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3/12/2023 - SAKURA AND THE MUSICAL ART OF ARRANGEMENT - Abby Wasserman
SAKURA / SAKURA. Stella Cho, Michael Kaufman, Yoshika Masuda, Peter Myers, Nathan Chan, cello
In Japanese, sakura means the five-petaled cherry blossom, and members of SAKURA Cello Quintet treated their Chamber Music Marin audience March 12 to a rare musical flowering. All but one of the eleven selections in the program were arrangements, not surprising because until SAKURA formed, f...

3/12/2023 - WEIGHTY RUSSIAN SONATAS IN MALOFEEV'S 222 GALLERY RECITAL - Terry McNeill
The 222 / Alexander Malofeev, piano
Russian pianists on American tours often play blockbuster programs, so it was no surprise that Alexander Malofeev’s s recital in Healdsburg’s posh 222 Gallery had Rachmaninoff’s monumental B Flat Sonata as the capstone. The 21-minute work in the 1931 version received a thunderous reading that favor...

3/9/2023 - ARRON-PARK DUO IN CAPTIVATING OAKMONT RECITAL - Terry McNeill
Music at Oakmont / Edward Arron, cello; Jeewon Park, piano
The chance of having two virtuoso cello recitals in the North Bay in less than 30 days was not good. The sensational Steven Isserliss Napa recital Feb. 14 simply couldn’t be bettered, but Edward Arron’s Music at Oakmont recital March 9 came close. Very close. With pianist Jeewon Park Mr. Arron ma...

3/4/2023 - MAGNIFIQUE MUSIQUE FRANÇAISE AT MARIN SYMPHONY - Abby Wasserman
Marin Symphony / Alasdair Neale, conductor. David Fung, piano. Marin Symphony Chorus
Remarks from Conductor Alasdair Neale introduced Marin Symphony’s March 4 French-themed concert by extolling the “glittering orchestral colors” of Lili Boulanger’s D’un matin de printemps (Of a Morning in Spring), begun in 1917 as a duet for violin and piano and completed as an orchestral tone poem ...

2/26/2023 - EXULTANT VSO PLAYING OF RAVEL BALLET IN THE EMPRESS - Terry McNeill
Vallejo Symphony / Marc Taddei, conductor. Elizabeth Dorman, piano
In his spoken introduction to a Vallejo Symphony audience Feb. 26 conductor Marc Taddei pointed to the afternoon’s program with a wedding epigram: something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. Well, the comment held true for the semi old (Grieg’s Piano Concerto) and the semi ne...

2/23/2023 - JOYFULLY WE SING - Pamela Hicks Gailey
Sonoma State University Department of Music / Christa Durand and Krista Wigle, soprano; Yvonne Wormer, piano
It was a welcome surprise to review a Feb. 23 recital given by two new Sonoma State voice faculty colleagues, Christa Durand and Krista Wigle, with pianist Yvonne Wormer. Since being recently retired from a performing and teaching career, I was curious to speak via a video chat with these next gener...

2/20/2023 - FERRANDIS BRINGS FRENCH MUSIC AND CONSUMMATE SKILL TO SANTA ROSA SYMPHONY - Steve Osborn
Santa Rosa Symphony / Bruno Ferrandis, conductor. Jon Nakamatsu, piano
The evening of Feb. 19 was a pleasant one on the Santa Rosa Plain. The sun was shining, and the temperature hovered in the low 50s. Inside Weill Hall at the Green Music Center, the Santa Rosa Symphony prepared to begin its latest concert as the audience buzzed about guest conductor Bruno Ferrandis, ...

2/14/2023 - EXALTED ISSERLIS VALENTINES DAY GIFT IN STELLAR NAPA RECITAL - Terry McNeill
Chamber Music in Napa Valley / Steven Isserlis, cello; Connie Shih, piano
There were no real surprises in cellist Steven Isserlis’ Napa recital on Valentine Day, and perhaps none was expected. After all, he is among the elite of the world’s cellists, and in the crescent-shaped First United Methodist Church the full-house audience knew well the elevated musical experience...

2/12/2023 - A TRIO WITH BRIO AT CHAMBER MUSIC MARIN! - Abby Wasserman
Chamber Music Marin / Trio Con Brio Copenhagen. Soo-Kyung Hong, cello; Soo-Jin Hong, violin; Jens Elvekjaer, piano
Per Nørgård scored one of my favorite films, “Babette’s Feast,” but on Feb. 12 I got to know Nørgård better. In a Chamber Music Marin concert the Trio con Brio Copenhagen played the Danish composer’s mesmerizing 1973 composition Spell, 18 minutes of an astral journey that could have been modeled o...

2/12/2023 - SUBDUED PIANISM IN RARE FORTEPIANO RECITAL IN THE RAVEN - Terry McNeill
Daniel Adam Maltz / Daniel Adam Maltz, fortepianist
A fortepiano recital is a rare thing indeed, and other than the frequent performances on the instrument by the splendid Berkeley-based artist Eric Zivian, one cannot think of a formal North Bay fortepiano event in decades. Enter the enterprising folks at Healdsburg’s Raven Theater when they present...

2/4/2023 - ECHO CHAMBER ORCHESTRA CREATES A BUZZ - Abby Wasserman
ECHO Chamber Orchestra / Daniel Canosa, Conductor
Composer Matthew Rupert’s Cicadas, Op. 7, opening ECHO Chamber Orchestra’s “The Creation of the World” February 4 program at San Anselmo’s First Presbyterian Church, started so modestly that many in the half-full audience were unaware the concert had begun. It certainly did, with a swelling buzz, ...

2/4/2023 - EVOCATIVE REDWOOD SONG CYCLE AT SO CO PHIL CONCERT - Terry McNeill
Sonoma County Philharmonic / Norman Gamboa, conductor. Chad Somers, tenor
On paper Sonoma County Philharmonic’s Feb. 1 concert didn’t look too promising – lightweight works by Grofé and Gotschalk, and four new short pieces set to local poetry. That view was misguided, and though the playing was not always revelatory, it indeed gave considerable pleasure to an audience of...

2/3/2023 - BRAVURA BAROQUE BY THE ABS AT ST. STEPHENS IN TIBURON - Abby Wasserman
American Bach Soloists / Jeffrey Thomas, Director. Hélène Brunet, soprano; Gabriel Benton, harpsichord; Steven Marquardt, trumpet; Nate Helgeson, bassoon;
American Bach Soloists, led by Jeffrey Thomas, performed six masterworks by Bach, Vivaldi and Telemann on February 3 in Tiburon’s St. Stephen’s Church. Opening the famed ensemble’s 34th subscription season, the program was generously conceived and beautifully executed, and required five different ...

1/29/2023 - TURINA PERFORMANCE HIGHLIGHTS SSU FACULTY CONCERT - Terry McNeill
Department of Music Facuty Concert / Gail Hernández Rosa, violin; Jill Rachuy Brindel, cello; Marilyn Thompson, piano
Music Faculty members used to be obligated to play a formal recital each year, at least in conservatories. But fortunately Sonoma State’s most frequent faculty performers, pianist Marilyn Thompson and cellist Jill Brindel, perform around here regularly and were joined Jan. 28 by violinist Gail Hern...

1/22/2023 - ROMANTIC FERVOR IN FRISSON ENSEMBLE'S RAC CONCERT - Terry McNeill
Redwood Arts Council / Frisson Ensemble
New York’s Frisson Ensemble mounted an eclectic program at the Redwood Arts Council’s Jan. 22 concert that was long on informality and high on convincing artistry. Eighty attended in the Occidental Center for the Arts. Britten’s Phantasy Quartet from 1933 opened the formal program featuring oboist...

1/22/2023 - RACH-ING OUT: SANTA ROSA SYMPHONY EXPLORES HOLLYWOOD’S LOVE AFFAIR WITH RACHMANINOFF - Steve Osborn
Santa Rosa Symphony / Francesco Lecce-Chong, conductor
It’s no accident that many classic movie scores sound like Sergei Rachmaninoff might have had a hand in them. For the Santa Rosa Symphony’s Jan. 22 concert at Sonoma State’s Weill Hall titled “RACH and the Hollywood Sound,” the second in a series devised by Music Director Francesco Lecce-Chong, the ...

1/21/2023 - ORGAN-CHOIR COMBO IN BACH CELEBRATION - Terry McNeill
Sonoma Bach / C. 1600; Anne Laver, organ
Arriving early Jan. 21 for the 3 p.m. organ recital in Schroeder Hall, this reviewer found an already engaged large audience with no organ sounding. It was Sonoma Bach’s popular “Bachgrounder” that precedes each concert, and long-time Music Director Bob Worth was describing from the stage the majest...

1/15/2023 - FRENCH FLAVOR IN RARE FOUR-HAND RECITAL - Judy Walker
Presbyterian Church of the Roses / Nancy Hayashibara and Marilyn Thompson, piano
As part of their Roses Signature Concert Series Santa Rosa’s Church of the Roses presented Jan. 15 a piano four-hands recital performed by Marilyn Thompson and Nance Hayashibara. The program consisted of a familiar combination of primarily French works plus a selection from the lively Brahms Hungari...