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SOPRANO THELMA AHNER DIES AT 98
by Terry McNeill
Saturday, July 8, 2023
Thelma Ahner, doyen of the Sonoma County singing community, died June 19 at her Santa Rosa home. She was 98. Known for her vibrant dramatic soprano in opera, operetta and Broadway musicals with the stage name Thelma Dare, Ahner moved to Sonoma in 1963 and began teaching privately and also opening ...
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HAYDEN'S WONDERFUL ONE O ONE
by Terry McNeill
Wednesday, December 14, 2022
Impresario Robert Hayden celebrated his 101st birthday Dec. 7 with a short but festive concert in an Oakmont home before 16 friends. Performing Finzi’s Five Bagatelles and the Brahms E-Flat Sonata, Op. 120, were clarinetist Roy Zajac and pianist Judy Walker. During the buffet reception Mr. Hayden ...
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MUSIC AND MEMORIES AT NORMA BROWN MEMORIAL
by Terry McNeill
Monday, June 27, 2022
Two hundred admirers of Norma Brown, doyen of Sonoma County classical music, honored her June 26 in a Memorial program in Weill Hall. Ms. Brown died at 89 in May of last year. Following introductory remarks by Corrick and Derek Brown, San Francisco’s Telegraph Quartet played Ravel’s F Major Quarte...
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STELLAR COUNTY MUSICIAN AND INTELLECTUAL BRIAN LLOYD DIES
by Terry McNeill
Saturday, April 9, 2022
With the death of Brian Lloyd in late January from pancreatic cancer, Sonoma County lost one of most eminent musicians and stellar personalities. Known mostly for his attachment for 15 years to the Sonoma County Philharmonic Orchestra as cellist, past Board president and musical cheerleader, Mr. Ll...
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REAGO ORGANISTS AT JACUZZI WINERY
by Terry McNeill
Monday, March 14, 2022
A contingent of Redwood Empire America Guild of Organists met March 10 at the posh Jacuzzi Winery, located at the south end of Sonoma Valley, to inspect and play on the facility’s pipe organ. Built before 1900 and installed for a century in a Sonoma Church, the instrument was purchased by the Cline...
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ORGAN VIRTUOSO DEFOREEST DIES AT 88
by Terry McNeill
Sunday, December 19, 2021
Sonoma County organist Douglas DeForeest, for many years one of the best known local organ virtuosos, died in Santa Rosa Nov. 13 of undisclosed causes. Born in 1933 in New Jersey, DeForeest graduated from the Kansas City Conservatory of Music and studied with Richard Purvis. He was for many years ...
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HAYDEN'S 100TH BIRTHDAY AN EXCITING GALA
by Terry McNeill
Thursday, December 9, 2021
Pearl Harbor Day seems an inappropriate time for a celebration, but the gala produced for Santa Rosan Robert Hayden’s 100th birthday was indeed an uplifting event. Held in the auditorium at Mr. Hayden’s Spring Lake Village residence, 60 people gathered to honor the founder of the Music at Oakmont S...
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MASTER MUSICIAN SONIA TUBRIDY DIES AT 76
by Terry McNeill
Wednesday, December 1, 2021
North Coast musician and impresario Sonia Tubridy died Nov. 26 in her Guerneville home from cancer. It was the second recent local loss of a musician of manifold talents, following in May the death of Santa Rosa pianist and teacher Norma Brown. Manifold talents characterized Sonia, as she was a ch...
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NORMA BROWN - AN APPRECIATION
by Terry McNeill
Sunday, May 16, 2021
Sonoma County has lost the doyen of classical music May 13 with the death of Norma Brown. A comprehensive obituary appeared in the May 15 Press Democrat, splendidly written by Diane Peterson. For decades a titular figure in North Coast chamber and symphonic music, Norma was the founder of the San...
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DEBUSSY PRELUDES IN MENDOCINO FESTIVAL EEUCATIONAL PROGRAM
by Terry McNeill
Sunday, February 28, 2021
During the Pandemic the Mendocino Music Festival has hosted several virtual programs, with singers and instrumentalists, several with local artists. Festival co-director Susan Waterfall’s pre-recorded program Feb. 26 regarding Debussy’s Preludes was expected to continue the series of live performan...
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Symphony Summary for Late 2020 and Early 2020
by Terry McNeill
Wednesday, October 14, 2020
North Coast Symphonic Music during the Pandemic is alive, but mostly on idle. The Santa Rosa Symphony is featuring three video programs (Oct. 11, Nov. 15 and Dec. 13) from Weill Hall, and presented a charming gala program Sept. 11 spotlighting the contributions by Norma and Corrick Brown to the SRS...
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Mozart and News That Is Fake
by Kaylee Asbo
Wednesday, February 6, 2019
The idea of "fake news" has gathered great force in the past few years. Perhaps the media truly has reached an unprecedented level of virulence, but the idea of disseminating and then amplifying a wildly inaccurate tale is not a recent cultural phenomenon. History reveals that false reports have bee...
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REAGO CONCERTS FEATURES DAVID JOHNSON ORGAN WORKS
by Terry McNeill
Sunday, January 20, 2019
A full house at Santa Rosa's Church of the Incarnation Jan. 20 heard unpublished vocal, organ and instrumental music by David N. Johnson, performed by local musicians. The Redwood Empire Chapter of the American Guild of Organists produced the event. Participants in the concert included (left to ri...
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SO CO PHIL'S FESTIVE CONCERTS CHARM ATTENTIVE PROVINCAL COSTA RICAN AUDIENCES
by Terry McNeill
Friday, June 29, 2018
During the Sonoma County Philharmonic’s June 17-24 Costa Rica tour, three concerts were played, with the titular event being the splendid June 19 concert in San José’s Teatro Nationál. This seminal concert was the featured review on the Internet at Classical Sonoma. However, the two concerts...
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SO CO PHIL TOURS AGAIN - Costa Rica
by Terry McNeill
Friday, June 15, 2018
Nearly a decade ago the Sonoma County Philharmonic took a concert and cultural tour of China, led by its founder and then conductor Gabe Sakakeeny. Many of the participants described the eight days as logistically challenging and arduous, but also artistically successful. The So Co Phil tours agai...
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JACK POWER DIES AT 73
by Terry McNeill
Sunday, July 9, 2017
Long-time Sonoma and Mendocino County music aficionado Jack Power died May 11, at age 73. Details on the cause of death and where he died were not available as of July 1. Jack was known to friends as the best pianist among surgeons, or the best surgeon among pianists. He never lost an opportunity...
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VOM Music Festival Photo
by Terry McNeill
Thursday, July 21, 2016
Valley of the moon Music Festival...
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VOM Music Festival Photo
by Terry McNeill
Thursday, July 21, 2016
VOM Music Festival Photo...
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ChamberFest Seven Concert Photo June 26 2016
by Terry McNeill
Friday, July 1, 2016
Photo by Green Music Center...
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ChamberFest Seven Concert Photo
by Terry McNeill
Friday, July 1, 2016
Photo provided by Green Music Center...
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MARC TADDEI IS NEW VSO CONDUCTOR FOR 2016-2017 SEASON
by Elizabeth Warnimont
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
The Vallejo Symphony Orchestra (VSO) announced the election of its new director March 30, and New Zealander Marc Taddei will take the baton beginning with its upcoming 2016-2017 season. Earlier this season the three final candidates conducted an audition concert, and perhaps fate had a hand in the...
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DOYEN OF MUSIC CRITICS COMMANDAY DIES AT 93
by Terry McNeill
Tuesday, September 29, 2015
Northern California’s grand signor of music criticism, Robert Commanday, died Sept. 3 in his Oakland home. He was 93. Best remembered for 30 years as the San Francisco Chronicle’s critic, Mr. Commanday with visionary success founded in 1993 an online music service, San Francisco Classical V...
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THOMAS' BACH INTERPRETATIONS A SURPRISING BACH MIX
by Joanna Bramel Young
Friday, January 24, 2014
I thought it was one of the most enjoyable concerts the ABS has done in awhile, mostly because of the choice of music and the variety. Jeffrey Thomas always mixes things up and you never know how he is going to approach a given piece. He is after the surprises in the music and nothing taken for gr...
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NEW YORK IMPRESARIO MEHTA COMES TO GREEN CENTER
by Terry McNeill
Wednesday, November 6, 2013
In a flurry of surprise announcements, Zarin Mehta has been named Executive Director of the Green Music Center complex at Sonoma State University. Mehta, 75, was for 12 years the Executive Director of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, and in Sonoma Country media and the New York Times said “it’s...
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Music through Rosé-colored Glasses
by Steve Osborn
Monday, August 26, 2013
As befits its name, Music in the Vineyards is as much about the venues as it is about the music. Encompassing nine Napa Valley wineries and the Napa Valley Museum over a three-week run, the festival allows music to shine through rosé-colored glasses. This year's festival culminated with three weeke...
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BEETHOVEN AMONG THE BARRELS
by Steve Osborn
Sunday, August 18, 2013
Chamber music is probably not the first thing that springs to the minds of barrel-room visitors at Markham Vineyards in St. Helena. True to its name, two sides of the large rectangular space are lined floor to ceiling with 60-gallon oak barrels filled with Napa Valley's finest. The floors are concre...
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ORGANIST AND CHURCH MUSIC SCHOLAR CAROLYN WIESTER DIES AT 79
by Terry McNeill
Monday, February 11, 2013
Long time Sonoma County musician Carolyn Wiester died Feb. 3 in Rohnert Park after a year-long struggle with cancer. Ms. Wiester was closely associated with activities of the Redwood Chapter of the American Guild of Organists and was a past Dean of the Organization. She was also a pianist noted f...
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ADDITIONAL OPERA PERFORMANCES SCHEDULED AT SSU
by Terry McNeill
Monday, February 11, 2013
Five performances of Sonoma State University’s two-opera production, Haydn’s “Deserted Island” and Vaughn Williams’ “Riders to the Sea,” are scheduled for mid February in the University’s Person Theater. Dates are Feb. 13 at 1 p.m. (performance with piano replacing the orchestra) and at 7:30 p.m. F...
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FRENCH ORGAN MUSIC FEATURED IN CAUCHEFER CHOPLIN MASTER CLASS
by Terry McNeill
Saturday, October 20, 2012
The virtuoso French organist Sophie-Véronique Cauchefer-Choplin gave a master class Oct. 20 in Santa Rosa’s Resurrection Parish, associated with her recital in the same venue the following afternoon. Peter Duranceau, prepared by local organist David Parsons, worked with Ms. Cauchefer-Choplin on Vie...
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SEBASTOPOL ARTS CENTER TO MOVE TO SNAZZY BIG BUILDING
by Terry McNeill
Monday, September 17, 2012
With all the news revolving around the opening of the Green Music Center, another exciting new building for music has seemingly slipped under the cultural radar. The Sebastopol Center for the Arts is moving to a larger facility, the County Veteran’s Building on High Street in Sebastopol. A festi...
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RUSSIAN RIVER CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY SUSPENDS SEASON
by Terry McNeill
Thursday, September 6, 2012
After 20 seasons of producing classical chamber music programs, the Russian River Chamber Music Society has suspended concerts for the coming 2012-2013 season. Founder and Artistic Director Gary McLaughlin announced that the Board of Directors, headed by President Richard Kagel, is considering seve...
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MUSIC CHEST WINNERS TO PERFORM MAY 6 AT SAN DOMENICO SCHOOL
by Terry McNeill
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Marin’s Music Chest’s 2012 winners were announced April 19 and each will perform May 6 at 12:30 p..m. in San Domenico’s School Auditorium. The School is at 1500 Butterfield Rd., San Anselmo, CA 94960. Pictured above are the winners: Front Row (l to r) Stephanie Oh, Chloe Fung, Hallie Jo Gist, Kat...
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ETUDE COMPETITION WINNERS ANNOUNCED; PRIZE RECITAL APRIL 14 IN NEWMAN
by Terry McNeill
Monday, April 9, 2012
Winners for the 2012 Etude Competition have been announced after April 1 auditions in Santa Rosa Junior College’s Forsyth Hall. Continuing a long tradition and originally sponsored by the Santa Rosa Etude Club, the Competition is now independent and managed by Director Peggy Nance. The Santa Rosa...
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SEPTEMBER SR SYMPHONY CONCERT TO SHOWCASE WEILL HALL SOUND
by Terry McNeill
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
This article is the first in a series concerning the coming SRS season’s seven sets of concerts and an opening gala. A new concert hall and an old orchestra are not strange bedfellows, as witness the Santa Rosa Symphony, which will play its first formal Weill Hall concert at Sonoma State Uni...
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SR SYMPHONY SEASON TO SHOWCASE THE GREEN MUSIC CENTER
by Terry McNeill
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Recently the Santa Rosa Symphony announced its inaugural Green Music Center calendar with a daunting schedule of seven sets of concerts, each program having a snazzy title and seemingly designed to showcase the acoustics of the 1,400-seat Weill Hall. The 2012-13 season, the Orchestra’s 84th, present...
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DONOR EVENT AT GREEN MUSIC CENTER UNVEILS 2012 SEASON PLANS
by Steve Osborn
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Lang Lang. San Francisco Symphony. Carnegie Hall. Those were the three big names on the lips of speakers at a donor gathering in the Green Music Center at Sonoma State University on New Year’s Day. The upshot was that all three big names will be involved with the upcoming season in the new facility,...
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HAYDEN TO RETIRE FROM OAKMONT CONCERT SERIES DIRECTION JAN. 1
by Wolfgang Hummel
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Robert Hayden, impresario for two decades at the Oakmont Concert Series, recently announced his retirement from managing the felicitous monthly concerts, effective January 1. Mr. Hayden, 89, moved to Oakmont after education executive positions in places as disparate as Thessaloniki, San Salvador,...
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NORTH BAY SINGERS SHINE IN ANNUAL NATS HIGH TEA HIGH C'S CONCERT
by Terry McNeill
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Sonoma County’s preeminent organization of teachers of singing, the Redwood Empire Chapter of NATS (National Association of Teachers of Singing) held their annual recital Oct. 29 at Santa Rosa’s First United Methodist Church. The fund-raising event supports the spring scholarship auditions for loca...
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NEALE TO CONDUCT ALL PROGRAMS IN NEW MARIN SYMPHONY SEASON
by Terry McNeill
Monday, June 6, 2011
Announcing its 59th year, the Marin Symphony has set five pairs of concerts for the 2011-2012 season spotlighting an eclectic array of works, beginning with an all-Tchaikovsky event October 2 and 4. Conducted by Alasdair Neale in his tenth year in Marin, Tchaikovsky’s Capriccio Italien will be foll...
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UKIAH SYMPHONY ANNOUNCES PROVOCATIVE 2011-2012 SEASON
by Terry McNeill
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Ukiah’s innovative Symphony announced its 2011-2012 season May 27, a season of rich variety and featuring new groups of mostly local soloists in Mendocino College’s Center Theater. Under the baton of veteran conductor Les Pfutzenreuter, four classical music concerts have individual themes, leading ...
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MADE IN NAPA IS THE NEW SEASON'S THEME FOR THE NAPA VALLEY SYMPHONY
by Terry McNeill
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Celebrating its new 79th season, the Napa Valley Symphony will present seven single concerts, all on Sundays, in Yountville’s Lincoln Theater Napa Valley with a series of guest conductors. Made in Napa is the season’s theme and features three compositions by composers of the greater Napa community....
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GAIL EMBREE RECORDS SCHUMANN MASTERPIECE
by Terry McNeill
Monday, May 30, 2011
Santa Rosa pianist Gail Embree recorded May 5 Schumann's multi-part Carnaval, Op. 9, and the CD has just been released. One of Schumann's most popular and demanding works, Carnaval has been a favorite of virutosi since its composition in 1835, and has been played in the North Bay Concerts Grand s...
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CELLIST CHRIS JENNINGS ENDS FOUR DECADES WITH MARIN SYMPHONY
by Terry McNeill
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Cellist Chris Jennings, 44-year veteran of the Marin Symphony, retired from the orchestra at the season-concluding concerts May 1 and 3 at the Marin Center in San Rafael. Joining in 1967 after auditioning, Ms. Jennings and the Symphony were then playing to audience members seated in bleachers in a ...
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MUSIC CHEST HONORS 15 YOUNG MUSICIANS IN MARIN COMPETITION
by Terry McNeill
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
The Marin Music Chest, a 78-year old organization which presents annual scholarships to Marin County students studying classical music, has announced its 2011 scholarship award winners and two May concerts featuring solo performances by each student musician. Scholarships of $800 each were awarded t...
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ETUDE COMPETITION AUDITIONS GENERATES 13 WINNERS
by Terry McNeill
Sunday, April 10, 2011
The North Bay’s Etude Competition auditions produced 13 winners April 10 in a spirited event at SRJC’s Newman Auditorium. Musicians ages 11 through 18 participated. Sponsored by generous contributions by the Optimist Club and directed by pianist Peggy Nance, the Etude Competition is the premier ev...
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SYMPHONY ANNOUNCES SUMMER ACADEMY AT SO CO COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL
by Terry McNeill
Saturday, March 26, 2011
The Santa Rosa Symphony has announced a Summer Music Academy at the Sonoma Country Day School July 11 through July 29. Comprising workshops for individual instruments and ensembles for string, woodwinds, brass and percussion, the Academy’s early bird discount deadline is April 15. The deadline for...
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SURPRISE WEILL DONATION BOOSTS GREEN MUSIC CENTER CONSTRUCTION AT SSU
by Terry McNeill
Friday, March 25, 2011
After years of moribund fund raising and uncertainty about the future, the Green Music Center at Rohnert Park’s Sonoma State University appears to be closer to finally opening. New York banker, financier and philanthropist Sanford Weill, a recent purchaser of a lavish Sonoma County estate, donate...
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OAKMONT MUSICAL FIGURE HARRY FRY DIES AT 84
by Terry McNeill
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Long-time Sonoma County musical figure harry Fry died March 8 at his Oakmont home. He was 84 and suffered from cancer. Mr. Fry was born in Sheffield. England, and graduated in physics from Sheffield University. In World War II he was involved in war-related industrial research and in the late 196...
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AUDITION DATES FOR MARIN'S MUSIC CHEST SCHOLARSHIP CONTEST AVAILABLE ON LINE
by Terry McNeill
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Marin’s Music Chest has launched its annual scholarship audition program to provide financial assistance to support Marin County students studying classical music. Students in woodwinds, brass, string instruments, piano, percussion and voice are encouraged to apply. Applicants must be Marin County...
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KDFC CLASSICAL RADIO MOVES DOWN THE FM DIAL
by Greg Bottini
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
KDFC-FM, the San Francisco Bay Area's only full-time classical music radio station since KKHI changed format in 1994, has sold its operation to a new owner and has vacated its longtime broadcast frequency of 102.1 MHz. The new owner is the University of Southern California, in conjunction with Enter...
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San Francisco's KDFC to be Managed as a Non-Profit by USC
by John Thompson
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
The popular University of Southern California classical station KUSC is taking over management of KDFC under a non-profit model. In the North Bay the station can now be heard on FM 89.9. For further details read a letter about the chang...
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APSC TRUMPET PLAYER RECALLS HISTORIC CHINA TOUR EXPERIENCES
by Philip Beard
Friday, January 14, 2011
My apologies for dawdling so long with this summary report of my trip to China with the APSC (American Philharmonic Orchestra of Sonoma County) that occurred from Dec. 24 to Jan. 6. I appear to have brought back with me (and many other orchestra members with them) a virus that has laid me low durin...
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ORGANIST LAYTEN HECKMAN DIES AT 64
by Carolyn Wiester`
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Layten P. Heckman, widely-known organist, died Dec. 13 at Sebastopol's Palm Drive Hospital from complications of a blood infection. He was 64 and lived in Rio Nido. Born in Waterloo, Iowa, Mr. Heckman graduated from St. Olaf College, Minnesota, and was a career composer, director and publisher of ...
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APSC PLAYERS FLY TO SAN FRANCISCO AFTER HISTORIC NINE-CONCERT CHINA TOUR
by Philip Beard
Thursday, January 6, 2011
It’s my final report before leaving China, and we lucked out weather wise yesterday. We played out last concert the night before here in Beijing, and yesterday went to the Great Wall. It was pretty wonderful – incredible scenery, a great sense of history and the cleanest air we have breathed sinc...
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EXPLOSIVE FINAL SHANGHAI CONCERT IN APSC'S WHIRLWIND TOUR OF CHINESE CITIES
by Krisha Montmorency
Monday, January 3, 2011
So you all probably think that China has eaten us alive by now. In a way, it has! It’s been a non-stop whirlwind for a week (a concert every night in a new city) and four airline flights in that week alone. Yesterday and today we finally got a break without concerts in Shanghai, and we are havin...
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APSC BARNSTORMS LAST CITIES IN HISTORIC CHINA CONCERT TOUR
by Philip Beard
Sunday, January 2, 2011
It’s been intense. We played our first seven concerts on seven consecutive nights, with flights and bus rides and sometimes some sleep in between. Good to fantastic reception from various audiences; good to mediocre hotel accommodations and hotel food; decent performing venues, with one notable e...
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AMERICAN PHILHARMONIC TO PLAY THIRD CONCERT IN SHANGHAI ON HISTORIC CHINA TOUR
by Terry McNeill
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
First information from the American Philharmonic’s trip to China, sent by trumpet player Philip Beard: From December 28 – how is the trip? “The trip is exhausting but fun. Three concerts under our belts so far, at Dalian, Taizhou and today in this incredible performance hall called the ‘Oriental ...
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CELEBRATED CONDUCTOR NINA SHUMAN DIES AT 56
by Terry McNeill
Monday, December 13, 2010
North Coast music lovers mourn the loss of Nina Elizabeth Shuman, who died peacefully in her home Dec. 12 after a 30-month battle with cancer. Born April 27, 1954, in New York City, Ms. Shuman was surrounded by music and art from childhood summers in Santa Barbara, where her father, Davis Shuman, a...
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APSC TO BE THE FIRST LOCAL ORCHESTRA TO TOUR CHINA
by Brian Lloyd
Saturday, November 27, 2010
American Philharmonic-Sonoma County has been invited by the government of China and the Dalian Yilan Concert Production Company to tour northern China over this coming New Year's holiday. Sponsored and supported almost entirely by the Chinese government, the orchestra will perform eight concerts in ...
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MUSIC AND ART TO BE PART OF CORRICKS STORE'S 95TH BIRTHDAY
by Terry McNeill
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Corricks, Santa Rosa’s unique downtown store, is celebrating its 95th anniversary with weekend musicales and exceptional art in November and the first week of December. Hosted by store President Kevin Brown, the events will run from Nov. 13 to December 5, Saturdays and Sundays, noon to 2 p.m. I...
Performers in the Silverado Room at Silverado Vineyards

Music through Rosé-colored Glasses

by Steve Osborn
Monday, August 26, 2013

As befits its name, Music in the Vineyards is as much about the venues as it is about the music. Encompassing nine Napa Valley wineries and the Napa Valley Museum over a three-week run, the festival allows music to shine through rosé-colored glasses.

This year's festival culminated with three weekend concerts at the venerable Silverado Vineyards, just off the Silverado Trail on the valley's somewhat less traveled east side. In keeping with the Mexican California theme, the concerts were held in the third-floor Silverado Room, a classic high-ceilinged space whose terrace offers billion-dollar views of the grapes--soon to be liquid silver--stretching for miles in all directions.

The Silverado Room is a great acoustical space, with hardwood floors, plaster walls and a peaked wood-plank ceiling. The only drawback is the portable stage that tends to amplify performers' foot shufflings and tappings.

Those errant feet were most in evidence in the opening work, Schumann's "Märchenbilder" for viola and piano, where pianist Wei-Yi Yang's bipedal extremities occasionally distracted from violist Jonathan Vinocour's otherwise liquescent performance. Vinocour, playing from score, established his luscious tone right from the start, with a gorgeous opening on one of Schumann's most heartfelt compositions, beloved of violists everywhere.

Vinocour's full tone was matched by his impeccable bowing and spot-on intonation. The quick middle movements were both fiery and passionate, with Vinocour at times in perpetual motion, his bow darting effortlessly across all four strings. These soon gave way to the slow finale, which was completely enchanting. Beginning the haunting melody entirely on the viola's low C string, Vinocour moved upward through the instrument like a lyric tenor. The result was pure song.

Songs were also at the heart of the next piece, Prokofiev's String Quartet No. 2, which uses folksongs from the North Caucasus region, about 900 miles south of Moscow. Like other Soviet artists, Prokofiev was sent there in 1941, when a Nazi invasion of Moscow seemed imminent. He took advantage of the pastoral location to collect some local tunes and incorporate them into a deceptively cheerful quartet.

The performer on this occasion was the esteemed Escher String Quartet, a no-nonsense group that got right down to work. They did an admirable job of conveying Prokofiev's distinctive forward motion, which is at times rollicking and otherwise lurching. Everything is slightly off balance in the quartet, which invests its folk tunes with modern elements, including the insistent drumbeat of war.

While the first two movements were more than adequate, the Escher didn't really get moving until the third and final frame. The unison sound at the beginning was riveting, engaging everyone present in a demonic forward march. The solos from the cello were particularly outstanding, but everyone played with conviction, bearing down right through the abrupt ending.

For a little comic relief, yet another string quartet came out to play Hindemith's "The Overture to The Flying Dutchman as Played at Sight by a Bad Spa Orchestra at the Village Well at 7 in the Morning." The title of this rarely performed farce conveys everything you need to know, but it's difficult to pull off without top-notch performers.

Fortunately for the audience, the performers, led by violinist Erin Keefe, proved to be masters of virtuosic ineptitude. They stumbled onto the stage, still in the grips of cataclysmic hangovers, second violinist Aaron Boyd gripping a vodka bottle for dear life. Keefe was arrayed in a shapeless sweatshirt and an unkempt beehive hairdo, her eyes sheltered by black makeup. Violist Michael Adams went one step farther by wearing dark glasses.

The performance was even better than the costumes. Keefe was especially adept at massacring Wagner, playing his bombastic passages with the utmost disdain. She was utterly convincing as the hard-partying musician who would rather be anywhere but on stage. At the overture's merciful end, she staggered off without a glance at the roaring audience.

The standard wine-sipping intermission allowed the audience to settle down and prepare for the much more serious Shostakovich Piano Quintet, performed by yet another assemblage of musicians. The stars in this case were first violinist Arnaud Sussman and pianist Ieva Jokubaviciute, joined by second violinist Daria Adams and the lower half of the Escher String Quartet: violist Pierre Lapointe and cellist Dane Johansen.

As is often the case with pickup bands, individual performers stood out, but the group had trouble melding into a convincing whole. Sussman's playing was intense and often compelling, his entire body often rocking back and forth to propel Shostakovich's insistent rhythms. Jokubaviciute was likewise engaged, but her tempi sometimes flagged. The well-known Scherzo at the middle of the work was noticeably slow.

Despite these ensemble problems, the Allegretto finale was sparkling, with wonderful playing all around. Sussman bounced up and down in his seat, spearheading a long crescendo that culminated in a feather-light ending, as if happiness had finally been achieved.

[Reprinted by permission of San Francisco Classical Voice.]