Ron Bierman - Page 2

Ron Bierman

Ron Bierman has performed on saxophone and flute in several college and other orchestras. He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where his studies included music theory as taught by Swiss pianist and composer Ernst Levy. His published work includes reviews of recordings, books, plays, films and live music performances for web sites and newspapers. He has an extensive library of books about music and over three thousand CDs. Now living in San Diego with his wife, he was the President of Advocates for Classical Music for more than 15 years, an organization which worked with local symphony orchestras to introduce more than 200,000 young students to the pleasures of classical music. He and his wife enjoy visiting classrooms with CDs and instruments in hand.




LEARN MORE ABOUT Ron Bierman

First Show:

Louis Armstrong's sextet

Favorite Show:

The Music Man

Favorite Stories:



Interview Part 2: NICOLAS REVELES OF SAN DIEGO OPERA'S PRODUCTION OF GHOSTS at The Balboa Theatre
Interview Part 2: NICOLAS REVELES OF SAN DIEGO OPERA'S PRODUCTION OF GHOSTS at The Balboa Theatre
March 6, 2023

GHOSTS, an opera Nicolas Reveles completed shortly before his recent death, premieres on Friday, April 14. He was visibly ill when I interviewed him in January, but excited and enthusiastic about the coming production. Part 1 of my interview described how the new opera came to be written. This concluding part covers the fascinating background and career of the man who his many saddened friends called 'Nic.'.

Review: THE SAN DIEGO OPERA'S PUCCINI DUO at San Diego Civic Center Theater
Review: THE SAN DIEGO OPERA'S PUCCINI DUO at San Diego Civic Center Theater
February 16, 2023

The big question for the evening was how mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe would do as the first woman in professional opera to sing the baritone title role in Gianni Schicchi. But the question wouldn’t be answered until the second one-act opera in San Diego Opera’s “Puccini Duo.” Blythe was first a contralto as the stern, unfeeling Principessa in Suor Angelica. This crushingly poignant half of the Duo is set in a 17th-century Italian convent where Sister Angelica has been living for seven years after her family banished her for the sin of giving birth to a boy out of wedlock. The one-hour opera builds slowly from a choir of offstage convent sisters singing adoringly of the Virgin Mary. From its first appearance the Opera company’s choir led by Chorus Master Bruce Stasyna sang with a solemn warmth consistent with the convent setting. When the sisters reach the stage, a monitor becomes the center of attention as she sings of a succession of minor sins and their punishments. Two sisters lose a day of holy celebration for arriving late to services, another is sent to her room for hiding two red roses in a sleeve of her habit.

Interview: Stephanie Blythe of SAN DIEGO OPERA'S PUCCINI DUO at The San Diego Civic Theater
Interview: Stephanie Blythe of SAN DIEGO OPERA'S PUCCINI DUO at The San Diego Civic Theater
February 13, 2023

Stephanie Blythe looks for “creativity, imagination and curiosity” in her students. The first two are required of any good artist. Curiosity is a little less obvious, but she credits it for her ever expanding interests. Kate Smith led to reading about song writers, which In turn led to playing ukulele, then writing her own songs and designing new concerts and cabaret shows.

Review: Tarmo Peltokoski Makes His U.S. Debut with The San Diego Symphony Orchestra at the Southwestern College Performing Arts Center
Review: Tarmo Peltokoski Makes His U.S. Debut with The San Diego Symphony Orchestra at the Southwestern College Performing Arts Center
February 8, 2023

What did our critic think of TARMO PELTOKOSKI As He MAKES HIS U.S. DEBUT WITH THE SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA at Southwestern Colleges Performing Arts Center? We seem to be going through an unprecedented flood of young conducting talent. Finnland's Tarmo Peltokoski is an example. At 22 his recent-college-grad looks make it difficult to believe that he is the conductor or principal guest conductor of four European symphony orchestras. I attended the second of back-to-back performances in his U.S. debut with the San Diego Symphony and am now convinced that much of the hype is warranted.

Interview: Stephanie Blythe of SAN DIEGO OPERA'S PUCCINI DUO at San Diego's Civic Theater
Interview: Stephanie Blythe of SAN DIEGO OPERA'S PUCCINI DUO at San Diego's Civic Theater
February 6, 2023

Stephanie Blythe is probably the only opera singer who represents an ukulele company. That she embodies the unexpected is further confirmed by her upcoming roles in the San Diego Opera's next production, two one-act operas by Puccini. The mezzo soprano will first sing a deeper contralto as the Principessa in Suor Angelica. Then, in title role of Gianni Schicchi, she'll be in the baritone range traditionally assigned to a male singer.

Interview: Nicolas Reveles of San Diego Opera's Production of GHOSTS at The Balboa Theatre
Interview: Nicolas Reveles of San Diego Opera's Production of GHOSTS at The Balboa Theatre
January 24, 2023

Recently retired Nicolas Reveles was the face of San Diego Opera for 40 years, known to most opera-goers primarily because of his informative and entertaining pre-performance talks. I suspect few in the audience knew he was also an opera composer, a choir director and a piano prodigy. In an hour discussion via Zoom, we spoke about his background and how he came to write GHOSTS, a three-act opera that the San Diego Opera will premiere in March. GHOSTS echoes a scene from SEXTET, an earlier work he’d written on commission for San Diego’s Diversionary Theatre. The scene reflected his love for the horror genre.

Review: ANNE AKIKO MEYERS And THE SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY at The California Center For The Arts, Escondido
Review: ANNE AKIKO MEYERS And THE SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY at The California Center For The Arts, Escondido
January 11, 2023

What did our critic think of ANNE AKIKO MEYERS AND THE SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY at The California Center For The Arts, Escondido? Review: A New Violin Concerto Delights the Audience!

Review: PONCHO SANCHEZ LATIN JAZZ BAND at The Conrad
Review: PONCHO SANCHEZ LATIN JAZZ BAND at The Conrad
December 20, 2022

“We love you, Poncho!” came a shout from the audience before the musicians had played their first note. And a few tunes later, even some silver-haired members of the La Jolla community were dancing in the aisles. The Poncho Sanchez Latin Jazz Band has that effect on people. It’s hard to keep your feet still and a smile off your face once Sanchez and his talented rhythm section start a salsa beat.

Review: ISABEL LEONARD and PABLO SÁINZ-VILLEGAS Together at The Conrad in La Jolla
Review: ISABEL LEONARD and PABLO SÁINZ-VILLEGAS Together at The Conrad in La Jolla
December 5, 2022

Mezzo Isabel Leonard and classical-guitarist Pablo Sáinz-Villegas are stars in their fields. Leonard has sung on two Grammy-winning opera recordings and won a Beverly Sills Artist Award at the Metropolitan Opera--and even guested on Sesame Street. He's garnered 30 international awards, including the Segovia, which he won at age 15, and critics have compared him to that legendary guitarist. Understandably, their recital at the La Jolla Music Society's Conrad sold out more than a month before the performance. Chairs were added on stage for late ticket buyers.

Review: SAN DIEGO OPERA'S WORLD PREMIERE OF THE LAST DREAM OF FRIDA AND DIEGO at the San Diego Civic Theater
Review: SAN DIEGO OPERA'S WORLD PREMIERE OF THE LAST DREAM OF FRIDA AND DIEGO at the San Diego Civic Theater
November 2, 2022

What did our critic think of SAN DIEGO OPERA'S WORLD PREMIERE OF THE LAST DREAM OF FRIDA AND DIEGO at San Diego Civic Theater? ​ ​The San Diego Opera, reveling in modern phantasies, has followed its successful production of Aging Magician with El último sueño de Frida y Diego (The Last Dream of Frida and Diego). The former featured a mysterious chorus commenting cryptically on the Guadalupe Paz everyday actions of its maybe dying main character who, maybe while dying, ascends to join the chorus in a brilliantly staged finale. The more recent production is less ambiguous, but even more phantasmagoric. Semi-reality shares the stage with an underworld of the dead as Frida (mezzo-soprano Guadalupe Paz) decides whether to accept a one-day pass back to life, and Diego (baritone Alfredo Daza) laments his lost love. ​

Review: THE SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA at The Rady Shell
Review: THE SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA at The Rady Shell
October 20, 2022

On this storm-threatened evening, Symphony CEO Martha Gilmer was clad in a yellow rain-slicker worthy of a bout with a North Atlantic gale as she told a surprisingly full outdoor-amphitheater audience, 'Now I know how much you love your San Diego Symphony!' She went on to explain a late change in conductors. Principal Guest Conductor Edo de Waart, at the age of 81, was beginning to feel the effects of travel, and they'd agreed he would conduct the concert's second half, John Lidfors the first. After that announcement, she introduced a video of the always entertaining and informative Nuvi Mehta who gave a brief description of the flood of marvelous melodies to follow.

Interview: Gabriela Lena Frank of SAN DIEGO OPERA'S THE LAST DREAM OF FRIDA AND DIEGO at San Diego Civic Center
Interview: Gabriela Lena Frank of SAN DIEGO OPERA'S THE LAST DREAM OF FRIDA AND DIEGO at San Diego Civic Center
September 21, 2022

The opera El último sueño de Frida y Diego (The Last Dream of Frida and Diego) premieres in October at the San Diego Civic Center. I spoke with the work's composer Gabriela Lena Frank for more than an hour via Zoom while she was in Booneville, the rural area North of San Francisco where she lives. Although the opera is her first, her orchestral music has been performed by an impressive number of major orchestras including those of Cleveland, Philadelphia and Boston. And despite the challenge of a serious hearing deficiency from birth, she's produced music the New York Times described as 'brilliantly effective,' while the Los Angeles Times chimed in with 'glorious.'

Review: The San Diego Symphony Plays Tchaikovsky at The Rady Shell
Review: The San Diego Symphony Plays Tchaikovsky at The Rady Shell
August 30, 2022

Few composers reach the depth of emotions found in Tchaikovsky, and few conductors seem to react more passionately to musically expressed emotion than the San Diego Symphony's Rafael Payare. What better combination could there be for an outdoor waterfront concert at the Rady Shell.

Review: THE NEW ROMANTICS at The Conrad 's Baker-Baum Concert Hall
Review: THE NEW ROMANTICS at The Conrad 's Baker-Baum Concert Hall
August 18, 2022

What did our critic think of THE NEW ROMANTICS at The Conrad 's Baker-Baum Concert Hall?

Review: SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY CONCERT at The Rady Shell
Review: SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY CONCERT at The Rady Shell
July 3, 2022

What did our critic think of SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY CONCERT at The Rady Shell?

BWW Review: SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY CONCERT at Rady Shell Amphitheater
BWW Review: SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY CONCERT at Rady Shell Amphitheater
May 25, 2022

Musical impressionism ruled the San Diego Symphony’s early-evening Rady Shell concert this past weekend. First came conductor-composer Esa-Pekka Salonen’s reaction to Nyx, a daughter of Chaos, the earliest Greek god. Nyx, rarely mentioned in extant ancient Greek-literature, is goddess of the night, mysterious but powerful. At one point in Homer’s Iliad, even Zeus changes his plans for fear of making her angry, and I get that. She was the mother of Death and Sleep.

BWW Review: San Diego Opera's Production of AGING MAGICIAN at The Balboa Theatre Shows Off Magical Mystery
BWW Review: San Diego Opera's Production of AGING MAGICIAN at The Balboa Theatre Shows Off Magical Mystery
May 20, 2022

'What the hell was that?' an opera fan asked her friend as we shuffled into a parking-garage elevator. Not an easily answered question after a viewing of AGING MAGICIAN. Ambiguity abounds and reality is mixed with fantasy. The reality side is clear, mostly. Harold is a middle-aged watch repairman who lives alone. Although repairs pay the rent, they've been neglected because he can't stop thinking about the plot of a book he's been writing in which an aging magician worries his marvelous tricks won't outlive him. As he seeks a capable heir for his book of secrets, he collapses and is rushed to a hospital.

BWW Interview: Rafael Payare Music Director and Conductor of THE SAN DIEGO AND MONTREAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRAS
BWW Interview: Rafael Payare Music Director and Conductor of THE SAN DIEGO AND MONTREAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRAS
May 11, 2022

The San Diego Symphony’s Music Director and Conductor Rafael Payare took up the notoriously difficult French horn at the age of 13. During an hour-long Zoom interview while he was in Montreal, I asked how he had managed to become a soloist less than six months later! “I have to admit it was a little bit fast,” he said. Not the haughty egotistical answer I might have gotten from film conductor-stereotypes. His local youth orchestra, a part of Venezuela’s extensive El Sistema program, needed horns, so he joined a few weeks after first picking one up. “For a couple of classes, I could only play one scale, but somehow something clicked, and I just started playing more.” Less than half a year later he passed an audition for the national youth orchestra, and later became Principal Horn with the prestigious Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra, the one that first brought Gustavo Dudamel to the attention of the conducting world.

BWW Interview: Laura Reynolds of THE SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY at The Rady Shell And Jacobs Music Center
BWW Interview: Laura Reynolds of THE SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY at The Rady Shell And Jacobs Music Center
May 1, 2022

Can a symphony orchestra have a role in solving problems like homelessness and global warming? If you don't think so now, you might change your mind after a conversation with Laura Reynolds, the San Diego Symphony's recently appointed Vice President of Impact and Innovation. In 2015, while she was the Seattle Symphony VP of Education and Community Engagement, both the city and the county decided the increasing number of homeless people had reached a state of emergency. CEO Simon Woods asked her, 'What's our role in this? What should we do?''



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