Nineteen years down, one more to go. With tonight’s concert at UCLA’s Royce Hall, Jeffrey Kahane will complete his penultimate season at Music Director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. It’s a tenure that is remarkable not only for its length (which is considerable) or even the quality of the music that has resulted from … Continue reading
The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and their Music Director, Jeffrey Kahane, recently launched their penultimate season together in familiar fashion: offering works by living composers on the same program as old masters. It’s a very welcome habit that once again proved to be quite fruitful. The first half of this inaugural program of their 2015-16 season especially … Continue reading
Tonight marks the latest installment in Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra’s annual “Westside Connections” series of three concerts pairing music with (insert annual topic here) . . . no seriously, the topic changes every year, complete with special guests discussing how the the topic and music mesh. This year, Margaret Batjer (LACO concertmaster and series curator) has … Continue reading
The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and their Music Director, Jeffrey Kahane, can almost always be counted on to present compelling programming, interesting soloists, and thoughtful interpretations. For their 2014-15 season opener, Mr. Kahane and the orchestra rolled out more of the same, care of a new work by Cameron Patrick, an infrequently-heard bit of piano concerto sass … Continue reading
Yesterday’s news that Jeffrey Kahane was stepping down in 2017 as Music Director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra not only began a long goodbye three years in the making, it caused a little bit of consternation among fans of the pianist/conductor regarding what he’d do after his tenure was done. According to the Los Angeles Times, … Continue reading
The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra officially announced that Jeffrey Kahane will step down as Music Director in 2017, at which time he will become Music Director Laureate. In addition, LACO announced details of their 2014-15 season; the complete press release is below. I’m especially excited about the coming “Westside Connections” series, with the coming year’s … Continue reading
(UPDATE: The official LACO press release about this announcement and details about their 2014-15 season is HERE) (UPDATE #2, April 26: Jeffrey Kahane’s full statement about his post-LACO plans is HERE) Pianist and conductor Jeffrey Kahane has announced that the 2016-2017 season will be his last as Music Director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. … Continue reading
Christmas, Hanukkah, Winter Solstice, and Festivus — all of their latest editions are now a distant memory. Perhaps it passed by and you didn’t get the CD you had secretly hoped for. Or maybe you’ve got an Amazon gift card and you’ve decided that you should really stop accumulating novels about forlorn vampires that … Continue reading
The second set of concerts in this Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra season featured the group’s typically interesting mix of old and new, familiar and unexpected. Music Director Jeffrey Kahane crafted a program featuring orchestral works by Britten and Mozart, and also generously invited two musicians to make their LACO debuts in a pair of divergent … Continue reading
(Publisher’s note. I’m thrilled to introduce the first-ever guest writer on All is Yar: Fiona Bryan. Fiona has a BM & MM in Violin Performance from Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University and University of Missouri, respectively, and has performed in various orchestras across the country. More recently, she’s been working in marketing, PR, and … Continue reading
When the Piatigorsky International Cello Festival was in town last year, I managed to catch two of the three concerto performances that different soloists were performing with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The one I soloist I missed: Alisa Weilerstein. At the time, someone told me I had made a mistake. Judging by the strength of … Continue reading
The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra often plays larger symphonic works — and does so quite well — but one of the joys and privileges of having a standing chamber group like them is the chance to hear pieces written for small to medium-sized ensembles that a full-sized orchestra would not take on. Their most recent concerts … Continue reading
“As the human race evolves, we appreciate Bach more.” — Allan Vogel For this year’s rendition of its “Baroque Conversations” series, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra has decided to devote all five concerts this season to the music of Bach. Last Thursday’s series opener focused on his Trio Sonatas, with Allan Vogel, LACO’s renowned Principal … Continue reading
As 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 … Continue reading
Saturday night’s Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra concert featured a first half with a rustic sensibility and a second half with an urban vibe. Both halves were anchored by an American classic in a less-often heard rendition: The country mouse portion featured Dvořák’s Serenade for Winds paired Appalachian Spring Suite in Copland’s original 1944 version. After intermission, … Continue reading
