San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Music@Menlo returns in person with new work
After more than a year of distance and silence, performing artists are finally gathering in person again to make music collaboratively. That spirit of togetherness forms the dominant motif for the 2021 season of Music@Menlo, the chamber music festival founded and directed by the husbandandwife team of cellist David Finckel and pianist Wu Han.
The threeprogram opening weekend leads off with the world premiere of Patrick Castillo’s “Gather,” which not coincidentally is the title given to the full threeweek festival. The rest of the weekend is devoted to music by Brahms, Schubert, Ligeti, Mozart and more.
This year’s festival also inaugurates the Spieker Center for the Arts, a new concert hall within the Menlo School in Atherton. Each concert program will be given twice — once indoors, with a live stream, and then again outside on the school’s lawn.
Music@Menlo: and 6 p.m. Friday-Sunday, July 16-18. $25-$55. Menlo School, 50 Valparaiso Ave., Atherton. Also available to stream. 650-3310202. www.mu sicatmenlo.org