Ron Bierman - Page 2

What did our critic think of THE LA JOLLA MUSIC SOCIETY'S FANTASTIC TALES at The Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center?

What did our critic think of THE LA JOLLA MUSIC SOCIETY'S SUMMERFEST OPENING at The Baker-Baum Concert Hall?

Pacho Flores is a winner of the top prize in the world’s most prestigious trumpet competition, the Maurice André International, and the list of contemporary composers writing for him is impressive and growing. The San Diego Symphony has now performed two of the results. Last season it was Paquito D'Rivera's Concerto Venezolano for Trumpet and Orchestra. This year Flores returned for Roberto Sierra’s Salseando for trumpet and orchestra as part of a program with dance as a unifying theme. I’ll be disappointed if we don’t hear Marquez’s recent “Autumn” trumpet concerto on a future San Diego program.

What did our critic think of THE MAINLY MOZART ALL STAR ORCHESTRA PERFORMS BEETHOVEN'S NINTH at The Epstein Family Amphitheater On The UCSD Campus?

What did our critic think of THE SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY PERFORMS TWO CLASSICS AND A WORLD PREMIERE at San Diego's Rady Shell?

Nicolas Reveles was diagnosed with late-stage pancreatic cancer shortly after completing Ghosts, and it is tragic that he died just weeks before its world premiere in a San Diego Opera production. A sincerely religious man, his spirit lives on in the minds of the many grieving friends and admirers who attended the premiere and knew how important he was to San Diego opera lovers as a pre-performance lecturer, pianist and composer.

WhaThe San Diego Opera has outdone itself with its most recent production of Puccini’s Tosca. The three major roles are sung by appealing voices with exceptional power; the company’s chorus and the city’s children’s choir combined for thrilling moments, especially in the riveting Act I finale; San Diego Symphony musicians excelled under Italian conductor Valerio Galli, caressing the opera’s most romantic melodies and offering glowing resonance in its heroic themes. The evening ended with curtain calls that brought an understandably pleased audience to its feet in enthusiastic appreciation of an outstanding entertainment.t did our critic think of SAN DIEGO OPERA'S TOSCA at San Diego Civic Center Theatre?

Puccini is one of Michelle Bradley’s favorite composers, and she’s in San Diego to sing his Tosca for the San Diego Opera company. We were originally scheduled to talk in person, but a rehearsal change meant Zoom was going to work better for an hour discussion. “I'm happy to be back, and I know that everyone's happy to have me back because I've been treated warmly as always. They check up on me making sure I'm okay, and Southern California feels like a working vacation. After rehearsal I can have a nice walk any time of day. The ocean’s close, the mountains, beautiful views. I've made some great friends, and it’s a wonderful relationship to have. They seem to think I’m a star.”

Edo de Waart is now in his fourth year as Principal Guest Conductor of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra. In his long career he’s headed orchestras on four continents and taught in this country’s finest music schools. It’s no coincidence that his frequent conducting appearances in San Diego have coincided with the orchestra’s tremendous improvement in quality. De Waart knows what he’s doing in everything from Bach to his latest recording, a mystically moody contemporary symphony by Wim Henderickx  No wonder then that he chose works from three different eras for his most recent San Diego concert: The Chairman Dances ( Foxtrot for Orchestra) by John Adams, Mozart’s 23rd piano concerto, and Rachmaninoff’s 2nd symphony.

GHOSTS, an opera Nicolas Reveles completed shortly before his recent death, premieres on Friday, April 14. He was visibly ill when I interviewed him in January, but excited and enthusiastic about the coming production. Part 1 of my interview described how the new opera came to be written. This concluding part covers the fascinating background and career of the man who his many saddened friends called 'Nic.'.

The big question for the evening was how mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe would do as the first woman in professional opera to sing the baritone title role in Gianni Schicchi. But the question wouldn’t be answered until the second one-act opera in San Diego Opera’s “Puccini Duo.” Blythe was first a contralto as the stern, unfeeling Principessa in Suor Angelica. This crushingly poignant half of the Duo is set in a 17th-century Italian convent where Sister Angelica has been living for seven years after her family banished her for the sin of giving birth to a boy out of wedlock. The one-hour opera builds slowly from a choir of offstage convent sisters singing adoringly of the Virgin Mary. From its first appearance the Opera company’s choir led by Chorus Master Bruce Stasyna sang with a solemn warmth consistent with the convent setting. When the sisters reach the stage, a monitor becomes the center of attention as she sings of a succession of minor sins and their punishments. Two sisters lose a day of holy celebration for arriving late to services, another is sent to her room for hiding two red roses in a sleeve of her habit.

Stephanie Blythe looks for “creativity, imagination and curiosity” in her students. The first two are required of any good artist. Curiosity is a little less obvious, but she credits it for her ever expanding interests. Kate Smith led to reading about song writers, which In turn led to playing ukulele, then writing her own songs and designing new concerts and cabaret shows.