Fall arts preview 2018: Top 10 classical music picks this season
Lang Lang performs with the San Diego Symphony on Oct. 4 as it opens its 2018-19 season.
(Robert Ascroft / Sony Classical)
By Beth Wood
Of the many stellar classical-music events coming up this fall, here are 10 standouts.
San Diego Symphony opening concerts
Launching its 2018-2019 season on Oct. 4, the symphony celebrates with piano superstar Lang Lang, back on tour after a sidelining injury. The esteemed Edo de Waart will conduct the concert and the orchestra's following two weekend programs, both featuring pianist Joyce Yang. (And for a special treat, on Oct. 24, St. Petersburg's famed Mariinsky Orchestra plays with the symphony as one combined ensemble). Lang Lang: 8:30 p.m. Oct. 4. $35-$105. Edo de Waart and Joyce Yang: 8 p.m. Oct. 6,7,12,14. $20-$100. Jacobs Music Center's Copley Symphony Hall, 750 B St., downtown. (619) 235-0804. sandiegosymphony.org
ArtPower: Quatuor Van Kuijk
This up-and-coming Paris string quartet, formed in 2012, has won several prestigious competitions and toured internationally. Their UC San Diego ArtPower concert will include works by Ravel and Schubert. 8 p.m. Oct. 5. Conrad Prebys Concert Hall, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla. $9-$54. (858) 534-8497. artpower.ucsd.edu
La Jolla Music Society: Seong-Jin Cho
The rising 24-year-old South Korean pianist returns to La Jolla Music Society's piano series, this time playing Bach, Chopin and Mussorgsky. Cho has been praised for combining technical mastery with unique musical insight. 8 p.m. Oct. 18. The Auditorium at TSRI, 10620 John J. Hopkins Drive, La Jolla. $35-$85. (858) 459-3728. ljms.org
A world premiere, this multimedia chamber opera is a joint effort by UCSD's music department and others. Composer Lei Liang, music director Steven Schick and producer Susan Narucki are among the dynamic collaborators, along with librettist/poet Matt Donovan. The four-person cast is led by acclaimed soprano Narucki, who plays Sarah Winchester, eccentric heiress to the Winchester rifle fortune. 7 p.m. Oct. 24, 26, 27. Conrad Prebys Experimental Theater, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla. $9-$25. (858) 534-8497. musicweb.ucsd.edu/concerts
Sacra/Profana: "RetroX: a retrospective eXperience"
For its 10th anniversary, Sacra/Profana, San Diego's adventurous professional chorus, performs its "greatest hits." Founding Artistic Director Dr. Krishan Oberoi and Artistic Director Juan Carlos Acosta co-conduct. 7:30 p.m. Nov. 2, location TBA; 7:30 p.m. Nov. 3, Water's Edge Faith Community, 1984 Sunset Cliffs Blvd, Point Loma. $10-$35. (619) 566-6584. sacraprofana.org
Art of Élan: "Collective Memories"
Art of Élan's first concert of the season opens with Renaissance madrigals sung by Bach Collegium vocalists. In true Art of Élan fashion, the program travels through eras and genres, including Schubert's "Quartettsatz," a Duke Ellington tribute and "The Consolation of Rain" by noted contemporary composer David Bruce. 7 p.m. Nov. 6. San Diego Museum of Art, 1450 El Prado, Balboa Park. $40-50. (619) 692-2081. artofelan.org
San Diego Master Chorale: "Charpentier & The French Baroque"
Of the San Diego Master Chorale's several fall performances, this foray into early music will be a little more intimate. The chorus partners with the San Diego Baroque Soloists, a group of five accomplished chamber musicians. Conducted by chorale director John Russell, the program includes vocal works by French composer Marc-Antoine Charpentier and French-oriented instrumental sonatas. 7:30 p.m. Nov. 9. St. James by-the-Sea, 743 Prospect St., La Jolla; 7:30 p.m. Nov. 10. All Saint's Episcopal Church, 625 Pennsylvania Ave., Hillcrest. $10-$40. (858) 581-2203. sdmasterchorale.org
Camarada: "Bach, Bebop & Blues"
Dedicated to an eclectic repertoire, Camarada's kick-off concert showcases two jazz greats, pianist Mike Wofford and flutist Holly Hofmann, with a top-notch backing band and Camarada flutist Beth Ross-Buckley and pianist Dana Burnett. Together, they'll put some swing in classical-music gems, adapted by master arranger Wofford. 6:30 p.m. Nov. 11. Museum of Photographic Arts, 1649 El Prado, Balboa Park. $15-$55. (619) 231-3702. camarada.org
La Jolla Symphony & Chorus: "Celebrating Tradition"
La Jolla Symphony & Chorus' second concert of the season will be conducted by Steven Schick and feature its co-concertmaster David Buckley in the Second Violin Concerto of Florence Price, a prolific 1930s-era African-American composer. The symphony also performs its 2018 Thomas Nee Commission by young composer Qingqing Wang and closes the program with Mozart's arrangement of Handel's Messiah. 7:30 p.m. Dec. 8; 2 p.m. Dec. 9. Mandeville Auditorium, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla. $15-35. (858) 534-4637. lajollasymphony.com
It's beginning to sound like …
The holidays come to San Diego in several sonic forms in mid-December. The seasonal romance movie "Love Actually" receives live-orchestra treatment at the symphony's Fox Theatre Film Series. Sacra/Profana presents "Xmas (a holiday concert)" at Christ Lutheran Pacific Beach, while Bach Collegium performs "J.S. Bach: Christmas Oratorio" twice. The San Diego Symphony and San Diego Master Chorale collaborate on four "Noel Noel," performances, while the symphony's Family Concerts series offers a holiday concert, complete with audience sing-along. For times, dates and venues: sandiegosymphony.org; sdmasterchorale.org; sacraprofana.org; bachcollegiumsd.org
Wood is a freelance writer.
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