I received an email from the Los Angeles Philharmonic a couple of days ago informing me that there would be a slight change for their October 20 & 21 programs: instead of Tromba Lontana by John Adams, the curtain raiser will now be Short Ride on a Fast Machine (also by Adams) in a concert which also includes … Continue reading
Monthly Archives: July 2011
Nostrovia! Vodka flights at Red Square
As mentioned in a previous post, I visited Red Square in Mandalay Bay as part of my latest Las Vegas misadventures. For those of you who may not be familiar, Red Square is a bar & restaurant with an ostensibly post-communist Muscovite flavor; a giant, headless, faux-guano adorned statue of Vladimir Lenin stands guard near … Continue reading
A Sibelius soundtrack for a Texas storm
I visited Texas a few months ago, driving from city to city as I made my way across the state. On the leg from Dallas to Houston, I found myself chasing one of those Texas-sized storms, the kind of which we just don’t get in California: lightning bolts flashing back and forth across the sky … Continue reading
Auditions & Appointments / Las Vegas / Los Angeles Philharmonic / Music News & Info: Classical / Travel
News of Mr. Hooten and Miss December: how the LA Phil may have found a new Principal Trumpet and CKDH a new favorite blackjack dealer
Long before the closure of Interstate 405 allegedly threatened to end the world as we know it, I had planned to spend this past weekend with family and friends in Las Vegas. High temperatures were a surprisingly mellow 98-degrees in the shade, so days were spent outside at the Mandalay Bay lazy river with cold … Continue reading
Free French-related Fun for Bastille Day
It’s very easy to make fun of the French because . . . well, because they are so very French. You don’t get saddled with a nickname like “cheese-eating surrender monkeys” without having deserved it in some way, shape, or form. Still, they helped us win our nation’s independence, they shipped a nice big copper … Continue reading
Summer Whites in the great outdoors; avoiding Lang Lang
Though the Hollywood Bowl has been open for about a month, the Los Angeles Philharmonic play did not play in their white jackets (and blouses) under the venue’s iconic white arches until this past Friday and Saturday when they gave the word premiere performances of the full film score to West Side Story. They followed it … Continue reading
Writing Pseudonymously
My friend, Carmela Ciuraru (not a pseudonym), continues to gain much positive attention for her most recent book, Nom de Plume: A (Secret) History of Pseudonyms (Harper Collins). Carmela is a wonderful writer with an arrestingly dry sense of humor*, and she takes an interesting concept (which, not-so-shockingly, is near and dear to my heart) … Continue reading
LA Phil’s Peter Stumpf praised for Indiana recital
Peter Stumpf, Principal Cello of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, gave his first recital in Indiana since being announced as a new full-time professor of music at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. The review of the Jun 29th concert in the Herald-Times (Bloomington, Indiana) was unequivocally glowing, with Peter Jacobi calling Mr. Stumpf “a musician of … Continue reading
2011 Los Angeles Guitar Festival
Sometimes, there is just too much good stuff to do. Such was the case with the 2011 Los Angeles Guitar Festival held at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center this past weekend: despite wanting to see the vast array of performers on both July 2nd and 3rd, other priorities held sway and I could not … Continue reading
Free patriotic music for the 4th of July
Happy Independence Day, everyone! What better way to celebrate the 235th birthday of the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave than with a little bit of FREE patriotic music, care of the USAF Bands [updated] . Their website offers free downloads HERE and HERE, which can come in handy if you: Are you a … Continue reading
LA Phil comings and goings (part 3 of 3): new faces — and two familiar ones — come to town
Ahhh, it is July, and a classic Southern California Summer is brewing: the sun is shining with no clouds in sight, there is a slight breeze in the air to keep you cool, and the water temp is in the high 60’s and climbing. Once the waves grow higher than their current ankle-slapper status, conditions … Continue reading
All is Yar 