My two-part review of this past weekend’s 67th Ojai Music Festival will be up very soon. In the meantime, please enjoy these photos from the weekend (see the gallery below). Except for a few shots taken by me (as noted in the descriptions), most of the photos — in fact, pretty much all the really … Continue reading
Good news, Ojai Music Festival fans: your year-long wait for the next iteration of this wonderfully wacky artistic experience is finally over. Today marks the beginning of the 67th edition of this venerable Southern California homage to adventurous music. This year’s Music Director is Mark Morris (yes, the choreographer) — at first blush, a seemingly unlikely choice, … Continue reading
Quick, name a Handel oratorio besides Messiah. . . . Not that easy, is it? They aren’t exactly common fare, and I’m willing to bet that few of you would have come up with Jephtha, especially if Harry Christophers and the good folks at the Handel and Haydn Society (aka “H&H”) hadn’t decided to resurrect … Continue reading
The folks at “Jacaranda, Music on the Edge” are on a bit of a roll. The seats at Santa Monica’s First Presbyterian Church (AKA “First Preb”) were almost all full and the crowd was enthusiastic. The program, billed as “Thresholds: The Scandals of 1912-13” was chock-a-block with works from the Second Viennese School; however, in … Continue reading
A few years ago, I was at Walt Disney Concert Hall to see James Conlon conduct the Los Angeles Philharmonic in a concert of works by Prokofiev. Sitting right in front of me were two gentleman, one older and the other younger, speaking a European language I did not recognize. Whatever they were saying, they … Continue reading
As we reach the end of December, it’s traditionally time for a retrospective look at the year that is just completed. Since 2012 was the first full calendar year of All is Yar‘s existence, it’s an especially important one for me. I’ve been fortunate — dare I say “blessed” — to have been able to … Continue reading
Esa-Pekka Salonen is certainly among the most popular of classical musicians world-wide, but here in Southern California, it’s on a slightly different level. You’d expect the current Conductor Laureate and former Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic to have a strong following among the locals, and sure enough, he got a loud and prolonged … Continue reading
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
This past Tuesday, the Tokyo String Quartet played what first violin Martin Beaver said would almost certainly be their last concert at the Ravinia Festival. In all likelihood, it will also be their final appearance anywhere in the Chicago area. With Kazuhide Isomura (founding viola) and Kikuei Ikeda (longtime second violin) deciding to retire, the … Continue reading
Happy Friday. In case you don’t make it out to any concerts this weekend, the concert can come to you: Between now and Monday at 12noon Eastern Time, the Detroit Symphony is streaming their recent performance of Music Director Leonard Slatkin conducting the Mahler Fifth Symphony and the Mozart Piano Concerto No. 22 with Emanuel … Continue reading
An article in Boston magazine recently posted on their website tells the tale of two percussionists and their attempts to join the Boston Symphony. The bulk of the story follows Michael Tetreault, a Colorado musician who is trying to fill one of the two vacancies in the BSO’s percussion section. There is also time spent with Lee Vinson, … Continue reading
Care of the folks at Composers Datebook at American Public Media: On today’s date in 1969, Leonard Bernstein conducted his last concert as the Music Director of the New York Philharmonic. Bernstein had been named the orchestra’s Music Director in November of 1957, and was the first American-born and trained conductor to hold the position. … Continue reading
As I’ve mentioned in the past, classical music marketing and advertising can be a thankless job. If you think it’s easy, you try finding something new to say about music that’s been around for hundreds of years. Go ahead, I’ll wait. . . . See? Not exactly a piece of cake. No one likes doing … Continue reading
One of the benefits of living in a “big city” is that arts and entertainment options are relatively frequent and easy to come by. This provides both opportunities and challenges to both audiences and performers. For audiences: how do you choose to spend your valuable time and money? For performers: how do you break through … Continue reading
See for yourself what the St. Louis Symphony is up against. . . .The horror. The horror. Do your part today to help Save Powell Hall. Continue reading
All is Yar 