What The Critics Say

In 1988, Times reviewer Terry McQuilkin wrote that Mozart Camerata music director Ami Porat “seems to have difficulty maintaining a steady tempo.” This spring, reviewer Richard S. Ginell credited him with leading an “impeccably smooth ensemble.” An Orange County Register review in February summarized the group’s performances as having “moments of excellence and moments of incoherence.”

South Coast Symphony founder John Larry Granger also has been faulted by The Times for “awkward conducting habits” but praised for helping his group achieve “the kind of refinement that comes only with the best musician-conductor relationships.” A Register critic wrote in 1988 that when the group gets “down to business . . . (it) is one of the best orchestras in Orange County.” Yet last year, another Register reviewer complained that with South Coast Symphony, “dedication to excellence remains a slogan rather than a reality.”

Micah Levy, music director of the Orange County Chamber Orchestra, has been commended for imaginative programming and criticized for tentative interpretations of scores. In 1988, a Register reviewer called Levy’s conducting “plodding.”

Carolyn Broe’s Orange County Four Seasons Orchestra hasn’t been around long enough to build a critical reputation but after two concerts, comments about the group by Susan Bliss, writing for The Times, ranged from wet-behind-the-ears to rough-around-the-edges. “Far below professional standards” was the Register’s verdict.