concert review: Cabrillo Festival

My attendance at Menlo was cut off because my editor sent me over the hill to Santa Cruz for the Cabrillo Festival. Two concerts, Saturday and Sunday evening. When I started out on Saturday afternoon, the beach traffic on 17 was so heavy that I gave up and circled back to take the main back road, Hwy 9. It was long, time-consuming, and twisty, but I've taken it many times before so I knew what to expect, and it was not congested, which is the worst part.

(Additional secret of this route: I get off at Felton, because the lower reaches of 9 are narrow and clotted, and take Graham Hill Road instead, which climbs up the hill and then is a straight shot down onto Ocean Street with little congestion or cross-traffic.)

Cabrillo is a two-weekend program, and while the first weekend went fine, rising concerns about covid transmission caused them to decide to eliminate winds and brass, which can't be played masked, from the orchestra for the second weekend, the one I was covering. So: out with 3 of the 5 scheduled works, and in with 5 new ones instead. It's all covered in my review.