San Diego Symphony

Felix Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto was an instant classic from the moment that lyrical first phrase was first intoned on March 13, 1845, by Ferdinand David. On Saturday, May 18, 23-year-old violinist Daniel Lozakovich performed the Mendelssohn with The San Diego Symphony Orchestra. Rafael Payare conducted.

Despite his youth, Lozakovich is a seasoned veteran of the world stage. He signed an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon when he was 15. His experience was evident in the maturity of his playing. The famous opening movement was nothing short of delightful. The second movement was exquisite and the third movement’s vivace conclusion had a little extra viva in its vace.

The remainder of the concert was given to Act I of Richard Wagner’s * Die Walküre*. I loved every single minute of it, once I resigned myself to the fact that there would be no Wagnerian singing on this evening. The signers, soprano Jennifer Holloway, tenor Viktor Antipenko, and bass Peter Rose, were mic’d far too closely for comfort. I still don’t know what their voices actually sound like.

Viktor Anitpenko had the same habit of coming off his voice that I’ve heard over and over again from tenors in operatic roles. I can give him a pass in this case because of the microphone but had we been in a theater or a concert hall it would have been absolutely unacceptable and doubly so because it was only the first act.

I will say this here and now but I don’t necessarily have Mr. Anitpenko in mind. If a singer cannot sing the entire role on their voice, aka with the air being compressed, they have no business singing the role at all. I’ve heard it at LA Opera, at The Met, and at San Diego Opera. It would appear that opera has become so difficult in the 21st Century that singers find it necessary to only sing sections of a role as opposed to what the composer wrote and how generations of singers have previously performed it.

As I said, once I resolved myself to the facts of the singing, I thoroughly enjoyed the evening. I was moved to tears as Antipenko, in the role of Siegmund, called out in despair for his father Wälse. Likewise, when Jennifer Holloway, as Sieglinde, named him Siegmund. 

When you have immersed yourself in Wagner and done the work necessary to understand that the massive holes in the action are being specifically filled in by the orchestra, nothing hits harder. Nothing. Not the Super Bowl, not “The Throne Room” scene from Star Wars, not “My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions and loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son. Husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.” 

I will admit that I dragged myself to this concert in a state of lethargy. However, when it was over, I was buzzing. I even jogged back to my car which was parked about a mile away because the concert was at The Shell.

All in all, this was one of the best concerts I’ve experienced in San Diego.