Ron Bierman has performed on saxophone and flute in several college and other orchestras. He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where his studies included music theory as taught by Swiss pianist and composer Ernst Levy. His published work includes reviews of recordings, books, plays, films and live music performances for web sites and newspapers. He has an extensive library of books about music and over three thousand CDs. Now living in San Diego with his wife, he was the President of Advocates for Classical Music for more than 15 years, an organization which worked with local symphony orchestras to introduce more than 200,000 young students to the pleasures of classical music. He and his wife enjoy visiting classrooms with CDs and instruments in hand.
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First Show:
Louis Armstrong's sextetFavorite Show:
The Music ManFavorite Stories:
- BWW Interview: Frederica Von Stade of at San Diego Opera - Mezzo Soprano Frederica von Stade was the first widely recognized opera singer I ever interviewed and a pleasure to interview, pretty much the opposite of the stereotypical image of a "Diva." I was surprised to learn that the women who sang for five Presidents loved jazz while growing up, saw all the great Broadway shows and stood outside Manhattan's Metropole Cafe listening to Dizzy Gillespie when she was too young to go in.
- BWW Feature: SAN DIEGO'S CLASSICAL MUSIC SCENE - When I first came to San Diego more than 25 years ago, the theater scene was thriving, but classical music performances were few and well below the quality I expected in a city of San Diego's size. Today the picture is dramatically different. There are far more performances and their musicianship has yet to be recognized outside of the area. This feature explains why.
- BWW Review: SAN DIEGO SYMPHONY PRESENTS JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER ORCHESTRA WITH CHICK COREA at San Diego Jacobs Music Center -
- BWW Review: DR. JOHN IN SAN DIEGO at Embarcadero Marina - Jazz and classical music were my favorites when I was growing up. I still love listening to both Thelonius Monk and Leonard Bernstein. Dr. John, one of the most successful of New Orleans' many jazz musicians, was visibly ailing as he came to the stage and died not long after performing. Once he sat at the piano, he seemed 30 years younger, voice still a strange raspy pleasure and piano playing as good as any in the New Orleans style.
- BWW Review: THE FOUR TOPS AND THE TEMPTATIONS at the San Diego Symphony's Bayside Summer Nights -
BWW Interview: CEO of the San Diego Symphony Martha Gilmer, Part 2
July 12, 2017
July 12, 2017
As described in part one of the interview, Martha Gilmer works hard to expand San Diego Symphony audiences. That makes the summer program another priority. 'It's more ambitious than ever. We've really invested in it this year. And the results are spectacular. We already have advanced sales greater than those of past seasons.' Visiting artists include Leslie Odom Junior, Tony Bennett and Herb Alpert. There will also be a special program devoted to Broadway. Gilmer said Rob Fisher, 'Has created a program for San Diego, dedicated to the work of Bock and Harnik. Rob and I share a passion for little known musicals, but, of course, the second half will be Fiddler on the Roof.' Music director, conductor, and arranger Fisher's credits include Chicago, the recent revival of An American in Paris and many other successful productions.
BWW Interview: Martha Gilmer, San Diego Symphony CEO
July 1, 2017
July 1, 2017
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is often cited as the best in the U. S. and one of the top five in the world. Martha Gilmer started there as an intern. Thirty-five years later she left the number two spot, vice president of artistic planning and audience development, to become CEO of the San Diego Symphony. We spoke about that, and much besides, at her office in the Jacobs Music Center. 'It wasn't that I really wanted to leave. It was an interesting opportunity to take what I'd learned there and apply it to a different orchestra. And I had never been a CEO. I'd always been in a sort of number two position, and so this gave me an opportunity to test myself in a new role ... San Diego intrigued me for a number of reasons.' She knew music director Jahja Ling had an excellent reputation, and was impressed when she heard the orchestr
BWW Review: MAINLY MOZART FESTIVAL at Balboa Theatre
June 20, 2017
June 20, 2017
“Mozart in a party mood,” conductor Michael Francis announced as he introduced the composer's Contra Dances to begin the concert. And the same party mood prevailed throughout much of the evening. The first and third movements of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No.1 owe a lot to the most spirited of Mozart's concertos; Mozart's Symphony in D Major, K. 204 (213a), was written while he was still heavily influenced by the easy-listening gallant style of the Manheim School; and Prokofiev's first symphony, which concluded the concert with a burst of youthful energy, is a tuneful delight written, with tongue in cheek, in the style of Haydn.
BWW Review: MAINLY MOZART FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA at The Balboa Theatre
June 12, 2017
June 12, 2017
William Preucil has been the Mainly Mozart Festival Orchestra's concertmaster since its first performance in 1989. He's also the concertmaster of the Cleveland Orchestra, so you might guess he and his Festival Orchestra cohorts are an impressive collection of musicians. You'd be more right than you probably suspect. The symphony orchestras of Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, and Philadelphia are among those that have contributed 26 principals, and 11 additional concertmasters to this year's concert-schedule roster! It's an all-star group. If you don't live in San Diego, you might want to plan a vacation here to coincide with the orchestra's brief season. This year's festival began on June 2nd and extends through June 25th.
BWW Review: Maestro Ling Bids Farewell in Moving Final Performance as Music Director of San Diego Symphony
May 28, 2017
May 28, 2017
The improvement during Jahja Ling's 13-year tenure as conductor and music director has been extraordinary. Friday's performance of the last program before his retirement confirmed that with an exclamation point. In a 2016 interview by Beth Wood, Ling said this about his 2017 concerts, 'I chose pieces I feel very deeply in my heart … I want my last season to show my love for the people.' In a 2016 interview by Beth Wood, Ling said this about his 2017 concerts, 'I chose pieces I feel very deeply in my heart … I want my last season to show my love for the people.' In a 2016 interview by Beth Wood, Ling said this about his 2017 concerts, 'I chose pieces I feel very deeply in my heart … I want my last season to show my love for the people.'
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