MUSIC REVIEWS
Lei Liang’s Opera ‘Inheritance’ Premieres in La Jolla
San Diego composer Lei Liang has turned the eccentric heiress Sarah Winchester and her strange obsessions into a one-act chamber opera, titled “Inheritance,” which received its premiere last week in the Experimental Theatre at UC San Diego’s Conrad Prebys Music Center.
Read MoreMariinsky Orchestra Combines with the San Diego Symphony in Triumphant Seventh Symphony by Shostakovich
Wednesday’s concert at the Jacobs Music Center paired St. Petersburg’s noted Mariinsky Orchestra and the San Diego Symphony under the baton of Valery Gergiev performing Dmitri Shostakovich’s demanding Seventh Symphony, “Lenningrad.” Gergiev and his astute musicians brought unusual illumination to this vast Shostakovich score, and the combined artistry of these orchestras elevated the Seventh Symphony to unexpected heights.
Read MoreSD Opera’s ‘Figaro’ Delights in 2018-19 Season Opener
Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, one of the most popular operas in the standard repertoire, seems like a natural to open San Diego Opera’s 2018-19 season. And, with a well-directed and sung production it proved to be an excellent start to what looks to be a strong season…
Read MoreSDSU Symphony Orchestra Premieres Joseph Martin Waters’ Saxophone Concerto
Conductor Michael Gerdes and the San Diego State University Symphony Orchestra offered the premiere of Joseph Martin Waters’ alto saxophone concerto “Tathata Garden,” written for the work’s virtuoso soloist Todd Rewoldt, on October 13 in the university’s Don Powell Theatre.
Read MoreRachmaninoff’s Rhapsody and a New Work by Mason Bates Crown Edo de Waart’s Second Week with the San Diego Symphony
A significant advantage of conductor Edo de Waart’s frequent guest appearances with the San Diego Symphony is the array of new music he brings to Copley Symphony Hall. On Friday, October 12, he offered Mason Bates’ 2014 intriguing “Garages of the Valley” followed by Rachmaninoff’s “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini” with the brilliant pianist Joyce Yang.
Read MoreJoyce Yang and the San Diego Symphony Triumph in the Grieg Piano Concerto
In the first program of the San Diego Symphony’s Jacobs Masterworks Series, October 6, 2018, guest conductor Edo de Waart offered Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony and Edvard Grieg’s evergreen Piano Concerto in A Minor with Joyce Yang as soloist.
Read More