Recital

A small but appreciative June 2 audience heard in Santa Rosa's Resurrection Parish a delightful buffet of baroque vocal and instrumental works performed by the five-year old Vinaccesi Ensemble of Berkeley. Nanette McGuinness soprano; Kindra Scharich, mezzo soprano; Jonathan Smucker, tenor; and ba...

Recital

There were stories of fiery gypsies, dances, kisses, deep angst, unrequited love, mermaids, and headstrong young maidens. Irish-born mezzo soprano Tara Erraught told her Weill Hall audience April 21 in her lilting Irish brogue, “People ask why I pick the programs the way I do. Well, being from Irel...

Recital

Elina Garanca’s April 9 Weill Hall recital was a connoisseur’s program, eschewing the more popular song literature and concentrating on mostly subtle and evocative works of Schumann, Berg and Richard Strauss. With pianist Kevin Murphy, the Latvian mezzo soprano, famous from the opera stage as a sum...

Recital

Born in Siberia in 1971, violinist Vadim Repin is as Russian as they come, but he played nary a note of Russian music in his April 7 recital at the Green Music Center's Weill Hall. The closest he got was the last movement of the Janacek violin sonata, which celebrates the triumphal entry of Russian...

Recital

Attending a Nina Tichman recital is a warmly familiar experience, as the Cologne-based pianist plays nearly everything in the standard literature with a professional command and artistic probity. There is sentiment in her playing but not sentimentality, attention to detail that is never fussy, and i...

Recital

Violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter charmed a Weill Hall audience March 2 in a recital that eschewed popular works and elicited rapt attention from the 1,300 listeners present. Forgoing the staples of the Brahms and Beethoven sonatas, or the Franck and Prokofiev, the German artist played provocative and ex...

Recital

Cellist Sebastian Bäverstam and pianist Pei-Shan Lee enthralled their Ukiah audience Feb. 7 with an all Russian program, presented as the third concert of the Ukiah Community Concerts Association's 2012-13 season. The recital began with Prokofiev's C Minor Sonata, Op. 119, a tour de force for both...

Recital

If you love Schumann's piano music, you would have been delighted with Jon Nakamatsu’s Jan. 13 recital in Marin's Mt. Tamalpais Methodist Church, produced by the Mill Valley Chamber Music Society. For, although Schubert and Beethoven also were on the program, this recital was all about Schumann. S...

Recital

Music of the Magnificat is the perfect concert theme for the closing of the liturgical year and the opening of the new, and the Redwood Chapter of the American Guild of Organists presented a wonderful program Jan. 11 in the Church of the Incarnation. This was the fifth program of the fourth season o...

Recital

Listening to Anton Nel’s piano playing is similar to meeting a charming avuncular relative for a good meal – always much to savor. The Austin-based artist played a balanced and instructive recital Dec. 7 in SRJC’s Newman Auditorium as part of the College’s chamber music series. Nel opened with a co...

6/2/2013 - RARE BAROQUE GEMS IN CREATIVE ARTS SERIES CONCERT - Joanna Bramel Young
Creative Arts Series / Vinaccesi Ensemble: Kirk Eichelberger, Susie Fong, Sarge Gerbode, Nanette McGuiness, Hallie Pridham, Jonathan Smucker and Kindra Scharich
A small but appreciative June 2 audience heard in Santa Rosa's Resurrection Parish a delightful buffet of baroque vocal and instrumental works performed by the five-year old Vinaccesi Ensemble of Berkeley. Nanette McGuinness soprano; Kindra Scharich, mezzo soprano; Jonathan Smucker, tenor; and ba...

4/21/2013 - MESMERIZING IRISH MEZZO TELLS STORIES IN WEILL SONG RECITAL - Vaida Falconbridge
Green Music Center / Tara Erraught, mezzo soprano. Marelo Amaral, piano.
There were stories of fiery gypsies, dances, kisses, deep angst, unrequited love, mermaids, and headstrong young maidens. Irish-born mezzo soprano Tara Erraught told her Weill Hall audience April 21 in her lilting Irish brogue, “People ask why I pick the programs the way I do. Well, being from Irel...

4/9/2013 - SONG CYCLES FOR CONNOISSEURS - Terry McNeill
Green Music Center / Elina Garanša, mezzo soprano. Kevin Murphy, piano
Elina Garanca’s April 9 Weill Hall recital was a connoisseur’s program, eschewing the more popular song literature and concentrating on mostly subtle and evocative works of Schumann, Berg and Richard Strauss. With pianist Kevin Murphy, the Latvian mezzo soprano, famous from the opera stage as a sum...

4/7/2013 - VADIM REPIN: STARLIGHT, SHINING BRIGHT - Steve Osborn
MasterCard Performance Series / Vadim Repin, violin. Andrei Korobeinikov, piano
Born in Siberia in 1971, violinist Vadim Repin is as Russian as they come, but he played nary a note of Russian music in his April 7 recital at the Green Music Center's Weill Hall. The closest he got was the last movement of the Janacek violin sonata, which celebrates the triumphal entry of Russian...

3/14/2013 - TICHMAN IN COMMAND AT OAKMONT RECITAL - Terry McNeill
Oakmont Concert Series / Nina Tichman, piano
Attending a Nina Tichman recital is a warmly familiar experience, as the Cologne-based pianist plays nearly everything in the standard literature with a professional command and artistic probity. There is sentiment in her playing but not sentimentality, attention to detail that is never fussy, and i...

3/2/2013 - LUTOSLAWSKI PARTITA THRILLING IN MUTTER'S WEILL RECITAL - Terry McNeill
MasterCard Performance Series / Anne-Sophie Mutter,violin; Lambert Orkis, piano
Violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter charmed a Weill Hall audience March 2 in a recital that eschewed popular works and elicited rapt attention from the 1,300 listeners present. Forgoing the staples of the Brahms and Beethoven sonatas, or the Franck and Prokofiev, the German artist played provocative and ex...

2/7/2013 - SARDONIC AND LUSH RUSSIAN CELLO MUSIC IN BAVERSTAM'S UKIAH RECITAL - Joel Cohen
Ukiah Community Concert Association / Sebastian Bäverstam, cello; Pei-Shan Lee, piano
Cellist Sebastian Bäverstam and pianist Pei-Shan Lee enthralled their Ukiah audience Feb. 7 with an all Russian program, presented as the third concert of the Ukiah Community Concerts Association's 2012-13 season. The recital began with Prokofiev's C Minor Sonata, Op. 119, a tour de force for both...

1/13/2013 - JONNY COMES DANCING HOME IN MILL VALLEY RECITAL - John Boyajy
Mill Valley Chamber Music Society / Jon Nakamatsu, piano
If you love Schumann's piano music, you would have been delighted with Jon Nakamatsu’s Jan. 13 recital in Marin's Mt. Tamalpais Methodist Church, produced by the Mill Valley Chamber Music Society. For, although Schubert and Beethoven also were on the program, this recital was all about Schumann. S...

1/11/2013 - MAGNIFICAT MAGNIFIQUE IN MENKE JULANDER AGO RECITAL AT INCARNATION - Janis Dunson Wilson
American Guild of Organists / Carol Menke, soprano; Harold Julander, organ
Music of the Magnificat is the perfect concert theme for the closing of the liturgical year and the opening of the new, and the Redwood Chapter of the American Guild of Organists presented a wonderful program Jan. 11 in the Church of the Incarnation. This was the fifth program of the fourth season o...