Last Thursday, I spent an hour in the company of Sarah Cahill, (pictured left) avant garde pianist extraordinaire and doyenne of the Bay Area classical music radio scene.I have long admired Sarah's musicianship and her wonderful weekly Sunday night classical music broadcast, Then and Now, on local NPR affiliate KALW 91.7 FM. I have also been curious about her established practice of commissioning living composers to write music for her to perform. So I emailed Sarah to ask if I could meet her to find out more about what she does and how she … [Read more...]

Last time I wrote about Santa Cruz, I described the unparalleled experience of eating a deep fried Twinkie (DFT) on the beach. I've had many good times in that laid back coastal town. Just last weekend, for instance, my couple of days in the city featured an array of cultural delights including a treat for the taste buds in the form of probably the most delicious cocktail I've ever imbibed in my life, not to mention a couple of good films and a wonderful evening spent in the company of a local Irish music outfit.One aspect of Santa Cruz life … [Read more...]

Once upon a time, the members of choral ensembles would stand at the front of a concert venue and simply sing their material. Occasionally they might sit in between songs if there were an instrumental interlude or solo, but in general, they pretty much stayed in one place.I don't know whether audiences complained of boredom or the singers complained of cold or pins and needles, but these days, it's practically impossible to go to a choral concert and simply listen to the music in this country. There's always some measure of "choreography" … [Read more...]

December is a strange, hormonal time of year. We look back at the past 12 months and sigh and wonder where it all could have gone to and greet with trepidation the 12 that lie ahead, knowing that they too will be gone in a whisper.This is the prevailing mood that hangs over Jake Heggie's chamber opera,Three Decembers, which I caught in its west coast premiere at Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley last night.Based on Terence McNally's short play Some Christmas Letters (and a Couple of Phone Calls) the opera charts the relationship between the members … [Read more...]

Besides the very foolhardy or extremely thick, every writer knows that plagiarization is tantamount to professional suicide. Similarly frowned upon -- unless a syndication agreement is in place -- is the practice of writers selling on entire articles, or large unadulterated chunks of their writing, word-for-word to different publications under the pretense of having produced original, customized texts. But should the repurposing of a few sentences from one's own writing for later use in an entirely different context be treated with the same … [Read more...]

Why are so many apparently intelligent people in America getting so excited about 30 Rock? The critically-acclaimed NBC television show about life behind the scenes of a fictional TV sketch comedy series has been getting a great deal of attention of late. It's all I ever hear about at dinner parties these days.Following Nancy Franklin's intriguing review of the series in a recent issue of The New Yorker I decided I had to see what all the fuss was about.I don't own a TV. (My husband and I threw our old set out when we moved into our new house … [Read more...]

Steven Winn, the eminent cultural critic and reporter from The San Francisco Chronicle, just penned his last column for the city's flagging flagship newspaper.In a way, this shouldn't even qualify as news: Comings and goings -- especially goings -- are as common as unmarked graves in a war zone at media organizations across the land these days, so Winn's departure is hardly surprising. Winn even hinted to me himself that he was thinking about moving on a few months ago when I met him for coffee at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. It was … [Read more...]

In his book This Is Your Brain On Music, neuroscientist/music producer Daniel Levitin discusses the way in which music, even snatches of pieces that we may not have heard for many years, serves to stimulate our memories: "When we love a piece of music, it reminds us of other music we have heard, and it activates memory traces of emotional times in our lives," writes Levitin. "Your brain on music is all about...connections."Ever since I attended a concert performance of Benjamin Britten's A Ceremony of Carols on Saturday evening, I've been … [Read more...]

As resentment towards the passing of the ridiculous and embarrassing anti-gay marriage law in California grows both within the gay community and outside, I knew it would only be a matter of time before someone came up with the idea of creating a musical on a Prop 8 theme. Now Hairspray composer Mark Shaiman has actually gone and done it.The following link leads to a hilarious production number featuring performances from John C Reilly as a God-fearing, gay-hating conservative, and Jack Black as Jesus Christ (who else). Check it out. … [Read more...]

Some arts events, such as San Francisco's recent Hip-Hop Dance Festival and San Francisco Ballet's annual Nutcracker, attract a large audience of children. On the whole, though, it's pretty rare that I come across kids at the theatre, concert hall or opera house. I don't know whether the scarcity of audience members under the age of 18 is to do with overly high ticket prices, an unwillingness on the part of children to experience live performance or an unwillingness on the part of their parents' to take or encourage them. Perhaps the reason for … [Read more...]