Last Night in L.A.: Zappa and Partch and the Festival’s Midway
Last night’s Green Umbrella concert was programmed as part of “West Coast, Left Coast”, and it certainly sounded as if almost all of the 1500-or-so of us had as much…
Last Night in L.A.: Singing the West Coast
The Los Angeles Master Chorale gave the Phil’s West Coast, Left Coast Festival the opening it deserved: a joyous statement, a vibrant concert, and a rousing end that left us…
Last Night in L.A.: Preludes to a Festival
This coming Saturday is the official opening concert of the L.A. Phil’s exciting new festival, West Coast, Left Coast, but performances introducing the concept have now begun. REDCAT showed a…
Last Night in L.A.: Feldman, Johnston, Glass
The new Jacaranda season began last night with a concert that almost filled the church and brought out the Los Angeles Times critic, with photographer as well. The program comprised…
In L.A.: “Bienvenido, Gustavo!”
Gustavo Dudamel is here! But I should quote the posters on buses, lamposts and billboards: “Pasion Gustavo”, “Radiante Gustavo”, “Dramatico Gustavo” (please forgive the absence of diacriticals). The home page…
From Ojai (3): Friends Make Music Make Friends
The Ojai Music Festival came to a triumphal ending last night with a raucous, committed, glowing performance of Louis Andriessen’s “Worker’s Union” (1976). The performance of the Andriessen began four…
From Ojai (2): What Boundaries?
The Friday night concert at the Ojai Music Festival was the premiere performance of “Slide”, a musical work of theatre by Steven Mackey and Rinde Eckert, and performed by the…
From Ojai (1): “Music for a Summer Evening”
The freeway ends a few miles from Ojai. You have to slow down to get there. You look at the hills and at the valley floor. You look at the…
The Salonen Count-Down: An Afternoon to Remember
Sunday afternoon was the final concert provided by Esa-Pekka Salonen as Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He has consistently said that he’ll be back with us on a…
The Salonen Count-Down: … 2 …
Last night Salonen conducted the premiere of his new Violin Concerto, performed by Leila Josefowicz. You can be sure there’s a lot of advance buzz about a piece when the…