About

Christian Hertzog studied composition privately with George Crumb, Robert Erickson, and Brian Ferneyhough, and attended courses for composers taught by Morton Feldman, Charles Wuorinen, and William Bolcom. He studied piano with Cecil Lytle and Aleck Karis, during which time he gave local and American premieres of works by Crumb, Weill, Yuasa, and John Adams.  He has taught at the University of California, San Diego, Mira Costa College, Mesa College, and National University. He enjoys writing about himself in the third person.

He has been hired by or collaborated with many local performing arts institutions, including the La Jolla Playhouse, SUSHI, Sledgehammer, Isaacs and McCaleb Dance, and City Moves. From 1990-1995 he wrote about music for nearly every San Diego newspaper and magazine, in addition to publication in several professional/academic journals and books that were read by at least 73 people. From 1995-2000 he stopped reviewing in order to devote himself to directing San Diego New Music, the first professional organization in San Diego to dedicate itself exclusively to 20th-century music.

In recent years, he has contributed more than 100 reviews to www.sandiego.com; in 2008 he won 1st prize from the San Diego Press Club in the category of Newspaper/Internet Reviews for this article, which validates the use of the words “fucking” and “shit” in a jazz review.  Currently you may find his trenchant commentary and puerile jokes in the LA Weekly and Sequenza21.

In 2010 he was a fellow at the NEA Arts Journalism Institute in Classical Music and Opera. According to the Google search engine, he created the very first “Yo Momma so lactose-intolerant…” joke.

He plays toy piano and other keyboards and percussion instruments with the Geisel Library Toy Piano Ensemble and with the Teeny Tiny Pit Orchestra. He married the most wonderful woman in San Diego, and she talked him into adopting the worst cat in San Diego, which he considers a karmic draw.