I should have known I would catch it, but I’d gone several straight years without having one, so I guess I’d forgotten how common they are.  I’m talking about a good old fashioned winter cold.  You know the type, because as sure as you’re able to read this sentence, you’ve had your share of them. […]

When he appeared in April, 2013, with the San Francisco Symphony at the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts (on the campus of U.C. Davis), we remarked that Austin Hadelich “showed a command of his instrument that clearly indicates he needs to get more exposure with the great orchestras of the world.”  In the less […]

In the immediate aftermath of the Paris terrorist attack and a none-too-veiled threat from ISIS that New York City would be the next target, clear signs of added security were in abundance last week.  Subway stations were heavily guarded, police officers were ubiquitous, and airports were staffed with extra TSA personnel. In the meantime, however, […]

The Sacramento Philharmonic, now fully resuscitated, as its recent symphonic concerts have clearly established (in recent months Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony and Tchaikovsky’s 4th were wonderfully delivered under the baton of Andrew Grams), offered its first “pops” concert last weekend.  Pops concerts by symphonic orchestras gained appeal in the 1960s and ‘70s when Arthur Fiedler (then […]