Over the course of any endeavor there are highs and lows; peaks which reveal unimaginable vistas, and dark crevices full of creatures which are less than benevolent. With the San Diego Symphony, the crevices are …

I had said these articles would be a deep dive into an upcoming piece on the San Diego classical music calendar. On second thought these are more of a medium dive. A deep dive would …

Give the arts enough time and zero resistance and they will confuse madness with innovation. Let’s look at the macro and then zoom into the micro. From a macro point of view, Russian composers dominated …

Over the course of any endeavor there are highs and lows, peaks which reveal unimaginable vistas and dark crevices full of creatures which are less than benevolent. With the San Diego Symphony the crevices are …

As a part of the transcendent coverage of classical music here at the San Diego Reader we will be doing a deep dive on an upcoming piece of music every so often. The first piece …

Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov runs through March 11 at The Old Globe in Balboa Park. It is a devastating story based on not having an iPhone. You think I jest? I am as serious …

San Diego Opera’s big one is almost here. Turandot is making a triumphal return to The San Diego Civic Theater. Warning: This is a legitimate big-voice production of Puccini’s final opera. Lise Lindstrom sang the …

The San Diego Symphony's search for a new music director has been ongoing for the past two seasons and has now been resolved. There have been a legion of guest conductors on the podium, and …

The San Diego Symphony premiered Adam Schoenberg’s violin concerto Orchard in Fog on February 9 and 10. The courage it took Mr. Schoenberg to write it needs to be acknowledged. What was courageous about it? …

The San Diego classical music scene encompasses every genre of the artform. Chamber, orchestral, opera, and choral music are well represented. We’ve selected two large organizations, two medium-sized, and two boutique groups. They are the …

The headline at the San Diego Symphony said, “Zukerman plays Tchaikovsky.” While that was true in fact it was untrue in essence at the concert on Saturday, February 3. Pinchas Zukerman did play Tchaikovsky but …

There will always be boy-meets-girl and girl-meets-boy stories. However, I think it's safe to say that the genre is experiencing some fatigue. What better way to shake it up then to put the boy and …

Is there a composer who is more adored than Giuseppe Verdi? There are composers who command more respect than Verdi, but no one receives more love. To honor the recent anniversary of Verdi’s passing let’s …

The Last Wife is playing at Cygnet Theatre in Old Town through February 11. Who is the last wife? She is Katherine Parr the only woman to survive being married to King Henry VIII. Parr …

I had never been to Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa, but now it calls to me: “Come this way, honored Odysseus, great glory of the Achaeans, and stay your ship, so that you can …

An Italian opera company is said to be producing a version of Carmen in which Carmen is not stabbed to death by Don José. In fact she lives at the end of this production. In …

In the winter and spring of 2018 the San Diego Symphony performs three fifths. The three fifths at the symphony are Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5 , Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5, and Sibelius’ Symphony No. 5. …

Several orchestras, according to an Associate Press report, have severed ties with conductor Charles Dutoit following accusations of sexual assault. Dutoit has followed that up with severing ties from his side with The New York …

We’ve discussed Don Giovanni and the abuse of power in these pages in the past. At the time I thought we’d seen perhaps the worst of it with Donald Trump’s comments about where to “grab" …

I’ve a confession to make. I’m experiencing some classical music fatigue. It’s an interesting situation because I don’t love the music any less but I’m growing tired of the well worn path. It’s a position …

There are a few performances of note from 2017 which we will now revisit in a mood of celebration as we approach the rebirth of the light. I have four concerts in mind which were …

I’ve a Christmas playlist on Spotify which is full of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Karen Carpenter, Johnny Mathis, Nat King Cole, Kay Starr, and others. It’s not a very classical playlist. I’ve often found classical …

The father of my friend rolled a beautiful 25-foot putt right into the heart of the hole — for a triple bogey. For those who don’t speak golf, a triple bogey is bad for a …

David Danzmayr was yet another guest conductor at the San Diego Symphony for the concerts of the first weekend of December. If a super-energized conducting style is your cup of tea than Danzmayr is your …

Three skilled members of The Mainly Mozart Youth Orchestra participated in a masterclass at Mesa College on Saturday November 18. This particular masterclass featured the godfather of American concertmasters, William Preucil. It was a concertmaster …

On Saturday, November 18th, The San Diego Symphony performed Mozart’s Requiem. They pushed the concert hard on social media and it appears to have paid off. I was only using eyeball metrics but the house …

When I see a title which includes “metaphysical musical” I’m expecting souls connecting on the astral plane based on the residue of previous lives which then stains future iterations of the same souls. You might …

I happened to see that the San Diego Symphony was offering a screening of the movie Amadeus on a Saturday night (November 4) for $5, so I went. How could I not? The movie was …

With the onset of some autumn-ish weather my ears are turning toward music of the same ilk. To whom can we go to find a fall-flowering? For times such as these the Norse gods of …

This Thanksgiving I’m going to have four of the most delicious, elegant, colorful, and refined side dishes you can ever imagine. However, if one of those side dishes is sweet potatoes there will be marshmallows. …

Suddenly Alma Deutscher is all over my social media. Is anyone else experiencing this? It seems as though network television still exists and 60 Minutes did a piece on the 12-year-old British composer. That’s right, …

Imagine you were given a choice to fight for ISIS — technically we have that choice­ — and in return they offer you the ultimate reward. ISIS is offering you the one thing you have …

Sometimes researchers go into the lab with an experiment and don’t get the results they wanted. This can be said of scientific research, and it can be said of artistic endeavors. Wynton Marsalis and Nicola …

After all the hype I tried to generate for Nicola Benedetti playing Wynton Marsalis’ Violin Concerto, I thought it would be good to revisit some of the traditional violin concerto repertoire. I will group them …

In the past few years the San Diego Symphony has welcomed quite a few of the rising generation of violin soloists. We’ve seen Augustin Hadelich, Sarah Chang, Ray Chen, and Karen Gomyo. This weekend Nicola …

Smoke on the Mountain is set in a Baptist Church in North Carolina circa 1938. Let’s get the low-hanging, low-brow, low-intellect, judgmental BS out of the way so that we can have a grown-up conversation …

What of The Pirates of Penzance at San Diego Opera? The production is good and includes some excellent singing. My YouTube search for Pirates clips to include with this article brought home to me just …

Imagine Dracula meets Beauty and the Beast meets Frankenstein meets Footloose, and then add some music which has something of a Rocky Horror Picture Show vibe (but isn’t near the quality) and you’ve got Bat …

The last time Greer Grimsley was in a production at San Diego Opera I was accused, in so many words, of having an unhealthy man-crush on the steely voiced bass-baritone. I don’t deny it. Although …

One would think that by the year 2000 the whole Northern England coal mining family with a son who “just wants to sing [or dance]” trope would have played itself out. Especially after repeatedly being …

The autumn wind is a pirate/ Blustering in from sea/ With a rollicking song, he sweeps along/ Swaggering boisterously His face is weather beaten/ He wears a hooded sash/ With a silver hat about his …

The great sacrifice of die Jugend des Landes, the youth of the land, is coming up on Saturday, October 7, 10:00 a.m.. This sacrifice is also known as The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, usually …

A treasure trove of allegory, that’s what Little Shop of Horrors is. The show’s main character is a plant named Audrey II. That’s Audrey “two” not Audrey the second. Male ingenue Seymour Krelborn finds the …

Jonas Kaufmann is one of my favorite tenors on the current world stage when it comes to the dramatic tenor repertoire. He has just released a new album of French opera arias. Some of it …

When we speak of classical music power couples there are a few which come to mind. There are Richard and Cosima Wagner, Frederic Chopin and George Sand, Gustav and Alma Mahler, Tchaikovsky and Nadezhda von …

I went to a small gathering of opera lovers on Sunday, September 10. The group was brought together to explore Mikhail Glinka’s opera Ruslan and Lyudmila. I had never even heard of this opera. As …

‘Tis the season for The Symphony Opus Gala. I’ve been waiting impatiently for months for the season to finally start up again. The Gala falls on Saturday, October 7, between two concerts on Friday, October …

While September 4 was Labor Day, for some of us it was also a birthday celebration. Whose birthday? Anton Bruckner and french composer Darius Milhaud. It also marked the death, in 1965, of Albert Schweitzer. …

Avenue Q brings its irreverent version of Sesame Street to the OB Playhouse through September 17th. Written by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx way back in 2002, the bawdy puppets still feel fresh and timely. …

Because of few operatic opportunities in San Diego County it is easy to forget that there is a great big world of opera out there. In that great big world there are some great big …