Attend the Ojai Music Festival, Southern California’s loveable cabal of contemporary classical music, and you expect works by living composers, particularly brand new pieces that get their debut at the festival. This year, the first world premiere shows up on Saturday afternoon: This might also be a form of dreaming by Caroline Shaw (with text by Claudia … Continue reading
There are few places that celebrate living composers and their works more than the Ojai Festival. And among those favored by this haven for contemporary classical music is Kaija Saariaho. She first gained notice in the early 1980’s as part of the “Ears Open Society,” the Finnish collective of Sibelius Academy alumni which included Esa-Pekka … Continue reading
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 Philharmonic announced this morning that Susanna Mälkki has been appointed as Principal Guest Conductor of the orchestra. The Finnish maestra’s tenure will officially begin with the 2017-18 season, with an initial contract to last three years. She will conduct three subscription weeks, Green Umbrella concerts, as well as other projects with the orchestra to … Continue reading
“Mommy would explain to us: ‘Quiet, Daddy’s composing. Quiet, Daddy has Stravinsky coming to the house tonight.’ ” — Lena Ballinger (Rachel Weisz), Youth “Molto triste.” — Sumi Jo, the Oscar’s red carpet If you watched the 88th Academy Awards last night, you may have noticed that only three of the five songs nominated in the “Best … Continue reading
As I mentioned last November, Boris Allakhverdyan was one of two finalists in the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s open auditions to find a new Principal Clarinet to take over for the retiring Michele Zukovsky. Multiple sources have now indicated that Mr. Allakverdyan, current Principal Clarinet of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, won the last phase of the audition … Continue reading
Earlier this week, the Los Angeles Philharmonic made public their plans for the upcoming 2016-17 season at Walt Disney Concert Hall (details available HERE). This comes on the heels of last week’s announcement of the 2016 summer season at the Hollywood Bowl (HERE are details of that). In summary: it’s a damn good-looking season. The WDCH season … Continue reading
Jean Davidson is six months into her job as President & CEO of the Los Angeles Master Chorale, and in some ways, she’s still settling in. She’s lived much of the past two decades in New York. Her most recent ten years were spent as the administrative yin to the artistic yang of acclaimed choreographer … Continue reading
The good folks at Los Angeles Opera just announced their 2016/17 season (at the slightly curious time of 9pm-ish Pacific Time, midnight-ish Eastern, but no matter). There are six mainstage productions, one semi-staged musical, three “Off Grand” productions, plus the regular community performances of Britten’s Noah’s Flood. First, the details, with my general observations on the season … Continue reading
Originally posted on Classical Life:
French composer and conductor Pierre Boulez, a giant figure in postwar classical music and a major presence in Southern California, has died at the age of 90 at his home in Germany. The New York Times’ obituary is here. I had the privilege to hear Boulez conduct many times, and…
Michele Zukovsky, Principal Clarinet of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, wraps up her amazing 54-year tenure with the orchestra in an all-Rachmaninoff concert today at 2pm; Cristian Măcelaru conducts. Below is the second part of my interview with her (Part 1 is HERE). In it, we chat about her switch from a French clarinet to a German one, some observations about conductors … Continue reading
Kurt Masur, Music Director Emeritus of the New York Philharmonic and former Kappellmeister of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, has died at his home in Greenwich, CT. The German native was 88-years old. Notable obituaries: Margalit Fox for The New York Times Anastasia Tsioulcas for National Public Radio ————— Photo courtesy of Radio France / Christophe Abramowitz Continue reading
On first impression, Michele Zukovsky might not strike you as anyone particularly notable other than being a fairly energetic, witty, and self-deprecating 70-something. That seems to suit her just fine. Rather than talk about herself or her career, the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Principal Clarinet is more eager to share photos of herself as a proud grand-aunt, crawling … Continue reading
Once again, I do what I can to give you the latest and greatest news about the musicians of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Let’s begin: Principal Flute Denis Bouriakov officially begins his tenure as Principal Flute Nov 30. He makes his subscription concert debut soon after. (NOTE: an earlier version of this post had his start … Continue reading
Lionel Bringuier was sitting in a car on an LA freeway, but by the joy of his voice, you’d think he was somewhere much more glamorous or perhaps sitting on a beach. “I love Los Angeles,” he declared, his smile coming through loud and clear over the phone. “It’s always so special for me to be here.” … Continue reading
All is Yar 