The 2012 Grammys are almost here and the entertainment world is all abuzz with that annual affliction “Grammy Fever.” What exactly do these awards mean for the winners and nominees? Well, for an increasingly shrinking list of players the awards will continue to mean big-time money and exposure. But this year the field has shrunk and numerous artists who previously enjoyed access to modest pieces of the Grammy pie will find themselves among the industry’s equivalent of the 99%. Last April, The National Academy of Recorded Arts and Sciences (NARAS) elected to reduce the number of awards by eliminating 31 different categories from award contention, ostensibly to foster greater competition in fewer categories. ...more...
Arts America Blog
Waiting for Godot? Wait No Longer
February 8, 2012 by
For those interested in strange, cerebral theater, it’s a delicious treat to see any play by Samuel Beckett performed. When the chance to see his masterpiece Waiting for Godot comes around every so often, it’s an opportunity not to be missed. Although Beckett wrote Godot over 60 years ago, it remains a deeply affecting experience today. It is possibly one of the most talked about, and widely interpreted, works of …more…
Tontlawald Coming Soon
February 1, 2012 by
The Cutting Ball Theater gives audiences a selection of four plays during their season-in-residence at the EXIT on Taylor, and each one is an exquisite gem of experimental theater. Last fall’s performance of Pelleas and Melisande (directed by Rob Melrose) wove the childlike delight of a fairytale into the dramatic interpretation of universal human anguish. The set design employed an onstage pool of water, gorgeous blue and white lighting, and a spectral musical accompaniment that infused the piece with the ghostly, yearning quality of love forever lost. Cutting Ball’s upcoming production of Tontlawald promises to be no less impressive. ...more...
In Praise of the San Francisco Ballet
February 1, 2012 by
The San Francisco Ballet is so technically strong, so “deep,” to borrow a term from team sports rhetoric, lavish praise can be extended to its soloists and even to the ranks of the corps. ...more...
San Francisco Opera Announces New Season (yawn).
January 29, 2012 by
With opera companies booking singers and productions four to five years in advance, season announcements come as something of a pro-forma ritual with little actual news. The SF Opera season announcement came this week with no surprises, so, here it is:
Rigoletto – 12 performances 9/7 – 9/30
I Capuletti e i Montecchi – 6 performances 9/29-10/19
Moby Dick (Heggie) – 8 Performances 10/10 – 11/2
Lohengrin – 7 Performances 10/20 – 11/9
Tosca – …more…
Top attraction this weekend: Alfredo Rodriguez
January 27, 2012 by
Saturday night’s Treasures from the Archives presentation by Mark Cantor of rare, fascinating jazz film clips was, as expected, another memorable occasion. This was no tiny, peripheral jazz society splitting hairs over minutiae and obscure musicians lost to history; Cantor’s presentation was informative, fun, and, above all, well-attended! The screening occurred in Kanbar Hall in The Jewish Community Center of San Francisco with an appreciative audience of probably 300 fans …more…
Replacing choral folders with iPads
January 16, 2012 by
The excellent 9-voice male vocal Ensemble Clerestory is performing a series of concerts in the next two weeks in Oakland (1/21), Palo Alto (1/22), Belvedere-Tiburon (1/27) and San Francisco (1/29). The concerts feature the typical fare of a wide range of choral music from many periods.
Perhaps less typical is the replacement of traditional choral folders with iPads. Although this should appeal to the green leanings of Bay Area audiences, it begs the question …more…
JAZZ IN FILM NEWS
January 15, 2012 by
One of the most intriguing jazz news stories of recent years was revived when Don Cheadle recently confirmed that his plans to make a film about Miles Davis were developing. The proposed project, which Cheadle would both direct and star in, was announced two years ago but had scarcely been mentioned by the Oscar-nominated actor since. Cheadle, of course, has been busy starring in films like Iron Man 2 and …more…
2012 San Francisco Dance Seduces
January 9, 2012 by
The overindulgence of the holiday season – to include gorging on myriad Nutcracker interpretations — leaves one with no alternative than to look forward to an early 2012 filled with exciting dance offerings. Overwhelmed as we are with anticipation, if we end by succumbing to temptation, who can blame us? ...more...
Onegin Opens at San Francisco Ballet January 27
January 9, 2012 by
Russian poet Aleksandr Pushkin is known for romantic immediacy. In my college Russian class, where we recited his works by heart, I could never get past the third line of the poem “I Loved You” without bursting into tears. Pushkin achieved what most writers only dream of, fusing as he did both the sound and meaning of language to create irresistible emotional impact. ...more...
SF Symphony programs Debussy rarity
January 8, 2012 by
The San Francisco Symphony is pulling out all the stops in this week’s program of difficult to sell repertory. The Symphony is to be commended for making an effort to put this excellent music before an unsuspecting public.
The culprit is Debussy’s mammoth choral work, Le Martyrdom de Saint Sebastian. For those ready to reprimand me it is not a choral work, that’s because it is rarely performed in its entirety. The work …more…
2011 Top Musical Discoveries (a personal list)
January 1, 2012 by
Many critics, reviewers, and bloggers end the year with a top ten list of the year’s best recordings, best performances, top news stories, etc. For my record of San Francisco and Bay Area jazz happenings, I want to offer a list of top musical discoveries of 2011. Admittedly, this is a highly personal list and I offer it in the hopes that readers respond with their own discoveries:
Early Music scene …more…
Merry Unemployment
December 24, 2011 by
As the San Francisco Opera goes dark at the end of the year, many tenured members of the orchestra, chorus, and ballet are technically laid off. A loophole in California law allows these artists to claim unemployment insurance payments. Labor law and benefits, created for office and factory workers, poorly fit performing arts; some of the greatest abuses and shortfalls occur in the area of unemployment benefits.
Like teachers who have …more…
Ahmad Jamal swings through San Francisco
December 20, 2011 by
Did anyone attend Ahmad Jamal’s December 10 concert at Herbst Theater? I was looking forward to that concert more than any other event in the SFJAZZ festival, but an unexpected family crisis prevented me from attending. I have searched in vain for a review or blogpost about this highly anticipated event – is it possible that Mr. Jamal came and went through San Francisco and nobody from the Fourth Estate thought to make the concert a matter of public record? The event was sold out, so I’d love to hear from folks who were there! ...more...
SF Symphony Centennial Documentary
December 14, 2011 by
The documentary film, “San Francisco Symphony at 100,” which premiered in September, will be rebroadcast this weekend.
Sunday, December 18 at 9:00 PM and 1 AM on Bay Area’s NBC KNTV, channel 11.1.
Watch a preview.
Narrated by famed Bay Area native Amy Tan, the documentary features interviews with current symphony members and archival footage. It will not be released on DVD until spring 2012.
For years, the symphony’s season was limited because it …more…
Nutcracker Dominates December Dance in San Francisco
December 14, 2011 by
For me growing up, every September meant Nutcracker auditions, and October and November were filled with rehearsals, costume fittings and the thrill of anticipation. Years after we graduated, my fellow students and I still pined for Nutcracker season every fall.
The storied holiday classic, it seems, is not only addictive to young dancers, it is also a perennial family magnet and a tremendous moneymaker. In some U.S. cities, it …more…
The Artist Inspires Remembrance of the Silent Film Era
December 1, 2011 by
While some may balk at the idea of watching a film without sound these days, hopefully sustained momentum behind the Oscar contender, The Artist, will spark a renewed public interest in recognizing the largely forgotten impact of silent film classics. ...more...
GIVE THANKS… FOR JOHN SANTOS
December 1, 2011 by
This November many of us carved out time to appreciate the people in our lives and give thanks. We Bay Area jazz fans, in particular, had much to be thankful for. Although the SFJAZZ Festival is still winding down, the past months have been filled with some outstanding shows including those by Esperanza Spaulding, Robert Glasper, and McCoy Tyner. Alongside the established jazz artists were legendary Bollywood playback-singer Asha Bohsle, R&B …more…
ODC Dance Presents The Velveteen Rabbit at Yerba Buena in San Francisco
November 30, 2011 by
ODC Dance Company performs The Velveteen Rabbit at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
In a holiday performance landscape populated by an endless procession of Nutcrackers, Nutcracker spinoffs and Nutcracker knockoffs, San Francisco’s compassionate ODC Dance Company proffers a refreshing alternative. The Velveteen Rabbit, in its 25th anniversary season, is a lively and engaging retelling of Margery Williams’ classic children’s story. The piece, which features a bevy of talented …more…
Dancer Muriel Maffre Brings The Soldier’s Tale to Berkeley’s Aurora Theatre
November 30, 2011 by
Muriel Maffre as the Daughter of the King in The Soldier's Tale
During her 17 years as Principal Dancer with the San Francisco Ballet, French-born Muriel Maffre gained a reputation for technical, as well as dramatic, brilliance. In such roles as the raging Carabosse and the gentle Lilac Fairy, both of Sleeping Beauty, she captivated audiences and critics alike with the specificity, immediacy and sheer intensity of her characterizations. I always said …more…
Bay Area Arts Mailing List Exchanges Go Big
November 22, 2011 by
Are you a Domestic Duo, a Fast Track Family, Country Casual, or New Homesteader? Do you have “Gray Power” or belong to the “Second City Elite?”
These are just a few of the monikers used to label audience members in “The Big List,” a mailing list pool maintained by Theater Bay Area. Because 200 organizations (not all in the Bay Area) have participated in the list since 2008, if you have …more…
Bay Area Holiday Music, Part I
November 20, 2011 by
With retailers putting up ornaments, it is already time to think about the holidays. The best Christmas concerts sell out, so avoiding the rush involves planning ahead and buying tickets early. Most ensembles present lighter fare around the holidays, yet there there are still many offering inventive yet festive programming without relaxing standards. Here is my selection of the Bay Area’s most promising holiday concerts:
Magnificat Baroque: Schütz’s Christmas Story
December 16-18 …more…
Not Abundant but Well Served: Jazz at Music Conference
November 17, 2011 by
From November 10-13 music scholars from far and wide descended on the Hyatt Regency Hotel on the Embarcadero in San Francisco for the American Musicological Society‘s 2011 conference. Held in a different American or Canadian metropolis evey year, AMS had not been to the Bay Area since 1990 when Oakland hosted the event. With this year’s preponderance of opera and early music papers, there was comparatively little in the way …more…
