Dan Leeson

Dan Leeson is a retired businessman, a former member of the now defunct San Jose Symphony, and a historical musicologist with some 50 publications in major journals and four books on Mozart, including the novel The Mozart Forgeries.

Articles By This Author

Hail to Haydn

Dan Leeson - January 20, 2009
The beautifully restored California Theatre in San José — thanks to the generosity of David Packard — was the site for Symphony Silicon Valley’s fourth of eight programs in its 2008-2009 season. Sunday's was a brilliantly performed program, but one of such mixed styles, content, and format as to raise eyebrows. The opening work, using a reduced orchestra of 40 players, was the Haydn Symphony No.

Never Too Young

Dan Leeson - January 13, 2009
Sunday night, San José's Le Petit Trianon welcomed the San José Chamber Orchestra in a concert refreshingly titled "Ah, Youth!" The program consisted of music both composed and played by youthful talent, and it traveled a bumpy road from the 14-year-old Felix Mendelssohn to the unrelenting dissonances of the 29-year-old Harlan Otter.
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Review

Brubeck's Devotions' and Brahms' Lovesongs

Dan Leeson - December 16, 2008

To say that the Pacific Mozart Ensemble concerts are eclectic is a serious understatement. Having researched a few of their previous programs, I can’t think of a single San Francisco group — and very few elsewhere — that display this much variety, creativity, and invention in programming. Certainly, their December 18 concert in the Green Room at the Veterans War Memorial Building, and titled “Brubeck and Brahms: Canticles and Love Songs” fit this mold.