Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Annual Orchestra Residency Friday, March 20 and Saturday, March 21, 8 pm, and Sunday, March 22, 3 pm Hertz Hall The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra celebrates a decades-long association with Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Adams in the annual orchestra residency, with performances that showcase the wide expressive range, fleet ensemble interplay, and expansive colors of the chamber orchestra. A defining Adams work figures prominently in each night’s program. The orchestra brings rising star American conductor Benjamin Shwartz for Adams’s fiercely virtuosic Chamber Symphony, paired with an arrangement of Mahler’s Fourth Symphony. Swedish clarinet virtuoso Martin Fröst also joins the orchestra as soloist for Anders Hillborg’s Peacock Tales and the Mozart Clarinet Concerto. Cecilia Bartoli, Mezzo-Soprano Tuesday, March 31, 8 pm, and Thursday, April 2, 8 pm Zellerbach Hall Nearly 25 years after making her West Coast debut with Cal Performances, the beloved Cecilia Bartoli returns in a rare recital for which critics and audiences alike have been clamoring. “A celebrity of incomparable stature” (Washington Post), the famed Italian mezzo-soprano has indisputably been one of the leading artists in the field of classical music, breathing new life into forgotten gems while setting the standard for masterworks. For the first time in the US, Bartoli sings from one of her most acclaimed albums, Sacrificium, celebrating the art of the castrati during their golden age in the 18th century. Returning to Berkeley for her tenth concert on Cal Performances’ stages, Bartoli concludes a three-stop tour with her trademark dynamism, delivering vocal acrobatics with nuanced emotion. An Evening with Bruce Hornsby Wednesday, April 15, 8 pm Zellerbach Hall Bruce Hornsby’s work displays a creative iconoclasm that’s been a constant in the artist’s two-and-a-half decade recording career. His commercial stock soared early on, when “The Way It Is,” the title track of his 1986 debut album, became one of the most popular songs on American radio. Despite his early mainstream successes, Hornsby has pursued a more personal, idiosyncratic musical path, focusing on projects that sparked his creative interest, including collaborations with the Grateful Dead, Spike Lee, Ricky Skaggs, Don Henley, Ornette Coleman, Bob Dylan, Béla Fleck, Bonnie Raitt, Pat Metheny, and Robbie Robertson. Hornsby’s performance will offer a glimpse of a restless spirit who continues to push forward into exciting new musical terrain. Bruce Hornsby’s new live album “Bruce Hornsby Solo Concerts” will be included with the purchase of each ticket. The CD can be picked up at the show.
Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Annual Orchestra Residency Friday, March 20 and Saturday, March 21, 8 pm, and Sunday, March 22, 3 pm Hertz Hall The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra celebrates a decades-long association with Pulitzer Prize-winning composer John Adams in the annual orchestra residency, with performances that showcase the wide expressive range, fleet ensemble interplay, and expansive colors of the chamber orchestra. A defining Adams work figures prominently in each night’s program. The orchestra brings rising star American conductor Benjamin Shwartz for Adams’s fiercely virtuosic Chamber Symphony, paired with an arrangement of Mahler’s Fourth Symphony. Swedish clarinet virtuoso Martin Fröst also joins the orchestra as soloist for Anders Hillborg’s Peacock Tales and the Mozart Clarinet Concerto. Cecilia Bartoli, Mezzo-Soprano Tuesday, March 31, 8 pm, and Thursday, April 2, 8 pm Zellerbach Hall Nearly 25 years after making her West Coast debut with Cal Performances, the beloved Cecilia Bartoli returns in a rare recital for which critics and audiences alike have been clamoring. “A celebrity of incomparable stature” (Washington Post), the famed Italian mezzo-soprano has indisputably been one of the leading artists in the field of classical music, breathing new life into forgotten gems while setting the standard for masterworks. For the first time in the US, Bartoli sings from one of her most acclaimed albums, Sacrificium, celebrating the art of the castrati during their golden age in the 18th century. Returning to Berkeley for her tenth concert on Cal Performances’ stages, Bartoli concludes a three-stop tour with her trademark dynamism, delivering vocal acrobatics with nuanced emotion. An Evening with Bruce Hornsby Wednesday, April 15, 8 pm Zellerbach Hall Bruce Hornsby’s work displays a creative iconoclasm that’s been a constant in the artist’s two-and-a-half decade recording career. His commercial stock soared early on, when “The Way It Is,” the title track of his 1986 debut album, became one of the most popular songs on American radio. Despite his early mainstream successes, Hornsby has pursued a more personal, idiosyncratic musical path, focusing on projects that sparked his creative interest, including collaborations with the Grateful Dead, Spike Lee, Ricky Skaggs, Don Henley, Ornette Coleman, Bob Dylan, Béla Fleck, Bonnie Raitt, Pat Metheny, and Robbie Robertson. Hornsby’s performance will offer a glimpse of a restless spirit who continues to push forward into exciting new musical terrain. Bruce Hornsby’s new live album “Bruce Hornsby Solo Concerts” will be included with the purchase of each ticket. The CD can be picked up at the show.