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Classical Music

Thanksgiving due to Handel

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Rafael Payare leads stripped-down symphony at The Conrad

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How Wagner's Ring operas are like the U.S.

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Mic’d singing not for me

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Classical Music

Thanksgiving due to Handel

Thanksgiving is nigh, so how about two pieces by George Frederic Handel that give thanks? The first is “But Thanks be to God” from Handel’s Oratorio Messiah. The second is ...

Classical Music

Rafael Payare leads stripped-down symphony at The Conrad

The end of October saw a flurry of live classical music and opera suddenly descend upon San Diego. October 24 was the conclusion of the Drive-In Mainly Mozart Festival and ...

Classical Music

How Wagner's Ring operas are like the U.S.

It would appear as though our political system is at the start of Wagner’s Ring Cycle. You may recall that The Ring starts with the dwarf, Alberich, stealing the Rhinegold ...

Classical Music

Mic’d singing not for me

The drive-in Mainly Mozart Festival concerts have concluded. The Mainly Mozart Festival presented four classical music concerts between October 17 and 24. San Diego Opera is in the middle of ...

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Classical Music

Classical Music Del Mar

Strings dominate at Oct. 20 Mainly Mozart

The Mainly Mozart Festival has gotten underway and now it’s almost over. The festival concludes on Saturday, October 24 at the Del Mar Fairgrounds. On opening night, Saturday, October 17, the event was sold out ...

October 22, 2020

Classical Music

Jupiter Symphony – good to vacuum by

I’ve never heard Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony. Can you believe that? After all these years, it has avoided me. I’ve heard Mozart’s Haffner Symphony at least three times. I’ve heard his Symphony No 29 twice. I’ve ...

October 16, 2020

Classical Music

October 9, 2020

Singers will be mic'd for La Boheme

Hard on the heels of the Drive-up Mainly Mozart Festival is the Drive-in San Diego Opera production of Puccini’s La Boheme. the opera will be offering four performances of the heartbreaking masterpiece starting on Saturday, ...

Classical Music

October 2, 2020

Mainly Mozart tries drive-in concert at Del Mar

Mainly Mozart is putting on a full-scale orchestra festival from October 17 - 24 and you can attend it live, no streaming required. The concerts are in a drive-up format at the Del Mar Fairgrounds. ...

Classical Music

September 25, 2020

What Beethoven's Fifth is not

The post-modern politics of power are now trying to tack their sloppy thought processes onto Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. An article at vox.com claims: “Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony starts with an anguished opening theme — dun ...

Classical Music

September 16, 2020

Mainly Mozart does drive-up at Del Mar Fairgrounds

There is some live music in San Diego these days. On Friday, September 11, I and my kids were able to attend Mainly Mozart’s drive-up Resilience concert at the Del Mar Fairgrounds. According to Mainly ...

Classical Music

September 11, 2020

Why did Amazon drag Mozart through the mud?

Shame on Amazon UK and their new Alexa commercial that asks Alexa to stop playing Mozart and start playing “something more fun.” The entire commercial makes Mozart’s Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute ...

Classical Music

August 28, 2020

Enough of strings, let's hear brass and winds

Last week I unfairly accused the brass and winds of forcing Covid-19-laden breath through their instruments. I venerated the strings section for their safer approach to music. None of that is accurate. I was having ...

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In times like these, turn to strings

One of the issues orchestras is facing is brass and wind instruments. Brass instruments have “water keys” to drain the accumulated moisture from the instrument. Another, and more accurate, term for water key is “spit ...

August 19, 2020

Classical Music

Giovanni Sgambati – an Italian Liszt

Giovanni Sgambati conducted the Italian premiere of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 in 1867. He conducted the Italian premiere of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 in 1870. Let that sink in for a moment. Beethoven composed his ...

August 12, 2020

Classical Music

August 5, 2020

Will San Diego survive a fall without classical music?

It’s August, a month in which I usually begin to look forward to the Masterworks Season at the San Diego Symphony. However, in my opinion, there will be no fall concerts this year. One of ...

Classical Music

July 31, 2020

Voice vs. ethnicity in picking the opera stars

When considering “blind auditions” for orchestras I began to wish opera companies were forced to cast their operas based on blind auditions. A blind audition means the auditors do not know anything about the musician ...

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Classical Music

Thanksgiving due to Handel

Rafael Payare leads stripped-down symphony at The Conrad

How Wagner's Ring operas are like the U.S.

Mic’d singing not for me

Classical Music

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