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Spanish lovers at San Diego Symphony

A night dedicated to Spain brought all the warmth and flavor of Andalusia.

The San Diego Symphony took us on a trip to the Andalusian Plain of Southern Spain with a concert full ...

Microbial life vs. multicellular life in opera

What's a theory of the role of Mother Earth without a musical reference?

When I wrote about Gaia versus Medea as models of motherhood I should have mentioned that this distinction was developed ...

Happy Mother's Day

Gaia and Medea, they're both mothers.

Gaia has a beautiful yoga practice, she harms not the earth with all of her green tech, and she is ...

Valyrian Steel leads San Diego Symphony

The San Diego Symphony turned in a performance so epic that Game of Thrones should be ashamed of itself for being too trite.

I’ve been trying to come up with a way to express the grandeur of the San Diego Symphony’s performance of ...

Question and answer at San Diego Symphony

Charles Ives has an answer for every question except the last one while the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto is technically brilliant.

On Saturday night, the fourth of May, 2013, the San Diego Symphony stood victorious upon Tchaikovsky’s mountain of pathos. The ...

Too much syrup--never: San Diego Symphony

A couple romantic hits and Ives this weekend at SDSO.

The concert I’ve been waiting for all season is finally here this weekend at the San Diego Symphony. Rachmaninoff and ...

Boston Marathon concert to console and reflect

MIT holds a concert community concert of Brahms Requiem.

In the week following the events at the Boston Marathon there was a communal singing of the Brahms Requiem at ...

Groupon at San Diego Opera

Soprano Latonia Moore turns Aida into a group discount

When greatness is standing a few feet away on the stage, it is necessary to write about it. As a ...

San Diego Aida

Time to look at Aida with a disgusting tie in with *Twilight* and a sampling of The Smiths.

It’s time to get into Verdi’s Aida. The show opens on Saturday April 20th at 7:00 p.m. The venue is ...

Kill the mother kill the baby

The story of Gesualdo's mania continues with infanticide.

I wish I could say that Gesualdo’s atrocities ended with the murder of his wife and her lover. I cannot. ...

She might not be dead yet

Composer Carlo Gesualdo stabbed, mutilated, and displayed his wife and her lover.

“Kill that scoundrel along with this Harlot! Shall a Gesualdo be made a cuckold?” This was more than hyperbole from ...

The difficult life of Josquin

Josquin had family members burned alive, had his employer arrested by a king, and escaped the plague.

While looking for information about musical settings of David’s lament--”Absalom, oh my son" etc, I found Josquin des Prez. Josquin’s ...

Eric Whitacre

A brief introduction to living composer Eric Whitacre

As promised, we’re going to look closer at When David Heard by Eric Whitacre. According to Whitacre’s website: “The text, ...

The son dies and the father laments

The story of King David and his favorite son Absalom.

“And the king was much moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept: and as he ...

Ferruccio as Becket

Italian bass takes on a saintly role at San Diego Opera

Ferruccio is coming. His portrayal of Thomas Becket is almost here. What, when and where? Thomas Becket is the central ...

Mariachi at San Diego Opera

Legendary Mariachi performs original opera at Civic Theater.

Cruzar la cara de la luna--To cross the face of the moon--the first Mariachi Opera. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5ZPiFSTSO4 “Yes I’m going, that’s ...

Classical music videos that work

Classical music has been lamely mimicking the mainstream but every now and again someone does something amazing.

Classical music-videos have made an attempt to be relevant for years. When they mimic pop videos, it’s annoying. Who wants ...

Metropolitan Opera HD Parsifal

Why won't my schedule let me see this monstrous tour de force from the Met?

I so wanted to go see the Metropolitan Opera HD broadcast of Parsifal on Saturday March 2nd. The performance is ...

Strangle Guido

An obscure but rewarding opera by Austrian composer Alexander von Zemlinsky.

While I have failed to keep my New Year’s resolution of listening to a new piece of music everyday, I ...

Calder Quartet at UCSD

The Calder Quartet does TedxTalks and tries to keep the quartet fresh.

The Calder Quartet came together at USC and stayed together through grad school at the Colburn Conservatory and the Juilliard ...

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