Posts by Ken Herman
San Diego Symphony Goes for Baroque with Mandolin Virtuoso Avi Avital
Although the mandolin as a featured solo instrument is not one that symphony audiences regularly encounter, young mandolin virtuoso Avi Avital offered splendid concertos by J. S. Bach and Antonio Vivaldi with the San Diego Symphony last weekend.
Read MoreVibrant, Probing Production of ‘All Is Calm–The Christmas Truce of 1914’ at the Balboa
With collaboration from Bodhi Tree Concerts and Sacra/Profana, San Diego Opera opened a powerful new production of Peter Rothstein’s choral opera “All Is Calm” Friday (December 7) at the Balboa Theatre.
Read MoreUC San Diego’s Amazing Revival of Luciano Berio’s ‘Circles’
At UC San Diego, Luciano Berio’s now classic avant-garde “Circles” from 1960 was magnificently performed on Thursday, November 29, 2018, in the university’s Experimental Theater at the Conrad Prebys Music Center.
Read MoreJohannes Debus Conducts the San Diego Symphony in Compelling Dvořák Sixth Symphony
With the San Diego Symphony’s dazzling performance of Antonín Dvořák’s Sixth Symphony at Friday’s concert, Dvořák lovers in Copley Symphony Hall were no doubt left swooning. Guest conductor Johannes Debus led an exuberant yet skillfully shaped account of the composer’s one mature symphony that stubbornly remains in the shadow of his mighty Eighth Symphony and beloved Ninth—the “New World.”
Read MoreSan Diego Opera Brings a New Production of ‘All Is Calm: the Christmas Truce of 1914’ to the Balboa Theatre
San Diego Opera’s upcoming production of Peter Rothstein’s choral chamber opera “All Is Calm: the Christmas Truce of 1914” at the Balboa Theatre sheds light on the impromptu Christmas Day truce of 1914, an event early in World War I that offered a glimpse of humanity in that otherwise merciless combat.
Read MoreWillan West Festival Closes on A High Note at All Saints’ Episcopal Church
This year, with many other musical organizations across the continent, the San Diego Symphony has observed the centennial of Leonard Bernstein’s birth. But choral director Ruben Valenzuela has chosen 2018 to bring attention to the music of another composer, the Anglo-Canadian Healey Willan, who died 50 years ago, with his Willan West 2018 festival, which ended Saturday, November 17, 2018, with a liturgical celebration at All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Hillcrest.
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