This weekend you have a chance to experience one of the most powerful choral works ever composed –Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana,” a raucous setting of 24 medieval poems that deal with themes of love, life and fate, with satirical undertones. It will be performed by YOSA – Youth Orchestras of San Antonio – under the direction of music director, Troy …
Reviewed by Steven G. Kellman Like the universe, The Human Scale begins with a big bang. A terrorist bomb is discovered aboard a commercial flight about to depart Jordan’s Queen Alia International Airport bound for JFK. Although the device is removed from the plane, it explodes while being disassembled, killing five security officers. A sixth, FBI agent Anthony Malik, …
The San Antonio Philharmonic’s Classics VI concerts are taking place at the orchestra’s new home, the Scottish Rite Hall downtown. On the program are Mendelssonhn’s “Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage,”Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5 in A major and Gabriela Lena Frank’s “Walkabout: Concerto Orchestra”The concerts will be contacted by Colombian American guest conductor, Lina Gonzalez-Granados, and will feature violinist Blake …
By JASMINA WELLINGHOFF, editor Almost everyone knows the story of “Peter Pan” but Ballet San Antonio is about to present a new ballet version of the old tale. So, we talked to the choreographer, Brian Enos, about the upcoming show that will take over the Tobin Center’s stage for four performances. –What version of the story have you chosen?
Reviewed by Steven G. Kellman During the final months of his life, Johann Sebastian Bach, who died in 1750, became blind. The composer underwent eye surgery, twice, without anesthesia, at the hands of “Chevalier” John Taylor, a self-aggrandizing charlatan who is believed to have blinded hundreds of hapless patients. The procedure is thought to have killed Bach. The …
NEWS ROUNDUP, 2,14,2025 Camerata San Antonio will present its annual Camerata Recital featuring guest violinist Laura Scalzo. She and pianist Viktor Valkov “will team up for a duo performance of their own design,” says the press announcement. This will include music by Coleridge-Taylor, Bartok, Beethoven and Prokofiev.Scalzo is no stranger to San Antonio as she was a member of the …
Q&A with VIOLINIST, ERTAN TORGUL, SOLI Chamber Music Ensemble Interview by JASMINA WELLINGHOFF SOLI Chamber Ensemble was formed in 1994 by our clarinetist Stephanie Key and cellist David Mollenauer, originally to perform Olivier Messiaen’s iconic work Quartet for the End of Time for the instrumentation of clarinet, violin, cello, and piano. The Ensemble, 31 years later, still supports …
“SQUARE FOOT SHOW” at the KAPEJ GALLERYBy Jean Hackett The Square Foot Show which opened at Kapej February 1 is a celebration of colorful creativity and positive energy. Artist Laura Lopez came up with the idea for Kapej, (“coffee” in the Mayan language), five years ago as a gallery to display local art. The cozy spot at 415 Camden also …
San Antonio’s prominent chamber music ensemble – SOLI– will be presenting two concerts, “showcases” resulting from the 30x30x30 project, launched to celebrate the ensemble’s 30th anniversary and identify the talents and diversity of today’s emerging composers. The ensemble has been giving voice to 20th and 21st-century contemporary chamber music since 1994, ensuring the future of new music, created by living …
Reviewed by STEVEN G. KELLMAN In his 2004 essay “Consider the Lobster,” novelist David Foster Wallace asks readers to ponder whether lobster, a culinary delicacy routinely boiled alive, merits moral consideration. Do crustaceans feel pain, or are they merely insensate objects that a voracious gourmet need not fret about? If we start to consider the lobster, what about pigs, dolphins, …
