By Johnny McDonald

Music through the years

The distinctive sounds from a keyboard instrument noted from the Baroque musical period will be heard on April 16 at the Museum of Art as an entertainment feature of its Centennial Art of Music monthly series.

The music will come from the harpsichordist artistry of Takae Ohnishi, a chamber musician and continuo player who will present a concert of early Baroque music, paired with contemporary compositions from Asia.

Reputation coordinator Austin Henson remarked that “Classics Today” described Ohnishi’s performance as “masterful,” and praised its “vitality and impressively differentiated articulation.”

The Art of Music concert series, curated by Jann Pasler, professor of music at UC San Diego, is described as a versatile intersection between music and art. The series will continue throughout the year on the third Thursday of each month.

“As for the actual music within the Museum, these performances are specific to certain galleries, so it won’t be piped around the whole building,” Henson said.

Ohnishi has been the principal harpsichordist at Atlantic Symphony Orchestra, as well as being a soloist with the Berlin Philharmonic Scharoun Ensemble, Gardner Chamber Orchestra, and continuo player with Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, and Bach Collegium San Diego. She has performed at the Boston Early Music Festival, the American Academy in Rome, and took part in the complete Brandenburg Concertos at the Gardner Museum directed by Paula Robison.

As a performer of contemporary music, Ms. Ohnishi appeared as a guest artist at the Summer Institute for Contemporary Piano Performance held at the New England Conservatory of Music.

Ohnishi graduated from Toho Gakuen School of Music, and holds a master’s degree in music from the New England Conservatory of Music and a Doctorate of Musical Arts from Stony Brook University.

Since 2007, Ms. Ohnishi has been Lecturer of Harpsichord and Baroque Chamber Music at UCSD.

Tending to 90 car clubs 

Once a month officials of the San Diego Association of Car Clubs conduct meetings at the San Diego Auto Museum to determine show dates, handle insurance needs and tend to a host of other details for the county’s 90 car clubs. Although board members are there for a formal session, the room can fill with visitors.

“Anybody who wants to attend can,” said Steve Lordigyan, president of the SDACC. “The first Tuesday of the month we field all sorts of questions. They want to know about joining a club, how to prepare a car and meet the specs. We have even had people seeking a job or a shop owner announcing a grand opening. We’re there to help them.”

Lordigyan, who lives in Ramona, keeps a busy schedule himself, as a show promoter in Pacific Beach, at Belmont Park and 25 times a year on the main street in El Cajon. His East County shows begin April 22 and continue each Wednesday night through September.

Elsewhere in the Park — The Old Globe will celebrate its 80th anniversary as part of the Centennial Celebration with its full roster of regular season plays and a summer season featuring Shakespeare on stage and in film. … On another musical note, Berkley Hart Selis Twang will perform April 17 in another Rock in the Park musical series at the Fleet Science Center. Eve Selis and Marc Twang will join folk circuit mainstays Berkley Hart to merge their instrumental, vocal and writing skills to create an album full of memorable songs from the easy lilt of West Coast country-rock to bluegrass-styled Appalachia.

—After an award-winning, 38-year sports-writing career with the San Diego Union and authoring three books, Johnny McDonald now considers writing a hobby. You can reach him at [email protected].