REVIEW: Paavo Järvi opens eyes and ears with latest LA Phil appearance
You still pondering who could be the next Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic? Paavo Järvi has entered the chat.
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Chicago Symphony’s Principal Oboe to take same job with SF Symphony; move should raise questions at CSO
The San Francisco Symphony issued a press release today announcing that Eugene Izotov will be their new Principal Oboe beginning with the 2015/16 season. Mr. Izotov is currently Principal Oboe of the Chicago Symphony, and was the SFS Associate Principal Oboe from 1996-2003 (during which time he went by “Evgeny Izotov”). He was also Principal Oboe … Continue reading
A familiar face takes over LA Phil 3rd horn chair
The Los Angeles Philharmonic held auditions for their vacant third horn chair during the week-and-a-half before Thanksgiving. According to multiple sources, Amy Jo Rhine was appointed to the position. LA Phil concertgoers may recognize her face, and regular readers of All is Yar will certainly recognize her name: as mentioned in a recent post, Ms. Rhine has … Continue reading
Expecting the extraordinary: a look back at six weeks of Dudamel, Salonen, and the LA Phil
We in Southern California are so spoiled. We’ve got amazing weather and a diverse geography with which to enjoy it; where else can you spend a couple of hours surfing in the morning and be snow skiing by lunchtime? We’ve got Vin Scully, two Stanley Cups in three years, and two solid college football teams 13 … Continue reading
Up close and personal with the Walt Disney Concert Hall organ, plus video of Joanne Pearce Martin playing Bach
I touched my lips to the Walt Disney Concert Hall organ. Kinda. OK, perhaps not quite, but I came close. More on that in a minute . . . This weekend’s concerts at WDCH were the latest salvo in the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s celebration of the 10th Anniversary of the debut of the venue’s famed … Continue reading
A very conscious coupling: LA Opera’s unconventional yet compelling double-bill of Dido & Bluebeard
Admit it: the first time you heard that Los Angeles Opera had decided to pair the Baroque charms of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas with the expressionistic horrors of Bartok’s Bluebeard’s Castle, you didn’t exactly say to yourself, “Oh yeah, that makes total sense.” No, at best, you probably thought, “Hmmmm — that’d be interesting.” If … Continue reading
The power and the passion: LA Master Chorale’s moving season opener
Tant y a feme scet bon taire! Femme est dehors religiouse, Dedanz poignaunt e venimose . . . (When it comes to women, men, hold your tongue! On the outside she’s religious, On the inside keen and venomous . . .) — excerpt from “The Vices of Women,” 13th Century poem, used in the … Continue reading
Salonen: “I’ve understood that Los Angeles is nearer to my idea of home than any other city in the world”
With Esa-Pekka Salonen beginning the second week of a three-week residency with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, I thought it was worth sharing this exchange between him and writer Vesa Sirén. This interview was first published a few weeks ago, but it’s still relatively new to me, and unless you follow the Twitter feed of the Finnish-Angeleno … Continue reading
A quick update regarding LA Phil’s latest Principal Trombone search
I made the following update to my original post on the subject from this past Saturday, but in the spirit of providing some additional information . . . I’ve recently been told that at this point: John Sipher is the only remaining candidate for the open position of Principal Trombone with the Los Angeles Philharmonic His … Continue reading
Comings and goings at the LA Phil (Fall 2014 edition) (UPDATED: Oct 27)
Back by popular demand: our annual look at the changes in the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s roster of musicians at the start of this year. As usual, we’ve had a mix of arrivals and departures, some expected and explained, some . . . well, not so much. Let’s start with the percussion section. Principal Percussionist Raynor Carroll … Continue reading
Sometimes 6,134 pipes aren’t enough: Houlihan, Hooten on upcoming organ & brass concert at Walt Disney Concert Hall
When is an organ recital more than that? When the entire LA Phil brass section joins the fray, as it will this coming Sunday, October 12th, at 7pm, for a tenth birthday party of sorts. Continue reading
LA Phil season opening gala concert shows off John Williams’ musical breadth and depth
The works of John Williams are as ubiquitous as orchestral music can be in our 21st Century pop-dominated, globally diffuse society. It’d be an interesting experiment to see if a random sampling of people on the street would be as successful identifying such classical music standards as Mozart’s Eine kleine Nachtmusik or Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture as they would the … Continue reading
A colorful 2014-15 season opener for Kahane and LA Chamber Orchestra
The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and their Music Director, Jeffrey Kahane, can almost always be counted on to present compelling programming, interesting soloists, and thoughtful interpretations. For their 2014-15 season opener, Mr. Kahane and the orchestra rolled out more of the same, care of a new work by Cameron Patrick, an infrequently-heard bit of piano concerto sass … Continue reading
Gražinytė-Tyla surprises, deMaine stellar, Pogostkina solid: three make their Hollywood Bowl debut in Mahler & Brahms
When I got the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s email informing me that one of their former Dudamel Conducting Fellows, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, had been selected as the orchestra’s Assistant Conductor, the first thing I thought was, “Oh, good for her.” The second thing I thought was, as a diacriticly-challenged English-speaker, “Wait — how exactly do you say that name?” I reached out … Continue reading
Julien Beaudiment sees his American Dream become a reality as Principal Flute of the LA Phil
When Julien Beaudiment was still just a teenager in France, he was already a prominent enough flutist to warrant attention from his hometown newspaper. “I was doing a concert in my hometown, and I was saying that my dream was to work in America. For me it was always something that was really fascinating to … Continue reading
LA Phil gives two offers for new clarinet and trumpet
Gustavo Dudamel is in the midst of a two-week stint at the Hollywood Bowl, conducting an eclectic mix of music ranging from the usual summer classical offerings by Beethoven to less common Bowl fare such as verismo opera and Pan-American music of various genres. Tonight’s program even includes the premiere performances of Mr. Dudamel’s own score for … Continue reading
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