Ola Gjeilo – San Diego Story

SummerFest 2021 Opening Concert: A Shimmering Stylistic Sampler

By Ken Herman | July 31, 2021 |

SummerFest 2021, the La Jolla Music Society’s prestigious annual summer music festival, opened Friday, July 30, with a marathon program that boasted music from 10 composers, required 15 onstage musicians, and lasted two and one-half hours.

Sacra/Profana Redeems the December Holiday Concert

By Ken Herman | December 17, 2018 |

Following the success of Sacra/Profana Artistic Director Juan Carlos Acosta choral direction of San Diego Opera’s “All Is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914,” the San Diego choral director returned with the Sacra/Profana chorus in a fine concert last weekend that smartly exceeded the expectations of traditional holiday programming.

Apollo’s Gift: the Carlsbad Music Festival

By Ken Herman | September 22, 2014 |

One weekend each fall, Carlsbad native Matt McBane treats this unremarkable seaside village to a cultural high that lingers much longer than any typical weekend bender, the Carlsbad Music Festival . . .