Last week I had the good fortune of attending a concert with viola soloist and NEC teacher Kim Kashkashian at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

After giving a master class (missed that one!) earlier in the week, last Thursday she performed in the the Dvo?ák String Sextet in A Major, Op. 48 with faculty members as well as the Brahms Viola Sonata in E-flat Major, Op. 120, No. 2 with faculty member Paul Hersh at the piano.

What an inspiration this concert was for me!

Ok, I'll admit, I am a... Continue

Added by Cindi Kazarian on Feb 14, 2011 at 11:54am –

Schubert’s “Death and the Maiden” weighs heavy on my mind as I enter the Mount Tamalpais Methodist Church in Marin County, California, and am greeted with a sea of grey hair and the usual “you’ve single-handedly brought down the average age in this room!” from a board member-usher. The Ives Quartet is up on deck on this mid-March evening for one of the Mill Valley Chamber Music Society’s final offerings of the 2010–11 season, and it has Schubert’s solemn, yet violent, String... Continue

Added by Rory Williams on Mar 29, 2011 at 11:48am –

Although the 1st annual Piatigorsky International Cello Festival, which kicked off March 9 and runs through March 18, is commemorating a time when giants strode the land, it was the kids who were served on opening night. There were so many cellists in the University of Southern California's Bovard Auditorium aisles it was hard not trip over them. A sizable contingent were USC students, cool dudes who are generations removed from Piatigorsky and eager to make their own mark on the music world.

It... Continue

Added by Laurence Vittes on Mar 11, 2012 at 12:00am –

The New York Philharmonic, under the baton of of music director Alan Gilbert, performed Sunday, May 13, on the first of a two-night stand at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco, and the thundering applause at the close of its encore performance of Bernstein's "Lonely Town: Pas de deux from On the Town" said it all.

The concert was part of a tour of six California cities and, remarkably, the first US tour for the venerable New York Phil since Gilbert took the reins three years ago.

After a  May... Continue

Added by Greg Cahill on May 14, 2012 at 11:01am –

Though Early and Baroque style music continues to grow in popularity across the nation, it still has a few strong centers of interest in the US. Boston and the San Francisco Bay Area remain the two biggest markets for fans and musicians, and the latter city just played host to the 11th biennial Berkeley Festival and Exhibition, June 3 through June 10.

Presented by Early Music America, San Francisco Early Music Society, and Cal Performances, the event centered at the First Congregational Church,... Continue

Added by Greg Olwell on Jun 12, 2012 at 4:25pm –