Sad news for chamber music fans and for anyone who enjoyed a very casual alternative to their summer classical music consumption: Southwest Chamber Music announced that they will end their twenty-year-old summer concert series at The Huntington Library, Art Collection, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, CA. This is definitely a loss for the Southern California classical … Continue reading
Shocking allegations have arisen at Los Angeles Opera overnight. I first caught wind of this yesterday via Twitter, and then the video below popped up. Are illegal and/or unauthorized substances rampant at the company? If so, for how long? Countertenor Darryl Taylor, one of the singers at the center of the controversy, admits to his involvement before angrily … Continue reading
As with many musicians, Gareth Davies (Principal Flute of the London Symphony) publishes a blog. Over the past few weeks, he’s focused his writing on the sights & scenes, trials & tribulations, and fun & foibles of being an Englishman on tour through the Western USA, primarily California. Earlier today, I was perusing his posts when the following … Continue reading
The London Symphony, 111-year old bastion of UK musical institutions famed for its virtuosity and flexibility, is an orchestra in transition. The peripatetic Valery Gergiev remains its official Principal Conductor through the end of this year, but the LSO created a big splash earlier this month when it announced that Simon Rattle will become its Music … Continue reading
(Publisher’s note: I’m proud to welcome Lauri D. Goldenhersh to the pages of All is Yar. By training and profession, she is a mezzo-soprano, active throughout Los Angeles and a veteran of many local ensembles, including the Los Angeles Master Chorale. She is also the publisher of Lauri’s List (laurislist.net), a website devoted to helping … Continue reading
I’m pleased to announce that the good folks at LA Weekly have asked me to start writing for them on a freelance basis. The first of what I hope will be many articles and reviews in that publication is “An Ex-Marine and a Former Basketball Referee Walk Into Disney Hall…,” an interview with Andrew Bain and … 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 Philharmonic recently announced that this coming May, they will once again be holding auditions for their Principal Flute chair. For fans of Julien Beaudiment, the current occupant of the position and budding star within the orchestra, this news is certainly a major disappointment. For almost everyone who follows such things, musicians and … Continue reading
It’s been a fun and interesting week. I’ve been spending a few days in Las Vegas for the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show, checking out the endless forest of 100″ 8k super-mega-ultra-uber-HD TVs, robots that sing and/or play beer pong, and acres of other mind-blowing/mind-numbing technology that will grace our homes, offices, and bodies (“wearable technology” … Continue reading
If you had to pick nine symphonies — no more, no less — by different composers to include as part of a proverbial desert island survival kit, what would they be? I asked myself this question just for grins over the recent Christmas & New Year’s break. Nine has been a magical number of sorts for … Continue reading
If you’re trying to pack ’em into a concert hall for a choral concert, the usual course of action involves programming a warhorse, preferably one with a big orchestra. Carmina Burana. Beethoven’s 9th. A requiem by Verdi or Mozart. The Los Angeles Master Chorale has an alternate formula that works just as well: program something written … Continue reading
I recently came across the YouTube file below of the legendary David Oistrakh in a 1965 performance of the Mozart Violin Concerto No. 4 in D-Major, K.218, with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Maurice Abravanel is the conductor. Note: there is no actual video footage of the performance, but the audio is still worth your time. Enjoy! Continue reading
The ten-week parade of guest conductors at the Los Angeles Philharmonic has begun. First in line: James Gaffigan, the American-born Chief Conductor of the Lucerne Symphony and previous right hand man to Michael Tilson Thomas in San Francisco and Franz Welser-Möst in Cleveland. His program featured one favorite, Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with Simon … Continue reading
Gustavo Dudamel’s final Walt Disney Concert Hall appearance of 2014 was all about himself, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and what they could do together. The program featured three orchestral showpieces laden with built-in imagery for him to exploit. No daintiness was required. No soloists got in the way. A good time was had by all. Continue reading
The San Francisco Symphony issued a press release today announcing that Eugene Izotov will be their new Principal Oboe beginning with the 2015/16 season. Mr. Izotov is currently Principal Oboe of the Chicago Symphony, and was the SFS Associate Principal Oboe from 1996-2003 (during which time he went by “Evgeny Izotov”). He was also Principal Oboe … Continue reading
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