Tchaikovsky bitchifies Cui in a lopsided Russian affair.

Time to visit Russia again for another elimination round. In the first match Chesnokov knocked Kabalevsky out. The remaining Russian matches are: Tchaikovsky versus Cui Khachaturian versus Borodin Glinka versus Stravinsky Prokofiev versus Scriabin Shostakovich versus Glinka Rachmaninoff versus Balakirev …

Tosca stabs Scarpia before he sticks her.

Does sexual attraction count for love when we’re adding depth to opera characters? Yes! Remember that the first guidepost is relationship. Let's take a look at a scene where we might not expect to find love. The scene I'm thinking …

When it comes to opera we've got to see the love everywhere.

Have you ever seen a movie or a play and thought the characters were superficial and lacking depth? Let me think of an example. Here we go, pick any character from Star Wars and I think you’ll get the idea. …

The educator Kabalevsky versus the choral master Chesnokov.

The Russians didn’t really participate in the Renaissance or the Baroque periods of music in the same way the rest of Europe did. During the Renaissance, Russia was dealing with the Golden Horde of the Mongols. During the Baroque they …

Russia has a deeper field of competitors than we might have expected.

Before we get to the Russians let’s recap what has happened so far in the World Cup of Composers. The French sent eight composers to the second round of their national tournament: Ravel, Berlioz, Bizet, Gounod, Debussy, Massenet, Saint- Saëns, …

Bel canto composers square off in the final match of round one in Italy.

Now for the square off of the bel canto specialists, Donizetti vs. Bellini. The bel canto style of Italian Opera came after Rossini and before Verdi although the style did stain a lot of Verdi’s work, especially before Verdi succumed …

Verdi squashes Monteverdi in the most lopsided match thus far.

Since we’ve got Puccini done, let’s look at the other two important Italian verismo composers Mascagni and Leoncavallo. Mascagni has Cavalleria Rusticana and L’amico Fritz. L’amico Fritz only has traction because of the fantastic recording with a young Pavarotti and …

Puccini, Rossini, and Vivaldi headline the opening day of the Italian campaign.

With Cavalleria Rusticana still fresh, let’s get the Italian competition started for the World Cup of Composers. The first pairing is Vivaldi versus Pergolesi. Both these composers were prolific but ended up being “one hit wonders”. Pergolesi was an important …

The Pacific Lyric Association production had a fresh approach and the cookie coupons.

Let’s talk a little bit about the Cavalleria Rusticana I went to on June 30th in Poway. You could feel the love in this production. While the singing was inconsistent from time to time, the dedication was at a hundred …

The Italian composers are ready to lock "horns".

With the French we had a robust 19th Century presence in their first round of the World Cup of Composers. Now we move to the Italians. While the Italians were certainly vigorous in the 19th Century, it was the Italian …

A production of this famous Italian opera with local singers.

Cavalleria Rusticana is, note for note--start to finish, the most beautiful opera ever written. Lohengrin and Butterfly give it a push but Cav manages to be lyrically dramatic in a manner unique unto itself. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FLbTIzHD9A Why bring it up during …

Some of France's heavy hitters were in action today trying to make the second round.

Continuing with the matches to determine the French composer of all French composers we have Godard versus Offenbach. This was a no contest. Offenbach wrote the Can-can which might be the most recognizably French piece of music in the repertoire. …

Could Mickey Mouse defeat Romeo and Faust? Day one of the World Cup of Composers.

The French are going to be kicking off the World Cup of Compsers. Let’s take a look at the combatants. In Baroque pool-play we have François Couperin (1668–1733), Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632–1687), Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1645–1704), and Jean-Phillippe Rameau (1683–1764). While these …

Who is the greatest composer of all time? We're going to have a competition and settle this once and for now. I would say settle it once and for all but that's just silly.

We are going to have a classical composer world series or, I guess, world cup would be more appropriate given the popularity of futbol in most of the nations these composers will be representing. Each country will only be able …

Fathers in opera aren't the greatest.

I went to see Man of Steel on Father’s Day with my dad and kids. A big part of the story was about fathers and it got me to thinking about fathers in opera. There is Germont in La Traviata, …

The back story on Britten's Sinfonia da Requiem.

I had mentioned that there was a somewhat interesting story about the creation of Benjamin Britten’s Sinfonia da Requiem so let’s take a look at that for a moment. For the record, Sinfonia da Requiem is a ridiculous title. Sinfonia …

*Dona nobis pacem* was a singular performance in the stream of San Diego music.

There have been some great collaborations between literary types and composers: Richard Strauss and von Hofmannsthal, Mahler and Ruckert, Mozart and Da Ponte, Verdi and Shakespeare, Schubert and Schiller and Goethe, Schumann and Heine, and I’m sure there are others …

The La Jolla Symphony Chorus gave a convincing argument for the merits of Schoenberg.

The La Jolla Symphony did it to me again. Previously the La Jolla Symphony had got me fired up about Stravinsky for the first time. Now it’s Schoenberg. Schoenberg is a composer whom I should adore. He’s from my favorite …

The finale concert of the season looks like a good one in La Jolla.

The final concert of La Jolla Symphony’s season is this weekend at Mandeville Auditorium on the campus of UCSD. There are two concerts. One on Saturday, the 8th of June at 7:30 pm and one on Sunday, the 9th of …

The Triton 5K to benefit scholarship funds is sold out.

The UCSD Triton 5K is sold out for Saturday, June 8th. The 5K supports scholarships for students and has raised more than $3 million since it started in 1996. http://sandiegoreader.com/users/photos/2013/jun/06/46999/ The general public is welcome to come check out the …