Julius Caesar
Rubicon river
Alea iacta est (The die is cast!)

Yes!

I've seen this spelled as "alia" -- but I'd assume that "alea" is correct.

So it's your clue.

What I meant to say was "alia" also -- but I think that the right spelling is "alea." I need to check a Latin dictionary though.

Itzhak will be in Dallas for the Dallas Symphony Opening Gala, trying to decide whether to go or not. I don't think I've heard him play live.

Another musical clue:
This composer was an organist at various churches, including St. Sulpice & the Madeleine.

7,5 ("r" is 4th of last name)
"r" taken from Rubicon

I can't remember if I have either. I don't really follow the violinists all that much. Somehow I think that he must be past his prime now. Of course, it also depends on what he's playing.

Kyung-Wha Chung seems to be pretty underrated. I went to hear her play the Brahms Concerto. She was quite good. On the evening I heard her, she slipped before the cadenza and stood up and played flawlessly.

Can this be it? I'm very surprised:

Gabriel (Urbain) Fauré

Didn't know that Faure was an organist.

Yes, Fauré it is.

What's Perlman playing?

This can be difficult or easy, depending on how well you know that body of knowledge.

Clue: Essentially because of a decision by this person (5 letters, 2nd = "a") that involved this fruit (5 letters), a war was started.

Well, I just got off the phone with DSO to find out what's Perlman playing. It includes Dvorak & Saint-Saens, plus I believe orchestral pieces of Gershwin & Bernstein. The cheapest decent seats are $90, or $165 with pre-concert black-tie dinner. I think I'll pass.

Yeah, skip it. Unless you want to hob-nob with the rich and famous. :-)

I'm surprised by how cheap the tickets are though ($165 with dinner?). You definitely don't get that there in NYC, I think. Anyway I think that the top opera tickets are up to $290 or something like that (just for a regular performance). And the most expensive seats at Avery Fisher are around $80, if I remember correctly. For me, my splurge has always been for the Vienna Philharmonic when they're in town. I love that orchestra.

Ha. How can you compare Dallas prices with NYC?
I'm going to their Beethoven No.9 concert instead.

Answer to your clue:
Paris, Apple (Trojan war)?

Yes, that's right!

Well, yk, you don't know what you're missing:

http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache...gram&hl=en

I tried to get the pdf file but IE crashes on me.

"Benefactor tickets include the pre-concert reception, dinner, concert and post-concert party and start at $650."

Interestingly I don't think that I've heard Beethoven 9 live, despite the fact that it's so ubiquitous. It's not my favorite Beethoven symphony.

That's funny. That smiley was not intended....

Replace that with :x

Oh dear....

Replace with colon then x.

Please don't get any wrong ideas. :-)

Oh, you mean your :X wasn't for me? I'm ((U))! :D

But yes, I did look through the PDF file before I called the DSO. I think the $165 I was quoted was probably the kiddies table.

I went to Sawallisch's farewell (to Philadelphia) concert which he conducted Beethoven No 9. It was quite a touching & emotional experience (especially thinking that Beethoven himself probably wasn't able to hear his own music).

Ha.

Well, you're right -- so it's probably very expensive.

I think that Beethoven was completely deaf by that point. The usual story told is that the soprano parts are way too uncomofortable for the soprano in that piece. But lots of things have been said about Beethoven. Some claim that some of the piano sonatas have very unreasonable tempo markings (opening movement of Op. 106, for example, the "Hammerklavier" sonata).

If I remember right, he was already partially deaf when he wrote the Fifth Symphony.

If you don't know this recording, there's a recording by Furtwaengler in 1942 that's very famous. Given the time period, this was obviously a very controversial recording. Obviously, Bernstein made one when the Berlin Wall came down. I don't know the recordings of the 9th that well though, but predictably, I'm very happy with one by Erich Kleiber.

A change of pace:

This European engineer/bridge designer, is probably best known in the US for his participation in a long, drawn-out project (and way over-budget) in a US city. The project is still ongoing (I think).

Name of the engineer: 9,4 ("e" is 2nd letter of last name)
"e" taken from applE

I guess it's not the Bay Bridge? It doesn't fit the clue?

No.
The "project" involves not only the construction of a bridge, but also lots of infrastructure of the city (and hence drwan-out & over-budget).

I'm wondering if the city is Dallas. :-)

I don't know this one. Have to think some more about it.