Lisa Hirsch

Oakland

Music writer (SFCV, SF Chron, Opera News RIP). Stream is various fractions of opera, music, politics. She/her. Queer. Martial artist. Former tech writer.

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Articles

SF Symphony Presents an Explosive Cello Concerto

3 weeks ago | sfcv.org | Lisa Hirsch

Dalia Stasevska is just the sort of musician who can bring disparate worlds together. For the Ukrainian-born Finnish conductor’s latest program with the San Francisco Symphony, she juxtaposed two composers who might not initially seem to have much in common. First up was the richly tuneful music of the great symphonist Ralph Vaughan Williams, rooted in the English pastoral tradition and steeped in modal harmonies.
Review: S.F. Symphony presents an explosive cello concerto

3 weeks ago | datebook.sfchronicle.com | Lisa Hirsch

Conductor Dalia Stasevska leads the San Francisco Symphony in works by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Anna Thorvaldsdottir and Jean Sibelius on Thursday, May 15, at Davies Symphony Hall. Photo: Kristen Loken/San Francisco SymphonyDalia Stasevska is just the sort of musician who can bring disparate worlds together. For the Ukrainian-born Finnish conductor’s latest program with the San Francisco Symphony, she juxtaposed two composers who might not initially seem to have much in common.
Review: S.F. Symphony and Giancarlo Guerrero deliver orchestral showstoppers

1 month ago | datebook.sfchronicle.com | Lisa Hirsch

Conductor Giancarlo Guerrero, pictured here leading the San Francisco Symphony in 2023, returned to Davies Symphony Hall for a program of works by Kaija Saariaho, Igor Stravinsky and Ottorino Respighi. Photo: Kristen Loken/San Francisco SymphonyConductor Giancarlo Guerrero’s two previous appearances with the San Francisco Symphony amply showcased his flair for colorful, dramatic music. After a two-year gap, he’s back at Davies Symphony Hall with a program of glittering orchestral showpieces.
S.F. Symphony faces 'transitional moment' without Esa-Pekka Salonen in 2025-26 season

2 months ago | sfchronicle.com | Lisa Hirsch

Esa-Pekka Salonen, the esteemed outgoing music director of the San Francisco Symphony, isn't named on the orchestra's 2025-26 season schedule - a striking absence that underscores a shift from the progressive programming his tenure promised to deliver when he was hired five years ago.
Berkeley Symphony’s “Spring’s Awakening” Celebrates Nature’s Beauty

2 months ago | sfcv.org | Lisa Hirsch

Countless composers have incorporated birdsong into their music, from Beethoven to Ottorino Respighi to — most famously — Olivier Messiaen. But the Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara went one step further than them all by having his own field recordings of birds star as the solo instrument in his 1972 piece Cantus Arcticus: Concerto for Birds and Orchestra.
Singing of Love’s Complexities With Voices of Silicon Valley

2 months ago | sfcv.org | Lisa Hirsch

The French composer Gérard Grisey spent several years in the 1980s teaching at UC Berkeley, where he completed Les Chants de l’Amour (The Songs of Love), a work for 12 singers and tape lasting roughly 35 minutes. It was commissioned by IRCAM, the French electronic-music institute, and IRCAM software tools were used to produce the tape. According to Grisey’s publisher, Les Chants de l’Amour had never been performed in the U.S. until last weekend.
A World-Premiere Opera Tackles the Refugee Crisis With Hope and Humanity

Mar 9, 2025 | sfcv.org | Lisa Hirsch

If you go to The Pigeon Keeper expecting the usual operatic fare of murder, emotional betrayal, sexual violence, kidnapping, and abuse, you’ll be disappointed. Instead, composer David Hanlon and librettist Stephanie Fleischmann have crafted a new opera that offers hope and healing, albeit with wistful sadness and gentle reminders of how trauma undoes people.
Livermore Valley Opera’s Don Giovanni Has Swagger and Good Singing

Mar 4, 2025 | sfcv.org | Lisa Hirsch

Don Giovanni is a tough opera to stage. With seven principal characters, four major plot strands, and a dizzying procession of scenes, it’s easy to get Mozart’s masterpiece wrong. But director Robert Herriot has gotten everything right in Livermore Valley Opera’s current production, seen at its opening performance on Saturday, March 1.
SF Symphony’s Newly Appointed Principal Joshua Elmore Solos in a Thrilling Performance

Feb 23, 2025 | sfcv.org | Lisa Hirsch

Just hours after being named principal bassoon of the San Francisco Symphony, Joshua Elmore sat in the first chair at Davies Symphony Hall, all eyes on him. He began to play the most renowned orchestral solo ever written for his instrument, the high-pitched and exposed opening of Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, as part of the program on Friday, Feb. 21, which repeats through Sunday, Feb. 23.
S.F. Symphony's newly appointed principal Joshua Elmore solos in a thrilling performance

Feb 22, 2025 | sfchronicle.com | Lisa Hirsch

Just hours after being named principal bassoon of the San Francisco Symphony, Joshua Elmore sat in the first chair at Davies Symphony Hall, all eyes on him. He began to play the most renowned orchestral solo ever written for his instrument, the high-pitched and exposed opening of Igor Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring," as part of the program on Friday, Feb. 21, which repeats through Sunday, Feb. 23.