San Diego, CA
Mainly Mozart soloist Erin Hannigan a standout on oboe and with animals
Last month, Erin Hannigan was preparing for her last two performances as Dallas Symphony’s principal oboist before joining the faculty at the prestigious Shepherd School of Music at Rice University in Houston.
Before making the life-changing leap, Hannigan took time to discuss her big move, love of the oboe, reed-making, support of rescue animals and her longtime affiliation with San Diego’s Mainly Mozart.
She will be one of the 70 top musicians to perform at Mainly Mozart’s All-Star Orchestra Festival beginning Wednesday and concluding June 28. Four festival concerts will take place at the Baker-Baum Concert Hall at the Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center in La Jolla. The other two will be at UC San Diego’s Epstein Family Amphitheater.
Hannigan played seven times, from 1999 to 2007, with Mainly Mozart at its original home, downtown’s Balboa Theatre.
“I started performing with them again at the outdoor concerts the festival had smartly reconfigured for COVID,” she said, speaking from her Dallas home.
“I’ve liked watching how the organization has evolved. It wasn’t easy navigating all that and Mainly Mozart really did it well. And Michael Francis is just the perfect conductor for this orchestra. He’s excellent professionally, but he’s also very personable. Michael creates such a connection with the audience.”
Francis, in turn, calls Hannigan “a wonderful musician.” He expressed delight that she will share first and second oboe roles at the festival with Frank Rosenwein, Cleveland Orchestra’s principal oboe.
“It’s really charming,” Francis said. “They’re good friends.”
Hannigan believes that cooperative spirit is inherent to the festival.
“The number one thing to know about Mainly Mozart is it’s an amazing gathering of incredible musicians, but with no ego,” she said. “We just work out our assignments and have a good time. That egoless thing really adds to it all. The audience can tell we’re up there having fun.”
`Wonderful musical camaraderie’
This year, Mainly Mozart’s Francis is featuring more orchestra veterans as soloists than in other years. Wednesday’s opening night at the Baker-Baum will feature six concertmasters playing solos in Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons and Piazzolla’s The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires.
On Friday, two Mainly Mozart mainstays, clarinetist Boris Allakhverdyan and bassoonist Whitney Crockett, will be in the spotlight performing Strauss’s Duet Concertino.
In another unusual touch, the festival is highlighting the work of a contemporary composer. British violinist Noah Bendix-Balgley will perform his own “A Klezmer Concerto” with the orchestra on June 26.
On June 28 at the Epstein, Bendix-Balgley will join acclaimed pianist Joyce Yang and Robert DeMaine, principal cello of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, for Beethoven’s Triple Concerto. Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 will close the festival that night.
“This year’s festival has a great balance,” Francis said. “It’s a terrific opportunity for our audience to hear familiar composers alongside slightly unfamiliar repertoire.
“I know that the musicians are excited because there will be so many solos. They always bring their best. It’s going to be a wonderful musical camaraderie.”
The Epstein now has more food and seating options for picnickers, noted Nancy Laturno, Mainly Mozart’s CEO. Attendees can buy food or bring their own.
“Before the concert, you can mingle,” Laturno said. “You can have appetizers, wine and other beverages, and then sit down — either on our patio furniture, the Adirondack chairs or a blanket on the grass — and watch the concert from the area where you just had your party.”
Artists for Animals
Joining in the camaraderie on stage, Hannigan will be a soloist in the Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 on June 24 at The Conrad.
When the oboist, a native of Mt. Gretna, Penn., makes the move to Houston, she’ll be accompanied by her husband of six years, Fred Tuomi, Gabby, her Siamese cat, and dog, Jophiel.
During her time with the Dallas Symphony, Hannigan co-founded Artists for Animals, which supports nonprofit animal rescue organizations. The group presents Concerts for Kindness, which has raised over $450,000 for rescue organizations.
“The money we bring in all goes directly to the animals,” said Hannigan, who has fostered 156 dogs. “I hope to transfer this wonderful project to Houston, once I get the lay of the land. Rice University is very interested in community engagement. I’m sure I’ll find a landing spot for Artists for Animals.”
When Hannigan practices the oboe, Jophiel runs the other way. But Gabby will sit for hours while the oboist practices and makes reeds for her instrument. She calculated that she has made 8,000 to 10,000 reeds over the course of a career that began when she joined the Rochester Philharmonic in 1994.
“If you don’t make them yourself, you can end up playing on a setup of oboe and reed that makes it very hard to put your air through,” she said. “The reed needs to be properly balanced.”
Why the oboe, which she has played since the age of 7?
“The sound is incredibly expressive,” Hannigan explained. “Some of the most beautiful solos in the orchestral repertoire were written for the oboe.”
While teaching at Rice University, she will also be a guest as a soloist and principal for orchestras around the country.
But before embarking on that adventure, Hannigan will be spending two weeks here with Mainly Mozart. Her husband, a former Rancho Santa Fe resident with family in North County, is coming, too.
“I’ve gotten to know San Diego through Mainly Mozart,” Hannigan said. “In the early years, I got to know downtown San Diego, and — these days — La Jolla. Now it’s also family time. Fred spends time with his family, and I join whenever I can.
“It’s a lovely time to visit both San Diego family and the musicians and friends I don’t see other than at Mainly Mozart.”
Mainly Mozart All-Star Orchestra Festival 2025 Schedule
When: All concerts begin at 7 p.m. Each performance lasts 75-90 minutes. Concerts at the Baker-Baum Concert Hall will have a 15-minute intermission.
Where: Epstein Family Amphitheater at UC San Diego, 9480 Innovation Lane, La Jolla; The Baker-Baum Concert Hall, Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center, 7600 Fay Ave., La Jolla.
SCHEDULE
Wednesday, June 18: Mozart’s Serenade in C Major, Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons and Piazzola’s The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires. Baker-Baum Concert Hall
Friday, June 20: Mozart’s Serenade No. 6 “Serenata Notturna,” Strauss’ Duet Concertino for Clarinet and Bassoon featuring Boris Allakhverdyan and Whitney Crockett, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2 in D Major. Baker-Baum Concert Hall
Saturday, June 21: Elgar’s Introduction and Allegro, Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 in G minor and Saint-Saëns’ Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor featuring pianist Joyce Yang. Epstein Family Amphitheater
Tuesday, June 24: Stravinsky’s Concerto in E-flat, Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos No. 2 and No. 5, and Mozart’s Symphony No. 35 in D Major. Baker-Baum Concert Hall
Thursday, June 26: Mozart’s Overture to Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio), Bendix-Balgley’s A Klezmer Concerto featuring composer and violinist Noah Bendix-Balgley, and Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 5 in D Major “Reformation.” Baker-Baum Concert Hall
Saturday, June 28: Mozart’s Overture to Così, Beethoven’s Triple Concerto in C Major, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 in A Major. Epstein Family Amphitheater
Tickets: Single tickets for Epstein Family Amphitheater concerts range from $25 to $149. Single tickets for Baker-Baum Concert Hall performances range from $65 to $149. Subscription packages are also available.
Info: 619-239-0100
Online: mainlymozart.org
The Jewish community in Southern California is sharing their fears and hopes following the weekend’s strikes on Iran and retaliatory attacks on Israel, U.S. military bases and other targets in the Middle East.
The exchange of missiles in the Middle East is having a devasting effect on Iran’s defense capability, but retaliatory strikes in the region are taking a toll.
“Weapons of enormous capacity that are targeting civilian areas,” said Elan Carr, CEO of Los Angeles-based Israeli American Council.
Carr says toppling the Iranian regime, taking out its nuclear capabilities and freeing the Iranian people from this oppressive rule should have been done decades ago.
“This is about seeing the most evil regime, the world chief state sponsored terrorism to no longer have the ability to do what it’s been doing,” Carr said.
Sara Brown, regional director of the American Jewish Committee, said the U.S. and Israel are concentrating strikes on Iran’s missile sites and military industrial complex. Iran’s retaliatory strikes are focused on many civilian targets.
“We are hearing from our partners from around the region, who are terrified,” Brown said. “Across the Middle East right now, I think there is a tremendous amount of fear, but also hope and also resolve.”
AJC is the advocacy arm for Jewish people globally. Many members and partner groups are in harm’s way. Brown says the risk is great, but the potential reward is world changing.
“That Iranian people will get to choose leadership for themselves, that we will finally see a pathway forward for peace across the Middle East,” Brown said.
If wars of the past hadn’t produced lasting peace, then why now? Carr says Iran’s nuclear capabilities are destroyed and Iran’s military and proxies are weakened after Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 Hamas ambush.
“No more terrorist network throughout the Middle East. Think of what that could mean. Think of the normalization we could see,” Carr said.
President Donald Trump expects fighting to last several weeks. Some critics are concerned about a drawn-out conflict that could spread.
Carr is not convinced.
“Who is going to enter a war against the U.S. and Israel? Russia is plenty busy. China has no interest in jeopardizing itself this way,” Carr said.
Besides the six Americans killed as of Monday night, government officials say 11 people were killed in retaliatory strikes in Israel.
San Diego — Before we see elephants at Elephant Valley in the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, we come face to face with destruction, only the wreckage is beautiful. A long, winding path takes guests around and under felled trees. Aged gray tree hunks form arches, for instance, over bridges that tower over clay-colored paths with hoof prints.
The design is meant to reorient us, to take us on a trail walked not by humans but traversed and carved by elephants, a creature still misunderstood, vilified and hunted for its cataclysmic-like ability to reshape land, and sometimes communities.
“It starts,” says Kristi Burtis, vice president of wildlife care for the Safari Park, “by telling the story that elephants are ecosystem engineers.”
Elephant Valley will open March 5 as the newest experience at the Escondido park, its aim to bring guests closer than ever to the zoo’s eight elephants, which range in age from 7 to 36, while more heavily focusing on conservation. The centerpiece of the 13-acre-plus parkland is a curved bridge overlooking a savanna, allowing elephants to walk under guests. But there are also nooks such as a cave that, while not previewed at a recent media event, will allow visitors to view elephants on their level.
In a shift from, say, the Safari Park’s popular tram tour, there are no fences and visible enclosures. Captive elephants remain a sometimes controversial topic, and the zoo’s herd is a mix of rescues and births, but the goal was to create a space where humans are at once removed and don’t impede on the relative free-roaming ability of the animals by keeping guests largely elevated. As an example of just how close people can get to the herd, there was a moment of levity at the event when one of the elephants began flinging what was believed to be a mixture of dirt and feces up onto the bridge.
“Our guests are going to be able to see the hairs on an elephant,” Burtis says. “They can see their eyes. They can see the eyelashes. They can see how muscular their trunks are. It’s really going to be a different experience.”
Elephant Valley, complete with a multistory lodge with open-air restaurants and bars, boasts a natural design that isn’t influenced by the elephant’s African home so much as it is in conversation with it. The goal isn’t to displace us, but to import communal artistry — Kenyan wood and beadwork can be found in the pathways, resting spaces and more — as a show of admiration rather than imitation.
“We’re not going to pretend that we’re taking people to Africa,” says Fri Forjindam, now a creative executive with Universal’s theme parks but previously a lead designer on Elephant Valley via her role as a chief development officer at Mycotoo, a Pasadena-based experiential design firm.
“That is a slippery slope of theming that can go wrong really fast,” she adds. “How do we recognize where we are right now, which is near San Diego? How do we populate this plane with plants that are indigenous to the region? The story of coexistence is important. We’re not extracting from Africa, we’re learning. We’re not extracting from elephants, we’re sharing information.”
But designing a space that is elephant-first yet also built for humans presented multiple challenges, especially when the collaborating teams were aiming to construct multiple narratives around the animals. Since meetings about Elephant Valley began around 2019, the staff worked to touch on themes related to migration and conservation. And there was also a desire to personalize the elephants.
“Where can we also highlight each of the elephants by name, so they aren’t just this huge herd of random gray creatures?” Forjindam says. “You see that in the lodge.”
That lodge, the Mkutano House — a phrase that means “gathering” in Swahili — should provide opportunities for guests to linger, although zoo representatives say reservations are recommended for those who wish to dine in the space (there will also be a walk-up, to-go window). Menus have yet to be released, but the ground floor of the structure, boasting hut-like roofing designed to blend into the environment, features close views of the elephant grazing pool as well as an indoor space with a centerpiece tree beneath constellation-like lighting to mimic sunrises and sunsets.
Throughout there are animal wood carvings and beadwork, the latter often hung from sculptures made of tree branches. The ceiling, outfitted with colorful, cloth tapestries designed to move with the wind, aims to create less friction between indoor and outdoor environments.
There are, of course, research and educational goals of the space as well. The Safari Park works, for instance, with the Northern Rangelands Trust and Loisaba Conservancy in Kenya, with an emphasis on studying human-elephant conflict and finding no-kill resolutions. Nonprofits and conservation groups estimate that there are today around 415,000 elephants in Africa, and the African savanna elephant is listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Studies of the zoo’s young elephants is shared with the Reteti Elephant Sanctuary in the hopes of delivering care to elephant youth to prevent orphanage. Additionally, the Safari Park has done extensive examination into the endotheliotropic herpes virus. “The data that we collect from elephants here, you can’t simply get from elephants in the wild,” Burtis says.
One of the two entrances to Elephant Valley is outfitted with bee boxes; bees are known to be a natural elephant deterrent and can help in preventing the animals from disrupting crops or communities. To encourage more natural behavior, the plane is outfitted with timed feeders in an attempt to encourage movement throughout the acreage and establish a level of real-life unpredictability in hunting for resources. Water areas have been redesigned with ramps and steps to make it easier for the elephants to navigate.
With Elephant Valley, Forjindam says the goal was to allow visitors to “observe safely in luxury — whatever that is — but not from a position of power, more as a cohabitor of the Earth, with as much natural elements as possible. It’s not to impose dominance. Ultimately, it needed to feel natural. It couldn’t feel like a man-made structure, which is an antiquated approach to any sort of safari experience where animals are the product, a prize. In this experience, this is the elephant’s home.”
And the resulting feel of Elephant Valley is that we, the paying customers, are simply their house guests.
A man in the Mission Bay Park community of San Diego was fatally struck Sunday morning by a hit-and run vehicle, authorities said.
The victim was also struck by a second vehicle and that motorist stayed at the scene to cooperate with officers, the San Diego Police Department reported.
The initial crash occurred at about 2:20 a.m. Sunday in the area of West Mission Bay and Sea World drives.
The pedestrian was in the southbound lanes of the 2000 block of West Mission Bay Drive when he was struck by a silver vehicle also in the southbound lanes. That vehicle fled the scene, continuing southbound, police said.
A 28-year-old man driving his vehicle southbound ran over the downed pedestrian.
“That driver remained at the scene and is not DUI,” according to a police statement. “The pedestrian was pronounced deceased at the scene.”
Anyone with information regarding the initial crash was urged to call Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477.
For filmmaker Chloé Zhao, creative life was never linear
Apple’s website leaks MacBook ‘Neo,’ which could be its new cheaper laptop
Ambassador Huckabee describes ‘best option’ for Americans looking to flee Israel
Fraud-plagued Minnesota sues Trump admin for withholding $243M in Medicaid payments
Seniors over 80 who eat specific diet may be less likely to reach 100 years old
Florida High School Football Rankings: Top 25 teams – Oct. 21
Cleary's 21 help Le Moyne down Central Connecticut State 69-64 in OT
How old is Bo Nix? What to know about Oregon quarterback ahead of 2024 NFL Draft
99th annual Pony Swim held in Virginia
Indiana Members Credit Union announced as new anchor tenant at Bottleworks District
Fraud-plagued Minnesota sues Trump admin for withholding $243M in Medicaid payments
Is Iran expanding attacks to target energy and civilian sites in the Gulf?
Trump claims US stockpiles mean wars can be fought ‘forever’; Kristi Noem testifies before Congress – US politics live
War in the Middle East: Iran’s broad retaliation in the Gulf • FRANCE 24 English
Trump sends official notification to Congress on strikes against Iran
-
World6 days agoExclusive: DeepSeek withholds latest AI model from US chipmakers including Nvidia, sources say
-
Massachusetts6 days agoMother and daughter injured in Taunton house explosion
-
Denver, CO6 days ago10 acres charred, 5 injured in Thornton grass fire, evacuation orders lifted
-
Louisiana1 week agoWildfire near Gum Swamp Road in Livingston Parish now under control; more than 200 acres burned
-
Oregon4 days ago2026 OSAA Oregon Wrestling State Championship Results And Brackets – FloWrestling
-
Technology1 week agoArturia’s FX Collection 6 adds two new effects and a $99 intro version
-
Florida2 days agoFlorida man rescued after being stuck in shoulder-deep mud for days
-
News1 week agoVideo: How Lunar New Year Traditions Take Root Across America