An ad campaign some years back cleverly proclaimed “You don’t have to be Jewish to like Levi’s Jewish Rye Bread.” You certainly don’t have to be Russian to play the music of Sergei Prokofiev, but after hearing Yefim Bronfman’s commanding, exuberant performance of Prokofiev’s Eighth Piano Sonata Friday (Dec. 14) at La Jolla’s Sherwood Auditorium, […]
The San Diego Symphony went for the best of both worlds Friday (Dec. 7) when they brought in John Williams to guest conduct a program of his own music. Easily the most recognized and acclaimed living film composer, Williams has also established himself as a significant orchestral composer, although acclaim has not yet attached itself […]
When an accomplished musician gives a solo recital, the performer is typically aided by a fine instrument, perhaps an 18th-century violin or cello hand-crafted in Italy or an imposing 9-foot concert grand piano. The performer’s artistry is expressed through an instrument of first-rate craftsmanship. In an intimate solo recital Tuesday (Dec. 4) for the Carlsbad […]
Life and death. The really big topics. Once religion had the monopoly on this conversation, but in our essentially secular culture, the arts increasingly carry on the discussion. Art of Élan staged Tan Dun’s evocative, recondite “Ghost Opera” Tuesday (Nov. 20) at the San Diego Museum of Art’s Copley Auditorium, the second installment on the […]
San Diegans with a good memory may recall that Christof Perick auditioned for the post of San Diego Symphony Music Director in 1989. It was his good fortune not to sign with the bankruptcy prone local orchestra, and he continued on to seek his musical fortune in his native Germany, although in the early 1990s […]
When I lived in Chicago, I was intrigued with the popularity of a shoppers’ chapel in the Loop that offered a mid-afternoon Roman Catholic Mass. Located midway between the fancy restaurants of Michigan Avenue and the bargain-filled department stores of State Street, the chapel drew a regular crowd of consumers laden with their day’s worth […]
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