Some unavoidable conflicts thwarted my plans to go to Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 on Saturday, April 22. By all accounts, it was a lovely performance. Yet, at the end of the day, it is …

With the NBA Playoffs in full flight, I will take this opportunity to explore some classical music via the logos of some of the teams in contention this year. Some teams, such as the New …

Having been inspired by San Diego Opera’s recent production of Tosca, I’ve spent the last week listening to war horse recordings of war horse operas. I’ve selected a few highlights here. Based on what I’ve …

Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca was the best thing San Diego Opera has produced in years. This production had it all, especially where it counted the most. Competent, seasoned, opera singers who knew their business performed the …

The San Diego Mainly Mozart Festival used to be held at The Balboa Theatre and it used to be a great classical music event. Then it was held outdoors at the Del Mar Surf Cup …

On May 11, the Federal Department of Health and Human Services will end the Covid public health emergency. But the bureaucratic behemoth is a slow-footed beast; John Q. Public knows the pandemic ended some time …

Like many classical music fans, I was introduced to Alma Deutscher several years ago via a 60 Minutes report. I was struck by her musicianship and her devotion to creating melodies. I have lamented long …

I heard a rumor about the San Diego Civic Theater receiving an overhaul at some point in the future. Having just seen an opera production and a symphony concert at the 56-year-old venue, I hope, …

A classical spring is coming to San Diego. The end of March and the entire month of April are bursting with classical music concerts. There’s also opera. Tosca by Giacomo Puccini opens at The Civic …

The latest victim of updating is Disney’s Peter Pan which is based on the play by Scottish author J. M. Barrie. The new version takes its title from the 1911 novel by the same author …

While scrolling through my Google feed, I saw an article entitled “15 Greatest Symphonies of all Time”. Of course, I clicked on it and was taken to Great Britain’s Classic FM website. Mozart’s Symphony No. …

What was once known as Il Trittico, by Giacomo Puccini, is now being billed as The Puccini Duo by San Diego Opera. That’s probably for the best because the three one-act operas make for a …

The San Diego Symphony has announced their 2023-2024 Jacobs Masterworks Series. This season promises to be a turning point in the organization's evolution under CEO Martha Gilmer. The most obvious element is the grand opening …

It was nice to be back in the concert hall on Thursday, February 2. It had been since before Christmas that I had darkened the door of a theater. The concert was of the San …

There once was a tremendously popular piece of music about a Native American which was written by a composer of African descent whose forbearers had been slaves in the New World prior to the American …

I came across some vinyl records with the label “Phase 4 Stereo” on them. I promptly contacted my friend who is into vinyl and gave them over to him. He must have thought me a …

I had some solitary cleaning projects on my plate this last week and decided to use the time to cover some ground with a composer I’m not too familiar with. I considered a few options …

With the holidays all wrapped up, we look toward what could be considered the meat of the classical music season. January is generally quiet but things get rowdy in February. On February 2 and 3, …

As 2022 comes to an end, Spotify informed me that I was in the top 0.5 percent of ABBA listeners for the year. I wasn’t surprised. ABBA is musical gold and I was all about …

We’ve looked at a variety of classical Christmas music over the past few weeks. We considered somber music for a solstice of solitude and little-known Christmas operas such as Hans Pfitzner’s Christelfein. Now we come …

Who’s in the mood for a Christmas opera? It’s a strange question because there aren’t any Christmas operas, are there? Yes, yes there is. There are several Christmas operas. Ok. There are a handful of …

I arrived in New York City on the afternoon of Tuesday, December 6. My daughter and I checked into the hotel and walked over to The Metropolitan Opera to buy her a student ticket and …

It’s December and the Depressed Disney Dad at Christmas when his ex has the kids is rousing himself to make his annual rounds of self-loathing. The Depressed Disney Dad is the Jungian shadow of the …

The best concert I’ve been to in a while happened on Friday, November 18 at The California Center for the Arts Escondido. Rafael Payare proved, yet again, that the San Diego Symphony is a force …

The San Diego Symphony concert on Friday, November 11, at The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park, featured a boat horn. For whatever reason, a boat was crisscrossing the harbor blowing its horn at very regular …

If I were to recall the soundtrack for Thanksgiving from my childhood, it would have to be The Dallas Cowboys and The Detroit Lions. These two teams always play on Thanksgiving and that’s what I …

October is coming to an end and it has been a solid month for classical music in San Diego. November is looking even better. There are a few concerts in November that shouldn’t be missed …

Hungarian Rhapsody No. 5 by Johannes Brams brought the October 2022 Mainly Mozart Festival to a close with a flourish. The festival started on Wednesday, October 12, with an explanation of the new venue in …

When Rafael Payare conducts the San Diego Symphony it’s not a concert, it’s an event. Such was the case on Saturday, October 8, at The California Center for the Arts Escondido. The first virtues of …

The best news I’ve heard in months, nay, perhaps years, is coming to fruition on October 12, 14, and 15. The Mainly Mozart Festival Orchestra is returning to the great indoors for the first time …

This is the final chapter of our tour of all 32 NFL teams and the music that fits each team the best. We start with the NFC East and The New York Giants. The Giants …

As we continue to pair NFL teams with classical music indicative of their style, location, or history, we arrive at the NFC South and the AFC North. For decades, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were pirates …

Giving the teams of the NFC North and AFC South their classical music patronus.

With the NFL season upon us, I’ve decided to match each of the 32 teams with their own classical music soundtrack. We will look at eight teams each week for the month of September. This …

As I stare down the barrel of yet another season of opera, for which I will need to travel, I can’t help but feel as though I’ve become less tolerant. I was once willing to …

As I continue to slog my way through the dog days of summer, I lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. The hills are October and the help is the …

I’ve come to the conclusion that August and September are, by far, my least favorite months of the year. There are several reasons, not least among them is the disgusting weather, pre-season football, and summer …

I paid 9.9 euros to watch the live stream of Götterdämmerung from this year's Bayreuth Festival. It was atrocious. I felt guilty for helping finance this production with my window’s mite. Austrian director Valentin Schwarz …

The 90th birthday of John Williams will be celebrated by the San Diego Symphony on Saturday, August 13. In a previous article, I mentioned the lack of well-known composers after World War II. The one …

I’m not sure how the conversation started, but an opera friend of mine asked if I had ever heard soprano Leontyne Price's rendition of “The Liebestod” or “Love-Death” from Richard Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde. I …

There are several factors in a successful concert experience. There’s the music being performed, the performance of said music, whether or not one attends the concert alone or with a companion, whether or not said …

The San Diego Symphony has canceled Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture for the final concert of their summer season. They are replacing it with Rimsky-Korsakov's Russian Easter Overture. Here is the complete statement from The Symphony: “While …

“It sounded like a bunch of random sounds.” This was the answer my 18-year-old daughter gave when I asked her what she thought of the new piece of music performed by the San Diego Symphony …

The Rady Shell 2022 Summer Season kicked off on Friday, June 24, with a concert by the San Diego Symphony conducted by music director Rafael Payare. Though the day was warm, the evening became chilly. …

The 2022 San Diego Mainly Mozart Festival concluded with concerts on Friday, June 17, and Saturday, June 18. They were, as always, excellent. An unlooked-for treat came in the form of Ralph Vaughan Williams’s The …

Now we come to the easiest and most difficult articles I write each year, the Mainly Mozart Festival Orchestra articles. These are easy because the orchestra is nigh unto flawless. These are difficult because I …

I’ve been watching the fourth and final season of Stranger Things with my kids. This Netflix Original show had a fantastic first season, a solid second season, and a terrible third season. The third season …

As spring ends and summer begins, it is quite possible that love is in the air. If you’ve ever visited The San Diego Zoo at this time of year then you know that of which …

I went to the San Diego Symphony concert at the Rady Shell at Jacobs Park on Sunday, May 22. The concert was at 5:00 pm and was locked in the throes of a greyer May …

The name Frederich Nietzsche often elicits a strong response from adherents and detractors. The author of The Antichrist who claimed that “God is dead," has startled the faith of the ultra-religious for decades. Whether or …