SummerFest’s Sunny Sunday Serenades

Festival programming that runs out of pleasant surprises is likely to overstay its welcome, so SummerFest Music Director Cho-Liang Lin came up with a pair highly unusual offerings by Britten and Elgar for Sunday’s (August 20) afternoon concert at the Conrad Prebys Concert Hall . . .

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Lessons and Carols with a Dream Choir

San Diego Pro Arte Voices and Music Director Patrick Walders gave superb performances of British Christmas carols and anthems in ‘An Evening of Readings and Carols’ at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Pacific Beach . . .

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London Symphony and Michael Tilson Thomas: a Powerful Combination

Although the popularity of Jean Sibelius’ symphonies has fluctuated wildly over the last century, he is clearly back in vogue, amply demonstrated by the London Symphony’s astute, compelling performance of his Second Symphony under Michael Tilson Thomas Sunday (March 29) at the Jacobs Music Center’s Copley Symphony Hall in downtown San Diego . . .

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Art of Élan’s Answered Prayers & Rustic Songs

Over its eventful seven years, the music series Art of Élan has cultivated a strong relationship with its primary host, the San Diego Museum of Art. Drawing inspiration from the 17th-century painting “St. Francis at Prayer in a Grotto” by Francisco de Zurbarán—the museum’s much celebrated new acquisition—the series’ Tuesday (March 3) program was built on the theme of “Prayers and Songs.”

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