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Sample Track 1:
"Angélique Kidjo (30 sec. Clip)" from 2010 Artist Lineup
Sample Track 2:
"Sarazino (30 sec. Clip)" from 2010 Artist Lineup
Sample Track 3:
"HAPA (30 Sec. Clip)" from 2010 Artist Lineup
Sample Track 4:
"Caravan Palace (30 sec. Clip)" from 2010 Artist Lineup
Sample Track 5:
"DePedro (30 sec. Clip)" from 2010 Artist Lineup
Sample Track 6:
"Jovanotti (30 sec. Clip)" from 2010 Artist Lineup
Sample Track 7:
"Bomba Estéreo (30 sec. Clip)" from 2010 Artist Lineup
Sample Track 8:
"Rickie Lee Jones (30 sec. Clip)" from 2010 Artist Lineup
Sample Track 9:
"Meklit Hadero (30 sec. Clip)" from 2010 Artist Lineup
Sample Track 10:
"Maceo Parker (30 sec. Clip)" from 2010 Artist Lineup
Sample Track 11:
"Darondo (30 sec. Clip)" from 2010 Artist Lineup
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"They Might Be Giants (30 sec. Clip)" from 2010 Artist Lineup
Sample Track 13:
"Rogue Wave (30 sec. Clip)" from 2010 Artist Lineup
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Contra Costa Times, Concert Preview >>

Tuned In: Relyea, Racette carry their partnership to Stern Grove

By Sue Gilmore
Contra Costa Times
Posted: 06/25/2010 12:01:00 AM PDT

Sigmund Stern Grove, the eucalyptus-lined meadow in San Francisco's Sunset district, has been home to an annual string of free summer Sunday concerts for the past 73 years. The acts in the amphitheater span a spectrum from Afro-pop to blues to alt-rock and world music, and they can draw anywhere up to 20,000 fans at a time. Happily for lovers of classical music, there are usually at least a couple of Sundays reserved for their enjoyment, and one this year falls smack dab on the Fourth of July.

Into this prime slot scurries the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and Chorus, who, having just wound up their 2010 season of summer productions in War Memorial Opera House, will be prepared to honor Independence Day with an all-American program of music by George Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, Aaron Copland, Richard Rodgers, John Philip Sousa and Carlisle Floyd.

There will be no shortage of major vocal talent to carry it off, either, as John Relyea, fresh from his War Memorial stint as sinister and sarcastic Mephistopheles in Gounod's "Faust," will be on hand to lend his steely bass-baritone to the efforts. Joining him will be celebrated American soprano Patricia Racette, his co-star in "Faust" as doomed Marguerite.

Both Relyea and Racette are alums of the Merola and Adler apprenticeship programs run by S.F. Opera, and five current Adler Fellows — sopranos Leah Crocetto, Sara Gartland and Susannah

Biller, tenor Brian Jagde and baritone Austin Kness — also will participate in the Stern Grove concert, conducted by Ian Robertson.

The music starts at 2 p.m., but you'll want to get there quite a bit earlier to spread the blanket for your picnic in a perfect grassy spot. Stern Grove is at 19th Avenue and Sloat Boulevard in San Francisco. Check www.sterngrove.org for more details.

Oh, and by the way — there are still two performances of the highly reviewed "Faust" left to go at War Memorial, Saturday's matinee at 1:30 p.m. and a 7 p.m. performance July 1. Tickets, $15-$360, are available at 415-864-3330 or www.sfopera.com.

Next up at Stern Grove will be the San Francisco Symphony, conducted by Donato Cabrero, playing music by Copland, Gershwin and Beethoven at 2 p.m. July 11.

MUSIC WITH FIREWORKS: S.F. Opera may have grabbed the Stern Grove gig, but at least two other fine Bay Area orchestras will be star-spangle bannering it at venues that will mount traditional fireworks displays to conclude the concerts. Oakland East Bay Symphony, under Michael Morgan's baton, will play Disney classics and Broadway hits along with John Philip Sousa at the Craneway Pavilion in Richmond at 8 p.m. July 3. A preconcert show featuring Khalil Shaheed and his Oaktown Jazz Workshops and the Hilltop Community Church Choir kicks off at 6:30 p.m. The music and the Richmond city fireworks are free. Craneway is at 1414 Harbour Way South in the Richmond Marina district.

The San Francisco Symphony's annual gig at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in the South Bay is on for 8 p.m. July 4, with conductor Donato Cabrera leading the orchestra in Hollywood and Broadway hits, with the vocal firepower provided by baritone Brian Leerhuber, tenor Thomas Glenn and sopranos Rachel York and Karen Slack. Tickets, at $24 and $29.50 (discounted when purchased in packs of four), are available at www.livenation.com

GET EM WHILE THEY'RE HOT: Chamber Music San Francisco, which expanded its San Francisco-based season of programs to Walnut Creek in 2007, grew successful there so quickly that their just-concluded 2010 season of five programs, which brought artists such as violinist Sarah Chang to the 297-seat Margaret Lesher Theatre, was completely sold out. The 2011 season has just been announced, and a droll little rolling bar at the top of the company website indicates that, at this writing, there are only 31 subscriptions are left.

The season kicks off on Feb. 12 with Moscow's Grammy nominated Borodin String Quartet, playing music by Shostakovich and Beethoven. Celebrated Canadian pianist Louis Lortie plays the Lesher Theatre on March 13, performing all 24 of Chopin's dazzling Etudes.

Violinist Jaime Laredo teams with pianist Leon Fleisher for the April 9 program, which will feature works by Brahms and Schubert. The May 1 concert presents the FOG Trio — violinist Jorja Fleezanis, the much-revered San Francisco pianist Garrick Ohlsson and S.F. Symphony principal cellist Michael Grebanier — playing works by Haydn, Beethoven and Dvorak.

The season closes May 14 with Canadian-born, Paris-based virtuoso pianist Corey Cerovsek, a 37-year-old Grammy nominee who has double doctorates in math and music. His program is to be announced.

Series subscriptions are $200, available at www.chambermusicsf.org or 925-943-7469. If the Walnut Creek series again sells out completely, most of the same artists will be playing in the larger San Francisco series in the Herbst Theatre, and they are all on board for Chamber Music San Francisco's new (as of 2009) series on the Peninsula. Each Walnut Creek program repeats the following Monday in Palo Alto's Oshman Family Jewish Community Center.

 06/25/10 >> go there
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