MUSIC REVIEWS
SummerFest Commission Offers More Visual Surprises Than Musical Reward
Thursday’s SummerFest 2021 program at The Conrad in La Jolla brought the long-awaited première of Tamar Muskal’s ‘Facing the Automaton’ commissioned by the La Jolla Music Society and performed with virtuoso percussionist Steven Schick as soloist.
Read MoreComposer Gabriela Lena Frank’s Engaging Sampler of New Music at SummerFest
Curated by Gabriela Lena Frank, SummerFest 2021 offered an engaging sampler of five newer composers Sunday, August 15, at The Conrad’s JAI Hall.
Read MoreHumor and Serious Drama Cohabit Amiably in Opera NEO’s Production of Handel’s ‘Serse’
On Friday, August 13, Opera NEO opened G. F. Handel’s opera ‘Serse’ based on the Fifth Century B.C. Persian King usually called Xerses I.
Read MoreMarc Neikrug’s ‘A Song by Mahler’ Brings the Dramatic Conventions of Opera to SummerFest
Marc Neikrug’s ‘A Song by Mahler’–a probing new stage work for two singers and chamber ensemble–opened Thursday, August 12, at La Jolla SummerFest 2021.
Read MoreAmazing Performances of Berio and Tchaikovsky at La Jolla SummerFest
Tuesday’s SummerFest 2021 concert featured Tchaikovsky’s Piano Trio in A Minor, Op. 50, withpianist Daniil Trifonov, cellist Alisa Weilerstein, and violinist Stefan Jackiw, as well as a Lucian Berio song cycle with mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano
Read MoreOpera NEO’s Mozartean Vocal Feast: the Company Attempts Once Again to Get Poor Figaro Properly Married
Opera NEO opened its annual Summer Opera Festival Friday, August 6, with a spirited production of Mozart’s opera buffa “The Marriage of Figaro,” the opera that launched this enterprising San Diego company ten years ago.
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