Cabrillo Festival Review

My review of the program called "Rose of the Winds" is up at SFCV now.

I had a few thoughts that aren't in the review:

• The hyper-accordion had a small enough part that I couldn't hear it most of the time. Would have been nice to hear it sounding really hyper.
• The kamancheh is a lovely instrument but pretty out of place in a Western orchestra; it would have been completely inaudible without amplification.
• The hyper-accordion player was the composer-performer whose work provided the basis for a recent Golijov commissioned work.
• I wish there had been more helpful printed program notes about I Was a Stranger. 
• I wish the program book were less visually busy.
• The acoustics in the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium are execrable, requiring everything to be amplified just to be audible. Isn't there a college or university in the area that can provide superior performance space??
•  And the bleachers rather dangerous: steep concrete steps of varying heights and no handrails. How long until someone has a serious bad accident on them?