Month: December 2017

It’s customary at this time of year to look back and recall highlights of the past 12 months, but sometimes so much happens that it’s quite a challenge to decide which events to feature in a roll call of achievements. It’s been that sort of year for Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony…

San Francisco Ballet’s magnificent production of The Nutcracker has opened its 2017 season at the War Memorial Opera House – a magical Christmas tradition that will never cease to deliver a warm glow, a frisson of excitement, and a sense of wonder. The 18th century English writer Samuel Johnson, observed that a man who is…

If you need a shot of festive sparkle, and a reminder of what Christmas is all about, the San Francisco Playhouse is only too happy to oblige. A Christmas Story: The Musical is joyful, at times touching, it will make you smile – and laugh out loud. A perfect production for the time of year,…

Mozart’s The Magic Flute is the second production in the Met Opera’s 87th season of Saturday matinee radio broadcasts. It airs on Classical KDFC on December 9 for listeners in the Bay Area.  This series of broadcasts, live from the Metropolitan Opera in New York, was launched in 1931, making it the longest-running continuous classical…

San Francisco Symphony The San Francisco Symphony presents Music for Families at Davies Symphony Hall on Saturday afternoon in a program entitled Stringing it All Together: The Elements of Music Making. In a concert which includes music by Wagner, Mahler, Brahms, Gershwin, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Shostakovich and Beethoven, conductor Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser and members of the Symphony…