Classical Music
In addition to a busy weekend of contrasting operas, the San Diego Symphony is throwing Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 at us. Mozart’s final symphony, The Jupiter, is coming along for the ride as well. …
There are two decidedly different operas being performed November 11–13. One is Hansel und Gretel at Point Loma Opera Theatre and the other is Soldier Songs at San Diego Opera. Hansel und Gretel is most …
I watched the live stream of the Richard Tucker Gala on Medici TV’s Facebook stream. At one point I was kind of a fan of letting people live tweet during opera or symphony performances. After …
I had forgotten that Rossini stopped composing opera so early. It could be that I never put it together since he continued to compose sacred music in the 1840s, '50s, and '60s with the Petite …
William Tell or Guillaume Tell is an enormous opera. The performance at New York’s Metropolitan Opera began at 6:30 p.m. and ended at 11:45 p.m. While there are times when I thought Rossini could have …
I ended up in New York over the weekend and attended two productions at the Metropolitan Opera in Lincoln Center. The operas I saw were William Tell and Italian Girl in Algiers. Both are by …
The Jacobs Masterworks Series started at Symphony Hall this last weekend. The concert was Schumann’s American Festival Overture, Mendelssohn Violin Concerto, and Brahms Symphony No. 3. Starting off was William — not Robert — Schumann’s …
On Saturday, October 22, the San Diego Opera will open its 2016–17 season. This is the first autumn production the company has put on for as long as anyone can remember. The opening opera is …
The San Diego Symphony had their annual Opus Gala on Saturday night October 8. The format this year was different from that of recent years. The difference is that there were on "opuses." Also, music …
It appears as though maestro Riccardo Muti has been reading the esoteric pick of the week. I’m obviously overstating the case there, but the Chicago Tribune has weighed in on Muti’s recent trip “...down nearly …
The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields has announced that Sir Neville Marriner has died. We almost had the honor of hearing him conduct the San Diego Symphony in January of 2015 but the …
Monday was the hottest day of the year, so I was forced to turn toward some autumnal music to keep from falling into an Indian Summer depression. I went to two different pieces of music, …
What happened to Giacomo Meyerbeer? After seeing Meyerbeer’s Robert le diable, Chopin proclaimed him to be immortal. His opera Les Huguenots was the first opera to be performed more than 1000 times at the Paris …
September feels as though it is taking forever. It feels that way every year. Football starts, school starts, summer ends, and I’m still waiting for the symphony season to begin. This year the San Diego …
The concertate from act III of Otello has long been a favorite scene in the history of opera. With that in mind, I’m shocked at the disparity of views on YouTube between this and the …
I want to discuss the term “insightful.” It's a word which is thrown around the halls of music with some frequency. “The performance was insightful,” “Beethoven's music is insightful,” etc. We've all heard comments along …