San Diego Arts Reviews

The Hausmann Quartet’s Haydn Voyages series has returned to its customary indoor performance venue at the Maritime Museum of San Diego—with the audience present. During the earlier stages of the pandemic shutdown, the ensemble streamed online concerts from the Maritime Museum, and they played their last concert in May outside... Read more »

North Coast Repertory Theatre confronted the pandemic head on. It produced Zoom readings and then progressed to recorded productions taped in its Solana Beach facility It even sent a production (Becoming Dr. Ruth) to New York and eventually on tour. Now, North Coast Repertory is also taking a lead in... Read more »

For as long as I can remember, the San Diego Symphony has topped off its summer pops season with an all-Tchaikovsky concert. Friday’s 1812 Tchaikovsky Spectacular concert at the Rady Shell was a reminder of those former programs, but proved different in several ways. The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park... Read more »

At the Mingei International Museum’s open house Sunday afternoon, visitors streamed through architect Jennifer Luce’s spare but elegantly redesigned museum interior while members of Art of Élan enlivened the viewing with their music. Stationed in three different parts of the museum, the duo of violinist Kate Hatmaker and cellist Alex... Read more »

Ashley Ashkvakan and Erica Ruse in “Bridge to There.” Photo: Jim Carmody Over the past few months, dance has begun to emerge from the confines of the computer screen into the great outdoors. Dance Place’s resident companies did a four-week series at Liberty Station in June. Liberty Station also hosted... Read more »

In more tranquil times before the current pandemic, San Diego music aficionados would have already marked their calendars with the La Jolla Music Society’s (LJMS) music and dance presentations for the 2021-2022 season. Fortunately, today the LJMS announces its exciting new season, with three stellar October offerings launching its varied... Read more »

The return of the Calder Quartet crowned Friday’s opening day of the annual Carlsbad Music Festival. As festival founder and Artistic Director Matt McBane explained to the audience at the pagoda in Magee Park, this now internationally known chamber ensemble performed at the first Carlsbad Music Festival 17 seasons ago.... Read more »

Jennifer Knox. (Photos courtesy of Ken Jacques.)More than 45 years after opening, A Chorus Line is still an influential concept musical with famous songs, choreography and a sense of realism that appeals to audience members. Moonlight Stage Productions excellent presentation of the show features all the elements that made... Read more »

The San Diego Symphony’s all-Beethoven program at The Rady Shell on Friday featured two impressive stars. Making his debut on the San Diego podium, conductor Aram Demirjian, Music Director of the Knoxville Symphony, elicited dramatic, incisive performances from the orchestra, and pianist Joyce Yang, a favorite guest artist with the... Read more »

Thursday’s SummerFest 2021 program at The Conrad brought the long-awaited première of Tamar Muskal’s Facing the Automaton, commissioned by the La Jolla Music Society and performed with virtuoso percussionist Steven Schick as soloist. The most unusual facet of this large concerto-like work for 10 instrumentalists was the inclusion of visual... Read more »