Stefan Cohen

MTT leading the SF Symphony in Mahler’s Fifth. Fifty years of an extraordinary musical collaboration. @mtilsonthomas @sfsymphony @sfsymphonymusicians 💙💙💙

Beautiful night of music with @mtilsonthomas @sfsymphony , SFS Chorus and the gorgeous playing of Jean-Yves Thibaudet- - - - #sfsymphony #mtt #classicalmusic #symphony #music #chorus #sanfrancisco #musicphotography #piano #conductor

Klaus Makela conducts the San Francisco Symohony with Vilde Frang in Berg’s Violin Concerto and the orchestra in Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10. She plays with great grace and beauty, and he conducts with so much energy and expression. The SFS does what it always does, makes exceptional music! - @klausmakelaofficial @sfsymphony #classicalmusic #sanfranciscosymphony #sfsymphony #symphony #sanfrancisco #music #violinist #orchestra #musicphotography

Apollo’s Fire in rehearsal, with Jeannette Sorrell, conductor, and Francisco Fullana, violin. It was a pleasure seeing music being made by master musicians, who take such pride and pleasure in rehearsing, even when there’s no audience. - - - - @apollobaroque @carnegiehall @fullanaviolin #classicalmusic #classical #baroque #apollosfire #zankelhall #rehearsal #musicphotography

Legend @carlcraignet bringing Detroit @carnegiehall with his Synthesizer Ensemble. Techno, bass, funk and Afrofuturism, with his mom and dad in the house!😀 - - - #carlcraig #carnegiehall #techno #dj #funk #afrofuturism #music #detroit

Makes me very happy to be back in one of the greatest music venues of all, @carnegiehall . And with all that’s happening in the world today, so much suffering in multiple conflicts, this night was resonant, beautiful, and hopeful. Saleem Ashkar conducts the Galilee Chamber Orchestra, the first professional orchestra composed of both Arab and Jewish musicians in Israel, with @joshuabellmusic . In the Isaac Stern Anniversary Concert. - - - - #classicalmusic #carnegiehall #orchestra #symphony #galileechamberorchestra #nyc

@sfsymphony , @yujawang.official , and @mtilsonthomas making music magic in S.F. Three special nights - - - - #music #classicalmusic #sfsymphony #symphony #pianist #sanfrancisco #nikon #concertphotography

Conductor Joseph Young led the SF Symphony in concert last week, including Carlos Simon’s “An Elegy: A Cry From the Grave” which is dedicated to Black victims of oppressive power (in particular Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner and Michael Brown.) It brought home again how the music of composers in all genres can speak to and with the times we live in, and when performed so masterfully, how deeply music can express this beyond words and images. @sfsymphony @youngconductor #sfsymphony #composer #carlossimon #music #classicalmusic #sanfrancisco #conertphotography

And from the musicians tent to the wings of the stage 2 more performances, tonight and tomorrow 😉 With Roderick Cox, Laura Krumm, Kenneth Kellog, Philip Skinner, Alek Shrader, Lucas Meachem, and Catherine Cook @sfopera @roderickcoxconductor @lakrumm @kenneth.kellogg @philipgskinner @alekshrader @lucasmeachem @catherineacook 👏👏👏 -#sfopera #sanfrancisco #opera #classicalmusic #performingarts #music #conductor #operasinger

I worked with the San Francisco Opera on their first major production since Covid shut everything down. They went big with it, moving production outdoors, building a full tented base camp, and using the same stage as Coachella. For Drive-In Opera. The Barber of Seville :) There’s an intricate health protocol to keep everyone on site and stage safe. It’s made for a rethinking of the production and show, required all kinds of artistic tradeoffs like singers having to maintain distances and not turning to sing towards each other. The musicians are not by the stage but in a separate tent. All are synced up with video and ear pieces that the audience doesn’t even see. The effort is enormous by everyone and still, no one has taken the opportunity for granted. There’s so much pride in making this happen, in the collaboration, for the return of live performance at this scale. To share it with an audience in the collective experience of it all. The artistry of the singers, musicians, direction by Matthew Ozawa, production, the entire multi department company is incredible. It’s been a joy to be a part of it Here are some in process images of the production - - @sfopera @mjozawa #sfopera #opera #music #classicalmusic #sanfrancisco #

Back inside for live music with @sfsymphony ! After 14 months, to be enveloped in music, in reverberating, resonating sound. Nothing like it. This was new Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen’s first performance in Davies, for only 360 very well spaced audience members, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi (last image.) SF just entered yellow tier so that can expand this week and more people can experience together. - - - - #sfsymphony #symphony #sanfrancisco #livemusic #classicalmusic

Last night fam and I got to go as audience. Loved it. So grateful to make photos of this special, beautiful production. Great read below... @sfopera ❤️ ・・・ Tonight is the final performance of star Daniela Mack in our blockbuster new production of “The Barber of Seville,” before she passes the reins to fellow mezzo-soprano Laura Krumm! Mack plays Rosina, the only character sharp enough to outwit the know-it-all barber Figaro. She’s a woman longing for freedom — the freedom to love who she wants, without the constraints, expectations and lechery of her guardian, Doctor Bartolo. But in director Matthew Ozawa’s new production, our performers don’t just play characters — they play versions of themselves! And that means Mack’s own love story comes centerstage in this special performance of “The Barber of Seville.” Mack, an Argentine-American opera singer, is renowned for “a voice like polished onyx: strong, dark and gleaming.” All her adult life, she’s been a performer. But it was coming to San Francisco in 2007 for the Merola Opera Program that she met her partner in life — and in “The Barber,” too. "I met Alek [Shrader] at a sushi restaurant in San Francisco the day before our Merola summer started,” she told us last year in an interview. “Before I knew anything about him as a performer, I was instantly drawn to his cool and down-to-earth attitude.” “He was unlike most singers I knew in that he didn’t seem concerned with playing the game of the business. He was simply himself and quietly as charming as could be. And he was funny! I was smitten very early on. It also didn’t hurt that I thought he was the most handsome guy I’d ever met!" Now, for one more performance of “The Barber of Seville,” she and Shrader take on the roles of Rosina and Almaviva, two lovers fighting to be together. The San Francisco Chronicle raves they “deliver pointed, lyrical and effortlessly precise” performances. Get your tickets now for the romantic comedy of the season: sfopera.com/barber (📸: @stefancohenphoto for "The Barber of Seville")