MUSIC REVIEWS
Peter Oundjian Brings Vibrant New John Adams Work to the Jacobs Music Center
Canadian conductor Peter Oundjian brought a well-matched program of John Adams and Gustav Holst to the San Diego Symphony Saturday (December 3) at the Jacobs Music Center. Because he chose Adams’ recent “Doctor Atomic Symphony” and his Holst selection was “The Planets,” Oundjian cleverly titled his program “Adams, Atoms and Planets” . . .
Read MorePianist Hélène Grimaud’s Astonishing Artistry
Of budding young piano virtuosos there is surely no shortage. The number of promising performers who understand how to program creatively, however, remains distressingly small. Hélène Grimaud’s stunning Thursday (Dec. 1) recital for the La Jolla Music Society could easily serve as a master class in insightful programming . . .
Read MoreSweet Comfort from Art of Élan at the San Diego Museum of Art
After a tumultuous political season, Tuesday’s (November 22) Art of Élan concert of American chamber music at the San Diego Museum of Art arrived as welcome solace . . .
Read MoreBach Collegium San Diego Brings Distler’s Mystical ‘Totentanz’ to San Diego
A late medieval meditation on life’s fragility, called the Dance of Death, stimulated the imagination of painters more than musicians. It was such a gloriously macabre 15th-century painting in Lübeck, Germany, by Bernt Notke—Death summoning folks from every station and walk of life—that inspired Hugo Distler’s 1934 choral work Totentanz (Dance of Death). Ruben Valenzuela’s…
Read MoreJoyce Yang Debuts with the San Diego Symphony in Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto
Joyce Yang, the much-heralded Korean concert pianist, joined the San Diego Symphony this weekend in a performance of Segei Rachmaninoff’s Second Piano Concerto. Having graced the roster of La Jolla SummerFest in several recent seasons, she is a known quantity here, and the Jacobs Music Center’s Copley Symphony Hall was filled with fans of both…
Read MoreSan Diego Opera’s Searing ‘Soldier Songs’ Brings Military Reality to Stage
San Diego Opera’s stirring production of composer David T. Little’s “Soldier Songs” at the Balboa Theatre honored Veterans Day with an honest, in-your-face confrontation of what war does to the soldier . . .
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