I trust everyone enjoyed their 4th of July weekend with tummies still full after all that BBQ and fingers still intact after all those fireworks. Now that those festivities are behind us, let’s look ahead to what I think are the most noteworthy concerts that the month of July has in store for classical music … Continue reading
I recently was told that it was now officially Autumn. Really??!! Summer couldn’t have passed by that quickly, could it have? The temperature yesterday was still the 90’s as it has been for much of the past few weeks, and the humidity is ridiculous by Southern California standards. But it’s true, Fall is here. There were signs: Football season … Continue reading
It’s shaping up to be a very horn-y week in Los Angeles, and we have local musicians and Colburn School faculty members Andrew Bain and Annie Bosler to thank for it. “Three years ago or so, I was asked if Colburn would be interested in hosting the International Horn Symposium,” recalls Ms. Bosler. “Around that time … Continue reading
Tonight, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Los Angeles Master Chorale are performing Carmina Burana at the Hollywood Bowl. While it isn’t done with the frequency of, say, Beethoven’s 9th, I can’t think of a full-blown choral work that sees the Hollywood Bowl stage more often. So even though I couldn’t make it to the Bowl this evening, I’m … Continue reading
Ah, the Hollywood Bowl season. The music under the stars. The celebrity soloists. The reliable if relatively unheralded conductors. The people watching. The pre-concert drinking and picnicking. The mid-concert helicopters. The late-concert fireworks. The post-concert crush of many thousands all trying (and largely failing) to quickly amble downhill to their bus or car at the same time. Good times, good times … Continue reading
A little bit of Esa-Pekka Salonen is better than none at all. And so it turned out this past week with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The original plan was that the orchestra’s beloved Conductor Laureate was supposed to be at the Hollywood Bowl for two concerts, beginning Tuesday night when he and pianist Yefim Bronfman (long-time … Continue reading
Here are more pictures from last Tuesday’s concert at the Hollywood Bowl by Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, performing Stravinsky’s Fireworks and The Rite of Spring and Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with Augustin Hadelich. All images are care of the incomparable Brandise Danesewich, exclusively for All is Yar. To read my review of the concert, click HERE. The … Continue reading
There have been so many performances this season of The Rite of Spring (AKA Le sacre du printemps in the original français) in celebration of the work’s centenary that some people have expressed concerns that the work was becoming over-exposed. You wouldn’t have known it by the number of seats filled Tuesday night at the Hollywood Bowl … Continue reading
Here are more pictures from last Sunday’s concert at the Hollywood Bowl by Rodrigo y Gabriela, DeVotchKa (with The Section Quartet), and Lord Huron. Once again, all images are care of my good friend and photographer extraordinaire, Tim Strempfer, exclusively for All is Yar. To read my review of the concert, click HERE. The usual reminder: if you … Continue reading
When last we saw Rodrigo Sanchez and Gabriela Quintero — AKA Rodrigo y Gabriela — at the Hollywood Bowl, it was for their 2011 debut at the legendary amphitheater when they played two nights backed up by the full forces of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Between then and now, they appeared locally at smaller venues … Continue reading
The setting for last week’s first classical music concert of the 2013 Hollywood Bowl season couldn’t have been more perfect: the temperature was a picnic-perfect low 70’s, cooling down just a little as the sun set; the sky was clear and cloudless, and a very slight breeze blew through the amphitheater. It was, as the great … Continue reading
For those of us who appreciate a good deal on concert tickets — and let’s face it, that’s all of us — comes news that the Los Angeles Philharmonic is offering a 50% discount for all seven of their Classical Tuesday/Thursday concerts at the Hollywood Bowl in the month of July. The deal is available … Continue reading
The Los Angeles Philharmonic released details today of this year’s Hollywood Bowl season (press release HERE and complete chronological list of performances HERE). Nothing particularly Earth-shattering in the 2013 rendition of the popular Southern California summer venue’s line-up or format. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, I guess. The biggest surprises for me: The … Continue reading
The Hollywood Bowl is often a place for conductors and soloists to make their Los Angeles Philharmonic debuts. It’s a bit of trial by fire — if you can make a strong impression under the duress of limited rehearsal time and less-than-ideal performing conditions, then you might get invited for a gig downtown for the … Continue reading
Classical music, like life in general, abounds in so-called guilty pleasures. You know, the kind of stuff that you may not admit to friends that you like, but in the privacy of your own iPod earbuds, you relish with abandon. Warsaw Concerto is one for me. Carmina Burana is another one. Not a whole lot … Continue reading
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