MUSIC REVIEWS
Haydn and Humor Invade La Jolla
Art—so the proverb goes—flourishes on limitations. While most of Franz Joseph Haydn’s musical contemporaries, notably Mozart and Beethoven, flocked to Europe’s 18th-century cultural capital Vienna to expand their musical horizons, poor Haydn worked and composed for the princely Esterházy family on their remote rural estates. Tuesday’s (August 19) SummerFest concert offered a collage of Haydn…
Read MoreOpera NEO Brings Roman History into the Cable News Era
In my lifetime, performing operas written by George Frideric Handel has changed from improbable to nearly ubiquitous, so I was not surprised to discover “Aggripina,” an early Handel opera offered in a snappy production by Opera NEO . . .
Read MoreVoices of New Music: Bold, Mystical, Funny, Abstract & More
SummerFest Music Director Cho-Liang Lin titled Friday’s new music concert “Music of Our Time,” a clever designation that brought together strange bedfellows, but offered exciting comparisons . . .
Read MoreYefim Bronfman: Consummate Pianism and Fearless Programming
Although it is unfortunate how little attention the great trove of 20th-century repertory receives from 21st-century recitalists, Yefim Bronfman gave a breathtaking account of two stunning Piano Sonatas by Sergei Prokofiev Wednesday . . .
Read MoreA Handel Feast at SummerFest
Every August the La Jolla SummerFest devotes a concert to Baroque music, and Friday’s (August 8) Baroque extravaganza featured harpsichordist-conductor Michael Beattie leading music by G. F. Handel and J. S. Bach . . .
Read MoreBalsom and Weiss a Heavenly Match: Balsom and Newman Not
Earlier this spring, the accomplished English trumpeter Alison Balsom impressed local audiences playing with Scottish Ensemble. Wednesday she returned to La Jolla for a solo gig at SummerFest 2014 . . .
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