Month: March 2021

SFJAZZ continues to provide top-flight online programming in its Fridays at Five sessions – the month of April featuring bass guitarist Marcus Miller, vocalists Claudia Villela and Daymé Arocena and the Sun Ra Arkestra – plenty to enjoy! Regarded as one of the greatest electric bassists in the history of the instrument, Marcus Miller –…

George Balanchine’s brilliant creation, Jewels, is the next production in San Francisco Ballet’s 2021 digital season. First staged by the Company in March 2002, Jewels is an abstract work of three one-act ballets, each completely different in style – admirably suited to the versatility of San Francisco Ballet. Choreographed by Balanchine for New York City…

Maintaining a tradition dating back to 1898, the Concertgebouw Orchestra presents its annual Holy Week performance of Bach’s St Matthew Passion on Saturday, 27th March. The scheduled performance under the direction of Belgian conductor Philippe Herreweghe has had to be cancelled due to the health risks involved, and instead the Concertgebouw will stream a recording…

Live from New York City Center, American Ballet Theatre streams a program devoted to works by choreographer Alexei Ratmansky, the Company’s Artist in Residence. Highlights of the program, filmed onstage at the City Center, include excerpts from Ratmansky’s The Seasons, Seven Sonatas, The Sleeping Beauty and the World Premiere of Bernstein in a Bubble. During…

In a premiere production for Monaco, Monte-Carlo Opera stages Giuseppe Verdi’s opera I Lombardi alla Prima Crociata. This production by Teatro Regio di Parma stars tenor Antonio Corianỏ as Arvino, bass Michele Pertusi as his brother Pagano, soprano Cristina Giannelli as Viclinda, Arvino’s wife, and soprano Nino Machaidze as her daughter Giselda. Verdi’s four-act dramma…

An interesting aspect of online streaming is the creativity which it has inspired, as demonstrated by this partnership between the San Francisco Symphony and local contemporary dance company, Post:ballet. Last year, SF Symphony violinist Helen Kim and Post:ballet’s Artistic Director Robert Dekkers were “…. both craving a project to sink our artistic teeth into ….”…

It’s good news indeed to hear that the Festival Printemps des Arts de Monte-Carlo is taking place this year. Due to the pandemic, there’s a change to the format, in that it’s being held over five weekends, but, with five different themes – École de Vienne (the Viennese School), Portrait Franz Liszt, Musique Française, Le…

The Royal Ballet’s online stream this Friday is a performance of Kenneth MacMillan’s delightful ballet, Elite Syncopations. Set to music by Scott Joplin, it’s one of the most joyful pieces in the Company’s repertoire. MacMillan wrote Elite Syncopations in 1974 – a ballet premiered only seven months after Manon – and something he’d planned even…

English National Ballet’s production of Kenneth MacMillan’s gorgeous interpretation of the story of Manon is now available to rent. The passionate and ultimately tragic account of a young girl who was as much in love with romance as with the trappings of wealth, was described by The Telegraph as “A truly irresistible tragedy… dramatic, thrilling,…

This week’s online performance from the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam focuses on the music of New York, as Alan Gilbert leads an all-Gershwin programme with pianist Stefano Bollani as soloist in Rhapsody in Blue. Also featured in the programme are Gershwin’s Cuban Overture and Catfish Row – the orchestral suite from Porgy and Bess. New…