This week on Open Air, KALW’s radio magazine for the Bay Area Performing Arts, guest host Kevin Vance talks with members of the Quantum Quintet (pictured), about their upcoming concert (Sept 25) at the Incarnation Church in San Francisco’s Sunset, playing Dvořák’s Second Piano Quintet. Also, conversations about Opera San José’s production of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s rarely-seen opera Mozart and Salieri(Sept 30 - Oct 31); and about the South Bay Musical Theater production of SHOUT! The Mod Musical (Sept 25 - Oct 16). Plus, we talk about the world premiere of Bacchae Before, a dance theater project by Hope Mohr Dance (Sept 28 - Oct 2).
Antonín Dvořák's Piano Quintet No. 2 in A major, Op. 81, is one of the one of the finest examples of late Romantic chamber music and a great example of the piano quintet form, but performances are rare. The San Francisco based Quantum Quintet performs Dvořák's expressive masterpiece on September 25 (7:30pm) at the Incarnation Church in San Francisco’s Sunset, as part of the concert series organized by Sunset Music and Arts. We talk with Quintet members, cellist Joel Cohen and violinist Wendy Loder, about their concert. Mathew Chacko, artistic director of Sunset Music and Arts, joins the conversation.
From Opera San Jose, we talk with stage director Fenlon Lamb about the upcoming production of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s rarely-seen opera Mozart and Salieri, with which the Company launches its 2021-22 season, online, on September 30. The performance was captured in Opera San José’s Heiman Digital Media Studio, and will be presented virtually to opera lovers throughout the Bay Area and beyond, through October 31.
The opera Mozart and Salieri is based on the 1830 play by Russian poet, playwright and novelist Alexander Pushkin, about the rumor that Salieri poisoned his famous rival. The production features baritones Sidney Outlaw (Salieri) and Simon Barrad (Mozart), and is conducted by Donato Cabrera.
We talk with artistic director Sara Dean of the South Bay Musical Theater about their long-awaited return to live performance with SHOUT! The Mod Musical, running from September 25 - October 16.
With its irresistible blend of hip-swiveling hits, eye-popping fashions and outrageous dance moves, SHOUT! The Mod Musical takes us back to the 1960s with terrific new arrangements of such classic tunes as To Sir with Love, Downtown, Son of a Preacher Man, and Goldfinger.
Plus, we talk with playwright Maxe Crandall and choreographer Hope Mohr, co-directors of Bacchae Before, a dance theater project at the Joe Goode Annex in San Francisco (Sept 28 - Oct 2), with which Hope Mohr Dance returns to live, in-person performance.
Bacchae Before is inspired by the tragedies of gender reveal parties and Anne Carson's Bakkhai, a new version of Euripedes’ The Bacchae. The ancient drama tells the story of the murder of Pentheus, King of Thebes, at the hands of his own mother, who has joined a cult of wild women bewitched by Dionysus.
Open Air with guest host Kevin Vance, heard live on Thursday, September 23 at 1pm, to be archived at this very location until the Internet dies. Listen now or anytime…