Final Concert: San Diego Symphony
The San Diego Symphony finishes its Jacobs MasterWorks concert series this weekend with a trio of concerts that should be a great conclusion to a successful season. Sibelius’ Symphony No. 7 begins the concert. It is a symphony written in …
The Three R's
The Three R’s are Rips, Rocks, and Reefs and the San Diego Council of Divers wants to tell you all about them. Starting on June 2nd, The Council will be giving the first of eight FREE workshops. Each workshop is …
That Other Guy
Keeping with the Mighty Handful, who the heck was Cui? He’s kind of like Carreras in The Three Tenors ala Seinfeld, “You know, Pavarotti, Domingo, and that other guy.” So with The Five there’s Mussorgsky, Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov, Balakirev, and that …
Mighty Handful
I’ve wanted to get back to Balakirev ever since I mentioned him in regards to Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet. Here is my chance. If you’ll recall, at the San Diego Symphony concert a few weeks back, Nuvi Mehta came out …
Exercise to Exercise
“I just want to have sex again before I die.” I was speaking with a 50-ish friend who was trying to get into shape again. I had asked this guy why he wanted to get into shape. He didn’t give …
What's with the Toe Shoes?
Have you seen the “toe shoes” that appear to be taking over? They’re everywhere from the gym to road running and even trail running. The brand is Vibram and they’re called FiveFingers. I’m assuming the finger thing is to let …
Mozart and Neuroscience
Mozart makes you smarter? Find out Saturday night at The Neuroscience Center. Is there a more appropriate venue? At 6:30 pm, the presentation starts with "with an eclectic music-brain exposition" curated by Tim Mullen and Grace Leslie of UCSD's Swartz …
Cholera or Poisoned Heart?
What were the circumstances surrounding Tchaikovsky’s death? There’s the Cholera story that says he drank water that was not boiled, became sick the next day, and died four days later on November 6th, 1893. Cholera is out because it doesn’t …
Not Quite Pathetique Enough: San Diego Symphony
After last weekend’s triumph I entered Copley Hall with anticipation on Saturday night. It’s safe to say my expectations were through the roof. There were no expectations for the first piece by Qigang Chen. Geek alert—Qigang is not just the …
Attack Gypsies: San Diego Symphony Strings
In musical terms, Sunday’s concert at the symphony wasn’t that different from Friday’s. The differences were in minor cases such as the clarinet solo at the top of Rhapsody in Blue being a tad smoother and Jon Kimura Parker “milking …
Best Concert of the Year? San Diego Symphony
Last week I said the people putting the programs together at San Diego Symphony deserved a raise. After going to the Rhapsodies concert both Friday night and Sunday afternoon this weekend, I’m demanding a raise for them. I think that …
Hitting It Three Nights in a Row
I’m looking at three concerts for this weekend. All three have smart and well-balanced programs. Friday Night: San Diego Symphony is going all out for rhapsodies. There are four pieces on the program. Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody …
Olympic Opportunity
The Olympic Trials are coming to San Diego next weekend. Many people don’t realize that San Diego is the birth place of the triathlon. In 1974, the San Diego Track Club decided to change up their training session and added …
San Diego Symphony (2 of 2)
During intermission, my concert companion noticed several youths sitting next to us. When asked if they were with a group they said yes. They were all engineering students at UCSD. As it turns out, once a year the Jacobs buy …
Doomed Singularity: San Diego Symphony (1 of 2)
I can’ remember the last time I attended a concert where I got chills, teary eyed, and had thoughts of erectile dysfunction. Taking that into consideration, Saturday night was a singularity experience. Ok, perhaps it wasn’t “a hypothetical region in …
Weekend Preveiw
It’s a solid weekend for classical music. While there aren’t too many options, the concerts that are out there are top shelf. The Barber of Seville completes the 2012 season at San Diego Opera with performances at the Civic Theater …
Rock, Paper, Scissors for a Lifetime
Have you ever considered that life might just be a big game of rock, paper, scissors? The Sankhya system of yoga has. Without getting too esoteric, let’s explore this a bit and then apply it. Sankhya has two basic categories, …
After the End of the World: 2013 San Diego Opera Season
San Diego Opera has released its 2013 season. The operas are:Daughter of the Regiment, Samson and Delilah, Murder in the Cathedral, and Aida. Samson was last here in 2007 and Aida was in 2008. Daughter of the Regiment was here …
Dusty Rhodes Puke
I went to a “boot camp” on Saturday morning at Dusty Rhodes Park in Ocean Beach. The session was put on, free of charge, by Dave Sten and Chris Daly of s10fitness.com There were eight participants, seven guys and one …
Richter the Enigma
“I never played scales. No exercises either. Never. I began with Chopin’s first Nocture and then, the E minor Etude. I’ve been watching a documentary about Sviatoslov Richter. He is a confusing character. He always went his own way and …