Musical America | MEMETERIA

June 30, 2026 • 8:25 am 0

Two West Coast Orchestras Put the Ninth to the Test

*Xian Zhang, Seattle Symphony, and soloists; photo (c) James Holt*

My Musical America review of Xian Zhang/Seattle Symphony and James Gaffigan/San Francisco Symphony in two very different West Coast encounters with the choral symphony:

SEATTLE AND SAN FRANCISCO—Call it the Ninth, times two. Last week, two major West Coast orchestras ended their seasons with Beethoven’s choral symphony, reminding us that this familiar ritual need not be merely routine.

In the Pacific Northwest, it marked the close of Xian Zhang’s inaugural season as music director of the Seattle Symphony, preceded by onstage tributes to three longtime orchestra members whose retirements were announced. At the San Francisco Symphony, the season-ending program unexpectedly acquired a memorial charge following Michael Tilson Thomas’s recent death, with musicians wearing blue ribbons—MTT’s favorite color—as a token of remembrance….

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Filed under: Beethoven, Musical America, review, San Francisco Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Xian Zhang

June 27, 2026 • 4:24 pm 0

A Night at the Opera, a Nightmare at the Museum

*Elena Pankratova as Elektra and Elza van den Heever as Chrysothemis in Strauss’ “Elektra.” Photo- Cory Weaver/San Francisco Opera*

The first of my reports for Musical America on last weekend’s visit to San Francisco:

Elektra-eview-perfomance 19 June 2026 Download

Filed under: Musical America, review, Richard Strauss, San Francisco Opera

May 27, 2026 • 7:57 pm Comments Off on Featured New Artist: Élisabeth Pion

Featured New Artist: Élisabeth Pion

My profile of Élisabeth Pion, who triumphed last autumn at the Honens International Piano Competition, has been featured this month on Musical America‘s website:

Last October, when the 2025 Honens International Piano Competition in Calgary was heading into the concerto finals round, there were no foregone conclusions, though contrasts in the personalities of the three finalists had steadily sharpened…

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Filed under: Honens International Piano Competition, Musical America, piano

January 29, 2026 • 11:07 am Comments Off on Tracing the Wheel of Time, Thomas Adès Leads the NY Philharmonic

Tracing the Wheel of Time, Thomas Adès Leads the NY Philharmonic

*Thomas Adès conducting the New York Philharmonic, with soprano Anna Dennis; photo credit: Chris Lee*

Last week’s New York Philharmonic program under Thomas Adès, anchored in the newly expanded version of his America: A Prophecy, was one of the most thought-provoking, unusual, and compelling programs I’ve encountered in ages. My review for Musical America (sorry for the paywall):

NEW YORK—Thomas Adès was 28 when the New York Philharmonic first programmed his music on a major subscription concert. America: A Prophecy was commissioned as part of a series marking the threshold of a new millennium and received its premiere in November 1999 under Kurt Masur. At last week’s concerts, a new, expanded version of America anchored the program, this time with Adès himself on the podium. …

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Filed under: Charles Ives, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Musical America, New York Philharmonic, review, Saariaho, Thomas Adès

November 2, 2025 • 5:22 pm 1

Hongni Wu: Musical America’s New Artist of the Month

Here’s my profile of mezzo-soprano Hongni Wu, Musical America’s New Artist of the Month for November:

When Hongni Wu bounded across the stage as Cherubino in Santa Fe Opera’s Marriage of Figaro last summer, she seemed to compress a teenager’s swirl of conflicted emotions into a single breath. …

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Filed under: Musical America, San Francisco Opera, Santa Fe Opera, singers

October 1, 2025 • 3:32 pm Comments Off on Emma Wernig: Musical America’s New Artist of the Month

Emma Wernig: Musical America’s New Artist of the Month

Here’s my profile of violist Emma Wernig, Musical America’s New Artist of the Month for October:

In many chamber settings, the viola tends to blend into the texture—which made Emma Wernig’s playing all the more striking when I first encountered her last August on opening weekend at Tippet Rise. “Chamber music is my window into everything,” she says. “It’s the foundation of my solo work, my orchestral playing, everything…”

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Filed under: Musical America

August 8, 2025 • 11:29 am 1

Perfect Timing: ‘Figaro’ in Santa Fe

Liv Redpath as Susanna in *The Marriage of Figaro* at Santa Fe Opera; image: Bronwen Sharp

My Musical America review of Laurent Pelly’s Nozze at Santa Fe Opera:
SANTA FE—The plot of The Marriage of Figaro can feel like a dizzying maze of deceptions and deferred revelations—its intricate turns threatening to overwhelm the human stakes. But in Santa Fe Opera’s ingeniously paced production, directed by Laurent Pelly, every complication slips neatly into place with the precision of a fine timepiece, allowing the machinery of the plot to bring the messy human entanglements that drive the drama into…

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Filed under: Mozart, Musical America, review, Santa Fe Opera

June 18, 2025 • 1:22 pm 2

Esa-Pekka Salonen’s San Francisco Farewell

*Esa-Pekka Salonen with San Francisco Symphony; photo (c)Brandon Patoc*

I was fortunate to have a chance to make it to Esa-Pekka Salonen’s very final performance of his San Francisco Symphony tenure – a program of Mahler 2.

Here’s my review for Musical America:

SFS-June 2025-Salonen’s Powerful Farewell Download

Filed under: Esa-Pekka Salonen, Musical America, review, San Francisco Symphony

October 4, 2024 • 11:16 am Comments Off on “The Handmaid’s Tale” at San Francisco Opera

“The Handmaid’s Tale” at San Francisco Opera

Some thoughts for Musical America on San Francisco Opera’s fall production of The Handmaid’s Tale:

SAN FRANCISCO—It was at the turn of the millennium that composer Poul Ruders and librettist Paul Bentley adapted The Handmaid’s Tale into an opera. These days, however, their version of the dystopian novel Margaret Atwood published in 1985 seems ominously closer to an opera ripped from the headlines than a cautionary tale …

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Filed under: Musical America, new opera, review, San Francisco Opera

August 12, 2024 • 11:24 am Comments Off on “The Righteous” at Santa Fe Opera

“The Righteous” at Santa Fe Opera

Michael Mayes (David), Brenton Ryan (CM), and Greer Grimsley (Paul) in *The Righteous*; photo by Curtis Brown for the Santa Fe Opera

I reviewed Santa Fe Opera’s The Righteous for Musical America. The latest in the company’s distinguished history of commissions, The Righteous is an ambitious collaboration between composer Gregory Spears and poet-librettist Tracy K. Smith. The opera unfolds across the span of the Reagan era and features a large cast to tell the story of a charismatic Southwestern preacher who gets elected as state governor:

MusicalAmerica – At Santa Fe_ New Opera Depicts an Ugly Era & Hits Close to Home Download