The SF Civic Center blog named two UC Davis performances among the top 10 classical music performances of 2015: American Bach Soloists and Berio’s “Sinfonia.”

2. American Bach Soloists

The early music ensemble headed by Music Director Jeffrey Thomas gave a number of wonderful performances around the Bay Area in 2015. My favorite was Handel’s pastoral oratorio, Acis and Galatea, with soloists Kyle Stegall and Nola Richardson as the doomed young lovers. Both singers were originally discovered/nurtured at the ABS Festival Academy in the summer for young professionals, which was particularly rich this year in performances from the French Baroque.

3. Berio’s “Sinfonia” at UC Davis

Every two years the Music Department at UC Davis puts on a New Music Festival, and this year’s edition included a rare performance of Luciano Berio’s 1968 Sinfonia for large orchestra and eight amplified singers that was mind-blowingly good. The soloists were recruited from San Francisco’s Volti chorus and the piece was conducted by Christian Baldini. 

Read the complete article here and see accompanying photos.