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Friday, April 18, 2025
 Recent Reviews
CHAMBER
THE PARKER CAPTURES DEMANDING ADES QUARTET AT RAC SEBASTOPOL CONCERT
by Peter Lert
Saturday, February 15, 2025
Parker String Quartet
The New England-based Parker Quartet was heard Feb. 15 as part of the Redwood Arts Council's concert series, in the acoustically rewarding Sebastopol Community Church. As is the practice at the RAC, the concert was opened by a local musician, Korean flautist Sungdu Bae, studying at Sonoma State Uni...
CHAMBER
SPLENDID ECHOES ACROSS THE BAY
by Abby Wasserman
Sunday, February 9, 2025
A. Allrich and A. Wang (A. Wasserman Photo)
In what is hoped not to be a permanent departure, ECHO Chamber Orchestra moved its concert Feb. 9 from the First Presbyterian Church in San Anselmo to St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Oakland. The churches are similar, both having high vaulted ceilings and good acoustics. ECHO, led by musical director...
ETHEREAL DUO IN WEILL HALL RECITAL
by Pamela Hicks Gailey
Thursday, February 6, 2025
Violinist Joshua Bell
The virtuoso violinist Joshua Bell appeared Feb. 6 in Weill Hall in an unforgettable performance. I would say that he descended from heaven but that wouldn’t begin to completely describe the empyreal beauty that emanated from his Stradivarius instrument, made in 1713. Joined by pianist Peter Dugan, ...
ESPANA SEGURO AT SO CO PHIL'S JACKSON THEATER CONCERT
by Terry McNeill
Sunday, February 2, 2025
Chloe Tula and Norman Gamboa Feb. 2
Calling a Sonoma Philharmonic program “lightweight” might be accurate related to their recent powerhouse concerts of Shostakovich and the Frankenstein movie score adaption, but that would do a disservice to the Feb. 2 concert in the Jackson Theater of music with a Spanish flair. Beginning with a se...
CHORAL AND VOCAL
MASTERFUL SINGING CLASS IN SCHROEDER HALL
by Pamela Hicks Gailey
Sunday, February 2, 2025
R. Mollicone and N. Printz Feb. 2
Santa Rosa born and rising Bay Area operatic luminary Nikola Printz graced the Schroeder Hall stage Feb. 2 in a hybrid concert/master class featuring four Sonoma State University voice student alums. Printz was a stellar participating singer as well as teacher. The master class is a coproduction o...
RECITAL
MUSICAL POT POURRI AT SPRING LAKE VILLAGE RECITAL
by Terry McNeill
Friday, January 31, 2025
Pianist Cristiana Pegoraro
Spring Lake Village’s Concert Series tend to be short one hour events, often with a pot pourri of works, and Jan. 31 found Italian pianist Cristiana playing 15 works in a concise and novel group format. In a rare standing room only concert for 150 SLV residents, Ms. Pegoraro’s charming spoken intro...
CELLO AND CLARINET HIGHLIGHT TRIO NAVARRO'S CONCERT
by Ron Teplitz
Sunday, January 26, 2025
Trio Navarro Jan. 26 in Schroeder Hall
Pierné’s Op. 19 Canzonetta for clarinet and piano, opened the Trio Navarro’s winter concert Jan. 26 in Schroeder Hall before an audience of 75. Played by guest artist Roy Zajac and Trio founder Marilyn Thompson, the Canzonetta unfolded as a charming waltz, in singing cantabile, with an occasional b...
SONGS OF LOVE, IN A WARM TRIO
by Pamela Hicks Gailey
Sunday, January 26, 2025
Soprano Morgan Harrington
The 222 Gallery Impresario Caroline Altman presented Jan. 26 another marvelous Opera Series recital entitled Songs of Life, Songs of Love. A nicely full room of about thirty art song lovers warmly welcomed a young soprano Morgan Harrington as she delved into a nicely varied, well-structured cache of...
SYMPHONY
EARTHLY PLEASURES AT THE VALLEJO SYMPHONY
by Peter Lert
Sunday, January 19, 2025
Corey Bix and Nikola Printz Jan. 19 in Vallejo
It’s refreshing to see a resurgence in performances of the works of Mahler. Once the province only of major metropolitan orchestras, it’s now increasingly common to find Mahler symphonies on the programs of smaller regional (and, in some cases, even volunteer community) orchestras. One such professi...
SYMPHONY
EARTHLY PLEASURES AT THE VALLEJO SYMPHONY
by Abby Wasserman
Sunday, January 19, 2025
Mezzo-soprano Nikola Printz
At a pre-performance talk January 19 the Vallejo Symphony’s conductor Marc Taddei addressed an early-bird Empress Theater audience with tales of two composers, Haydn and Mahler. He characterized the program we were about to hear as “two approaches to our place in Nature.” He termed Haydn’s Symphon...
Local Concerts  
CHAMBER REVIEW
Frisson Nonet / Sunday, March 30, 2025
Frisson Nonet

FRISSON DELIVERS SHIVERS OF DELIGHT

by Abby Wasserman
Sunday, March 30, 2025

“Frisson” means “a moment of intense excitement…a shiver,” and that’s what Frisson Nonet provided nonstop on March 30 at Mt. Tamalpais Methodist Church in Mill Valley. Their dynamic performances of works by Rossini, August Walter, Gershwin, Martinú and Ravel marked Chamber Music Marin’s season closer. A nonet can program for any number up to nine, and Frisson Nonet made full use of this flexibility, opening with a quintet and culminating with a nonet. The fun part was that the audience never knew exactly how many musicians were going to step onstage next.

The opener, Rossini’s overture to La Italiana en Algeri, arranged for quintet by Nonet bassist Sam Suggs, was such a thrilling beginning that I scribbled “Who needs a full orchestra?” in my notebook. The characters in the opera were so vividly evoked that I half-expected costumed singers to materialize. Tom Gallant’s oboe imitated the sharp sound of a Turkish zurna—the restless Mustafa Bey. Mr. Sugg’s contrabass, could be Lindoro, sweetheart of the Italian girl, Isabella (Suliman Tekalli’s theatrical violin) while Cory Tiffin’s gymnastic clarinet portrayed the bey’s clever wife, Elvira. The cast was rounded out by Chich-Fan Yiu’s mellow viola playing. It’s in the nature of overtures to provide a taste of what is to come in the opera, and these tastes were delicious.

An octet was next in the program. The German composer August Walter’s Octet for Strings and Winds, Op. 7 (1849, revised 1863), was written for four strings and four winds. Bassoonist Remy Taghavi, horn player Wilden Dannenberg and cellist Patrick Hopkins mounted the stage for this “mini violin concerto” with its gorgeous violin part. The musicians passed fetching melodies and lead parts to one another with élan and flair, Mr. Tekalli’s violin performance ascending to the stratosphere with acrobatic ease while Mr. Hopkins’ cello partnered with Mr. Suggs’ contrabass in the lower registers and Mr. Dannenberg’s horn shone forth above the others.

The first movement was joyfully energetic, drawing applause at its conclusion. The pace slowed and the strings growled while the winds sang above. The oboe line then took the lead, while the violin, like a floating thread waiting to be placed, hovered. Mr. Dannenberg’s horn sounded repeated tuneful ellipses, and everything came into balance as the music posed a series of questions and answers. After the third movement’s eloquent pauses and contrasting rhythms, the fourth movement began with enthusiastic spurts of sound and foot-tapping rhythms, and there was a flurry of winds and a long horn note before the piece came to an end. Many in the audience who had never even heard of August Walter responded enthusiastically.

Following intermission, a quartet of violin, viola, cello and clarinet took the stage. Mr. Suggs revealed that the musicians had spent the morning in tranquil Muir Woods; and Mr. Tiffin was a last-minute substitute for Nonet clarinetist Bixby Kennedy, who had to cancel. The now-quartet played Mr. Kennedy’s arrangement for clarinet and strings of Gershwin’s three marvelous piano preludes. His arrangements did full justice to the bluesy first prelude, the sensual second and the agitated third. In an evening of many high points, these arrangements were the apex for me; Mr. Kennedy had captured the soul of jazz in his arrangements.

The group’s flutist, Anna Urrey, now came to the stage, and for the first time Frisson Nonet was complete. Mr. Taghavi introduced Martinù’s Nonet No. 2 (1959) as a favorite of the group. Martinù, he declared, lies “outside of a category. His language was pastoral and folksy, and the music is dreamlike.” After a Coplandesque beginning of jagged rhythms and colorful explosions of sound, we were taken on an adventurous journey into dream-like territory, a glade of humming sounds and an ethereal watery glen. The music suggested uncertainty, then a melding of magical harmonies. After traveling deep in a country full of wonders, the piece culminated with a joyful dance.

The audience jumped to its collective feet to applaud, clearly hoping for an encore. But no guesswork was needed—glancing down at my program I saw it was announced: “Encore – Ravel’s Bolero.” And what an encore! Rich, riding the edge of dissonance, compellingly rhythmic. No orchestra was needed—only nine fabulous musicians.







Events Calendar

CHAMBER
Green Music Center
Friday, April 18, 2025
7:30 PM - Rohnert Park
Hespérion XXI. Jordi Savall, director
Program TBA admission is $35 - $95...
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CHORAL AND VOCAL
Cantiamo Sonoma
Friday, April 18, 2025
7:30 PM - Santa Rosa
Cantiamo Sonoma. Carol Menke, director.

Signature Series: Mozart - D Minor Requiem, K. 626...
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SYMPHONY
Santa Rosa Symphony
Saturday, May 3, 2025
7:30 PM - Rohnert Park
Francesco Lecce-Chong, conductor. Orion Weiss, piano
Gabriela Ortiz: Anrtrópolis; Gershwin: Concerto in F; Holst: The Planets Concert repeats May 4 (3 p.m.) and May 5 (7:30 p.m.) in Weill Hall...
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CHAMBER
Music at Oakmont
Saturday, May 10, 2025
1:30 PM - Santa Rosa
Nancy Zhou, violin. Pianist TBA
Program: TBA Oakmont concerts are open to Oakmont residents and their guests. Tickets are $30...
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SYMPHONY
Marin Symphony
Saturday, May 31, 2025
7:30 PM - Kentfield
Brad Hogarth, conductor. Ani Bukujian, violin.
Handel: Overture to the Royal Fireworks Music; Prokofiev: Concerto No. 1 in D Major, Op. 19; Ravel: Mother Goose Suite; Stravinsky: Suite from the Ballet "Firebird" The concert continues June 1 at 3:...
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