Classical Music and Theater (Ballet & Opera) Performances in San Diego, CA (November 2012 - February 2013)

NOVEMBER 2012
14, 15, 16, 17, 18: Downtown (Civic Theater): Peter Pan. Cathy Rigby stars in the Emmy Award winning and Tony Award nominated Broadway musical.
 15: Downtown (Copley Hall): LJMS - Philharmonia Orchestra. Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts the Philharmonia Orchestra in Mahler's 9th symphony.
16: Pt Loma (All Souls' Episcopal Church): Maude Gratton organ recital.
16, 17, 18: Downtown (Copley Hall): San Diego Symphony - Beethoven's Pastoral. Christof Perick conducts the SDSO with Jeff Thayer (violin solo) in a program of Richard Strauss' Don Juan, Goldmark's violin concerto, and Beethoven's 6th symphony (Pastoral).
18: Downtown (Balboa Theater): Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. The Classics 4 Kids Philharmonic Orchestra and Malashock Dance perform a tribute to Victor Hartman to the music of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition.
18 (free): Downtown (Central Library): Public Library Concert Series - Camarada. Camarada performs music of Kummer, Devienne, Chaminade, Dutilleux, Piazzolla and Bloch.

Copley Symphony Hall from the balcony.

DECEMBER 2012
1: Banker's Hill (St Paul's Cathedral): San Diego Master Chorale - Handel's Messiah Sing-Along and Holiday Tea.
2 (2PM): Downtown (Copley Hall): San Diego Symphony - Big Business (1929) and Chaplin's Short Films: The Rink And The Pawn Shop. Russ Peck (organ).
2: Downtown (Balboa Theater): LJMS - The Romeros and Concerto Malaga. Handel's Messiah, Schubert's Ave Maria, Massimo Paris' Christmas Suite and Manuel de Falla's Villancicos.
7, 8: Downtown (Copley Hall): San Diego Symphony - John Williams in Concert. John Williams conducts the SDSO with Johannes Moser (cello) in a program of his cello concerto and greatest movie hits.
8 (free): Balboa Park (Museum of Art): Courtly Noyse - December Nights. Free with museum admission. Music of the Renaissance period.
8: Banker's Hill (St Paul's Cathedral): San Diego Master Chorale - Bach's Christmas Oratorio.
11: La Jolla (St. James by the Sea): El Mundo - Buon Natale y Felices Fiestas. Holiday program of Italian, Spanish and Latin American music of Legrenzi, Scarlatti, Kapsberger, Monteverdi, Castellanos, Duron, Ceruti and Cozzolani.
11: UCSD (Auditorium of TSRI): San Diego Symphony - Stravinsky, Mozart, Bach and More! Members of the SDSO's brass and winds sections perform famous chamber works by Gabrieli, Mozart, JS Bach and Stravinsky's Octet for Winds.
13: Downtown (Copley Hall): San Diego Symphony - L'Obsession Fantastique. Jahja Ling conducts the SDSO in Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique, with Nuvi Mehta appearing as Francois Habeneck.
14: La Jolla (MCASD Sherwood Auditorium): LJMS - Yefim Bronfman in concert. Sonatas of Haydn, Brahms and Prokofiev.
14, 15, 16: Downtown (Copley Hall): San Diego Symphony - Symphonie Fantastique. Jahja Ling conducts the SDSO with Jeremy Denk (piano) in a program of Verdi's overture to La forza del destino, Mozart's 21st piano concerto, and Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique.
15, 16, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23: Downtown (Civic Theater): California Ballet - Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker.
21, 22, 23: Downtown (Copley Hall): San Diego Symphony - Holiday Pops: A Celtic Celebration. Matthew Garbutt conducts the SDSO, Eileen Ivers (celtic fiddle), the San Diego Master Chorale, San Diego Children's Choir in an evening of festive Irish holiday favorites.

JANUARY 2013
1: Downtown (Copley Hall): The Strauss Symphony of America - New Year's Concert 2013 Salute to Vienna. Andreas Mitisek conducts the Strauss Symphony of America in Strauss' waltzes, polkas and operetta excerpts.
4, 5, 6: Downtown (Civic Theater): Rain - A Tribute to the Beatles.
8: UCSD (Auditorium of TSRI): Viviane and Nicole Hagner Perform Schubert. Viviane (violin) and Nicole (piano) Hagner and members of the SDSO perform music from Bartok's Rhapsody No. 1 and Schubert's Piano Trio No. 1.
11, 12, 13: Downtown (Copley Hall): San Diego Symphony - Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto. Jahja Ling conducts the SDSO and Viviane Hagner (violin) in a program of Rossini's overture to La gazza ladra, Mendelssohn's violin concerto in E minor, and Nielsen's 5th Symphony.
12: La Jolla (MCASD Sherwood Auditorium): LJMS - Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra. Nicholas McGegan conducts the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra in Corelli, Pergolesi, Vivaldi, Locatelli & Durante.
18, 19: Downtown (Copley Hall): San Diego Symphony - Broadway's Brian Stokes Mitchell. Randall Craig Fleischer conducts the SDSO and Brian Stokes Mitchell (vocals) in a program of Broadway favorites from Ragtime, Kiss Me Kate, and Man of La Mancha.
26: Downtown (Civic Theater): San Diego Opera - Donizetti's Daughter of the Regiment. Yves Abel conducts L'ubica Vargicova, Stephen Costello, Donato DiStefano, Ewa Podles, Carol Vaness.
27: Downtown (Copley Hall): San Diego Symphony - The Magic of Mozart. Ken-David Masur conducts the SDSO in a program of the music of WA Mozart.
29: Downtown (Copley Hall): LJMS - The Joffrey Ballet.
29 : Downtown (Civic Theater): San Diego Opera - Donizetti's Daughter of the Regiment. Yves Abel conducts L'ubica Vargicova, Stephen Costello, Donato DiStefano, Ewa Podles, Carol Vaness.
31: Downtown (Copley Hall): San Diego Symphony - The Magic of Scheherazade. Mei-Ann Chen conducts the SDSO in Rimsky Korsakov's Scheherazade.

Watching opera set change at San Diego Civic Theater

FEBRUARY 2013
1, 3: Downtown (Civic Theater): San Diego Opera - Donizetti's Daughter of the Regiment. Yves Abel conducts L'ubica Vargicova, Stephen Costello, Donato DiStefano, Ewa Podles, Carol Vaness.
7: Downtown (Copley Hall): San Diego Symphony - Gil Shaham In Recital. Gil Shaham (violin) and Akira Egushi (piano) in a program of Walton's violin sonata, Bach's partita no. 3, Beethoven's 9th violin sonata (Kreutzer), and Bolcom.
8, 9, 10: Downtown (Copley Hall): San Diego Symphony - Scheherazade. Mei-Ann Chen conducts the SDSO and Benjamin Jaber (horn) in a program of Price's Mississippi River Suite, R Strauss' 1st horn concerto, and Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade.
10: UCSD (The Auditorium of TSRI): LJMS - Benjamin Grosvenor in concert of Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Scriabin, Granados, Strauss/Schulz-Evler.
13: Downtown (Copley Hall): Russian National Ballet Theatre - Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet.
14: Downtown (Copley Hall): Russian National Ballet Theatre - Prokofiev's Cinderella.
15: UCSD (The Auditorium of TSRI): Hopkinson Smith - German theobor. JS Bach's cello suites transcription for the theobor.
15: Downtown (Copley Hall): LJMS - BBC Concert Orchestra. Keith Lockhart conducts the BBC Concert Orchestra and Sophie Shao (cello) in a program of Britten's Sea Interludes (from Peter Grimes), Elgar's E minor cello concerto and Enigma Variations, and Butterworth's The Banks of Green Willow.
16: Downtown (Copley Hall): The Son of the Sheik. Russ Peck (organ). Silent film.
 16, 19, 22, 24: Downtown (Civic Theater): San Diego Opera - Saint-Saens' Samson et Dalila. Karen Keltner conducts Nadia Krasteva, Clifton Forbis, Tomas Tomasson, Gregory Reinhart. 24: Downtown (Copley Hall): Pipes and Drums of the Black Watch. The Black Watch and the Band of the Scots guards do British pomp and pageantry pieces.

A rat isn't racing anymore...

Well, I'm a bit disturbed, I guess. Went riding around a bit in the evening and was cruising through downtown when I rolled to a stop just behind a dying rat at an intersection (I think it was Broadway and 10th). It had just been hit by a car and was laying there, twitching and looking mightily uncomfortable.

No, I did not take any photo of the rat dying on the street...

I never quite realized how expressive rats can be. This one had a broken back and probably a few broken ribs that had collapsed his lung. He couldn't breathe very well and kept lifting his head up trying to get more comfortable and also looking mighty horrified at his situation. He was hit rather than ran over, so his body was all in one piece. Both he and I knew that that wouldn't last very long after the light turned green at the intersection, though. I would almost swear that he was very aware of how awful his last moment looked destined to be.

Don't mistake me for any saint, though. I think the scene disturbed me much because I had a bad crash while riding down Catalina Blvd earlier in the year.  I was riding with a track group and when a rider ahead of me hit road debris and went down, it started an icky chain reaction, so to speak. Luckily I didn't break any bone, though it took the ER surgeon much suturing to make me look presentable again. I was wearing a helmet, of course, and so only had a mild concussion and was able to quickly get off the ground after impact, and got safely off the road. I had a much milder crash back in 1993 when my hand slipped off my mountain bike's handlebar when I hit a speed bump while traveling at less than walking speed. I didn't have my helmet on that time, though, and had a much nastier concussion that practically pinned my head to the ground after impact. My eyes rolled back toward the back of my head, so I couldn't see anything. That was one of my most terrifying experiences - laying on the pavement downhill from a blind curve, conscious and aware but couldn't see anything (I couldn't tell which way I should roll to get off the road). It probably only lasted less than a couple of minutes, but it felt like forever. So... I could sort of feel what that rat must have been experiencing...

I wished he had been knocked out or had died on impact. I couldn't fix him, nor did I have any syringe of anesthetic hiding in my jacket pocket that could offer him some respite... I guess the best thing I could have done would have been to stomp on his head to end his suffering as quickly as possible... but I hadn't the stomach for such brutality just then. No matter how merciful it would have been. So, I copped out, in a way. I had some Kleenex on hand and managed to use that as glove to lift the poor rat off the pavement, deposited him on the dirt under the nearest tree on the sidewalk before getting back on my bike just a few seconds before the light turned green.

He never made any noise, though he was definitely still (barely) alive when I took off. He even looked at me. I don't know what the look said. Maybe it didn't say anything and he was spacing out by then. After all, there's a really good reason why you shouldn't move a trauma patient before stabilizing his head, neck and torso unless you absolutely have to. I hope that didn't hurt him too much.

San Diego Views Quiz #2

So, for those familiar with San Diego. Do you recognize these places?

A. This is on a bench... where?

B.

C. You've gotta know this one!

D. The tower.... not the kangaroo!

E. You also have got to know this one!

F. He is north of the city limit...

G. A popular spot especially during winter months.

H. These guys hang out by a famous house.

I. You can see landing planes from here.

J. Which popular tourists attraction have this in its HQ?

K. This monument is a bit obscure, I'm afraid. It's in the city.

L. A freebie for those who click on it for bigger pic...

M. I've got to learn to photoshop. This is too easy!

N. The view here is spectacular at sunset!

O. It costs you $5 to visit here.