Upcoming concerts that will hopefully make it a musical December to remember

Here are the Southern California musical events happening in the coming month which are grabbing my attention, and that should be grabbing yours too:

Jacaranda’s holiday-ish “Winter Dreams” Concert this Saturday
Yes, ’tis the season for Messiah and The Nutcracker, but if you’re looking for something a little different, the intrepid folks at Jacaranda offer up this mix of music — some holiday-themed, some not – from Bach, Britten, Mahler, Tchaikovsky, Ives, Glass and more, this coming Saturday.  Performers include Jonathan Dimmock (organist for the San Francisco Symphony), the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus, writer and raconteur Sandra Tsing Loh, and Cedric Berry (bass-baritone), among many others.

• Jacaranda:  “Winter Dreams,“ Saturday, Dec 1, 2012, First Presbyterian Church of Santa Monica

Esa-Pekka Salonen is back for two weeks in Southern California
He’s back, and there is much rejoicing. Most of you probably know about the three different programs over the course of seven concerts that E-PS will be conducting under the auspices of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s “Lutosławski Centenary” celebration.  Some of you might even know that during the first three of these performances, Sony will be recording the First Symphony as part of a future release of all four Lutosławski symphonies (the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Symphonies have all been previously recorded for Sony by the E-PS and the LA Phil, and just for good measure, they also released a different recording of the 4th Symphony on DG Live).

What many of you probably don’t know is that in addition to his appearances at Walt Disney Concert Hall, Mr. Salonen will also be appearing at Hear Now Music Festival’s benefit concert on December 5th at the Briard House in Culver City.  

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