2020 year in review: San Diego’s best concerts (pre- and post-pandemic): From clubs and theaters to drive-in parking lot gigs

George Varga, San Diego Union-Tribune, 27th December 2020

“Mainly Mozart paved the way for drive-in classical music concerts, presenting 19 of them (and one jazz performance by sax great Charles McPherson) at the Del Mar Fairgrounds between July and October. The culminating October concerts featured the 34-piece Mainly Mozart Festival Orchestra…

Five favorite 2020 classical concerts
1. Anne-Marie McDermott and the Mainly Mozart Festival Orchestra, conducted by Michael Francis, Oct. 22, Del Mar Fairgrounds parking lot

2. Emanuel Ax and the San Diego Symphony, conducted by Edo de Waart, Jan. 11, Copley Symphony Hall

3. San Diego Opera’s “La bohème,” with the San Diego Symphony, conducted by Rafael Payare, Oct. 24, Pechanga Arena San Diego parking lot

4. Bodhi Tree’s “The Long Dark Shadow,” featuring The Martin Luther King Jr. Community Choir San Diego, Feb. 22, St. James by-the-Sea Episcopal Church

5. Black String, Feb. 26, Price Center Ballroom East, UC San Diego”