Classical picks: Dazzling piano duet launches SF Performances season
On tap for Bay Area classical fans: Natasha Paremski and Alfredo Rodriguez in S.F.; "Eugene Onegin" in Livermore; New Century Chamber Orchestra.
Here are three performances that should be on Bay Area classical music fans’ radars.
Piano times two: San Francisco Performances launches its 2019-20 season with a duo recital by pianists Natasha Paremski and Alfredo Rodriguez. Moscow-born Paremski, a classical artist, and Rodriguez, a Cuban jazz composer and performer, will play a call-and-response program featuring works by Prokofiev, Ravel and Balakirev. Details: 7:30 Sept. 27; Herbst Theatre, San Francisco; $45-$70; 415-392-2545, www.sfperformances.org.
Russian rivals: Based on Pushkin’s verse novel, Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin” features one of opera’s great soprano roles — Tatyana, the provincial girl whose fateful choice in husbands fuels the composer’s 1879 drama. Livermore Valley Opera’s new production features Ukrainian soprano Antonina Chehovska; completing the opera’s love triangle are tenor Kyle van Schoonhoven as Lensky and baritone Morgan Smith in the title role. Candace Evans is the director, and Alex Katsman conducts. Details: 7:30 Sept. 28 and Oct. 5; 2 p.m. Sept. 29 and Oct. 6; Bankhead Theater, Livermore; $42-$90, $40 age 40 and under, $20 age 20 and under; 925-373-6800, www.lvopera.com.
Looking backward: “Fin de Siécle” is the title of the New Century Chamber Orchestra’s season-opening concert exploring works by composers from the turn of the 19th century. Music director Daniel Hope joins pianist Maxim Lando in Chausson’s “Concert for Violin, Piano and Strings,” and the rest of the program, with Simos Papanas as guest concertmaster, includes works by Elgar, Massenet, Schoenberg, Richard Strauss and Christian Sinding. Details: 7:30 Sept. 26 at First Congregational Church, Berkeley, 7:30 p.m. Sept. 28 at Herbst Theatre, San Francisco, 3 p.m. Sept. 29 at Osher Marin Center, San Rafael; $30-$67.50; www.ncco.org.