Opera NEO’s Generous All You Can Hear Opera Buffet in Encinitas

By Ken Herman | July 28, 2018 |

As a tantalizing preview to Opera NEO’s upcoming festival of three staged operas, Friday’s Cabaret concert at the Encinitas Library Concert Hall promises a season of highly charged drama and polished lead singers. This annual program offered a sparkling variety of ensembles and duets from opera, operetta, and musical theater performed by the members of the 2018 festival.

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Guest Conductor Fabien Gabel Takes San Diego Symphony to New Heights

By Ken Herman | May 5, 2018 |

Under the astute baton of guest conductor Fabien Gabel, Dutch violinist Simone Lamsma and the San Diego Symphony gave a rapturous account on Friday, May 4, of Leonard Bernstein’s “Serenade,” a violin concerto written for no less a violinist than Isaac Stern in memory of the composer’s early mentor, Boston Symphony Music Director Serge Koussevitsky.

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Elegant Nostalgia from a True Diva

By Ken Herman | December 13, 2014 |

The obituary for the solo vocal recital has been written so frequently it is a wonder that singers still attempt to present it. This fall, San Diego Opera has demonstrated how to make this supposedly moribund format come to life, and Friday (Dec. 12) mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe entranced her ample audience at the Balboa Theatre . . .

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