With autumn upon us, the Bay Area's classical music groups are tuning up for hundreds of intriguing events. San Francisco Classical Voice asked several of our critics and editors to comb through the performance announcements available to date and pick their favorite choices for September through December.
Preposterous but true: My two best memories of Gounod's Faust performances come from a gala occasion in Paris 34 years ago and a small regional company's premiere of it on Saturday. A world-class event and Walnut Creek's Festival Opera each hit the spot in its own way.
Ten years ago, when Michael Steinberg retired as the San Francisco Symphony's program annotator and music advisor, he had a farewell essay in the program, entitled "Why We Are Here." It is also part of the book For the Love of Music Steinberg cowrote with Larry Rothe, his long-time colleague at SFS.
The Festival del Sole concert Thursday in Napa’s Castello di Amorosa was an exception to the conventional structure of a concert. It consisted of two unrelated sections, each featuring a big star, and felt like two separate musical events. The two featured performers could not have been more different, not that there is anything wrong with that, but the concert was indeed unusual.
The biggest and best summer festival of classical music is in session, and available — free — to everyone with a computer. (Or, in the U.K.