detail of Triptych for Steven by Suzanne Jackson, seen at SFMOMA as part of the special exhibition Suzanne Jackson: What Is Love
03 November 2025
31 October 2025
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29 October 2025
Another Opening, Another Show: November 2025
I love this time of year, as the light draws in & the temperatures drop (at least at night), but like everything else, it has its difficulties: the urge to hibernate grows stronger. At least, it is to that impulse I am attributing my increasing difficulty in getting out of bed in the mornings. As a high-functioning depressive, I generally manage to be fairly responsible, but, you know, nothing gets easier. One difficulty this month is the great number of collisions on the schedule: wonderful events, all planned for the same day. I guess it's an urge to get things scheduled before the holidays march in; next month is mostly tinsel, glitter, & drag queens, & sure, why not, but it's best to have a solid meal before you start gorging on cream puffs & bonbons. I was interested to see the number of musicals, not necessarily seasonal, but not inappropriate either, that are scheduled to run into the new year. I was also surprised by the number of choral performances happening (mostly listed under Choral, of course, but there are also major choral contributions under Orchestral & Early Music). I love Christmas music, but I salute the choral urge to sing something else. As for the conflicts, we all have some individual method for deciding among them, of course: it could be cost, or location, or some slim edge making one event more desirable to us than another; for me, start times also come into play. Long-time readers, if such there be, know I have long complained about 8:00 start times as unsuited to The Way We Live Now (I won't rehearse all that once again, at least not right now), & to my great surprise, many arts groups have made the sensible shift to earlier curtains, so that I'm somewhat bemused now when I come across organizations that persist in 8:00 beginnings – for me, the inconvenience that entails can put that show out of the running, at least as far as my ticket-buying is concerned. One of the things that happened to me during the pandemic is that, without evening performances to go to, I reverted to my natural state as someone who falls asleep early & consequently gets up early (at least, until recently; hence the concern about the trouble getting out of bed). Anyway, there's certainly a lot going on this month that can help fortify you with the strength to go on. I'd end with some sort of bromidic benediction to "go forth & be good to each other" but as that phrase floated through my mind, I thought of one of my attempts to be & do good, theater-division: I was sitting next to a woman whose hacking cough interrupted the entire first half of the show. (This was pre-pandemic, so threat level was Severe Annoyance, rather than Possibly Life-Threatening.) I decided to rein in the glares & try to be helpful, so during the intermission I asked her if she would like some lozenges from my inevitable bag of Ricola cough drops, which I carry like Saint Peter his keys or Saint Catherine of Alexandria her wheel: "Yes," she said, sticking out her hand. I gave her two or three, surely enough to carry her through the rest of the performance. "Give me more!" she demanded. I gave her a few more. Her friend stuck out her hand & said, "Well, I want some too!" I gave her some more, realizing I would now have to go back to CVS & buy another bag. And no, neither one, at any point, uttered the words "please" or "thank you". So shines a good deed in a naughty world, my people. Let's all do what we can, regardless. Here's the listing, enjoy!
Theatrical
The AfroSolo Theatre Company presents the 32nd Annual AfroSolo Arts Festival, with the theme Go Soar!, at the Potrero Stage from 31 October to 2 November, with featured performers James Cagney, J (Albert) Jackson, Augustene Phillips, Darlene Roberts, & Unique Derique.
The Marsh Berkeley presents Shameless Hussy, written by Lynne Kaufman & directed by David Keith, a two-person show about Anais Nin, the writer whose diary & erotica were both regular features in the bookstores of the late 1970s, from 1 to 16 November.
Theater of Yugen presents the classic Kyōgen comedies (in English) Shuron (A Religious Dispute) & Kaki Yamabushi (Persimmons & the Mountain Priest), directed by Lluís Valls, on 6 - 9 November at Theatre of Yugen’s NOHSpace.
Theater Rhinoceros presents The Break-Up! A Latina queer torch song, written & performed by Tina D’Elia & directed by Mary Guzmán, from 6 to 23 November.
If you're in the mood for plucky orphans, Berkeley Playhouse presents the musical Annie, directed & choreographed by Megan McGrath with music direction by Daniel Alley, from 7 November to 21 December.
The Marsh San Francisco presents Before I Forget, a memory meditation written & performed by Adam Strauss & directed & developed by Jonathan Libman, from 9 November to 13 December.
On 12 November on their San Francisco mainstage, the Marsh presents Amadeus Never Gives Me the Blues, written & performed by Amy Bouchard, about an "up-and-coming opera singer . . . torn between equal desires for career and family".
Berkeley Rep presents the world premiere of Mother of Exiles by Jessica Huang, directed by Jaki Bradley, beginning with an immigrant detained on Angel Island in 1898 & jumping ahead with her descendants into a perilous present & an unknown future, & that's 14 November to 21 December.
Shotgun Players presents Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George, directed by Susannah Martin with music direction by David Möschler, from 15 November to 30 December at the Ashby Stage.
On 18 & 20 November at the Potrero Stage, you can hear The Ballad of Madelyne & Therese, "a new song cycle written and performed by singer-songwriter Rachel Garlin" the story of two women in 1939, married to men, who have a brief romantic connection & then re-encounter each other a year later in Manhattan.
On 19 November on their San Francisco mainstage, the Marsh presents Emil Amok, 69, written & performed by Emil Amok Guillermo, a one-person show about " how everything’s flipped in a '69' world, where no one knows which way is up, morally, ethically, politically. In all aspects of his life from DEI, Harvard, NPR, and his trans daughter, when it comes to Trump, it’s personal".
UC Berkeley's Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies presents She Kills Monsters by Qui Nguyen, directed by Karina Gutiérrez, from 20 - 23 November at Zellerbach Playhouse.
San Francisco Playhouse presents Sondheim's Into the Woods, directed by Susi Damilano, with music direction by Dave Dobrusky & choreography by Nicole Helfer, from 20 November through 17 January 2026.
The Oakland Theater Project presents the Kander & Ebb musical Cabaret, directed by Erika Chong Shuch, from 21 November to 14 December.
On 22 November in Zellerbach Hall, Cal Performances presents Manual Cinema in The 4th Witch, a tale about "a young girl, orphaned during wartime, who becomes unwittingly apprenticed to the three witches from Shakespeare’s Macbeth. . . . Told without text—like a silent film coming to life on stage—the story explores themes of war and generational conflict through shadow puppetry, actors in silhouette, immersive sound design, and live music".
Talking
You can spend An Evening with Annie Leibovitz at the Palace of Fine Arts Theater on 10 November, courtesy of Live Nation; the celebrated photographer will be discussing her new book, Women, & signing copies (available at the venue) afterwards.
City Arts & Lectures presents Salman Rushdie in conversation with Poulomi Saha at the Sydney Goldstein Theater on 16 November.
City Arts & Lectures presents Padma Lakshmi in conversation with W Kamau Bell at the Sydney Goldstein Theater on 17 November.
Get a jump on the holidays when the celebrated auteur of Pink Flamingoes & other fine works presents his annual one-person show, A John Waters Christmas, at the Great American Music Hall on 30 November.
Operatic
At San Francisco Opera, Parsifal continues its run, the first here in 25 years, with Eun Sun Kim conducting, Matthew Ozawa directing, & Brandon Jovanovich as Parsifal, Kwangchul Youn as Gurnemanz, Brian Mulligan as Amfortas, Tanja Ariane Baumgartner as Kundry, & Falk Struckmann as Klingsor, & this month's dates are 2, 7, & 13 November. On 1 November at the Jewish Community Center in San Francisco, the Wagner Society of Northern California will present Outside/Inside: Sacred Spaces in Parsifal with Professor Thomas Grey of Stanford University.
San Francisco Opera also presents the world premiere of The Monkey King (猴王悟空), based on the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West, with music by Huang Ruo & libretto by David Henry Hwang, conducted by Carolyn Kuan, with direction by Diane Paulus & puppet work by Basil Twist, starring Kang Wang as the Monkey King, Konu Kim as the Jade Emperor, Mei Gui Zhang as Guanyin, & that runs 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 25, 28, & 30 November. (In related Monkey King business, on 24 November at the David Brower Center in Berkeley, Ruo & UC Berkeley Professor of Musicology Mary Ann Smart will discuss the opera's composition; RSVP is required.)
On 14 - 16 November at the ODC Theater, Ars Minerva presents its latest eagerly awaited recovery of a baroque opera; this time around, it's Ercole Amante by Antonia Bembo (to a libretto by Francesco Buti), with staging by company founder & Artistic Director Céline Ricci, & conducting by Matthew Dirst, starring Zachary Gordin as Ercole & Kindra Scharich as Deianira.
Opera San José presents Puccini's Madama Butterfly, conducted by Joseph Marcheso & directed by Michelle Cuizon, featuring Emily Michiko Jensen as Cio-Cio San, Kayla Nanto as Suzuki, Christopher Oglesby as Lieutenant BF Pinkerton, & Eugene Brancoveanu as Sharpless, on 16, 21, 23, 29 & 30 November.
On 20 & 21 November, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Opera program presents Britten's The Turn of the Screw, directed by Heather Mathews & conducted by Michael Christie; as usual with the Conservatory operas, there will be different casts for each performance.
On 21 November at Herbst Theater, you can hear the annual Adler Concert, The Future Is Now, featuring this year's Adler fellows; the program will be conducted by Ramón Tebar & directed by Omer Ben Seadia.
Choral
On 2 November at the 222 in Healdsburg, 21V, the chorus of soprano & alto voices of all genders, led by Martín Benvenuto & joined by Margaret Halbig on piano & Jimmy Cha on percussion, performs Promise and Peril, a Día de los Muertos Concert.
Volti opens its 47th season with Sound & Transformation, a program featuring Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate’s Visions of a Child, Žibuoklė Martinaitytė’s Chant des Voyelles (commissioned & premiered by Volti in 2018), & Marcos Balter’s Livro das Cores (a setting of texts by Pessoa), as well as a preview of Chris Castro’s Oracles, which will have a full premiere with Left Coast Chamber Ensemble next March, & you can hear all that on 7 November at Noe Valley Ministry in San Francisco & 8 November at First Presbyterian in Berkeley.
On 14 November at their Caroline Hume Concert Hall, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Chorus, led by Eric Choate, will be joined by guest artists Chanticleer to perform Melchior Franck's Da Pacem Domine, Alessandro Scarlatti's Exultate Deo, Saint-Saëns's Calme des Nuits, Brahms's O Schöne Nacht, Thomas Morley's My Bonny Lass, She Smileth, John Bennett's Weep, O mine eyes, Ralph Vaughan Williams's Sweet Day, Mendelssohn's Behold, God the Lord from Elijah, Moses Hogan's Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, & his Walk Together, Children.
On 14 November at Hertz Hall, the UC Berkeley Chamber Chorus, led by Wei Cheng, will perform A Journey Beyond the World, a program featuring works by Bach, Pärt, & others.
Slavyanka Chorus, led by Artistic Director Irina Shachneva, will perform Rachmaninoff’s All Night Vigil (also known as Vespers) on 13 November at Church of the Redeemer in Los Altos, 14 November at Saint Mark's in Berkeley, & 16 November at Star of the Sea in San Francisco.
On 14, 15, & 17 November at Noe Valley Ministry in San Francisco, Resound Ensemble will perform Across the vast, eternal sky, a program celebrating nature through music by Marques LA Garrett, Ola Gjeilo, Elaine Hagenberg, Stephen Paulus, Rosephanye Powell, Jake Runestad, & Caroline Shaw.
Clerestory presents Light Unhindered, a "contemplative program of a cappella works that invoke celestial illumination and spiritual awakening" including the double-choir piece Exultemus Domine by Benedetto Bagni, Michael Trotta’s Surge Illuminare, & other works, & you can experience it 14 November at Saint Mark's Lutheran in San Francisco & 16 November at Saint Mark's Episcopal in Berkeley.
Robert Geary leads the San Francisco Choral Society & the California Chamber Symphony in The Lake Isle & Brontë by Ola Gjeilo along with Dona Nobis Pacem by Ralph Vaughan Williams, with soloists Michele Kennedy (soprano), Kenneth Goodson (baritone), Maxwell Gibbs (guitar), & Keisuke Nakagoshi (piano), & that's 15 & 16 November at Trinity + Saint Peter's Episcopal in San Francisco.
On 16 November in Zelelrbach Hall, Cal Performances presents the Vienna Boys Choir in Strauss For Ever, a program celebrating the 200th birthday of the Waltz King himself, Johann Strauss Jr.
The International Orange Chorale of San Francisco presents the world premiere of Tarik O’Regan’s Dominion of Light: A Requiem for the Estranged, & you can hear it 22 November at Saint Mark's Lutheran in San Francisco & 23 November at First Presbyterian in Berkeley (there will be a pre-concert talk by the composer at each venue).
On 23 November at the Taube Atrium Theater, John Keene leads the San Francisco Opera Chorus in an afternoon of, you know, opera choruses, with piano accompaniment by Fabrizio Corona.
Vocalists
On 30 October in the Green Room at the War Memorial Complex in San Francisco, Taste of Talent & Red Curtain Addict present their 5th annual Halloween concert, Death by Aria, featuring pianist & master of ceremonies Ronny Michael Greenberg along with mezzo-soprano Nikola Printz, soprano Maria Valdes, tenor Christopher Oglesby, & oboist & tenor Jesse Rex Barrett, who will perform music from Phantom of the Opera, Wicked, Verdi’s Macbeth, Handel’s Julius Cesar, Leoncavallo's I Pagliacci, Purcell’s Dido & Aeneas, & Brecht/Weill's Pirate Jenny from the 3Penny Opera.
Orchestral
Violinist Daniel Hope leads the New Century Chamber Orchestra in Dobrinka Tabakova's Dawn, Dvořák's Serenade for Strings in E Major, & Vivaldi's Four Seasons, & you can hear it all on 30 October at First Congregational in Berkeley, 31 October at the Empress Theater in Vallejo, 1 November at Herbst Theater in San Francisco, & 2 November at Osher Marin Jewish Community Center in San Rafael.
On 1 November at the Opera House, Eun Sun Kim leads the San Francisco Opera Orchestra in the Beethoven 5 along with Manuel de Falla's El sombrero de tres picos (The Three-Cornered Hat) Suite #2 & his Siete canciones populares españolas (Seven Popular Songs) with soloist Daniela Mack.
On 1 November, the San Francisco Symphony hosts its annual celebration of Día de los Muertos; the program is "curated by longtime collaborator Martha Rodríguez-Salazar and is performed in collaboration with artistic partner Casa Círculo Cultural" & features Lina González-Granados leading the orchestra (& featured cellist Santiago Cañón-Valencia) in works by Gabriela Ortiz, Arturo Márquez, Ricardo Castro, Paul Desenne, Jimmy López, Arturo Márquez, & Gabriela Lena Frank (there will also be an art installation in the lobby).
On 2 November at Herbst Theater, the San Francisco Civic Symphony, led by Paul Schrage, presents Spinning Stories, a program featuring Don Juan by Richard Strauss, Ravel's Sheherazade (with vocalist Madison Hatten), & the Schumann 3; admission is free but RSVPs are appreciated.
On 6 - 8 November, Karina Canellakis will lead the San Francisco Symphony in Dvořák's Scherzo capriccioso, Prokofiev's Piano Concerto #3 (with soloist Alexandre Kantorow), & Sibelius's Four Legends from the Kalevala.
On 7 & 8 November at Hertz Hall, the UC Berkeley Symphony Orchestra, led by David Milnes & Wei Cheng, will perform Gabriella Smith's Tumblebird Contrails, Tchaikovsky's Variations on a Rococo Theme (with cello soloist Lorelei Deutsch), & the Beethoven 9 (joined b y the University Chorus & Chamber Chorus).
Urs Leonhardt Steiner leads the Golden Gate Symphony Orchestra & Chorus in Beyond Border Walls 2025: Voices from Near & Far, a program including Last Light - Symphony #1., a world premiere from Benjamin Gribble, &, joined by Kulintang Dialect (ed by Conrad Benedicto), Lahing Kayumanggi by Lucio San Pedro, with soloists Gabrielle Goozee-Nichols (soprano) Celeste Camarena (mezzo-soprano), & Timothy Echavez Salaver (baritone), & you can hear it all on 8 November at the Benicia Clock Tower in Benicia & 9 November at the First Unitarian Universalist Church in San Francisco.
On 9 November at the Valley Center for Performing Arts in Oakland (on what used to be the campus of Holy Names College), Omid Zoufonoun leads the Oakland Symphony Youth Orchestra in Adolphus Hailstork's An American Fanfare, the Brahms Violin Concerto (with soloist Michael Oliveira), Arturo Marquez's Danzon #2, & selections from Bizet's L’Arlésienne Suites.
On 9 November at First Presbyterian in Oakland, Samantha Burgess leads the Community Women's Orchestra in Uncommon Women, a program that includes Schubert's Rosamunde Overture, The Ten Woman Bicycle by June Bonacich, Joan Tower's Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman #4 , & Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries.
On 13 - 14 November, the San Francisco Symphony will be led by Sarah Hicks in Danny Elfman’s Music from the Films of Tim Burton, combining selections from Elfman's scores with visuals, including "original sketches, drawings, & storyboards"; there will be a live vocal performance by Elfman, & violin solos by Sandy Cameron.
On 14 November at the Paramount Theater, Kedrick Armstrong leads the Oakland Symphony in the world premiere of a Symphony commission, Suite for Humanity by Cava Menzies, along with the Verdi Requiem, with soloists Tiffany Townsend (soprano), Raehann Bryce-Davis (mezzo-soprano), Robert Stahley (tenor), & Reginald Smith Jr (baritone).
On 15 November at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music's Caroline Hume Concert Hall, the SFCM Orchestra, led by guest conductor Earl Lee, will perform Vivian Fung's Aqua (this piece will be led by student conductor Jason Gluck), the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto #1 (with soloist Oliver Moore, winner of the Conservatory's Piano Concerto Competition), & the Shostakovich 11.
On 15 - 16 November at the Lesher Center in Walnut Creek, Donato Cabrera leads the California Symphony in Jessie Montgomery's Overture, Mozart's Piano Concerto #21 (with soloist Robert Thies), & the Beethoven 3, the Eroica.
On 16 November at First Congregational in Berkeley, Ming Luke leads the Berkeley Symphony in Worlds Beyond, a program exploring "the artist’s voice at moments of transition and liminality" through Alma Monarca, a new work by Juan Pablo Contreras (a Symphony co-commission), the Four Last Songs of Richard Strauss, with soprano soloist Laquita Mitchell, Missy Mazzoli’s Sinfonia (for Orbiting Spheres), & the Shostakovich 9.
On 16 November at Herbst Theater in San Francisco, the San Francisco Civic Music Association, led by John Kendall Bailey, in collaboration with Chora Nova will perform Beethoven's Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage & his Elegischer Gesang as well as Mendelssohn's Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage & his Verleih uns Frieden as well as Anton Joseph Reicha's Te Deum; the concert is free but RSVPs are appreciated.
On 21 November at Hertz Hall, the UC Berkeley Philharmonia Orchestra, led by Wei Cheng & Noam Elisha, will perform Prokofiev's Lieutenant Kijé, Glazunov's Symphony #5, & the Dvořák 9, From the New World.
On 23 November in Davies Hall, Radu Paponiu leads the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra in Gabriela Ortiz's Kauyumari, the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E minor, Opus 64 (with soloist Aaron Ma), the Brahms Academic Festival Overture, Opus 80, & the Dvořák 8.
Chamber Music
On 1 November, Old First Concerts will hold an afternoon-evening marathon Concert Gala; although this is a gala, & therefore a fundraiser, admission is free & all donations are gratefully accepted. Performers scheduled to appear include pianists Sarah Cahill, Robert Schwartz, Monica Chew, Jeff LaDeur, Keisuke Nakagoshi, & Brett Waxdeck; organist John Walko; tenor Michael Desnoyers & soprano Chelsea Hollow; the Sixth Station Trio, the Wooden Fish Ensemble, the Circadian String Quartet, & the Trio de Garagem, who will perform music by Monica Chew, Chopin, Antônio Carlos Jobim, Liszt, Mozart, Hyo-shin Na, Fred Onovwerosuoke, Astor Piazzolla, David Ryther, Karen Tanaka, and others.
Left Coast Chamber Ensemble presents Midnight Memories: Mendelssohn, Mahler, Moderns, a program featuring Roberto Sierra's Tríptico, Mahler's Rückert-Lieder (arranged by David Hefti, featuring soprano Nikki Einfield), Fanny Mendelssohn's Piano Trio in D Minor, Opus 11, & Artur Akshelyan's Sillage (the 2024 Composition Contest Winner), & that's 1 November at Noe Valley Ministry in San Francisco & 2 November at the Maybeck First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Berkeley.
On 8 November at Noe Valley Ministry in San Francisco, the San Francisco Civic Music Association presents An Afternoon of Chamber Music, featuring Haydn's String Quartet, Opus 76, #1 (with violinists Gayle Tsern Strang & Harry Chomsky, violist Mark McAuliffe, & cellist Irene Herrmann) the Brahms Clarinet Sonata in E-flat, Opus 120 #2 (with clarinetist Michael Kimbell & pianist Elizabeth Lee,), the Oboe Sextet #2 in F major, by Cayetano Brunetti (with oboist John Quinlan, violinists Clay Froelich & Michelle Zhang, violists Andrew Zhang & Frances Gregor, & cellist Nathan Leber), & the Mendelssohn String Quartet #6 in F Minor, Opus 80 (with violinists Khang Huynh & Karen Ouyang, violist Evan Dorsky, & cellist Leo Steinmetz, cello); admission is free but RSVPs are appreciated.
On 8 November at Herbst Theater, San Francisco Performances in association with the OMNI Foundation for the Performing Arts presents the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet (Bill Kanengiser, John Dearman, Matt Greif, & Douglas Lora) performing pieces by Ralph Towner, Bryan Johanson, Frederic Hand, Chet Atkins, Andrew York, Michael Hedges, Kevin Callahan, & Pat Metheny, as well as traditional tunes.
On 8 November at Saint John's Presbyterian in Berkeley, Four Seasons Arts presents the Galvin Cello Quartet (James Baik, Sydney Lee, Luiz Fernanco Venturelli, Haddon Kay) in Voice of the Piano, a program which "explores the captivating versatility of the cello by reimagining iconic piano compositions through its rich tones and expressive qualities"; the composers transmogrified include Mozart, Debussy, Mussorgsky, Beethoven, Andre Mehmari, Carlos Gardel, Schumann, & Gershwin.
On 9 November at Noe Valley Ministry, Noe Music presents the San Francisco debut of the first prize winners of the 2025 Banff International String Quartet Competition, the Poiesis Quartet (Sarah Ying Ma & Max Ball, violins; Jasper de Boor, viola; Drew Dansby, cello; the name of the quartet comes from the classical Greek term meaning to make: "specifically, to create something that has never existed before"), who will perform works by Brian Raphael Nabors, Kevin Lau. Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate, Sky Macklay’, & Prokofiev (his Second String Quartet).
On 9 November as part of its Chamber Music Sundaes series, the Berkeley Hillside Club presents the Tomodachi Quartet (Cordula Merks & Mayumi Wyrick, violins; Amy Hiraga, viola; Peter Wyrick, cello, joined by cellist Thalia Moore & violinist Caroline Lee to perform the Grande Sestetto Concertante (after Sinfonia Concertante in Eb Major) by Mozart & the String Sextet #2 in G Major Opus 36 by Brahms.
On 9 November in Davies Hall, a chamber-music group of musicians from the San Francisco Symphony will perform Erwin Schulhoff's Concertino for Flute, Viola, and Double Bass, Ravel's Piano Trio in A minor, & Beethoven's Septet in E-flat major, Opus 20.
On 11 November at Old Saint Mary's in San Francisco, Noontime Concerts presents the Carpe Diem String Quartet (Sam Weiser & Marisa Ishikawa, violins; Korine Fujiwara, viola; Ariana Nelson, cellist) who will perform Two Pop Songs of Antique Poems and A Letter from Afterlife by Dinuk Wijeratne, Standing Death by Paul Wianko, & Schubert's Death and the Maiden quartet.
On 11 November at their Barbro Osher Recital Hall on Van Ness Avenue, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music presents its monthly Chamber Music Tuesday, this time featuring violist Jonathan Brown, who will be joined by SFCM performers to play music by Bach, György Kurtág, Shulamit Ran, Sofia Gubaidulina, Beethoven, & Schumann.
On 14 November at Herbst Theater, San Francisco Performances presents the Modigliani Quartet (Amaury Coeytaux & Loïc Rio, violins; Laurent Marfaing, viola; François Kieffer, cello) performing György Kurtág's Twelve Microludes, Opus 13 “Hommage à András Milhály”, Haydn's String Quartet in F Major, Opus 77, #2, & Beethoven's String Quartet in C Major, Opus 59, #3.
San Francisco Performances continues its Saturday morning Herbst Hall lecture / concert series, with host / lecturer Robert Greenberg & the Esmé Quartet (Wonhee Bae & Yuna Ha, violins; Dimitri Murrath, viola; Yeeun Heo, cello) exploring the quartets of Schubert; on 15 November, the focus will be on his String Quartet #15 in G Major.
On 16 November, the Berkeley Hillside Club presents the Melodiya Chamber Ensemble (Sergey Rakitchenkov, viola; Emile Serper, cello; Arkadi Serper, piano) playing music by Bach, Beethoven, Schumann, Glinka, Sofia Gubaidulina, Rodion Shchedrin, & Prokofiev.
On 16 November at the Legion of Honor's Gunn Theater, the San Francisco Symphony presents Alexander Barantschik (violin), Peter Wyrick (cello), & Anton Nel (piano) performing an all-Beethoven concert: his Piano Trio in E-flat major, Opus 1, #1, his Variations on Ich bin der Schneider Kakadu, Opus 121, & his Piano Trio in B-flat major, Opus 97, the Archduke.
On 16 November at Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley's Wind Ensemble II, led by Matthew Sadowski, will perform Afrospire by Bakhari S Nokuri, Into the Silent Land by Steve Danyew, Evergreen by Viet Cuong, & Love & Nature by Gala Flagello.
On 18 November at Old Saint Mary's in San Francisco, Noontime Concerts presents violinist Karen Bentley Pollick & pianist Daniel Glover, who will play three sonatas for violin & piano by Hugo Kauder.
On 22 November at Herbst Theater, San Francisco Performances in association with the OMNI Foundation for the Performing Arts presents the Romeros, three generations of the famed guitar-playing family, performing music by Vivaldi, Praetorius, Granados, Ruperto Chapi, Bizet, Boccherini, de Falla, Albéniz, Gerónimo Giménez, & Pepe Romero, as well as the world premiere of La Cita by Douglas J Cuomo (with soprano Amy Goymerac).
On 23 November, the Berkeley Hillside Club presents Victor Romasevich (violin & viola) & John Wilson (piano), performing works by Beethoven, Schumann, Iosif Andriasov, Grieg, & Zoltan Kodaly .
On 23 November, as part of the Candlelight Concert series at the Episcopal Church of Saint Mary the Virgin in San Francisco, the Friction Quartet (Otis Harriel & Kevin Rogers, violins; Mitso Floor, viola; Doug Machiz, cello), joined by bassoonist Jamael Smith, will perform a free concert that includes the String Quartet #3 by Samuel Carl Adams, Dirtwork by Michi Wiancko, Strum by Jessie Montgomery, & some folk-tune arrangements by the Danish String Quartet.
On 25 November at Old Saint Mary's in San Francisco, Noontime Concerts presents the Eos Ensemble Trio (Craig Reiss, violin; Evan Kahn, cello; Elizabeth Dorman, piano) performing the Brahms Piano Trio #1 in B Major, Opus 8 & the Shostakovich Piano Trio #2 in E Minor, Opus 67.
Instrumental
On 4 November at Old Saint Mary's in San Francisco, Noontime Concerts presents pianist Mira T Sundara Rajan, who will play pieces by Bach, Scriabin, & Rachmaninoff.
On 4 November, the San Francisco Symphony presents violinist Itzhak Perlman in recital with pianist Rohan De Silva; they will perform Mozart's Violin Sonata #2 in G major, Franck's Sonata in A Major, & Dvořák's Sonatina in G major for Violin and Piano, Opus 100.
Philharmonia Baroque starts off this season's "casual & intimate" Sessions concerts with lutenist Thomas Dunford playing music from baroque to the Beatles on 14 Noveember at the Swedish American Hall on Market Street in San Francisco.
On 14 November at Old First Concerts, pianist Tanya Gabrielian will perform Schumann's Kinderszenen, Opus 15, Sahba Aminikia's Lullaby, & the Sonata in A major for violin and piano by César Franck, as arranged for solo piano by Alfred Cortot
Early / Baroque Music
On 2 November at the Conservatory's Sol Joseph Recital Hall, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Baroque Vocal Ensemble will perform a chamber concert featuring works by Barbara Strozzi'Giulio de Ruvo's, Vivaldi, Johann Vilsmayr, Giovanni Girolamo Kapsberger, & Geminiano Giacomelli.
On 6 November at First Congregational in Berkeley, the San Francisco Early Music Society presents Tafelmusik, led by its Principal Guest Director, the violinist Rachel Podger, performing works by Bach, Handel, Telemann, & others.
Voices of Music presents The Voice of the Viol: Petrucci – the first music printer, a program featuring vocal & instrumental music performed on "early renaissance instruments including our new set of early renaissance viols with singer Danielle Reutter-Harrah", & that's 7 November at First Congregational Church of Palo Alto, 8 November at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, & 9 November at First Congregational in Berkeley.
On 9 November in Hertz Hall, Cal Performances presents period-instrument ensemble Twelfth Night, joined by soprano Nicoletta Berry, to perform Handel's Armida abbandonata, his Se vago rio & his Al dispetto di sorte crudele from Aminta e Fillide, & his É un foco quel d’amore from Agrippina, as well as Vivaldi's Overture to Il Giustino & his Violin Concerto in E minor, Telemann's Sonata in A minor, Johann Friedrich Fasch's Sonata in D Minor, & Francesco Durante's Concerto in G minor.
On 13 November at First United Methodist in Palo Alto, the San Francisco Early Music Society presents Stile Antico in a program celebrating the 500th birth-anniversary of Palestrina, featuring works he wrote for Roman performance.
On 14 November in Zellerbach Hall, Cal Performances presents pianist Jeremy Denk playing Bach’s Six Partitas for Solo Keyboard.
On 16 November at Saint Mary Magdalene in Berkeley, the Cantata Collective presents a gala program featuring Sherezade Panthaki & Paul Max Tipton, performing Bach's Tritt auf die Glaubensbahn, BWV 152, duets from Ich hatte viel Bekümmernis, BWV 21 & Christen, ätzet diesen Tag, BWV 63, as well as selected arias.
On 16 November at Hertz Hall at UC Berkeley, the University Baroque Ensemble, led by David Miller, presents Music of Stillness, Slumber, and Rest, a program featuring thematically appropriate instrumental & vocal works by Vivaldi, Handel, Bach, Telemann, & others.
On 17 November at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music's Sol Joseph Concert Hall, harpsichordist Corey Jamason of the Conservatory's Historical Performance Department will perform an all-Bach program, featuring the Prelude and Fugue in B Major, BWV 868 & the Prelude and Fugue in F# Major, BWV 858 from Book 1 of The Well-Tempered Clavier, his Ouverture in the French Style, BWV 831, from Clavier-Übung II, selections from his 15 Sinfonias, his Capriccio ‘sopra la lontananza del fratello dilettissimo’, BWV 992, & his Concerto in D Major, BWV 972 (arranged from a violin concerto by Vivaldi).
On 20 - 22 November, the San Francisco Symphony presents one of its occasional forays into the (mostly) baroque, as violinist & leader Alexi Kenney, with featured performers Yubeen Kim on flute & Jonathan Dimmock on harpsichord, guides the group through Olli Mustonen's Nonet #2 for String Orchestra, Che si può fare, Opus 8, #6 by Barbara Strozzi (as arranged by Kenney), Bach's Brandenburg Concerto #5, & Vivaldi's The Four Seasons.
Modern / Contemporary Music
On 1 November at Zellerbach Hall, Cal Performances presents Third Coast Percussion, joined by Salar Nader on tabla, in Murmurs in Time, a program consisting of Murmurs in Time by Zakir Hussain (the tabla master who died unexpectedly late in 2024, & to whom this concert is a tribute), Lady Justice/Black Justice, The Song by Jessie Montgomery, Please Be Still by Jlin, & Sonata for Percussion by Tigran Hamasyan.
On 7 November at Old First Concerts, Ensemble for These Times (E4TT) (soprano Nanette McGuinness, cellist Megan Chartier, pianist Margaret Halbig), with guest violinist Maya Victoria, will perform Lines, Circles + Spirals, "a program featuring new music that engages with geometrical shapes, including West Coast Premieres by Clarice Assad, Hannah Ishizaki, and Karim Al-Zand, in conversation with Duo No. 1 for Violin and Cello by Bohuslav Martinu"; the program also includes pieces by Anna Clyne & Niloufar Nourbakhsh.
On 11 November at UC Berkeley's Wu Concert Hall, the University's music program will present a Korean Experimental Music Festival: Program with Traditional Korean Gayageums with Del Sol String Quartet; the festival continues on the 12th with Korean Wind Instruments with Electronics (by graduate students) & Korean Wind Instruments with Electronics (faculty works).
On 12 November at their Barbro Osher Recital Hall on Van Ness Avenue, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Composition Department presents a recital featuring the Kristin Pankonin American Art Song Award Showcase; the award is to highlight new English-language art-song cycles.
On 16 November at the Brava Theater, the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players present American Reflections: Exuberance, a program featuring the west coast premiere of a new work by Samuel Carl Adams a setting of "texts by modern ecstatic poets in a song cycle for soprano Winnie Nieh" along with Shulamit Ran's Soliloquy, Terry Riley's Días de los Muertos, & the Chamber Symphony by John Adams.
On 16 November, the San Francisco Symphony presents cellist Gautier Capuçon, joined by a small group of musicians, in Gaïa, a program celebrating the earth through 16 specially commissioned pieces by Max Richter, Armand Amar, Jean-Benoît Dunckel, Gabriela Montero, Olivia Belli, Missy Mazzoli, Joe Hisaishi, Ludovico Einaudi, Xavier Foley, Nico Muhly, Bryce Dessner, Abel Selaocoe, Michael Canitrot, Ayanna Witter-Johnson, Quenton Blache, & Jasmine Barnes.
Jazz
On 1 - 2 November at the SF Jazz Center, the SF Jazz Center Collective celebrates the 50th anniversary of Wayne Shorter's Native Dancer, playing music from & inspired by the album.
On 9 November at the SF Jazz Center, you can attend the San Francisco International Boogie Woogie Festival.
On 30 November at the SF Jazz Center, you can hear le jazz hot baby when the Django Festival Allstars, joined by guest vocalist Veronica Swift, take the stage.
Dance
On 1 November at the Paramount Theater, the Oakland Ballet presents Luna Mexicana 2025, a celebration of both Dia de los Muertos & the Company's 60th anniversary.
On 8 - 9 November at Zellerbach Hall, Cal Performances presents Sadler’s Wells & Shaolin Temple in Sutra, in which "[c]ontemporary dance and ancient martial arts combine in this award-winning collaboration between Belgian choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, sculptor Antony Gormley, composer Szymon Brzóska, and 20 Buddhist monks from the Shaolin Temple in China’s Henan Province".
On 29 - 30 November, at Zellerbach Hall, Cal Performances presents MOMIX in Alice, "a wild and fantastical take on Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland by company founder Moses Pendleton".
Mostly Museums
The Cartoon Art Museum presents The West Coaster: New Yorker Cartoons from the Other Side, running 11 October to 22 February 2026, celebrating Pacific coast artists such as Zareen Choudhury, Eric Drooker, Lonnie Millsap, Tom Toro, Mike Twohy, Mark Ulriksen & Shannon Wheeler who have produced cartoons for the ultimate Manhattan magazine.
Happiest Place on Earth: The Disneyland Story opens on 14 November at the Walt Disney Family Museum & runs through next May.
KAWS: FAMILY, exploring the influential world created by KAWS, opens at SFMOMA on 15 November & runs through 3 May 2026.
Alejandro Cartagena: Ground Rules, exploring the Mexico-based photographer's work, opens at SFMOMA on 22 November & runs through 19 April 2026.
Two textile shows are opening at the de Young Museum, both on 29 November: The McCoy Jones Collection: Textiles from Central Asia and the Middle East features both traditional & contemporary rugs, wedding furnishings, & fabric works; Embroidered Histories explores samplers from the 17th through the 19th centuries, drawn from the museum's collection.
Routed West: Twentieth-Century African American Quilts in California, the absolutely stunning exhibit at BAM/PFA, closes this month on 30 November.
Cinematic
The biggest cinematic news this month as far as I'm concerned is the return of the annual San Francisco Silent Film Festival, running from 12 to 16 November at the Art Deco & conveniently located Orinda Theater; as always there is a great, eclectic selection of films with live musical accompaniment, starting with a centennial viewing of the Chaplin masterpiece The Gold Rush on opening night through Buster Keaton's lovely Go West as the closer; check out the full schedule here.
Here's what's playing at BAM/PFA this month: Cambodian Elegist: The Films of Rithy Panh runs 6 - 9 November (the filmmaker was originally scheduled to appear, but "due to unforeseen circumstances" he will not be able to); Gunvor Nelson: A Life in Film, exploring the works of the experimental Swedish filmmaker who was long resident in the Bay Area, runs 12 to 21 November; & Marta Mateus Presents Fire of Wind and Films by Margarida Cordeiro and António Reis runs 13 to 16 November.
On 15 November at the Roxie in San Francisco, CiNEOLA & the San Francisco Film Preserve present a restored version of Garras de oro (The Dawn of Justice) from 1927, "regarded as World Cinema’s first explicitly anti-imperialist film"; the screening is accompanied live with an original score by the nobozos band & following the show there will be "a panel discussion about the film’s historical significance and its preservation with Kathy Rose O’Regan (San Francisco Film Preservation), Alex Feliciano Mejia (SFSU, ethnographic scholar of race, media, and education), and Héctor Hoyos (Standord University Professor of Iberian and Latin American Cultures)".
On 22 November at the SF Jazz Center, The Queen’s Cartoonists will perform the music to some classics from the animation golden age of 1930 - 1950, as well as some contemporary cartoons.
The San Francisco Symphony presents Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, with Tan Dun's score played live by the orchestra (conducted by Sarah Hicks, with pipa soloist Gao Hong) on 25 November at Davies Hall.
This month's classic movie matinee hosted by Matías Bombal on 25 November at the Orinda Theater is King Kong.
27 October 2025
24 October 2025
22 October 2025
San Francisco Performances: Conrad Tao
I was back at Herbst Theater last Friday, as San Francisco Performances was presenting pianist Conrad Tao, & before I fanboy about the concert I'm going to describe what he wore.
Tao came out in a black suit & white shirt. But the trousers were elegantly baggy. And the white shirt was a fitted tanktop. I could tell it was a tanktop because his black jacket had large lozenges cut out beneath the armpits, flashing a bit of flesh. This struck me as ingenious as well as bold: less constriction in the shoulders / upper arms, as well as ventilation (Tao is a very physical player). He wore black shoes & a necklace of relatively large beads, which sometimes looked tan in the light & sometimes olive green.
So why do I mention his outfit? First, because it's rare & refreshing to see a male performer wearing something so unexpected (why should Yuja Wang get all the pianist fashion coverage?). Second, it's because the outfit struck me as an apt metaphor for the concert: outwardly standard, but . . . with a twist.
The "standard" part was Rachmaninoff, & I left the concert feeling that the composer was more interesting than I had given him credit for. The concept, as Tao explained to us – he spoke from the stage frequently, & for once I found it enlightening rather than irritating – was "The Rachmaninoff songbook": an exploration of the connections between the Russian exile & the American pop music of his day (which would be jazz, Broadway, tinpan alley): how they influenced him, & how he influenced them. The rich, melodic, moody music of Rachmaninoff plays well with the elusive moods & bittersweet turns of American pop (back before it turned into the corporate-run sludge machine it is now – only my opinion, of course).
Tao began with three Rachmaninoff preludes (in C major, Opus 32, #1; in A flat Major, Opus 23, #8; in G Major, Opus 32 #5), played with both architectural strength & emotional resilience, followed by Billy Strayhorn's celebrated Take the A Train. As mentioned, Tao is a very physical player; he rises up off the stool, sometimes hums along, taps his feet (even apart from working the pedals or tapping the iPad to change the electronic page). After this first group Tao thanked us for being there & explained the concept of the evening. Then, as he was about to start the second set, he said he had forgotten to tell us that though the pieces were often going to flow into each other, we should feel free to applaud whenever we felt like it. I braced myself, but the audience, as a pleasant surprise, though it did applaud whenever, had the good sense & good taste for once not to trample on the music with intrusive applause.
The second set opened with In Buddy's Eyes from Sondheim's Follies (this was the most recent piece performed, though its setting, a reunion of aging Follies girls, long after both their youth & the Follies have disappeared, fit right into the period, as did its ambivalent emotional message). That was followed by Auf einer Burg (instrumental only) from Schumann's Liederkreis, which I had heard from Mark Padmore & Paul Lewis just a few weeks ago (write-up here). This is the song about an old knight, a stone knight, silently watching the quiet, rain-washed valley below; a wedding party is sailing by down on the Rhine; the musicians play merrily, but the bride is weeping. A quiet, stately song, with a wistful pang at the end. The set closed with Rachmaninoff's Étude-Tableau in A minor, Opus 39, #2. A twilit set of emotional ambiguity, played with clarity & emotional force by Tao.
Perhaps the talk from the stage worked better (for me) this time because it was clearly built into the program, not some sort of obligatory outreach foisted on someone who'd rather communicate through music. In fact "Artist Discussion" was built into the program as listed in the program book.
The next set opened with Irving Berlin's All by Myself, a surprisingly energetic & jaunty piece for such sad lyrics (denial? delusion? smiling through the tears? a plucky American refusal to give in to life's sorrows?). Tao had clued us into the lyrics, which was useful, as no one hearing the bright, ragtime-ish tune would guess it was a lament. This was followed by Tao's muscular improvisation on Rachmaninoff's famous Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Variation 15. (Tao is a composer as well as pianist.) Tao plays with strength, but also poetry & finesse, as exemplified in the delicate filigree of the next piece, Harold Arlen's Over the Rainbow as transcribed by Tao from a 1953 recording by Art Tatum. The poignancy of the original came through the elegant dissonances of this version. That was followed by Variation 18 of the Paganini Rhapsody, & the set closed with Strayhorn's poignant Lush Life, & here was a surprise: Tao sang it as well as played it. His voice is strong & expressive. I'd call it a cabaret voice, & if Tao decides to add cabaret artist to his achievements as pianist, composer, & fashion plate, I will follow along. Given the number of songs played without their lyrics, from Schumann to Sondheim, it was interesting for the artist to choose this song as the one that needed its lyrics for full effect. Perhaps it's something about the fleetingness of life the sense of love followed hard on by loss, & still enjoying the beauty of it all that made it resonate in the context of the evening.
The first half closed with Daisies, a song by Rachmaninoff, Strayhorn's Daydream, & Rachmaninoff's Étude-Tableau in C minor, Opus 33, #3. I guess I've been thinking of Rachmaninoff as one of those composers glommed onto by people who resist any whiff of the 20th century (even now, well into the 21st). This concert convinced me I have been foolish in my opinion, & I need to go into the CD collection & start listening again, with cleansed ears.
All of that was the first half! Which ended with many in the audience already standing to applaud. The second half was a single piece, Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances, Opus 45, as arranged for solo piano by Inon Barnatan. It's a compelling piece (if I've heard it, it was too long ago for me to bring any thoughts or let me say preconceptions to this performance), in three movements, originally intended as a ballet score. Though the original section titles (Noon, Twilight, & Midnight) were dropped by the composer, you could, if you were so inclined, & had read the information in the program book, see some reflections of the jettisoned titles in the music.
There was one encore, after Tao gracious thanked us once again for staying & for being there for what he described as a "long evening" (I did not feel it was too long!): we were given the song Full Moon and Empty Arms, which was set to music lifted directly from Rachmaninoff. Once again, Tao sang the piece, which expresses the wistful, wishful mood of much of the evening's music, as well as perfectly showing the connections between the classical composer & his fellow musicians in adjacent fields. It was an excellent choice as closer, & rounded off the concert beautifully.
20 October 2025
17 October 2025
13 October 2025
San Francisco Performances: Jeffrey & Gabriel Kahane
Last Friday I was back at Herbst Theater for a dual concert with the Kahanes, père & fils, presented by San Francisco Performances. It was actually their season-opening gala (sort of, as it was preceded by a couple of other concerts), though I was there only for the concert (there was a dinner which was a separate ticket). In fact when I bought my ticket last spring I'm not sure I realized it was part of a gala. I just like the Kahanes.
Gabriel emceed with his usual genially askew humor. He started by saying he was surprised when the gala was suggested to him, as he didn't think he had that level of glamorous renown (my phrasing, not his), until he realized that maybe if you put him together with his father the combination was enough to qualify as a gala host. And indeed most "galas" feature big star performers, usually in something light &, this is important, short. That's one reason I generally avoid galas. But having the Kahanes host is offbeat enough to say good things about San Francisco Performances, & their attitude, both serious & playful, to what they do: expect musical surprises & artistic pleasures, not boldfaced names & fancy attire (actually, a lot of the audience was more dressed up than the performers, who wore basically black jeans & long-sleeved t-shirts, which is what I was wearing, so I did not feel out of place).
The program was mostly announced from the stage. As the concert slipped into the "past performances" archive on SFP's website, it was not updated with the playlist, as I had thought it might be, so I'm going by memory here. They opened with three "composed folk" songs, sung by Gabriel to piano accompaniment by Jeffrey (& I apologize for the obnoxious use of first names, but it seems like the easiest way to distinguish them under the circumstances). The first was by Bob Dylan. I didn't recognize that, or the others, though I liked them.
Gabriel referenced the current insanity under which we live with some musical settings of the words of Robert F Kennedy Jr. He prefaced these by quoting the latest bit of wacky WTFery from that source: that autism (which the Secretary seems a bit obsessed with) is caused by circumcision. (Which is why all Jewish men & many of us gentiles are autistic – my joke, not Kahane's –sorry if it's in bad taste, but it's difficult to know how to react in face of the firehose of free-associative madness we're sprayed with daily.) Gabriel has a bit of a specialty in these witty & appealing settings of found texts, as witness his celebrated Craigslistlieder & his Fleischlieder. This set lived up to their predecessors. One was a parody of the much-parodied William Carlos Williams poem apologizing for eating the plums in the icebox (so I guess not quite a found text in this case) & another was a setting of RFK Jr's admission or boast about having a brainworm. It was epic.
Jeffrey played several short pieces on piano. There was a Mendelssohn "song without words" (which could describe a lot of the piano pieces; both the classical & the folk-ish fit in beautifully with each other). I think there was also a Schumann piece? We had what Gabriel referred to as the lightning round, in which the two men traded off piano solos, segueing seamlessly from one to the other, fortunately without intrusive applause (the audience was attentive & appreciative, which also set this apart from other "galas"). I think it was right before or after this that Jeffrey told Gabriel that his iPad (Gabriel's, which his father was using) had locked out & all the passwords he guessed (birthdates, &c) had failed. I couldn't tell at first if this was an entertaining bit of business or, you know, reality. It turns out it was the latter. In a bold move, Gabriel gave his father the password out loud on stage. I forgot it immediately (I'm not a numbers guy), so if any of you happen to end up with Gabriel Kahane's iPad, you're on your own breaking the code.
There was a long song to a text by Matthew Zapruder. Very appealing, though it was dense & long enough so that it was difficult to take it all in on first listen (this is far from a criticism, by the way). I think then Jeffrey played one of the Schubert Impromptus. Then came the only officially announced portion of the program: the world premiere for two pianos of one of the movements of Heirloom, a piano concerto Gabriel had written for Jeffrey. There was a funny & charming story attached to the movement's title: during the pandemic, Gabriel's very young daughter would only eat chicken, & she used to play in a pretend vehicle her mother had made out of a big cardboard box. So the movement, which was bright & sprightly as well as funny & charming, was named Vera's chicken-powered transit machine. (The original piece has been released by Nonesuch records so you can hear the whole thing, & let's support our artists by buying their art!)
There was one encore; Gabriel announced he would leave us with some Joni Mitchell. She is loved by many whose opinions I respect (including, apparently, the Kahanes) but I do not hear what they're hearing in her. I decided I would try to listen with neutral ears, as if I had not heard the name. I don't know if I succeeded in that or not, as I found it the weakest piece of the evening. No harm done, as it had been an engaging & interesting 90 minutes. The respect & love between father & son was palpable & it was a pleasure sharing in their music-making.
10 October 2025
Friday Photo 2025/41
detail of a mosaic at the Castro Valley Marketplace (the mosaics are the work of artist Rita Soyfertis)
06 October 2025
Museum Monday 2025/40
detail of Rain Garden Zag IV by Louise Nevelson, now at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA)
03 October 2025
01 October 2025
San Francisco Symphony: Runnicles conducts Berg & Mahler
Last Saturday I was at the second of three performances of Alban Berg's Seven Early Songs & the Mahler 1, with Donald Runnicles leading the San Francisco Symphony. It was a magnificent performance of an excellent program (such are starting to stand out on the Symphony schedule, crowded as it is with attempts to turn these superb musicians into a back-up band for pop groups or soundtrack-suppliers for recent movie hits that already come with perfectly fine soundtracks), & a welcome return to this area for Runnicles, fondly remembered by many (including me) for his work across the street at the Opera House.
The program opened, as you might expect, with the Berg songs, with mezzo-soprano Irene Roberts as soloist. She swept out looking exceedingly glam in her broad-hemmed pink gown. I don't know why the pink surprised me (pleasantly), but it did. Perhaps at some level I was expecting something more somber, for no particular reason. Roberts was in splendid voice, rich & intimate in these crepuscular & shifting songs. As anyone who has been in Davies knows, it is what is kindly called a barn: a vast, not very attractive space with notoriously iffy acoustics. The miracle of this performance was the intimacy Roberts & Runnicles with the orchestra created, the almost hushed immediacy of a direct, heart-to-heart communication, drawing in even those rows back from the stage. I always love the works of the Second Viennese School, but this was really a performance to cherish.
After the intermission we had the Mahler 1, sometimes still known as the Titan, though it's a nickname the composer jettisoned. The familiar music unfolded magnificently, implanting itself newly into my memory (I've been replaying parts of it in my mind for days). What struck me most about the whole thing was the flow & the timing: it never seemed too fast, too slow, too hurried, stretched out, but all perfectly balanced. I loved it, but I have to say, I preferred the Berg. Perhaps the triumphant overcoming of obstacles at the symphony's end, however inspiring to listen to & even theatrically thrilling to see (when the horn players stand), – the "Titan"-esque romantic heroness of it – that doesn't quite resonate with me, especially in this moment, so grim politically as well as in other ways. It is the questing, inclusive, neurotic Mahler that I respond to more, at least these days, & these are qualities found with greater strength, I think, in Mahler's other works.
My anxieties aside, I was deeply grateful to have heard this performance. And of course the subtext here is "the San Francisco Symphony is not doomed" (or maybe, "the San Francisco Symphony is not doomed – yet"); its current administration will forever be branded as the ones who didn't bother to keep Esa-Pekka Salonen, & it remains to be seen where they'll steer this ship, but in the meantime, we are given this generous & triumphant performance.
30 September 2025
San Francisco Performances: Mark Padmore & Paul Lewis perform Schumann
San Francisco Performances opened its season with an all-Schumann program, performed by tenor Mark Padmore & pianist Paul Lewis. I am always happy to hear all three gentlemen.
The first half opened with the Four Hans Christian Andersen Lieder, Opus 40, followed by Liederkreis, Opus 39; after the intermission (which Padmore charmingly referred to in the British way as "the interval"), we had Dichterliebe, Opus 48 – as the opus numbers might tell you, all 33 songs we heard were composed in roughly the same period: according to the program, 1840, the year Schumann finally managed to marry Clara Wieck. Despite the officially happy circumstances of the composer's life at the time, many of these songs are haunted & afflicted with loss. Make of that what you will; of course there is the old warning about answered prayers, but the inner creative impulses of the artist don't always reflect his outer circumstances, even for the Romantics. How could anyone expect something titled Dichterliebe – poet's love – to be straightforwardly happy?
After the opening Andersen lieder, Padmore spoke briefly about the affinity Schumann felt for the writings of that odd spinner of tales. He also mentioned that Schumann was basically a pianist, & we should think of the songs not as verse set to music but as music with words attached. The pellucid playing of Lewis was indeed a highlight of the evening, sparkling & insightful.
With his finely etched features & patriarchal silver beard, Padmore looks like a High Gothic sculpture of one of the prophets, which lends an interesting dimension to some of the songs, such as the solemn conjuration of Cologne Cathedral in Dichterliebe. It seemed to me, with my very limited knowledge of German, that he pointed the words with expressive power, plaintive when needed, thundering on occasion. (I would very much like to hear him sing a program entirely in English.) The usual adjective applied to British tenors, reedy, doesn't seem out of place; I find it a pleasing quality. And though I have heard these songs sung with more plush tones, given the intellectual & aesthetic integrity & emotional commitment displayed here, the merely plush can seem almost a limitation of what the music contains.
As Padmore pointed out, it's difficult to come up with an encore that could follow Dichterliebe, so he sang one of the four songs that were strangely omitted form the official compilation: Dien Angesicht.
I found it all very satisfying, though the woman behind me managed to make astonishing amounts of noise with her program. I really don't understand this. All the songs are printed there, in the order in which they're sung. Why the endless flipping, folding, searching, creasing, crackling? What is so hard to find? As I was leaving, I heard her say to someone, "That was a nice way to end the week" so I felt kind of bad about my irritation.
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