Waiting for the San Diego Opera and Symphony on edge of my chair

The end of January and the entirety of February appear to be a return to some semblance of normality with the San Diego Opera and San Diego Symphony. Of course, there's always a chance of cancellations.

The San Diego Symphony has concerts scheduled on January 28 and 29, 2022 at The San Diego Civic Theatre. The program features Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini and Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique.

Pianist George Li, who performed with Mainly Mozart in September of 2021, returns to San Diego to perform the Rachmaninoff. Rafael Payare conducts. Also on this program is an interesting composition by William Grant Still entitled Darker America.

Grant Still is an under-performed and under-appreciated American composer. He has over 200 compositions including five full symphonies. To be honest, I’d much rather hear a performance of his Symphony No. 2: Song of a New Race as opposed to yet another Symphonie fantastique.

On February 3, 4, 5, and 6, The Symphony is performing The Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi and The Four Seasons of Buenos Aries by Astor Piazzolla at multiple venues. The performance will alternate between Vivaldi and Piazzolla as opposed to performing each piece straight through. Mainly Mozart did this back in October of 2020 and I didn’t like the interspersing approach.

Piazzolla refers to Vivaldi’s masterpiece in his rendition of the seasons, but the styles do not complement each other. While we’re creating classical “mash-ups," why not throw in Alexander Glazonuv’s The Seasons and Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring along with Summer Night on the River by Frederick Delius?

Just because two pieces of music share a title doesn’t mean they go together even if one refers to the other. You could alternate movements of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony and Mahler’s Fifth because Mahler references Beethoven. Why not? I’ll tell you why not. Because each piece needs to be heard for itself, just like Vivaldi and Piazzolla.

The San Diego Opera is presenting Mozart’s hilarious Cosi fan Tutte February 12, 15, 18, and 20 at the San Diego Civic Theatre. Mozart composed three operas based on libretti by the adventurer Lorenzo da Ponte. The first two are The Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni. Cosi fan Tutte makes three.

Opera is particularly susceptible to corona cancellation. All it takes is one singer going down and things get dicey, quick. The San Diego Opera has never had the luxury of multiple covers for multiple roles. I’m sure there are contingencies in place, but I hope Cosi comes to the stage as planned.

February concludes with the Symphony back at The Civic Theatre on February 26 for Tchaikovksy’s Symphony No. 4. I think I’ve been waiting to hear Payare conduct this for almost two years.