Garrett Harris, San Diego Reader, 20th June 2017
“Pianist Jorge Federico Osorio all but disappeared while playing the Beethoven. The level of his technique and musicianship removed all barriers between us and the ambitious young Beethoven. Nay, his abilities removed all barriers between us and the divine muse which whispered into Beethoven’s ear and compelled his pen to toil for our benefit.
The same can be said of Maestro Francis and the orchestra, and nowhere has that been more evident so far this season than in Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 1: Classical. Un-be-liev-able.
There is no way on God’s green earth that that performance of Prokofiev actually existed. I mean I was there in the Balboa Theater, but at the same time I was somewhere else on a Platonic plane of pure potential.
Perhaps you’ve heard the idea that a chair is not a chair because of its temporary nature. What we call a chair is actually not a noun but a verb. So the universe or matter is “chairing”, a tree is “treeing” and a table is “tabling” etc. This concept has become a part of quantum physics, but Plato and his forms gave us an ancient access to this modern concept.
On Saturday night there were no musicians or audience. The universe was simply Prokofiev-ing and that was brought on by the extraordinary ability of the musicians on the stage.”
