Yesterday afternoon, the good folks at Los Angeles Opera opened up their doors to the media for a behind-the-scenes peek at preparations for their season opening production of Bizet’s Carmen. Christopher Koelsch (President and CEO) gave a brief welcome before Rupert Hemmings (Senior Director, Production) led us onto the stage of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion … Continue reading
The management and musicians of the Los Angeles Philharmonic sent out a joint press-release today announcing that a new four-year contract has been ratified. High points of the agreement include: · annual increases to the musicians’ minimum weekly scale wages, which, in the final year of the contract, will increase to $2968.00. (NOTE: for you … Continue reading
When I was in college, I helped to resurrect the school’s defunct radio station and eventually became the station’s Music Director. It was the hardest I’d ever worked in my life — and the most fun I’d ever had too. I spent countless hours at the station, on air and off: studying, sleeping, listening to … Continue reading
Here are more pictures from last Tuesday’s concert at the Hollywood Bowl by Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, performing Stravinsky’s Fireworks and The Rite of Spring and Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with Augustin Hadelich. All images are care of the incomparable Brandise Danesewich, exclusively for All is Yar. To read my review of the concert, click HERE. The … Continue reading
There have been so many performances this season of The Rite of Spring (AKA Le sacre du printemps in the original français) in celebration of the work’s centenary that some people have expressed concerns that the work was becoming over-exposed. You wouldn’t have known it by the number of seats filled Tuesday night at the Hollywood Bowl … Continue reading
Here are more pictures from last Sunday’s concert at the Hollywood Bowl by Rodrigo y Gabriela, DeVotchKa (with The Section Quartet), and Lord Huron. Once again, all images are care of my good friend and photographer extraordinaire, Tim Strempfer, exclusively for All is Yar. To read my review of the concert, click HERE. The usual reminder: if you … Continue reading
When last we saw Rodrigo Sanchez and Gabriela Quintero — AKA Rodrigo y Gabriela — at the Hollywood Bowl, it was for their 2011 debut at the legendary amphitheater when they played two nights backed up by the full forces of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Between then and now, they appeared locally at smaller venues … Continue reading
Here are more pictures from last Saturday’s first concert of Southwest Chamber Music’s 2013 Summer Festival, their 20th anniversary season. All images are care of my good friend and photographer extraordinaire, Tim Strempfer, exclusively for All is Yar. To read my review of the concert, click HERE. One reminder: folks who use Google Chrome as … Continue reading
Last Saturday night, Southwest Chamber Music opened the 20th anniversary season of their annual Summer Festival. Stravinsky’s Octet and Mozart’s Gran Partita provided the primary motivation for attending, especially if one happened to be a fan of wind instruments. But deep in the hundred acre woods of The Huntington where Jeff von der Schmidt and … Continue reading
The setting for last week’s first classical music concert of the 2013 Hollywood Bowl season couldn’t have been more perfect: the temperature was a picnic-perfect low 70’s, cooling down just a little as the sun set; the sky was clear and cloudless, and a very slight breeze blew through the amphitheater. It was, as the great … Continue reading
Inspired by Tim Mangan’s identically titled blog series, I offer up two brief scenes from Being John Malkovich which use the same excerpt from the second movement of Music for Strings, Percussion, and Celesta by Béla Bartók. The first is the opening scene of the movie featuring some startlingly life-like puppetry (John Cusack plays the puppeteer). The second … Continue reading
On the 4th of July, most Americans’ musical thoughts turn to John Philip Sousa — AKA “The March King.” However, there is another composer of marches that could justifiably have claims to the same title: Karl L. King. He was so well-regarded by his peers that composer Henry Fillmore actually re-titled one of his own … Continue reading
For those of us who appreciate a good deal on concert tickets — and let’s face it, that’s all of us — comes news that the Los Angeles Philharmonic is offering a 50% discount for all seven of their Classical Tuesday/Thursday concerts at the Hollywood Bowl in the month of July. The deal is available … Continue reading
When thinking of summertime music in SoCal, one’s thoughts usually go first to the Hollywood Bowl. There’s a good reason for that: the iconic venue in Cahuenga Pass is not only the summer home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, it hosts a dizzying array of jazz, world music, alternative rock, musical theatre, and more. Where … Continue reading
Listening to music you’ve never heard before is, by definition, full of unknowns. One aspect you don’t always think about is how long a piece will take to play. Printed program notes frequently include estimated timings, but that isn’t always the case, and you’re at the mercy of the composer’s and musicians’ ability to keep … Continue reading
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