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Symphony
A PERFECT 10 FOR THE TENTH
by Steve Osborn
Saturday, May 11, 2013
The Santa Rosa Symphony capped off its first year in the resplendent Green Music Center with an impassioned performance of Shostakovich's Tenth Symphony, widely regarded as his masterpiece in the genre. Every section of the orchestra, from the lowest bass to the most stratospheric piccolo, played to...
Symphony
PRAYERS AND REDEMPTION FROM THE APSC
by Nicki Bell
Saturday, May 04, 2013
For its final set of the 2012-13 season on May 4 and 5, the American Philharmonic of Sonoma County offered a program titled "Prayer and Redemption." The first half consisted of the prayers, the second of the joy of redemption. Guest conductor Cyrus Ginwala spoke about the pieces beforehand and then ...
Symphony
FULL CIRCLE FOR KAHANE
by Steve Osborn
Saturday, April 27, 2013
Since the conclusion of his decade-long tenure with the Santa Rosa Symphony in 2006, conductor laureate Jeffrey Kahane has traveled widely, but he has often circled back to Sonoma County as a piano soloist. On Saturday evening, April 27, he upped the ante by not only bringing his prodigious keyboard...
Recital
MESMERIZING IRISH MEZZO TELLS STORIES IN WEILL SONG RECITAL
by Vaida Falconbridge
Sunday, April 21, 2013
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
SONG CYCLES FOR CONNOISSEURS
by Terry McNeill
Tuesday, April 09, 2013
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
VADIM REPIN: STARLIGHT, SHINING BRIGHT
by Steve Osborn
Sunday, April 07, 2013
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...
Symphony
TCHAIKOVSKY CONCERTO HIGHLIGHTS FT. BRAGG SYMPHONY CONCERT
by Ed Reinheart
Sunday, April 07, 2013
The Symphony of the Redwoods opened its spring concert April 6 in Ft. Bragg’s Cotton Auditorium with a memorable performance of Tchaikovsky’s B-Flat Minor Concerto. Conductor Allan Pollack and the Symphony presented an ambitious program, opening with Rimsky-Korsakov's "Dance of the Buffoons" from t...
Chamber
THE FAMILIAR, THE RARE AND THE NEW
by Terry McNeill
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Sonoma State's resident Trio Navarro has a well-earned reputation for eclectic programming, and in their Easter Sunday concert in Weill Hall, they chose the familiar, the rare and the new. The new was SSU faculty composer Brian Wilson's "And Ezra the Scribe Stood Upon a Pulpit," a trio for horn, vi...
Choral and Vocal
MASTERFUL GOOD FRIDAY CONCERT
by Terry McNeill
Friday, March 29, 2013
Good Friday concerts are always spiritual but often can be monotonous and overly long. Cantiamo and the St. Cecelia Choir’s exceptional program March 29 in Santa Rosa’s packed Church of the Incarnation was anything but mundane, and perhaps too short. Conductor Carol Menke fashioned a balanced eve...
Symphony
SWEPT AWAY
by Steve Osborn
Saturday, March 16, 2013
The title of the Santa Rosa Symphony's March 16 concert was "Sweeping Emotions," but no brooms were in evidence, nor did the Symphony play "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," the canonic broom piece, thanks to Disney’s iconic film "Fantasia." Instead of brooms, they offered cellist Zuill Bailey, whose mop ...
CHORAL AND VOCAL REVIEW
River Choir / Sunday, December 19, 2010
International Choral Music with a Festive Twist
Sonia Tubridy, Director

Sona Tubridy (left) and the River Choir Dec. 19

TUBRIDY LEADS RIVER CHOIR IN FESTIVE HOLIDAY GUERNEVILLE CONCERT

by Terry McNeill
Sunday, December 19, 2010

Sonia Tubridy, along with Carol Menke the late Nina Shuman, must be noted as Sonoma County’s most multi-tasking musician. In addition the playing the piano for chamber groups and in shows, singing, playing the accordion and leading Klezmer groups, Ms. Tubridy has found time to lead a first-rate choir of 14, the River Choir.

In the first of two holiday concerts in Guerneville’s Community Church Dec. 19, the Choir presented thirty disparate works ranging from the time of William Byrd to contemporary carols from South Africa and West India. The audience of 35 was invited to participate in several of the carols, and desserts provided by the singers following the concert were an additional holiday treat. The sound of the rain on the Church roof added to the winter flavor of the event.

In addition to providing precise cues as conductor, Ms. Tubridy played orchestral accompaniments at the piano, sang often with the altos and even provided rhythmic support with a drum held under her left arm in the upbeat “Riu Riu Chiu.” Gael Reed and Jean Ashley were soloists in two works each.

Highlights for this reviewer were the intriguing dissonances and surprising modulations in Warlock’s “First Mercy,” “La Virgen Lava Panales” with a shimmering final note from Ms. Ashley, the jazzy syncopations in Luis de Victoria’s “O Magnum Mysterium” and the Shabbat HaMalka festive songs. Randy Barron sang and played the guitar in a long and touching ballade to holiday peace (“Christmas in the Trenches”) reflecting the abortive Christmas truce from 1914 on the Western Front.

Singers listed in the program, including some that read from texts or played guitar (Randy Barron, Dan Fein and Alby Kass) included sopranos Kathleen Dechant and Gael Reed; altos Jean Ashley, Kathrin Williams, Wallie Kass and Tomi VanBladen; tenors Tom Lowrie and Phil Tymon; and basses Bob Bulwa and Green Greenwald.
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