A long time ago, I tried to watch the 2022 movie Tár starring Cate Blanchett. The digital copy that the theater had wasn’t working and so I didn’t see it. I meant to see it …

I have often considered myself to be a most awful philistine when it comes to musical taste. That is to say, I have a general misunderstanding of music. I know what I like but I …

Maurizio Pollini, one of the greatest pianists of our time, died on March 23, 2024. Born on January 5, 1942, in Milan, Italy, Pollini's musical talent was evident from a young age. He began studying …

Island civilizationWithin the Coronado Ferry Landing, you will find Coronado Tasting Room. Purveyors of Craft Spirits, Extra Virgin Olive Oils, Balsamic Vinegars, Spices and Gourmet Foods. Every other Wednesday evening, Michael Gonzales (aka Gonzo) and …

The San Diego Symphony concert on Saturday, March 16, started with a rather famous piece of music entitled Night on Bald Mountain by Modest Mussorgsky. You may have heard it once or twice within the …

The opening of The Jacobs Music Center at Copley Symphony Hall will not be happening this spring. The hall was initially scheduled to open in November of 2023 and then in March of 2024. Delays …

I’ve been making a concerted effort to expand my experience of classical music. In my attempts, I’ve come across some stinkers, such as the opera Der Trompeter von Säckingen by Viktor Nessler. I came across it while …

The San Diego Symphony concert on Sunday, February 25, featured two pieces of music for which I have great affinity, one for which I have great respect, and one for which I had no knowledge …

I recently wrote about my favorite concertos and there weren’t any surprises in my selections. There wasn’t a claim that George Gershwin’s Piano Concerto in F amongst the greatest of concertos. I didn’t claim that Erich Korngold’s Violin …

I have officially passed through the optimism of my youth and have entered my world-weary phase. Often, when I wake up in the morning, I am disappointed to see the same two feet swing out …

The San Diego Opera performance of Mozart’s Don Giovanni on Sunday, February 4, was good, overall. It definitely wasn’t bad but it wasn’t great. It was good. The singing was good to pretty good. None of it …

Man did I blow it–big time. On Sunday, January 28, I headed to what I thought was going to be the best concert of the new year. Rafael Payare was conducting the San Diego Symphony …

It is impossible to comprehend the number of classical music compositions that exist. Do we even know ten percent of them? Here’s a fair question. Of Mozart’s 626 compositions do we know 62 of them?We …

Some big-time concertos, such as Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2, Felix Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, and Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 are coming up in the next few months. I wonder, if I had to pick five “desert …

I was speaking with a friend who is a music professor and a choir director. One of the institutions he works for would like him to build a bigger choir program which he is definitely …

The San Diego Symphony is picking up the pieces of a torn and tattered 2023-2024 Jacobs Masterworks Series. Delays in the renovations of The Jacobs Music Center at Copley Symphony Hall have decimated what was …

2023 was an interesting year in classical music for San Diego. We saw a resurgence of the San Diego Opera. We saw delays in the renovations of The Jacobs Music Center at Copley Symphony Hall. …

“Noel Noel”, the San Diego Symphonies Christmas concert, was fun, festive, and full of holiday spirit. It was everything that December Nights in Balboa Park is not. “Noel Noel” had traditional Christmas songs instead of …

Christmas is about so many, many things. There’s Santa Claus, Sol Invictus, the winter solstice, Frosty the Snowman, Buddy the Elf, Kevin—the Home Alone kid, Ralphie—the A Christmas Story kid, Ebenezer Scrooge, Bob Cratchit, and …

The San Diego Opera is on a roll that started with last season’s production of *Tosca*. October saw continuing an exquisite concert featuring Latonia Moore and J’Nai Bridges, and now SDO has triumphed with El …

In the course of a recent conversation, I realized I had something of a blindspot in my operatic acumen when it came to baritones and basses of the golden era. The golden era of opera …

With Thanksgiving in the rearview mirror, the first Sunday of Advent, also known as the Christmas Season, is upon us. This is, by far, my favorite time of year even though the sun is directly …

The Ring Without Words as performed by The San Diego Symphony on Saturday, November 11, was all I hoped it would be.The pacing and structure of Lorin Maazel’s adaptation of Wagner’s Ring Cycle are masterful, creating a seamless …

The San Diego Symphony’s Jacobs Masterworks series officially starts on Saturday, November 4, at 7:30 pm. The venue is The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park. This will be the 14th season I’ve covered for the …

Opera is the single greatest art form that you can possibly experience in this world that we live in. Nothing hits harder when it is done well. When done at an elite level, the portals …

Last week we had Antonin Dvorak’s Cello Concerto with Alisa Weilerstein and the San Diego Symphony. I was looking forward to more Dvorak this season. His Symphony No. 9 was originally on the schedule but …

The San Diego Symphony previewed their Friday, October 13, Carnegie Hall concert on Saturday, October 4, at The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park. Music director Rafael Payare and the orchestra had previously performed the same …

NPR recently reported that an affiliate radio station considered not airing seven different broadcasts from the Metropolitan Opera this season. The NPR report made sure to recognize the ethnic backgrounds of some of the composers …

While the San Diego vibe might be dominated by flip-flops, microbrews, and disappointed Padres fans, something notable is brewing in the San Diego classical music scene. Since the end of the pandemic, San Diego classical …

Every now and then I meet someone who says something like, “I want to listen to more classical music but I don’t know where to start.” It’s a common issue. Classical music can be intimidating …

At long last September, my least favorite month of the year, is coming to an end. Although I must admit this September has been more generous than previous years. The weather has stopped short of …

With a new opera season starting, at least via streaming or tourism, it might be a good time to ask what opera is. Opera is like the movies. There’s the broad term of movies but …

The NFL season started with the Detroit Lions defeating the Kansas City Chiefs 21-20 on Thursday, September 7, 2023. While I don’t feel inclined to divulge my team loyalties, I will say that I am …

Something strange is happening in Hollywood this year. There have been two hit movies, Barbieheimer and a slew of flops. It’s been so bad that this year has coined the term flop-buster. The biggest flop …

I was making some tentative travel plans for November when it occurred to me that the biggest cultural event that I can remember was occurring in November. I am, of course, referring to the opening …

It's been a rough summer for opera. For starters, Opera News, a publication of the Metropolitan Opera Guild, has announced that its operations will be folded into the British publication Opera magazine starting in December. …

The 2023 Bayreuth Festival started on Monday, July 24, and runs through Monday, August 28. This annual celebration of composer Richard Wagner used to have a ten-year waiting list for tickets. I registered to buy …

I've received a few press releases explaining a new endeavor entitled California Festival. The festival comprises 95 organizations performing pieces of music that have been composed in the last five years. Each organization has independently …

My kids and I drove up to the Irvine Spectrum in order to see *Oppenheimer* in the full 70mm IMAX format. I had previously encountered J. Robert Oppenheimer in the opera *Doctor Atomic* by John …

One of classical music’s greatest “what could have been” stories is that of Hans Rott, a highly talented and promising composer of the late 19th century. Although his life was tragically short, his contributions to …

One of my early tactics for exploring music was to simply find recordings with orchestra and chorus. I was in choir all through high school and college, so I was into works that featured a …

With the Mainly Mozart Festival now over, the 2022-2023 season has come to an end. It is possible to view Mainly Mozart as the beginning of the summer festival season, which is fair, but to …

“...Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never–in nothing, great or small, large or petty — never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield …

The Mainly Mozart Festival is in full flight. This year’s proceedings started on Thursday, June 15, and have gone from strength, to strength, to strength, to sublime. The first concert saw LA Philharmonic principal bassoonist …

I was looking at the schedule for Mainly Mozart and saw the name Gossec. I had never heard of Gossec so I looked him up. François-Joseph Gossec was a French composer and conductor who lived …

On Saturday, May 27, The San Diego Symphony completed the 2022-2023 Jacobs Masterworks season at The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park. The event was a multi-sensory extravaganza that maximized the potential of both the venue …

Rigorous is a word that rarely raises its strict head in the fair city of San Diego. Relaxation is the dominant paradigm. Rigor must hide in the shadows cast by the eternal sunny disposition of …

When it comes to symphonies, very few composers have all of their symphonic utterances consistently performed. Of course, Beethoven sits atop the heap even if his First, Second, Fourth, and Eighth symphonies don’t get the …

When I'm in a cultural depression, I often turn to The Edwardians. The Edwardian Era is home to England’s most accomplished composers, save Georg Frederik Handel. The era lasted from 1901 to the death of …

Some unavoidable conflicts thwarted my plans to go to Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 on Saturday, April 22. By all accounts, it was a lovely performance. Yet, at the end of the day, it is …