Andrea Chénier at San Francisco Opera

Why bother having a revolution?: Andrea Chénier at San Francisco Opera

You can’t help leaving this Andrea Chénier admiring what a good job San Francisco Opera has done with a tricky piece.
Dear Master - Aurora Theatre Company Review

Literary Lives in Letters at Aurora Theatre

'Dear Master' made me want to pick up another George Sand novel. I think I’ll go do just that.
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BTS Ringling with Loni Stark: ‘Out of this World’ (Video)

Clowns are the pegs on which the circus is hung.
Cavalia Odysseo - San Francisco AT&T Park
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Cavalia Odysseo tour arrives in San Jose (Video)

It's the "largest touring production on earth." And it opens in just a few weeks in San Jose. Look for the White Big Top (Highway 87 and Julian Street), there you'll find the stunning (see the Stark Insider review of Cavalia Odysseo) production known by Cavalia. The size of an...

A Grand Finale for the Merolini

San Francisco’s Merola Opera Program is one of the most prestigious training programs in the world for young singers. Its participants can already boast of long singing resumes and top awards, and its alumni include superstars like Anna Netrebko, Joyce DiDonato, and Thomas Hampson. The extraordinary talent displayed at...
Abduction From Seraglio - Festival Opera Review

Star Trek meets Mozart at Festival Opera

Comic operas are rarely hilarious. A good Fledermaus or Barber of Seville might get you chuckling on occasion, but it won’t have you holding your head in your hands fighting bursts of uncontrollable laughter. Normally, The Abduction from the Seraglio wouldn’t either, but Josh Shaw’s libretto and staging, which...
An Evening in Paris with Madeleine Peyroux and the San Francisco Symphony

An Evening in Paris with Madeleine Peyroux and the San Francisco Symphony (Review)

Earlier this year a concert by Madeleine Peyroux in the countryside of England was said to fill a church hall with spiritual humanism. Her subsequent album, released in July 2016, is titled “Secular Hymns.” During her recent concert with the SF Symphony, focused on “An Evening in Paris,” she combined...

San Francisco Jazz: Kim Nalley radiant, at top of her game (Review)

Kim describes this new album as a journey of African Americans in the new world – sacred, profane, good times and bad times.
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‘Phantom’ kicks off Broadway San Jose season

Great news Bay Area! Andrew Lloyd Webber's eternal classic The Phantom of the Opera will kick off Broadway San Jose's 2016-17 season. Look for the US tour to arrive this September. Full details below. In addition to Phantom, other musicals rounding out the Broadway San Jose line-up include The Sound of Music,...

28,000 attend San Francisco Opera ‘Carmen’ performance at AT&T Park

28,000 people. In a beautiful ball park overlooking the Bay. Enjoying the classic Carmen. By all accounts the annual "Free Opera at the Ballpark" was a smashing success. Now in its tenth year, the event features a live simulcast, beamed across town from the War Memorial Opera House. San Francisco Opera General Director David...