activism, social justice issues.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When I ask Lovejoy what it’s like working with Riley, she smiles warmly. “It’s wonderful,” she says. “I’ve always admired his insights. His wisdom brings something to the piece that elevates it.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13967446\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Walter-Urs-Allison-and-Mike-_photo-by-Kate-Stilley-Steiner.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13967446\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Walter-Urs-Allison-and-Mike-_photo-by-Kate-Stilley-Steiner.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Walter-Urs-Allison-and-Mike-_photo-by-Kate-Stilley-Steiner-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Walter-Urs-Allison-and-Mike-_photo-by-Kate-Stilley-Steiner-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Walter-Urs-Allison-and-Mike-_photo-by-Kate-Stilley-Steiner-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Walter-Urs-Allison-and-Mike-_photo-by-Kate-Stilley-Steiner-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Walter-Urs-Allison-and-Mike-_photo-by-Kate-Stilley-Steiner-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Walter-Urs-Allison-and-Mike-_photo-by-Kate-Stilley-Steiner-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(L–R, from behind) Walter Riley, Urs Leonhardt Steiner, Michael Desnoyers, Gary Kamiya and Allison Lovejoy in rehearsal with members of the Golden Gate Symphony Orchestra and Chorus for ‘Elijah’s Call.’ \u003ccite>(Kate Stilley Steiner)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Connecting the Past to the Present\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Elijah Lovejoy may not be widely known today, but Lovejoy hopes the oratorio will help change that. For both Lovejoy and Riley, Elijah Lovejoy’s story is directly connected to modern social movements, present-day civil rights efforts, and the language thereof. The phrase “I lit a lamp,” for example, which appears more than once in the oratorio, holds multiple meanings. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I didn’t know that that [phrase] was a symbolic line — the lighting of the lamp of the Underground Railroad,” Lovejoy says. “I use that throughout the oratorio to say, light your lamp, keep it shining.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Riley, the connection between Elijah Lovejoy and today’s fight for racial justice was instantaneous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s the exact kind of story we see today,” he tells me. “It’s part of the struggle we face. And every time we see an example from history from… the folks who came before us, it’s useful to pay attention to that, and celebrate that, and then maybe we become a more…enlightened society.” He points a finger as he speaks. “That’s what Elijah learned in this story. He learned about and accepted the humanity of these Black folks…but they attacked him and killed him for it.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before Lovejoy has to head back into dress rehearsal for the oratorio, I ask what she hopes audiences will take away from \u003cem>Elijah’s Call\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Mainly,” she says, “Inspiration to do the right thing, and inspiration to stand together.” \u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Elijah’s Call’ premieres Sunday, Nov. 3, at the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre in San Francisco. Details here. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>A few years ago, the pianist and composer Allison Lovejoy was looking into her family history when a name of a distant relative caught her attention.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Elijah Parish Lovejoy, born in 1802 to a deeply spiritual family, was a newspaper editor and devout abolitionist. Decades before the Civil War, Lovejoy received what he referred to as a calling from God to fight for an end to slavery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Missouri, Lovejoy was warned to stop printing and distributing his anti-slavery materials, and his printing presses were destroyed multiple times. Lovejoy kept replacing them, and continued his work until a pro-slavery mob murdered him in 1837. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Allison Lovejoy shared her findings with longtime friend and former San Francisco Poet Laureate Jack Hirschman. Hirschman recognized the Lovejoy name, and asked if she knew about Elijah’s legacy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I said Jack, yes, I was just reading about him the other night,” Lovejoy tells me today. “I was thinking of writing an opera.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This week, Lovejoy is in rehearsals with the with the Golden Gate Symphony Orchestra and Chorus to premiere her oratorio dedicated to Lovejoy, \u003cem>Elijah’s Call\u003c/em>, on Sunday, Nov. 3 at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. It’s the culmination of years of work, sparked by a single family discovery, and a desire to honor a fearless ancestor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13967445\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Allison-Lovejoy_Composer_Elijahs-Call_2024_usedforPressRelease.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"2015\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13967445\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Allison-Lovejoy_Composer_Elijahs-Call_2024_usedforPressRelease.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Allison-Lovejoy_Composer_Elijahs-Call_2024_usedforPressRelease-800x806.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Allison-Lovejoy_Composer_Elijahs-Call_2024_usedforPressRelease-1020x1028.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Allison-Lovejoy_Composer_Elijahs-Call_2024_usedforPressRelease-160x161.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Allison-Lovejoy_Composer_Elijahs-Call_2024_usedforPressRelease-768x774.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Allison-Lovejoy_Composer_Elijahs-Call_2024_usedforPressRelease-1525x1536.jpg 1525w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Allison-Lovejoy_Composer_Elijahs-Call_2024_usedforPressRelease-1920x1934.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Allison Lovejoy. \u003ccite>(Artist Photo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>An Internal Conflict\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Elijah Lovejoy’s mother taught her children to read the Bible. But in early adulthood, Elijah felt lost, waiting for God to show him his life’s calling. Restless, he set out on an incredible journey on foot, walking from his hometown in Maine to what was then the edge of the country: St. Louis, Missouri.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was this internal conflict, Lovejoy says, that would become the starting point for Lovejoy’s work. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Needing a librettist, Lovejoy brought in San Francisco writer and historian Gary Kamiya. Together, the two dove head-first into Elijah Lovejoy’s life and career. Kamiya helped select the most significant events of Lovejoy’s life to include; he also wrote lyrics, using Elijah Lovejoy’s words as a guide. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We interpolated quite a few of Elijah Lovejoy’s own writings, as well as statements made by his enemies — political defenders of slavery,” Kamiya tells me. He studied books for added context, as well as family histories written by other relatives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“[There was] a book written by his brothers, Joseph and Owen Lovejoy, called Memoir of the Reverend Elijah P. Lovejoy that has a lot of lengthy quotations, including poems that he wrote,” Kamiya says. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Allison Lovejoy, meanwhile, researched the language of the time to better understand Elijah Lovejoy’s rhetoric, and its influences from the era’s church preachers. She also read up on music of the 1820s. “I didn’t want to write in that style,” she says, “but I wanted to understand that sound.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ultimately, Lovejoy felt that an oratorio, not an opera or a cantata, would best tell Elijah Lovejoy’s story. She was worried, though.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Oratorios sound scary because it sounds very biblical, very intimidating, like Handel’s \u003cem>Messiah\u003c/em>,” she says. “And I said, well then, I can’t call it ‘Elijah.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She kept thinking about Lovejoy on his long trek to St. Louis, waiting for his life’s calling, and about the moment he’d found that calling in abolition work. The oratorio’s title came to her: \u003cem>Elijah’s Call\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13967443\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Gary-and-Allison-phto-by-Kate-Stilley-Steiner.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13967443\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Gary-and-Allison-phto-by-Kate-Stilley-Steiner.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Gary-and-Allison-phto-by-Kate-Stilley-Steiner-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Gary-and-Allison-phto-by-Kate-Stilley-Steiner-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Gary-and-Allison-phto-by-Kate-Stilley-Steiner-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Gary-and-Allison-phto-by-Kate-Stilley-Steiner-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Gary-and-Allison-phto-by-Kate-Stilley-Steiner-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Gary-and-Allison-phto-by-Kate-Stilley-Steiner-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gary Kamiya and Allison Lovejoy in rehearsal for ‘Elijah’s Call.’ \u003ccite>(Kate Stilley Steiner)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>A Life Cut Short By a Violent Mob\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>“The whole thing about ‘the call’ is someone walking, step, step,” Lovejoy says. “A tired person, walking with this constant motor with this ostinato rhythm underneath, so you have a feeling of movement, but then you also have the voices of the chorus like a Greek choir, calling his conscience. ‘What are you going to do? Where are you going?’ And they give him the courage to move forward.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Courage was certainly a necessity for an abolitionist in the slave state of Missouri. As the editor of the \u003cem>St. Louis Observer\u003c/em> in the early to mid-1830s, Elijah Lovejoy published editorials that began as anti-slavery pieces, but over time grew more radical, eventually calling for universal emancipation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As his writings spread, Lovejoy’s enemies grew larger in rank, destroying his presses. Eventually Lovejoy left Missouri for the free state of Illinois and his family’s safety. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Settling across the Mississippi River in the town of Alton, Lovejoy ordered a new printing press to begin his work again. When it arrived in 1837, a violent mob formed and stormed the warehouse where the printing press was stored. While trying to stop the mob, Lovejoy was shot and killed. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Reviewing the tragic events of Lovejoy’s life and death, Allison Lovejoy thought long and hard on how to best evoke emotion through the oratorio. Lovejoy’s choices of tempo and key are one piece of it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But in addition to that, it’s dynamic layering and buildup,” she says. To that end, Lovejoy opted to tap a variety of influences for \u003cem>Elijah’s Call\u003c/em>, including Black gospel music. \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13967430\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/ratio3x2_1920_.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13967430\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/ratio3x2_1920_.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/ratio3x2_1920_-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/ratio3x2_1920_-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/ratio3x2_1920_-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/ratio3x2_1920_-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/ratio3x2_1920_-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/ratio3x2_1920_-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Walter Riley. \u003ccite>(Courtesy photo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>The Civil Rights Attorney Joins\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Lovejoy’s initial dive into her family history began around 2020, when George Floyd was murdered. Lovejoy saw parallels between Elijah Lovejoy and Floyd — how their murders are part of a larger, intersectional fight for justice and safekeeping of Black lives and those who advocate for them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In choosing the narrator of \u003cem>Elijah’s Call\u003c/em>, then, Lovejoy found a perfect fit in Oakland-based civil rights activist and lawyer Walter Riley. The father of musician and filmmaker Boots Riley and a longtime friend of Lovejoy, Riley was immediately drawn to Elijah Lovejoy’s story. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The idea of fighting slavery … and the history of those folks who were building a movement resonates with me,” he says. “It’s the kind of work I do now: civil rights activism, social justice issues.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When I ask Lovejoy what it’s like working with Riley, she smiles warmly. “It’s wonderful,” she says. “I’ve always admired his insights. His wisdom brings something to the piece that elevates it.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_13967446\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Walter-Urs-Allison-and-Mike-_photo-by-Kate-Stilley-Steiner.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" class=\"size-full wp-image-13967446\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Walter-Urs-Allison-and-Mike-_photo-by-Kate-Stilley-Steiner.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Walter-Urs-Allison-and-Mike-_photo-by-Kate-Stilley-Steiner-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Walter-Urs-Allison-and-Mike-_photo-by-Kate-Stilley-Steiner-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Walter-Urs-Allison-and-Mike-_photo-by-Kate-Stilley-Steiner-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Walter-Urs-Allison-and-Mike-_photo-by-Kate-Stilley-Steiner-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Walter-Urs-Allison-and-Mike-_photo-by-Kate-Stilley-Steiner-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/10/Walter-Urs-Allison-and-Mike-_photo-by-Kate-Stilley-Steiner-1920x1440.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">(L–R, from behind) Walter Riley, Urs Leonhardt Steiner, Michael Desnoyers, Gary Kamiya and Allison Lovejoy in rehearsal with members of the Golden Gate Symphony Orchestra and Chorus for ‘Elijah’s Call.’ \u003ccite>(Kate Stilley Steiner)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>Connecting the Past to the Present\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Elijah Lovejoy may not be widely known today, but Lovejoy hopes the oratorio will help change that. For both Lovejoy and Riley, Elijah Lovejoy’s story is directly connected to modern social movements, present-day civil rights efforts, and the language thereof. The phrase “I lit a lamp,” for example, which appears more than once in the oratorio, holds multiple meanings. \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I didn’t know that that [phrase] was a symbolic line — the lighting of the lamp of the Underground Railroad,” Lovejoy says. “I use that throughout the oratorio to say, light your lamp, keep it shining.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For Riley, the connection between Elijah Lovejoy and today’s fight for racial justice was instantaneous.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s the exact kind of story we see today,” he tells me. “It’s part of the struggle we face. And every time we see an example from history from… the folks who came before us, it’s useful to pay attention to that, and celebrate that, and then maybe we become a more…enlightened society.” He points a finger as he speaks. “That’s what Elijah learned in this story. He learned about and accepted the humanity of these Black folks…but they attacked him and killed him for it.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Before Lovejoy has to head back into dress rehearsal for the oratorio, I ask what she hopes audiences will take away from \u003cem>Elijah’s Call\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Mainly,” she says, “Inspiration to do the right thing, and inspiration to stand together.” \u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>‘Elijah’s Call’ premieres Sunday, Nov. 3, at the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre in San Francisco. Details here. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>The San Francisco Symphony Chorus has voted to authorize a strike amid contentious negotiations with San Francisco Symphony management, according to the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA), the union representing the choristers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The announcement comes just days ahead of the 2024–25 season opener on Sept. 19, when outgoing Music Director \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/esa-pekka-salonen\">Esa-Pekka Salonen\u003c/a> is set to conduct the orchestra in a performance of Giuseppe Verdi’s \u003cem>Requiem\u003c/em>, which prominently features the chorus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although a strike has not officially begun, the AGMA board of governors has granted Interim National Executive Director Allison Beck and the negotiation committee the authority to call a strike as a “last resort,” according to a union statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The chorus singers’ union contract expired on July 31. In negotiations, San Francisco Symphony management has proposed to cut their compensation by 65%, and to reduce choral programs by nearly half, from 8-11 per year to just five per year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='arts_13962857']Only 32 of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus’ 152 singers currently receive compensation. Choristers voted unanimously to authorize the strike, with 98% of eligible members participating in the vote. Of the unpaid singers scheduled to perform Verdi’s \u003cem>Requiem\u003c/em>, 81% said they would not cross the picket line, putting the concert in jeopardy if an agreement is not reached.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To target the Chorus with these dubious cuts suggests an unconscionable lack of respect, and frankly understanding of the treasure this ensemble is or how to steward it responsibly,” said Elliott Encarnación, an AGMA Governor on the Executive Council and SFSC negotiating committee member, in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco Symphony leadership told KQED in a statement that they’ve engaged in good-faith negotiations with the Chorus, and will continue to do so.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“During those meetings, and prior, we’ve been transparent about the challenging financial pressures we face — like many other arts organizations since the pandemic,” reads the statement. “We’re working with union representatives to collectively address those realities. Above all, we’re very optimistic about our future. Out of respect for the negotiating process, we won’t be providing specifics about the details of talks at this time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID='forum_2010101907072']The strike authorization is not the first dispute the San Francisco Symphony has had with musicians this year. This season will be Salonen’s last as music director; \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13954297/san-francisco-symphony-musicians-urge-leadership-to-keep-esa-pekka-salonen\">Salonen said\u003c/a> that he and the board “do not share the same goals for the future of the institution” after the board had decided on budget cuts would significantly affect the organization’s “artistic profile.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Orchestra musicians protested as a result, handing out flyers after performances that asked patrons to email the board and urge them to do what it takes to keep the maestro, restore musician salaries to “competitive levels” and avoid cuts to overseas touring, children’s programming, the SoundBox concert series and other initiatives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfsymphony.org/SanFrancisco/media/SanFrancisco/Press%20Room/Statement-on-San-Francisco-Symphony-organizational-context.pdf\">four-page, public statement\u003c/a> issued in May, Symphony leadership described the organization’s financial troubles. It said it had incurred a cumulative $116 million operating deficit over the past decade, and that donor restrictions and California law prevent it from covering the shortfall with its endowment. The San Francisco Symphony’s $324.5 million endowment is one of the largest of any orchestra in the nation.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The San Francisco Symphony Chorus has voted to authorize a strike amid contentious negotiations with San Francisco Symphony management, according to the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA), the union representing the choristers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The announcement comes just days ahead of the 2024–25 season opener on Sept. 19, when outgoing Music Director \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/tag/esa-pekka-salonen\">Esa-Pekka Salonen\u003c/a> is set to conduct the orchestra in a performance of Giuseppe Verdi’s \u003cem>Requiem\u003c/em>, which prominently features the chorus.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although a strike has not officially begun, the AGMA board of governors has granted Interim National Executive Director Allison Beck and the negotiation committee the authority to call a strike as a “last resort,” according to a union statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The chorus singers’ union contract expired on July 31. In negotiations, San Francisco Symphony management has proposed to cut their compensation by 65%, and to reduce choral programs by nearly half, from 8-11 per year to just five per year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Only 32 of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus’ 152 singers currently receive compensation. Choristers voted unanimously to authorize the strike, with 98% of eligible members participating in the vote. Of the unpaid singers scheduled to perform Verdi’s \u003cem>Requiem\u003c/em>, 81% said they would not cross the picket line, putting the concert in jeopardy if an agreement is not reached.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To target the Chorus with these dubious cuts suggests an unconscionable lack of respect, and frankly understanding of the treasure this ensemble is or how to steward it responsibly,” said Elliott Encarnación, an AGMA Governor on the Executive Council and SFSC negotiating committee member, in a statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco Symphony leadership told KQED in a statement that they’ve engaged in good-faith negotiations with the Chorus, and will continue to do so.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“During those meetings, and prior, we’ve been transparent about the challenging financial pressures we face — like many other arts organizations since the pandemic,” reads the statement. “We’re working with union representatives to collectively address those realities. Above all, we’re very optimistic about our future. Out of respect for the negotiating process, we won’t be providing specifics about the details of talks at this time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The strike authorization is not the first dispute the San Francisco Symphony has had with musicians this year. This season will be Salonen’s last as music director; \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13954297/san-francisco-symphony-musicians-urge-leadership-to-keep-esa-pekka-salonen\">Salonen said\u003c/a> that he and the board “do not share the same goals for the future of the institution” after the board had decided on budget cuts would significantly affect the organization’s “artistic profile.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Orchestra musicians protested as a result, handing out flyers after performances that asked patrons to email the board and urge them to do what it takes to keep the maestro, restore musician salaries to “competitive levels” and avoid cuts to overseas touring, children’s programming, the SoundBox concert series and other initiatives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfsymphony.org/SanFrancisco/media/SanFrancisco/Press%20Room/Statement-on-San-Francisco-Symphony-organizational-context.pdf\">four-page, public statement\u003c/a> issued in May, Symphony leadership described the organization’s financial troubles. It said it had incurred a cumulative $116 million operating deficit over the past decade, and that donor restrictions and California law prevent it from covering the shortfall with its endowment. The San Francisco Symphony’s $324.5 million endowment is one of the largest of any orchestra in the nation.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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