Two Upcoming Performances You Shouldn’t Miss

A couple of things are coming up I wanted to make sure are on your radar.

There’s a music festival this weekend in Carlsbad with a surprisingly cool line-up that CityBeat and the Union-Tribune each paid some attention. (Yes, in beachy Carlsbad. The U-T’s Jim Chute registered his surprise at that locale.)

My Brightest Diamond, the festival’s headlining band on Saturday night, played at the Casbah a few years ago and lead singer Shara Worden’s performance was mesmerizing. One of the best shows I’ve seen in San Diego.

For this show the band is joined by the Calder Quartet, a superstar string quartet from Los Angeles that is the resident ensemble for the festival. The quartet posted a Twitter message today that they were rehearsing with My Brightest Diamond this afternoon.

I can’t go Saturday, but please leave a comment if you do and tell us what you think. I’m hoping to make it to Calder’s performance on Sunday, when they’ll play a new string quartet by British composer Thomas Adès.

Here’s a video of the quartet to whet your appetite:

And here’s the other thing. In a story in this week’s CityBeat, Peter Holslin draws a map of the upcoming season for local favorites Art of Élan, the chamber group that mixes contemporary classical works together in short programs and invites people who’d otherwise never attend a “classical music” event.

Here’s co-founder Kate Hatmaker, who plays violin in the San Diego Symphony:

“We really are trying to get people to listen to classical music as music, and not ‘classical music,’” Hatmaker says. “Who doesn’t love music?”

We highlighted the group’s perch at the intersection of classical and cool in our Meeting of the Minds event in June; presenter Evan Schumacher said he surprised himself by bringing his friends to the concerts.

You can watch his presentation below:

The first Art of Élan concert of the season is Oct. 11.

I’m Kelly Bennett, the arts editor for VOSD. You can reach me directly at kelly.bennett@voiceofsandiego.org or 619.325.0531.

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