Critical of the Critic
I feel I must write concerning the critique of Mr. Ted Ayala concerning the Saturday (April 27) afternoon concert by The Pasadena Symphony Orchestra [“PSO Ends Season with Tchaikovsky, Borodin and Boyer,” Leisure, May 2]. He must have been out to the restroom or under the influence of the vodka he mentioned in his article!

I am always disgusted when audiences applaud between movements of symphonies and concertos. However, I must admit that I, too, stood and applauded at the end of the first movement of Tschaikowski’s very difficult concerto played by Ms. Chee-Yun. The ovation lasted for several minutes before she could continue with many shouts of “Bravo.” Her performance was superb!

Is Mr. Ayala a musician? Does he play an instrument? Where did he get his talent for making his judgments? Has he ever played the Tschaikowski Violin Concerto which he called “deathless?”

If Mr. Ayala were working for me, I would fire him immediately for his highly erroneous review!

PS – I am a violinist and at one time was a professional musician.

Marilyn F. Adams
Glendale

Promotes Recycling
My name is Julian Martinez and I am currently attending St. Bede School in La Cañada. [Recently,] my class, seventh grade, came up with the idea to recycle within our school and with all the money we will give it to a homeless shelter. Before that, the St. Bede’s Recycling Program had been discontinued for the past five years. Since we have started it back up, I would like to encourage other people in the community to either keep recycling or start because you can get money out of it and it is good for our world.

Julian Martinez
and the class of 2014
St. Bede
La Cañada