Here are some pictures from me and others from last night’s season opening performance of Verdi’s I Due Foscari (The Two Foscari) at Los Angeles Opera starring Plácido Domingo. Continue reading
Category Archives: Music News & Info: Classical
Tweeting live from backstage at tonight’s LA Opera season opener of “The Two Foscari” starring Plácido Domingo
Tonight marks the opening of Los Angeles Opera’s 2012/2013 season with a new production of Verdi’s rarely performed I Due Foscari (The Two Foscari). Plácido Domingo takes on the role of Francesco Foscari, his latest foray into the baritone repertoire and 140th role overall (give or take) in his illustrious career. I’ll be there tonight, … Continue reading
Appointments / Auditions & Appointments / Other classical music concerts and recitals (in So Cal and beyond)
They are the knights who say Niehaus: Milwaukee Symphony names Principal Trumpet as new President & Executive Director
Finally, some good news on the orchestral administrative front. The Milwaukee Symphony offered up a one-two punch with their press release today, announcing not only a balanced budget but also the appointment of Principal Trumpet Mark Niehaus as the MSO’s new President and Executive Director. According to the MSO: Continue reading
Youth is served: Krzysztof Urbański and Denis Matsuev make their LA Phil debuts
The Hollywood Bowl is often a place for conductors and soloists to make their Los Angeles Philharmonic debuts. It’s a bit of trial by fire — if you can make a strong impression under the duress of limited rehearsal time and less-than-ideal performing conditions, then you might get invited for a gig downtown for the … Continue reading
“The Doge of Los Angeles:” Plácido Domingo is feted at LA Opera presser
Wednesday’s Los Angeles Opera press conference centered around celebrating Plácido Domingo. Board members and politicians were on hand to offer their praises, stories, and tokens of appreciation to the organization’s General Director and probably the world’s most famous living opera singer. The reason for this latest round of adulation? Three things: Continue reading
All Reviews / Los Angeles Master Chorale / Los Angeles Philharmonic / Music News & Info: Classical / Reviews 2011/2012
Shamelessly enjoying “Carmina Burana” at the Hollywood Bowl
Classical music, like life in general, abounds in so-called guilty pleasures. You know, the kind of stuff that you may not admit to friends that you like, but in the privacy of your own iPod earbuds, you relish with abandon. Warsaw Concerto is one for me. Carmina Burana is another one. Not a whole lot … Continue reading
Four hands and a voice: Southwest Chamber Music’s final 2012 summer concert
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 … Continue reading
All is Yar gets a little love from the Los Angeles Times
Back in May of this year, I had the good fortune to be able to attend the world premiere performance of John Adams’ new oratorio, The Gospel According to the Other Mary. In addition to posting a review of that concert, I posted some pre-concert musings on the new work’s title and the identity of the … Continue reading
A busy weekend of So Cal classical music
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 … Continue reading
Brava, Ms. Balsom! Trumpeter dazzles at the Hollywood Bowl
You hear of a night of Haydn conducted by the ever-sunny Nicholas McGegan, and you probably think, “That’s nice.” You notice that the Haydn Trumpet Concerto will be the centerpiece of the evening and you might say, “Hmmm, haven’t heard that performed in a while.” You realize that Alison Balsom is the trumpet soloist, … Continue reading
Anna Prohaska sings “Exsultate, Jubilate” from this year’s Salzburg Festival
Anna Prohaska, recently appearing as Zerlina in the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s production of Don Giovanni, is seen here at the opening ceremony of the 2012 Salzburg Festival singing some different Mozart: Exsultate, Jubilate (K. 165) What makes the performance more impressive is that she was only given a few hours notice that she’d be performing … Continue reading
Unofficial announcements: Los Angeles gets a new 2nd Flute, and Orange County gets its music critic back
Just to show that good things can actually happen to good people, music critic Timothy Mangan will once again be the classical music critic of The Orange County Register. According to his blog, Classical Life, Tim’s new/old job was definitely — if not yet publicly — confirmed by the newspaper’s new regime. No word … Continue reading
An exotic addition to a French summer at the Huntington: Southwest Chamber Music plays Debussy & Ravel, and invites back a Vietnamese virtuoso
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 … Continue reading
Style and substance in equal measure: Wang joins Dudamel and the LA Phil for some Tchaikovsky
Tchaikovsky concerts at the Hollywood Bowl are common occurrences. Thursday night’s Los Angeles Philharmonic concert was pretty typical, with a program featuring a pair of frequently heard warhorses: the Piano Concerto No. 1 and the Symphony No. 4. Then again, in some ways, this wasn’t all that typical. There were no fireworks, no 1812 Overture, … Continue reading
Yuja Wang is everyone’s social media darling + “All is Yar” has a Facebook page (finally)
Different people have different habits, especially when it comes to how you like to consume information. Some of you like to watch Olympic coverage in real time online or read about the results on ESPN or Twitter immediately after gold medals are handed out, while others prefer to sit through NBC’s tape-delayed faux-suspense-laden Olympic coverage … Continue reading
All is Yar 