When Simon Woods arrived in Los Angeles, he had a very tough act to follow. Deborah Borda announced in March of 2017 that she would leave her position as CEO of the Los Angeles Philharmonic to return to her previous post as head of the New York Philharmonic, and speculation began immediately about who would …
The Colburn School announced earlier today that Esa-Pekka Salonen will be joining the faculty of the Colburn Conservatory. The Principal Conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra of London and Conductor Laureate of the Los Angeles Philharmonic will lead the brand new Negaunee Conducting Program devoted to training young conductors. The program is named for the Negaunee … Continue reading
The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra begins its 2018-19 season in earnest with performances at the Alex Theatre on Saturday and UCLA’s Royce Hall on Sunday featuring violinist Hillary Hahn. While guest conductor Gemma New will be on the podium this weekend, these concerts represent the first full season of a new era. LACO announced earlier … Continue reading
This evening, Ramón Ortega headlines a chamber music concert at the Colburn School’s Zipper Hall featuring oboe-centric works by Mozart, Koechlin, and Gounod. It marks the first official public appearance by Mr. Ortega as Colburn Conservatory’s new oboe instructor. Later this week, he officially begins performing at his other gig in town — Principal Oboe of … Continue reading
Thomas Hooten, Principal Trumpet of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, had a great idea: record the John Williams Concerto for Trumpet and Piano. He mentioned it to the distinguished composer who thought it was a great idea too and agreed to conduct the new recording. Both of them decided to do it for free, but that … Continue reading
Hello again, folks. Long time no chat. Hope you’re well. It’s obviously been a while, and so let’s start getting caught up by talking about some key personnel moves across the Southern California orchestral landscape and beyond. New additions to the LA Phil (official and unofficial) Since the beginning of the calendar year, the Los … Continue reading
For Memorial Day 2018, I offer this video of a 2016 performance by the US Marine Band (“The President’s Own”) featuring soloist Thomas Hooten, Los Angeles Philharmonic Principal Trumpet, playing an arrangement of “With Malice Toward None” from the John Williams soundtrack to the movie Lincoln. Mr. Hooten was a member of the US Marine … Continue reading
The Southern California classical music community has lost one of its important voices. Robert D. “Bob” Thomas died in the early morning of Thursday, May 3rd. He reached countless readers as the long-time music critic and writer for the Pasadena Star-News and its sister publications in the Southern California News Group, as well as for … Continue reading
