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2020/2021 Season Reviews

REVIEW: PBO is Bringing Back Baroque

The audience lucked out by the “substitution” of Augusta McKay Lodge, an Ohio native based in Paris, famous for her violin performances in Baroque literature and acting as concertmaster of orchestras specializing in the period…Lodge led with her violin in ensemble performances throughout the evening but also shone in such solo roles as in Vivaldi’s Concerto for 2 Violins and Violoncello in D Minor, RV 565, along with Carla Moore and William Skeen. The ensemble — besides those mentioned consisting of violinists Noah Strick and Katherine Kyme, violist Aaron Westman, double bassist Kristin Zoernig, David Tayler on theorbo, and Hanneke van Proosdij on harpsichord — managed to make up for the small numbers and the distance between the musicians by playing with focus and determination.—Janos Gereben, San Francisco Classical Voice 

NEWS: Performing arts outfits, once analog’s champions, realize that digital is here to stay

“Courtney Beck, executive director of the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale, says her organization is considering adding a live stream option to every concert set in the coming season.”—Lily Janiak and Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle 

NEWS: The performing arts used to be local by definition. Now what?

“Fisher isn’t alone. The online offerings by the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale have attracted patrons from Oregon to Belgium. “We had a woman at one of our events in northwest Australia,” said Executive Director Courtney Beck. “I don’t even know how she found us!”—Lily Janiak and Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle 

NEWS: Waiting for SF Opera’s Fall Season While Opera Houses Open and Close Everywhere

“For Herbst’s reopening, SFCV has learned, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale will do the honors on June 11. Executive Director Courtney Beck says only 223 will be seated in the 916-seat hall, reflecting the city’s previous 25 percent audience allowance.”—Janos Gerenben, San Francisco Classical Voice

NEWS: Philharmonia establishes a bold new creative partnership with bass-baritone Davóne Tines

“The thrust of the collaboration is to answer the question, ‘What is the point of a Baroque organization in the 21st century?’ ” Tines said in a recent phone interview with The Chronicle. “It’s a provocative question, but also a challenge, and I thought I could honestly interrogate that question over the course of a year.”—Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle 

NEWS: PBO’s Richard Egarr Is Up for Everything

It’s been more than a year of pandemic shutdown, and Richard Egarr has yet to occupy his physical office, near Union Square in San Francisco, as music director of the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale. “He took the reins on July 1 [2020],” notes Courtney Beck, PBO’s executive director for six years, “and he basically said, ‘there’s nothing we can do, so let’s do everything we can.’”—Jeff Kaliss, San Francisco Classical Voice

NEWS: Philharmonia Baroque taps San Francisco artist as its first composer in residence

Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale has named Tarik O’Regan as its composer in residence — the first time in its 40-year history that the early-music ensemble has supported such a position.—Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle 

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