San Diego Symphony Salutes the Season with Noël, Noël Outdoors at The Rady Shell

For the record, we did not hear “Little Drummer Boy” at the San Diego Symphony’s program “Noël, Noël at The Rady Shell” on Friday, December 11, 2021. But it may have been the only familiar holiday song not performed or referenced in the orchestra’s sleekly re-imagined annual Christmas concert, presented for the first time at The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park.

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Steven Schick Leads Stirring, Probing Account of Bernstein’s “Kaddish” Symphony with La Jolla Symphony

After a rugged and stirring performance of Leonard Bernstein’s Symphony No. 3, “Kaddish,” by the La Jolla Symphony and Chorus Saturday, March 16, I left UC San Diego’s Mandeville Auditorium refreshed and uplifted. Bernstein’s “Kaddish” Symphony, based on the ancient Hebrew prayer for the dead, takes the listener on a probing and at times exalting journey.

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Willan 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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