Though the Hollywood Bowl has been open for about a month, the Los Angeles Philharmonic play did not play in their white jackets (and blouses) under the venue’s iconic white arches until this past Friday and Saturday when they gave the word premiere performances of the full film score to West Side Story. They followed it … Continue reading
Category Archives: Music News & Info: Classical
LA Phil’s Peter Stumpf praised for Indiana recital
Peter Stumpf, Principal Cello of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, gave his first recital in Indiana since being announced as a new full-time professor of music at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. The review of the Jun 29th concert in the Herald-Times (Bloomington, Indiana) was unequivocally glowing, with Peter Jacobi calling Mr. Stumpf “a musician of … Continue reading
2011 Los Angeles Guitar Festival
Sometimes, there is just too much good stuff to do. Such was the case with the 2011 Los Angeles Guitar Festival held at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center this past weekend: despite wanting to see the vast array of performers on both July 2nd and 3rd, other priorities held sway and I could not … Continue reading
Free patriotic music for the 4th of July
Happy Independence Day, everyone! What better way to celebrate the 235th birthday of the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave than with a little bit of FREE patriotic music, care of the USAF Bands [updated] . Their website offers free downloads HERE and HERE, which can come in handy if you: Are you a … Continue reading
LA Phil comings and goings (part 3 of 3): new faces — and two familiar ones — come to town
Ahhh, it is July, and a classic Southern California Summer is brewing: the sun is shining with no clouds in sight, there is a slight breeze in the air to keep you cool, and the water temp is in the high 60’s and climbing. Once the waves grow higher than their current ankle-slapper status, conditions … Continue reading
Tchaikovsky competition winners announced
The results are in, and the first place winners in each category are: Piano: Daniil Trifonov. The 20-year old Russian pianist had already made a name for himself, initially by taking third place at the Chopin competition late last year, and then following it up with a first place finish and gold medal at the Artur … Continue reading
Happy Birthday, Esa-Pekka!
As we await the final results from the XIV Tchaikovsky International Competition, let me take a moment and wish Esa-Pekka Salonen a very happy birthday. The Principal Conductor of the Philharmonia and Conductor Laureate of the Los Angeles Philharmonic turns 53 today. Continue reading
Thanks and Tchaikovsky on a Thursday
First of all, I must say, “Thank you very much” for all of you who have visited All is Yar since I began it twenty one days ago. I’m glad you have taken some of your busy time to see what I’ve shared, and I hope you come back often. Special thanks must go to … Continue reading
Orchestra programming: some are just better at it than others
After spending some time chatting on Tim Mangan’s blog about how the Pacific Symphony chose to put together its 2011-2012 season, I was reminded of a little contest that Sam Bergman and Sarah Hicks of the Minnesota Orchestra decided to hold a couple of years ago. The concept, in short, was to “put yourself in … Continue reading
Pacific Symphony 2011-2012 season announced; I give my $0.02 about it
The Pacific Symphony announced details of their 2011-2012 winter season. Timothy Mangan, music critic and blogger extraordinaire, refrained from comment (for now, at least) but invited others to share their thoughts instead. I couldn’t resist. Click HERE to see what I thought. Continue reading
Trying to ignore The Ring (nah, nah, nah . . . I can’t hear you!!)
Many people enjoy Wagner’s Ring. Some are even devoted to it enough trapse across the globe to see full productions of it. I am neither of those types of people. I’ve always respected it when critics were willing to acknowledge their inherent biases against a particular composer or performer. The late great Alan Rich made … Continue reading
LA Phil comings and goings (part 2 of 3): In search of a new Principal Trumpet
Peter Stumpf is not the only Los Angeles Philharmonic principal taking next year off: Donald Green, the orchestra’s Principal Trumpet, will begin a sabbatical at the end of this summer’s Hollywood Bowl season before returning to the orchestra next summer, and then retiring. In anticipation of Mr. Green’s retirement, the orchestra will be holding auditions … Continue reading
LA Phil comings and goings (part 1 of 3): As the Principal Cello chair turns . . .
News came today of Peter Stumpf, currently Principal Cello of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and a member of the Johannes String Quartet, accepting a full-time position at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music after having served as adjunct faculty for the past two years, flying back and forth between Los Angeles and Bloomington to … Continue reading
Reviews from Ojai Festival 2011
The reviews are in from this year’s Ojai Music Festival, and most are quite positive overall. Music director Dawn Upshaw not surprisingly got most of the praise, with the rest of this year’s guests — Richard Tongetti & the Australian Chamber Orchestra, red fish blue fish, Maria Schneider & her orchestra, among many others — … Continue reading
Dawn Upshaw leads Ojai Festival 2011
I remember June 1999, the first time I went to Ojai for its annual Music Festival: Esa-Pekka Salonen was festival Music Director that year and was being joined by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and many of his famous friends, including fellow Finns Anssi Kartunnen, Magnus Lindberg, and Olli Mustonen. While those folks represented many good … Continue reading
All is Yar 