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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Go big or go home: an ambitious Don Giovanni staged by the Los Angeles Philharmonic
It was not your average Sunday afternoon at Walt Disney Disney Concert Hall. Gustavo Dudamel was still on the podium for the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s unofficial Mozart Month, but that was pretty much where “business as usual” ended. The LA Phil had decided that their first-ever complete performances of Don Giovanni would be full-blown productions, … Continue reading
Anticipating the Don
I’ve been looking forward to attending the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s fully-staged Don Giovanni for a number of reasons: First of all, well, because it’s Don Giovanni and who doesn’t want to see and hear that under pretty much any circumstance? The appearance of Mariusz Kwiecien in the title role. It’s been a very good season for … Continue reading
Los Angeles Philharmonic / Music News & Info: Classical / Other classical music concerts and recitals (in So Cal and beyond)
Anniversary of Bernstein’s last day as NY Phil Music Director
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
One way to judge a conductor
A week or so ago, I was having a discussion with a distinguished reader of All is Yar about evaluating conductors, and I was reminded of a rather amusing conductor rating survey that was circulated a few years back among members of an organization of which I was a part. The form itself was not … Continue reading
Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra / Los Angeles Opera / Los Angeles Philharmonic / Music News & Info: Classical
A familiar voice expands his reach
Brian Lauritzen — radio personality extraordinaire, under-appreciated cellist, and friend of All is Yar — is known primarily for his smooth, easy-going voice on Classical KUSC (that’d be 91.5FM for all of you who still listen to terrestrial radio in Southern California), as well as podcasts for the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Los Angeles Opera, … Continue reading
Justifiably popular: the latest vibrant young cast inhabits Los Angeles Opera’s classic “La Bohème”
Giacomo Puccini’s La Bohème is as popular and reliable a seat-filler as you can get in opera. In Southern California alone, it has been programmed by both the Pacific Symphony and Los Angeles Opera within weeks of each other this spring. It shows up so often that opera-going veterans see La Bohème on the calendar and grumble and moan … Continue reading
Live tweeting “La Bohème” tonight
I’ll be back in a Los Angeles Opera “Tweet Seat” for tonight’s final dress rehearsal of La Bohème. If you’re already on Twitter, you can follow along my observations along with those of the rest of the Tweet Seat crew (and even perhaps some of the opera cast) with hashtag #LAOBoheme. If you’re not already … Continue reading
Worth the wait: Simon Rattle triumphantly returns to the Los Angeles Philharmonic
There was a time not too long ago that had you mentioned that a fair-haired, mop top, wunderkind conductor was standing on the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s podium, your image would have been of an Englishman rather than a Venezuelan. Simon Rattle (not yet knighted) was Principal Guest Conductor from 1981 to 1994, though as the … Continue reading
Getting his LACO feet wet: Martin Haselböck charms in water-themed debut
Since 2005, Martin Haselböck has been Music Director of Musica Angelica, Los Angeles’s premiere period instrument baroque ensemble. He’s been a prominent organist and conductor in his native Austria longer than that. So it was perhaps a little surprising that, until this past Thursday, he hadn’t yet appeared with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra in any … Continue reading
An actual knight, joined by a king in name: Pepe Romero, Christoph Konig, and the LA Phil
I had been really looking forward to these concerts. It was supposed to feature two masterful Spaniards in a night featuring a good chunk of Spanish music. Unfortunately, that went by the wayside as Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, conductor and friend of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, cancelled for health reasons. Pepe Romero, the distinguished guitarist (not … Continue reading
There goes my hero: Kahane and Kahane with the LA Chamber Orchestra
Saturday’s Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra concert in Glendale featured music about places (New England, Brooklyn, and London) as set in two older pieces and one West Coast premiere. The theme worked very well, each piece on the program setting up the next one nicely. Jeffrey Kahane led everything joyously. If you were paying attention, … Continue reading
Classical music marketing: Norm Lebrecht needs a beer or two (updated)
Back in 2007, long before All is Yar was a mere Fig Newton of my imagination, Victoria Bitter (VB) beer company teamed with the Melbourne Symphony and Orchestra Victoria — playing together as the “Victoria Bitter Orchestra” — to create a unique commercial: it featured the combined orchestras playing VB’s jingle using variations on a theme … Continue reading
Turning pages: it can’t be that hard, can it?
Thoughts of this coming weekend’s concerts of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra conducted by their tech-loving Music Director, Jeffrey Kahane, reminded me of how he has increasingly taken to using iPads instead of regular sheet music, especially when playing the piano. Among other reasons, it helps him avoid page-turning snafus. Timo Andres also used one … Continue reading
The final course: LACO’s Westside Connections 3 with Susan Feniger
It was Holy Thursday and a few days before Passover, and therefore rather appropriate that the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra would serve up the final version of this year year’s food-themed “Westside Connections” concerts as a kind of last supper. Margarat Batjer, LACO’s concertmaster and series curator, mentioned that the initial premise for the evening … Continue reading
Interviews / Music News & Info: Classical / Other classical music concerts and recitals (in So Cal and beyond)
Classical music marketing done right: behind the SLSO’s “Save Powell Hall” campaign
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
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