DAVE MUSTAINE Is 'The Most Talented, Incredible Human Being,' Says San Diego Opera's ANN SPIRA CAMPBELL

Ken-David Masur, Grammy-nominated producer and associate conductor of the San Diego Symphony, and Ann Spira Campbell, deputy general director of the San Diego Opera, spoke to the Valley News about "Symphony Interrupted", the upcoming classical concert featuring MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine and the San Diego Symphony. The event will see Mustaine perform Richard Wagner's "Ride Of The Valkyries" with the orchestra, as well as solos of Vivaldi's concertos from "The Four Seasons", plus Bach's classic "Air".

"This is a completely different kind of concept and experience that is basically being pioneered by this collaboration," said Masur.

"We will perform the 'Roman Carnival' overture by Berlioz to set [Mustaine] up as a soloist, and he will come out like all the other great soloists in the world come up on stage, and then we will perform Vivaldi's 'Four Seasons'," he said.

"When I met Dave in person, I saw the most talented, incredible human being – someone with 5 million Facebook followers who appeals to a younger generation," Ann Campbell said.

"You have a real leader here — someone the younger generation looks up to as an edgy artist. To be a draw for the younger generation is too beautiful of a storm to pass up."

Asked what the program will consist of for his performance with the San Diego Symphony, Mustaine told Sam Pittis of Classic FM: "Basically, the songs that we've chosen… There are several rumors around what we're playing, and most of them are inaccurate. I can tell you right now accurately what it's gonna be. We're looking at a little bit of a rendition of the song 'Symphony Of Destruction' for me to enter to, so that we have a little bit of a MEGADETH connection. And then we'll probably segue from there into the piece 'Winter' [movement from Vivaldi's 'The Four Seasons']. And they'll go to an intermission probably with the song 'Air On The G String' by Bach. And I'll, of course, be playing the lead violin in both performances on an electric guitar. So you've heard the parts, but just imagine if it was done with a little bit of distortion and a little bit of a darker theme to it. It may be a little faster than what people are used to, it may be a little bit slower than what people are used to — 'Air' may be a little faster, 'Winter' may be a little slower… whatever. And then we're gonna have an intermission. We're gonna come back to… They're planning on playing Wagner's 'Ride Of The Valkyries', but I'm not sure that I'm gonna play on that one yet, 'cause I haven't really looked at that song yet. We're gonna close with 'Summer' [movement from Vivaldi's 'The Four Seasons'], and then that's it, and [we'll see] see how everybody likes it."

Mustaine also spoke about the difficult technical challenges of performing classical music parts on an electric guitar, saying: "Some of the songs, it's natural — it's just in my soul to be playing some of these transitions — but some of the other things, it's pretty daunting, and it's made me a better player.

"When I was started, I used to surf when I was a kid and I listened to punk rock music a lot and jazz and classical, so that's why MEGADETH had such a peculiar starting, because it was a classically jazz, punk-rock-style metal band. Go figure."

"Symphony Interrupted" will take place at Copley Symphony Hall in San Diego, California on Saturday, April 12 at 8:00 p.m. Tickets are on sale now at SanDiegoSymphony.org.