There was a new piece of music at the closing concert of the Jacobs Masterworks Series at the San Diego Symphony. I didn’t review it because, in my opinion, it wasn’t worth reviewing. I spent …

Things just aren’t the way they used to be. At least they’re not for Don, the aging protagonist in this Old Globe-commissioned world-premiere play by JC Lee. Don can’t quite keep up with technology, or …

The San Diego Symphony concluded its Jacobs Masterworks Series with a weekend of Rachmaninoff and Beethoven. I attended the Saturday, May 25 concert. This was the third time I’d heard the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. …

As an employee of the San Diego Mainly Mozart Festival, I’m not allowed to be as exuberant about the festival in these pages as I once was. It might appear as if I’m a propagandist …

When Princeton professor of classics Daphne beseeches the Grecian deities in a moment of despair, her prayer is heard and answered by the gods — the gods of comedy, that is. Who are the gods …

On April 27 and 28 the San Diego Mainly Mozart Festival presented a concert of, Two Pianos, Eight Hands. The format harkened back to the golden of age of the piano. Before the invention of …

I’ve been waiting for Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns’ Organ Symphony at The San Diego Symphony ever since it was announced last spring. The day came, Friday, May 3, and Saint-Saëns was darn near upstaged by a plucky …

The format of You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown is to string together some of the classic cartoon frames from Charles Schulz’s Peanuts comic strip and then add original music which isn’t, by any stretch …

Sweat is a great example of a play written for people who go to the theater but about people who would never go to the theater. In other words, this is a “blue-state” playwright writing …

The fire which consumed the roof of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris has been out for a few weeks now. What many of us may not have realized at the time is the Notre Dame …

The San Diego Symphony concert on Friday, April 12 felt slow and unsettled. I was surprised. In years gone by, the combination of conductor Jahja Ling, the San Diego Symphony, and Johannes Brahms, has been …

Jerrie Cobb was an exceptional human being. So exceptional that her stress test scores exceeded those of the astronauts in the Mercury 7 Project. She is the “her” in They Promised Her the Moon. The …

“Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.” – George Carlin. I came across this quote recently and came to an uncomfortable realization. I only say …

What’s your classical music “guilty pleasure”? This is a question all classical music devotees must answer at some point. Let’s define what a “guilty pleasure” is. A guilty pleasure has little artistic merit but has …

The San Diego Symphony has announced its 2019-2020 season and it is a rambunctious list of symphonic music. For the past few seasons, I’ve felt as though the San Diego Symphony has been getting away …

We are having a proper winter in San Diego and on Saturday, March 9, we had a proper symphony performed by the San Diego Symphony at the Jacobs Music Center. Before we received the proper …

Soprano Joélle Harvey was my favorite part of the San Diego Symphony concert on Friday, March 1, at Symphony Hall. Over the years I’ve been critical and disappointed with the vocal experience at the symphony …

I’d never seen Into The Woods live, so I took a chance and went up to Torrey Pines to see Steven Sondheim’s fractured fairytale. The production was impressive but more importantly, the emotional content of …

In speaking with a friend the other day, the topic of “10 pieces of classical music everyone should hear before they die” came up. We came up with three pieces before the parameters of the …

Diana, a new musical at the La Jolla Playhouse, is running through Sunday, April 7. Given La Jolla Playhouse’s production of Summer: The Donna Summer Musical we might expect Diana to be The Diana Ross …

Magician by Christine Shields at A Ship in the Woods.Photograph by Matthew Suárez.Birds sing, elephants dance, and monkeys paint, but only humans turn those activities into art. And only humans evince a bottomless hunger for …

It is a play based on a book based on an online advice column which was called “Dear Sugar”. I had previously read some of the Dear Sugar material, and found it to be spotty …

I was pleasantly surprised by the San Diego Symphony concert on Friday, February 15. Why so? Because it was one of those concerts with four pieces of music none of which could be considered the …

I recently sat down with the future of classical music and had a chat. Violinist Stefan Jackiw, Clarinetist Yoonah Kim, and pianist Henry Kramer were in San Diego as a part of the Mainly Mozart …

I came up with a new theory during the San Diego Opera production of Verdi’s masterpiece, Rigoletto, on Tuesday, February 5. The theory? “Pure Opera.” A few weeks ago I became involved in a shockingly …

To assimilate or not to assimilate, that is the issue in Familiar, which plays at The Old Globe through March 3, 2019. This mixed cocktail of comedic cultural exchanges was written by Danai Gurira, who …

I had mixed feelings about Matthew Aucoin’s concert at the San Diego Symphony on Friday, January 25. The concert consisted of several short pieces and excerpts from larger pieces. I like that format. It is …

For the second week in a row the San Diego Symphony has won a battle in the eternal tug of war between higher and lower consciousness. As I mentioned at an earlier date, we humans …

Rafael Payare made his debut as the San Diego Symphony music director on Thursday, January 10. I went on Friday, January 11, and experienced a completely different concert. Part of me wishes I had gone …

The new year is upon us and the San Diego Symphony is beginning its annual midseason festival. This year’s theme is “Hearing the Future”. Curating the festival is American composer Matthew Aucoin. Born in 1990 …

In just a few weeks Verdi’s Rigoletto will be opening at The San Diego Opera. Let’s talk about how it fits in with the current milieu of hypersensitivity. The fact of the matter is that …

A Christmas Carol at Cygnet is unique in that the book and lyrics were adapted by Cygnet co-founder Sean Murray, with music by frequent Cygnet collaborator Billy Thompson. This year marks the fifth the show …

Here’s a list of the greatest classical music moments in San Diego for 2018. The parameters of this list are my subjective, biased, arbitrary opinions. Let’s start at the end of the 2017/18 Jacobs Masterworks …

All is Calm is beginning to become a holiday tradition in San Diego. This is the third year in a row the show about the 1914 Christmas Eve Truce has been produced in San Diego. …

"I hate Christmas music” is a phrase I’ve heard often over the years. What’s to hate? Three-four time? Angels? Babies? The rebirth of the sun? I’m going to poke the dragon of PC-culture and suggest …

I had heard the name Kelli O’Hara but I had never heard the Tony Award-Winner sing until Tuesday, November 27, at Symphony Hall. About 30 seconds in, my eyes were tearing up. Her first song …

What interests me most about Miracle on 34th Street is the way it juxtaposes belief in Santa Claus against common sense and practical thinking while expounding upon the Santa Claus archetype. Over the past six …

“Really? Jesus arms?” I loud-whispered to my concertmate. I was frustrated with conductor Steven Sloan. When he raised his arms as if giving a Papal benediction at the conclusion of The Unanswered Question, by Charles …

I recently went to see Bohemian Rhapsody the movie about the band Queen. I knew that lead singer Freddie Mercury was an opera fan but I was impressed with the way opera was incorporated into …

At this moment, Conrad Tao might be the most athletic pianist on the planet. His performance with the San Diego Symphony on Friday, November 1, felt as if it almost took the orchestra by surprise. …

The Taiwan Philharmonic played a fine, fine, concert on Wednesday, October 31, at Symphony Hall. The only problem is that it was Wednesday, October 31 and the audience attendance did not reflect the excellence of …

Thursday morning, October 25, was grey. It was the most appropriate morning the San Diego climate could muster after what happened the night of Wednesday, October 24, at Symphony Hall. That evening defies the written …

The San Diego Symphony came into form at their concert on Friday, October 12. Joyce Yang was back at the keyboard not just on the 12th but also earlier in the week at The Scripps …

As The Marriage of Figaro comes up soon at San Diego Opera, I thought sharing some of the rules of the Figaro game might be warranted. It’s difficult to enjoy anything when one isn’t aware …

The Heart of Rock & Roll is a new musical at The Old Globe. It runs through October 21. The title is borrowed from the famous Huey Lewis and the News song, but this is …

We have unanimous confirmation of German superiority via WQXR. WQXR is a New York public radio entity which has been a standard bearer for the arts over the past several decades. In a poll of …

From time to time there is story about classical music being used as a means of repelling undesirable elements at a business establishment. The most recent stories are about a 7-11 in Modesto and another …

It’s the middle of September and all is quiet, but October is on the way. The San Diego Opera is moving one of their mainstage productions to October, and the autumn harvest of concerts is …

It’s time to recognize the birthday of my favorite composer. I never expected to play the My Favorite Composer game. But when I saw that September 4 was the birthday of Anton Bruckner, I realized …

Of all the special concerts over all the years, perhaps this one is the most special. Great orchestras such as The Philharmonia or The Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal, among others, visit San Diego on a …