“The La Jolla Symphony & Chorus launched its 63rd season—and its 50th year of affiliation with UC San Diego’s Music Department—Saturday evening,” writes Marcus Overton in Sunday’s (11/5) San Diego Union Tribune. “Thoughtful juxtapositions of old and new brought out surprising freshness in music we think we know well … led by master percussionist-cum-conductor and music director Steven Schick. This season’s … six programs … are loosely grouped under a one-word theme: vectors.” For Saturday’s program, in addition to Gershwin’s An American in Paris and Rhapsody in Blue, with “UCSD music professor Cecil Lytle [as] piano soloist … Schick commissioned three new works for this concert from Asher Tobin Chodos…. His ‘Concertino for Two Pianos and Orchestra’ received its world premiere, with Lytle and the composer as soloists…. Two other commissioned [Chodos] works [were] re-thinkings of the Ellington classics ‘Mood Indigo’ and ‘Solitude.’ … Trumpeter Stephanie Richards and oboist Carol Rothrock joined the orchestra for Aaron Copland’s ‘Quiet City.’ … The orchestra’s string sections shimmered with its aching urgency. The evening opened with the announcement that the symphony’s fund-raising efforts have met and exceeded its $1.5 million endowment fund goal.”
Posted November 7, 2017
