“The Metropolitan Opera has just announced that starting next year for the first time in its history it will be performing Sunday matinees. “

"For someone sensitive to the stultifying effect the current sexual harassment environment can have on the performing arts, I doubt that Kaufmann... will be indifferent to the fact that Met boss Peter Gelb is running scared from the ‘#Me Too McCarthyites’."

"There’s nothing more pleasant than taking a leisurely walk through town with a friend discussing various subjects of mutual interest.

"The legendary Menahem Pressler, who performed the Mozart Piano Concerto No. 23 in San Francisco the other evening at the age of 94, is the personification of the triumph of art and beauty over the forces of evil."

"Love appears to have taken the great violin virtuoso Christian Tetzlaff ‘for a spin’ the German musician readily admitted in a recent telephone interview to talk about his December 17 solo recital in San Francisco as part of the Great Performers Series at Davies Hall."

"In 1966, Hollywood put out a very funny picture entitled, “The Russians Are Coming.” Well in the Bay Area this week, the Russians aren’t coming; they are already here—and making their presence felt in a big way."

"The San Francisco audience is lucky that the opera’s most important cast member, Ildibrando D’Arcangelo as Don Giovanni, was more than up to the role’s demands. In fact, Mr. D’Arcangelo is one of the best Don Giovannis to come along in a long while."

"Applause from orchestra members exploded during the customary bows at the end of the evening’s entertainment, and backstage I was accosted by several musicians who were openly and unashamedly declaring their admiration for Mr. [Fabio] Luisi’s work. 'We love him, we love him' one of the musicians gushed to me."

"When played right, this Concerto never fails to bring tears to my eyes and last evening it was played wonderfully right by Ms. Steinbacher, a lovely woman who brings an unmistakable femininity to the music."

"At this week’s regular subscription concerts, San Francisco Symphony Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas (MTT) gave us the beginning of Gustav Mahler’s symphonic works and the very end, an unusual program he will take on the road to Carnegie Hall next week."

"What remains absolutely first class about the Russians is their musical culture, a fact underlined by the March coast-to-coast US tour of the magnificent Saint Petersburg Philharmonic (SPP), ostensibly to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the orchestra’s relationship with its great music director Yuri Temirkanov."

"Could there be a clearer example of how giving directors exaggerated power in the opera house with their excessive demands for rehearsal time is creating a star-starved Met that threatens the venerable New York City opera house with serious financial damage."

"Last evening, we had an absolutely splendid Brahms Fourth Symphony led by Marek Janowski, a 77-year old guest conductor active mostly in Germany. There is not a music director in this country today—including the top five—that can do Brahms better than Mr. Janowski based on his San Francisco performances."

"I was surprised to discover while doing the simple arithmetic that over 50 percent of the San Francisco Symphony’s concerts this season are being conducted by guest conductors, a figure not out of line with what is happening at other top 10 symphony orchestras in the country."

"What a joy these Dutch women violinists are; not only are they great players but they are a pleasure to look at as well."