SAN DIEGO CLASSICAL MUSIC NEWS COVERAGE
The latest news on performances of Classical Music in San Diego.
Review: SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY CONCERT at The Rady Shell
by Ron Bierman - July 03, 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
by Ron Bierman - 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, ...
BWW Review: San Diego Opera's Production of AGING MAGICIAN at The Balboa Theatre Shows Off Magical Mystery
by Ron Bierman - 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...
BWW Interview: Rafael Payare Music Director and Conductor of THE SAN DIEGO AND MONTREAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRAS
by Ron Bierman - 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...
San Diego Symphony Announces 2022-2023 Concert Season, Featuring 16 Programs at 6 Venues
by Chloe Rabinowitz - May 02, 2022
The San Diego Symphony today announced its 2022-23 Jacobs Masterworks Classical concert season, offering 16 programs of classical and contemporary masterworks from October 1, 2022 through May 27, 2023. ...
BWW Interview: Laura Reynolds of THE SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY at The Rady Shell And Jacobs Music Center
by Ron Bierman - May 01, 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 t...
Hong Kong Pianist Rachel Cheung Performs For Steinway Society, May 8
by A.A. Cristi - April 18, 2022
Pianist Rachel Cheung has won over audiences and critics alike as a finalist at the 2017 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition with interpretations marked by, and was awarded the Audience Prize by online vote. A Young Steinway Artist, she continues to build a reputation for an elegant stage p...
Orange County Women's Chorus Presents HAYDN: LORD NELSON MASS
by A.A. Cristi - April 13, 2022
Haydn composed his Lord Nelson Mass during a time of storms and stress, when the world was scary, the future was murky, and music served both to reflect and to relieve the anxieties of the day. In this work, we find some of Haydn's most tempestuous music, and some of his sunniest. The Lord Nelson is...
San José Chamber Orchestra Presents EINE KLEIN(E) EVENING OF MUSIC, May 15
by A.A. Cristi - April 04, 2022
San José Chamber Orchestra presents “Eine Klein(e) Evening of Music” on Saturday, May 15, 2022 at 7:00 p.m. at St Francis Episcopal Church, 1205 Pine Avenue, San José, 95125....
Namus Classics to Present 시음 /si-úm/ with Pianist Jeeyoon Kim
by Marissa Tomeo - April 02, 2022
Award-winning classical pianist, Jeeyoon Kim is thrilled to announce her newest project, 시음 /si-úm/ which blends classical piano with poetry and black and white photography by Allen T. Brown. The title of this concert, 시음 pronounced as /si-úm/ is a blend meaning poetry and music in Korean. It is als...
BWW Review: THE LA JOLLA MUSIC SOCIETY PRESENTS JOSHUA BELL AND THE ACADEMY OF SAINT MARTIN IN THE FIELDS at San Diego Civic Center
by Ron Bierman - March 18, 2022
When he was four-years old Joshua Bell's parents found him making music by plucking rubber bands stretched to different lengths on dresser drawers. Clearly, he needed a real instrument. Fortunately, they bought a violin rather than a guitar. Ten years later he was the youngest ever to solo with the ...
West Coast Premiere of AGING MAGICIAN to Close San Diego Opera's 2021-2022 Season
by Chloe Rabinowitz - March 15, 2022
San Diego Opera's 2021 2022 will close with the West Coast Premiere of Aging Magician a hybrid opera/theatre piece that combines singing, choral work, puppetry, and performance art to create an incredibly unique theatrical experience....
San Diego Symphony Announces 2022 Season at The Rady Shell
by Chloe Rabinowitz - March 14, 2022
The San Diego Symphony announced today its 2022 Conrad Prebys Summer Season of concerts at The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park, the orchestra’s new, captivating waterfront venue that opened August 2021....
BWW Interview: Yves Abel of SAN DIEGO OPERA'S ROMEO AND JULIET at San Diego Civic Center
by Ron Bierman - March 14, 2022
Conductor Yves Abel arrived in San Diego from Europe a few days ago to begin rehearsals for Romeo and Juliet by French composer Charles Gounod. The Maestro does get around a lot, even for an internationally in-demand musician. His wife and boys five and eight sometimes travel with him when he conduc...
BWW Interview: SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY Concertmaster Jeff Thayer at The Conrad In La Jolla
by Ron Bierman - March 06, 2022
Jeff Thayer was at the Dorland Mountain Arts Colony in Temecula when we spoke for an hour on Zoom. 'I'm usually here right before I have something big to do.' He was referring to upcoming performances of the ninth violin concerto of The Chevalier de St. George at The Conrad in La Jolla. As the San ...
Symphony San Jose Presents Gershwin, Copland, Bernstein, Ellington, April 2-3
by A.A. Cristi - March 02, 2022
Four composers, whose works defined America in the '30s and '40s, come together on one grand program: Aaron Copland, George Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein, and Duke Ellington....
BWW Review: La Jolla Music Society Presents THE DOVER AND ESCHER QUARTETS at Baker-Baum Hall At The Conrad
by Ron Bierman - March 01, 2022
The La Jolla Music Society has been bringing some of the world’s best string quartets into the Baker-Baum Concert Hall at The Conrad. With a little over 500 seats and acoustics that allow you to hear off-stage whispers, it’ a setting that could only be improved upon if the performing quartet visited...
BWW Interview: Dana Zimbric of CLASSICS 4 KIDS at San Diego's Balboa Theatre
by Ron Bierman - February 23, 2022
In its most recent season, Classics 4 Kids reached nearly 37,000 people at 256 San Diego County schools, two thirds of them in lower income areas. You’d think Taylor Swift or Justin Bieber was performing the way more than 1000 young San Diego students cheer at a Classics 4 Kids concert. Music Direct...
BWW Review: San Diego Opera's MOZART'S COSI FAN TUTTE at San Diego Civic Center
by Ron Bierman - February 17, 2022
I admire the plucky inventiveness of the San Diego Opera. On an annual budget of roughly three percent of New York’s Metropolitan Opera, it has managed to mount a consistently appealing and entertaining variety of productions, traditional and contemporary, in both good times and plague times. The la...
VIDEO: San Diego Opera Presents Mozart's COSÌ FAN TUTTE
by Stage Tube - February 15, 2022
San Diego Opera presents Mozart's Così fan tutte at the Civic Theatre in downtown San Diego, February 12-20, 2022. ...
BWW Interview: Reginald Smith, Jr. in SAN DIEGO OPERA'S COSI FAN TUTTE at San Diego Civic Center
by Ron Bierman - February 10, 2022
'I'm just Reggie from Atlanta' baritone Reginald Smith, Jr. explained during our hour-long discussion on Zoom. That may be how he would like to view himself, but it's hardly how most others do since he's also a Grammy winning opera star who's performed at the Met. Until high school, neither o...
Symphony San Jose Presents Gershwin, Copland, Bernstein, Ellington, January 22-23
by A.A. Cristi - January 04, 2022
Symphony San Jose presents American Masters, January 22 - 23, featuring works from Gershwin, Copland, Bernstein and 'Duke' Ellington. ...
Symphony San Jose Presents AMADEUS Live Film In Concert, February 12-13, 2022
by A.A. Cristi - December 01, 2021
Symphony San Jose presents 'Amadeus LIVE” with Live Orchestra and Chorale, Saturday, February 12 at 8pm and Sunday, February 13....
