“Jeffrey Kahane played in the Los Angeles rock bands American Revelation, Brandy Wine and Wilderness as a teenager, before becoming one of the classical-music world’s leading pianists and conductors,” writes George Varga in Wednesday’s (4/11) San Diego Union Tribune. “Kahane also cites the groundbreaking music of Joni Mitchell as an enduring inspiration…. But when Kahane performs here with the San Diego Symphony on Friday and Sunday … his repertoire will feature Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 27 in B-flat Major and pieces by Samuel Barber and Robert Schumann—not Mitchell’s ‘Woodstock.’ … Kahane last year concluded a record-setting 20-year run as the pianist and music director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, helping to expand its annual audience by a significant amount. He also had a memorable tenure as music director of the Colorado Symphony, during which time he commissioned a mandolin concerto by … Chris Thile. And during Kahane’s decade leading the Santa Rosa Symphony, season ticket subscriptions tripled and attendance for his pre-concert lectures grew from 50 or 75 people to as many as 700. What’s his secret? ‘I never talked down or pandered to the audience,’ he replied. ‘I think we tapped into a hunger for knowledge.’ ”
Posted April 12, 2018
