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My $0.02 on Gustavo Dudamel extending his LA Phil contract to 2025/26 season
It looks like “The Dude” is gonna be sticking around for a little while longer. The Los Angeles Philharmonic announced earlier today that Gustavo Dudamel, the orchestra’s Music & Artistic...
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Watch tonight — or stream online right now: LA Phil’s 100th Anniversary...
Hello everyone. Long time no chat. Hope you’re all safe, healthy, and in good spirits during these challenging times. I know I’ve been mostly incommunicado, especially since the Covid-19 pandemic...
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2020 Hollywood Bowl summer season is officially cancelled
The Los Angeles Philharmonic announced that this summer’s Hollywood Bowl season is now officially cancelled. In an email sent to donors, LA Phil CEO Chad Smith noted that “for the first time in its...
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Musical “Fourth of July plumes” for Independence Day 2020
Happy Independence Day, everyone. I usually spend this most patriotic of American holidays immersed in the kind of music that reminds me of time spent in uniform: standing in formation, marching in...
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Comings and goings at the LA Phil (Summer 2020 edition): retirements in the...
Life can seem frozen during this strangest, most turbulent of years. There’s a desire to rewind and redo the past, or to fast-forward to a post-pandemic future that hopefully looks and feels like the...
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Hollywood Bowl to re-open in May 2021; Dudamel/LA Phil, Thundercat & Flying...
In the latest sign that the beginning of the end of the pandemic is in sight, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association announced today that the Hollywood Bowl will once again host audiences for live...
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The lost (and found?) All is Yar interviews of 2020: an open letter and prologue
Dear Reader (including those of you who’d normally only come here for orchestra audition repertoire lists, the rare operatic April Fools’ joke, or military music freebies, and especially anyone who...
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A 2020 chat with Norman Pearson: the tuba player talks about his career &...
Norman Pearson played his first concert with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1982 as a substitute on 2nd tuba. Simon Rattle conducted The Rite of Spring. Not a bad start. He’d go on to spend most of...
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LA Phil releases full details of 2021 Hollywood Bowl summer season
The other shoe has dropped. The Los Angeles Philharmonic sent an email to subscribers this morning inviting them to go to their website to view details of the 2021 summer season at the Hollywood Bowl....
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REVIEW: LA Phil livestreams opening concert of 2021 Hollywood Bowl Season
Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic launched its 2021 Hollywood Bowl season last night with a free concert for frontline and essential workers, their first performance for a live audience...
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Things are looking up: LA Chamber Orchestra to re-open Walt Disney Concert...
Big news from the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra: First, the orchestra, led by Music Director Jaime Martin, will begin playing again this summer The initial concert on Saturday, June 26, will be at...
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LA Phil extends contracts of Herbie Hancock and Thomas Wilkins
Two important artistic leaders at the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association will be around for a few more years. Herbie Hancock and Thomas Wilkins both signed contract extensions with the organization....
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Jaime Martin and LA Chamber Orchestra dazzle and inspire in their two-concert...
The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra finally returned to the stage this past week. And there was much rejoicing (yaaaaay). These weren’t the first classical music concerts in Southern California since...
View ArticleVIDEO: “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” by the US Army Field Band
Happy 4th of July, everyone! Enjoy this excellent rendition of my favorite arrangement (by James Neilson). 1st Lt. Alexandra Borza conducts. RELATED POSTS Musical “Fourth of July plumes” for...
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The LA Phil returns with a Hollywood Bowl season-opening night to savor
Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic returned to the Hollywood Bowl this past Thursday, its first subscription concert since pandemic restrictions had been instituted and subsequently...
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LA Master Chorale releases details of 2021-2022 season at Walt Disney Concert...
The Los Angeles Master Chorale has announced its 2021-2022 season, featuring 10 different programs played over 14 nights. It will mark the group’s post-shutdown return to Walt Disney Concert Hall....
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Tuesdays in July at the Bowl (part 1 of 2): Alison Balsom and Musgrave...
The July 20th concert by the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl offered something for every kind of classical music fan. If you’re an aficionado of brass, it would’ve made you very happy....
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Turning off the lights to see better: Ory Shihor re-opens The Wallis with...
Last Thursday night, the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills became the latest venue to re-open its doors to the public, ending 18 months of coronavirus-induced silence....
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A chat with Tom Hooten: LA Phil’s Principal Trumpet talks about the world...
Tom Hooten, the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s distinguished Principal Trumpet, was thrilled to learn that the orchestra had commissioned a new work featuring him as soloist. His excitement grew when he...
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A chat with Whitney Crockett: the LA Phil’s Principal Bassoon talks about his...
The Rite of Spring can be frightening for some bassoonists, but Whitney Crockett doesn’t really get scared by it. At least not anymore. The famously high opening solo of Stravinsky’s ballet is...
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