Southwest Chamber Music announces details of their 2013 Summer Season at The Huntington

March 21, 2013 Leave a comment

Southwest Chamber Music Summer Festival at The Huntington Loggia (photo by CK Dexter Haven)

Just got the announcement from our friends at Southwest Chamber Music detailing the four concert Summer Season they’ll be offering at The Huntington.  I like it.  A nice mix of old and new, rare and familiar.

  • Stravinsky under the stars?  Check.
  • Britten Anniversary?  Check.
  • Eine Kleine Nachtmusik?  Check
  • Works by living composers Oliver Knussen and Gabriela Ortiz?  Check.
  • And the ever present “much more”

Full details after the jump below.

The concerts offer the very nice setting of The Huntington’s Loggia, with a choice of seating

  • On the Loggia itself if one prefers a somewhat more formal seating in a space with very good acoustics, OR
  • On the lawn where you can spread out a blanket, have a picnic while listening to the music, and be more laid back (literally and figuratively), all for less than half the price for single tickets.

Details and tickets (for both the concerts themselves and pre-concert Tea Room dinners, if one were interested) are available now on Southwest’s website (HERE).

Read more of this post

Filed under Music (News & Reviews), Southwest Chamber Music Tagged with ,

Anne LeBaron’s latest gem out-sparkles the rest at final LA International New Music Festival concert

March 20, 2013 Leave a comment

Anne LeBaron in Vienna (2008)

Anne LeBaron in Vienna (2008)

In an ideal world, I would have been able to see all four concerts that formed the “LA International New Music Festival 2013″ presented by Southwest Chamber Music; alas, life often gets in the way.  Thankfully, after multiple thwarted attempts to make my way out to The Colburn School for the festival, I was able to attend the final offering in the series.

Works by South American composers Carlos Chávez and Alberto Ginastera occupied the first half and two world premieres were offered up after intermission.  It was all worthwhile, but by far, the most compelling music of the night was the new aria from Anne LeBaron, Some Things Should Not Move.

The work is intended to be just one part of a larger autobiographical monodrama for soprano and chamber ensemble, with the soloist playing three different roles (the Composer, the Daughter, and the Viennese Psychic).   It stems from Dr. LeBaron’s 2008 sabbatical when she lived in Vienna; the flat she occupied had many abstract paintings hanging on its walls, and happened to be in a former monastery building.  She describes in the program notes the rather unexpected stuff going on around her:

“After some weeks of living and working in this apartment, there were strange goings-on that became increasingly intense.  Perhaps the strangest manifestations of unusual activity were subtle changes in the paintings themselves:  colors would shift, shapes would alter.  The work of art near the bed where I slept was the most active in these ways, and I had to remove it — not a good idea.” (Anne LeBaron, 2013)

Her daughter, Yvonne Eadon, provides the libretto.  Now an undergrad at U.C. Berkeley, she was a high-school exchange student at the time in a nearby Austrian town, and she had some first-hand observations of the “goings-on” at her mother’s place — not to mention her mother’s reactions to them.

The resulting aria inspired by these strange events is rivetingly beautiful.

Read more of this post

Filed under All Reviews, Music (News & Reviews), Reviews 2012/2013, Southwest Chamber Music Tagged with , , , , ,

The inaugural edition of “All is Yar’s Most Favorite and Noteworthy Classical Music Stuff of the Year”

December 31, 2012 Leave a comment

clapAs we reach the end of December, it’s traditionally time for a retrospective look at the year that is just completed.  Since 2012 was the first full calendar year of All is Yar‘s existence, it’s an especially important one for me.  I’ve been fortunate — dare I say “blessed” — to have been able to experience more performances than I would’ve guessed at the beginning of the year — most of them somewhere between really good and truly awesome.

After some very detailed number-crunching,  extremely scientific analysis, and deeply meditative internal reflection (OK, maybe more like some quality time with a green tea and some scotch), I decided to follow tradition and write-up a list of stuff I thought was worth mentioning.  So cozy up to a loved one, grab a glass of your favorite beverage, and get yourself ready for  . . . (cue trumpet fanfare) . . . the first-ever  ”All is Yar‘s Most Favorite and Noteworthy Classical Music Stuff of the Year”.

Best Orchestral Performance:  Simon Rattle conducting the LA Phil in works by Ligeti, Wagner, and Bruckner

  • Sir Simon led a performance so gripping, so absolutely awesome, it didn’t even matter that the concert featured three of my least favorite composers.

Favorite Concert(s) of the Year:  The Rite of Spring, a new Symphony from Steven Stucky, and some Bernstein to boot (Los Angeles Philharmonic, Gustavo Dudamel conducting)

  • First of all, we’re a talking Le Sacre du Printemps here, pretty much my favorite orchestral work ever.  Secondly, the performance by the Mr. Dudamel and the LA Phil was as good as I’ve heard from that combination, so good in fact that I had to see it twice (hence the parenthetical plural “Concert(s)” above).  Third, we got the added bonus of a bright new work from Mr. Stucky.  Fourth, did I mention the concert included Stravinsky’s  The Rite of Spring, which is pretty much my favorite orchestral work ever?

Best Performance of a Work I Don’t Need to Hear Again for a Long, Long Time:  Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony do Franck’s Symphony

  • Really, CSO??  You don’t come to Southern California for more than a generation, and this is what you bring along?!!  I mean, it sounded great and all, but . . . come on, man!

Read more of this post

Filed under All Reviews, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Los Angeles Opera, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Music (News & Reviews), Other classical music concerts and recitals (in So Cal and beyond), Pacific Symphony, Philharmonic Society of Orange County, Reviews 2011/2012, Reviews 2012/2013, Southwest Chamber Music, Uncategorized

Four hands and a voice: Southwest Chamber Music’s final 2012 summer concert

September 3, 2012 Leave a comment

The final concert of Southwest Chamber Music’s 2012 summer season at The Huntington proved to be a popular ending to what has been a popular series.  Attendance on the Logia was overflowing to the point where an extra row of seating was hastily added right as the concert was about to begin.

As with the other three concerts in a series centered around French music, Ravel and Debussy featured prominently, this time appearing via music for piano duets.  Works by Manuel de Falla and Darius Milhaud rounded out the “classical” works on the bill, with songs made famous by Édith Piaf closing out the evening.

Unlike the previous Southwest concert which featured exotic music and atypical instrumentation, this program offered very little to challenge the audience, with a literally hum-along finale underscoring the entire concert’s easy-going sensibility.

Read more of this post

Filed under All Reviews, Music (News & Reviews), Reviews 2011/2012, Southwest Chamber Music Tagged with , , , , ,

A busy weekend of So Cal classical music

August 25, 2012 Leave a comment

There’s lots going in this weekend.  Pick something you like and go check it out.

World premiere production of The Face
The world premiere staged performance of Donald Crockett’s new chamber orchestra, The Face, is tonight at 8pm at the Aratani/Japan America Theater in the Little Tokyo neighborhood of downtown Los Angeles.  Subsequent performances will be Monday and Tuesday, August 27th and 28th.  The libretto is based on the poems of David St. John, with the action set in another of LA’s iconic neighborhoods:  Venice Beach.

“THE FACE is a deeply compelling story about the price of fame, desire and creativity. The central character, a once famous poet named Raphael, struggles with the recent loss of his lover/muse, while juggling the demands of a movie being made about his life and his increasing notoriety. The narrative is both passionate and raw in its candor, offering an insightful view of the human condition as experienced by an artist/poet.”  – The Face website

Gil Rose conducts the Firebird Ensemble (Kate Vincent, founding Artistic Director) for all three productions.

This summer’s final Southwest Chamber Music concert at The Huntington
The last of Southwest Chamber Music’s four summer concerts at The Huntington are tonight and tomorrow.  This year’s season honors the centennial of Pasadena native and culinary demi-goddess, Julia Child, by focusing on French music.  This weekend’s concerts feature works by Debussy, Ravel, Falla, Milhaud, and an arrangement of songs made famous by Edith Piaf.  Mezzo-soprano Suzanna Guzmán and pianists Ming Tsu and Genevieve Lee are the soloists.

Los Angeles Jewish Symphony celebrates it’s 18th birthday
Noreen Green’s orchestra turns 18, which I guess means it’s all grown up.  It marks its unique role in celebrating the legacy of Jewish music with a concert at the John Anson Ford Amphitheater at 7:30pm on Sunday, August 26th.  Mark Kashper, LAJS Concertmaster (not to mention Associate Principal 2nd Violin of the Los Angeles Philharmonic) is the featured soloist in Reb Mendele Suite by Simon Sargon.

More information and tickets can be found online at the LAJS website as well as the Ford Amphitheater site.  In addition, there was a very nice write-up in the Los Angeles Times about the orchestra and their upcoming performance (HERE).

Diana Krall at the Hollywood Bowl
The celebrated pianist and vocalist — not to mention Mrs. Elvis Costello — join the Los Angeles Philharmonic for one more concert at the Hollywood Bowl tonight.  You probably knew about it, but I figured I’d mention it just in case.

Filed under Los Angeles Philharmonic, Music (News & Reviews), Southwest Chamber Music Tagged with , ,

An exotic addition to a French summer at the Huntington: Southwest Chamber Music plays Debussy & Ravel, and invites back a Vietnamese virtuoso

August 14, 2012 Leave a comment

Inspired by the centennial of Pasadena-native, Julia Child, Southwest Chamber Music has been focusing  on French music for their Summer Festival 2012 at The Huntington.  Healthy portions of Debussy and Ravel are offered up in each concert.  This past weekend’s programs, the third in the series, paired those two quintessential French composers with works from Vietnam.

It was a natural twist.  Not only have the two cultures long been intertwined due to colonial influences, Southwest has made an ongoing effort to build a relationship with and champion Vietnamese musicians, most notably through the 2010 “Ascending Dragon” Music Festival and Cultural Exchange in conjunction with the U.S. State Department (the largest ever of its kind)  and their inaugural “LA International New Music Festival” held just a few months ago.  Moreover, the music of both Debussy and Ravel is filled with Eastern influences.

That mix of music, combined with the rather balmy evening and views of palm trees in the distance peeking through behind the performers, gave the whole affair an appropriately tropical, exotic feel to it.  As Momma once famously declared, “The night was sultry.”

Read more of this post

Filed under All Reviews, Music (News & Reviews), Reviews 2011/2012, Southwest Chamber Music Tagged with ,

Summer seasons, Week Two (times two)

July 18, 2012 Leave a comment

I’m not able to make any concerts this week due to various conflicts, but that shouldn’t keep any of you from going, nor should it keep me from talking about them. . . .

Hollywood Bowl, Week 2
The Los Angeles Philharmonic second week of summer classical concerts were programmed similarly to the way Week 1 began:  program new music in the first half and an unabashed warhorse after intermission.  This time around, the contemporary work was the West Coast premiere of Edgar Meyer’s Double Concerto for violin and bass, with Joshua Bell and the composer as soloists; the warhorse was Mendelssohn’s ubiquitous Violin Concerto, featuring Mr. Bell  once again.   Two overtures by Weber got thrown in for good measure.  The conductor was Ludovic Morlot, the Seattle Symphony’s new music director and the Boston Symphony’s pinch hitter during their recent West Coast visit.

Brian Lauritzen got some time for one-on-one interviews with both Mr. Bell and Mr. Meyer.  Mr.  Mark Swed attended last night’s concert (he liked it).   The program repeats Thursday night with the same conductor and soloists.

Southwest Chamber Music’s  Summer Festival at the Huntington Library, Week 2
This summer, Southwest honors the centenary of Julia Child with programs dominated by French music, and the opportunity to either picnic on the grounds or eat three-course meals at the Huntington’s Tea Room.  I was disappointed to not be able to attend the first pair of concerts this past weekend featuring works by Ravel, Jolivet, and Debussy (including his famed String Quartet) as they were high on my wish list.  Apparently, it was high on a lot of people’s list:  last Saturday’s concert had Southwest’s best audience ever, including a sold out Loggia.

This coming Saturday and Sunday, the program features Suite bergamasque by Debussy, the piano quintet version of Milhaud’s La création du monde,  Ravel’s Chansons madécasses, and the Quintet for Piano and Strings by Franck.  Tickets are still available for both nights.  A video preview can be found HERE.

—————

Photo credit:  Loggia Southwest, Huntington Library (Tim Street-Porter)

Filed under Los Angeles Philharmonic, Music (News & Reviews), Southwest Chamber Music

Free new music concert for veterans tonight

May 26, 2012 Leave a comment

Tonight is the final concert of Southwest Chamber Music’s LA International New Music Festival.  In honor of Memorial Day and the men and women who have worn the uniform, Southwest is offering free admission to veterans.

The concert at Zipper Hall at the Colburn School begins at 8pm, with a free 7pm pre-concert discussion with the concert’s composers, Alexandra du Bois, Vu Nhat Tân, and Gabriela Ortiz, moderated by Martin Perlich.

The program includes:

Gabriela Ortiz:  Rio Bravo (U.S. Premiere)
Tôn Thât Tiêt:  Miroir, mémoire (World Premiere)
Alexandra du Bois:  Night Songs (LA Premiere)
Vu Nhat Tân:  The Song of Napalm (World Premiere)

Filed under Music (News & Reviews), Southwest Chamber Music Tagged with

Southwest Chamber Music’s promising new festival

May 25, 2012 1 Comment

Top Row: Anne LeBaron, Gabriela Ortiz, Igor Stravinsky, Elliott Carter
Bottom Row: Milton Babbitt, Daniel Catan, Peter Lieberson, Vu Nhat Tan

A four-concert event called “The Inaugural LA International New Music Festival” certainly sounds like a big deal.  You can forgive Southwest Chamber Music for giving their nascent new music series such an official, highfalutin’ sounding name.

With the city’s long-standing reputation as an incubator of new music and home to many prominent composers, you’d think an event with such a name would have been created by someone else at some point in the past.  It wasn’t.   You might also assume that it’d receive attention, support, and advanced publicity from the major local paper.  It hasn’t.

You might also think you’d get a mix of living composers from around the globe.  You didn’t — at least not yet.   I’m sure that if Jeff von der Schmidt, Southwest’s Artistic Director, has his way, the Festival will continue to grow in scope and stature, filled with premieres by composers from every continent.  The vast majority of composers consisted of Americans (North and South) and Asians, with world premieres from Korean-American composer Hyo-shin Na and Vietnamese composers Vu Nhat Tân and Tôn Thât Tiêt.  For now, the Old World contingent was represented by Schoenberg and Stravinsky, who I’d consider just as much Angeleno as European.

On Monday night, the third concert of the series featured a collection of compact works for a mix of instruments and voice.  They represented a fairly broad range of musical styles, some more accessible than others, though none of which were particularly thorny relative to the most avant-garde new music or even the works of John Cage which Mr. von der Schmidt so proudly champions.  It ended with a veritable jam session featuring Southwest and guest musicians, utilizing a mix of Western classical music instruments, traditional Vietnamese instruments, and electronic enhancements.  The whole experience was fascinating and rewarding, and made me wish I could have attended the previous two concerts.

Read more of this post

Filed under All Reviews, Music (News & Reviews), Reviews 2011/2012, Southwest Chamber Music Tagged with , ,

%d bloggers like this: