It was a festive atmosphere inside and outside Walt Disney Concert Hall on Thursday as the LA Phil unveiled plans (and a new logo) for its 100th anniversary. The actual date of the first concert by the LA Phil was October 24, 1919, so technically the orchestra's birthday is still nearly two years away. However, … Continue reading LA Phil at 100: Celebrating the Past by Looking to the Future
Composers: The Future is Female
Luna Composition Lab’s Missy Mazzoli | Photo by Marylene Mey Nearly half of the major orchestras in the United States will perform no music composed by women in the 2017-18 concert season. 25 of the top 30 orchestras will perform music by two or fewer women this season. That’s an incriminating, if unsurprising, statistic. But … Continue reading Composers: The Future is Female
Meet the Future Faces of Classical Music
Conductor Thomas Wilkins leads 101 young musicians from across the country during the “Take a Stand” symposium and festival | Photo by Brian Lauritzen If you have questions about the future of classical music, you’re not going to find answers in an orchestra’s administrative offices or the board room of a big opera company. I … Continue reading Meet the Future Faces of Classical Music
Scully at the Bowl
Vin Scully on stage with Gustavo Dudamel at the Hollywood Bowl On Thursday night, Hall of Fame former Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully’s voice once again wafted over the summer evening breezes of Southern California. There was no crack of the bat, no mention of deuces being wild, and no radio dial in sight (at least … Continue reading Scully at the Bowl
Game of Thrones: My 14 Favorite Covers
Photo by Helen Sloan/HBO You can’t tell it from the temperatures in Southern California, but winter is indeed here. The new season (or half-season, depending on your viewpoint) of Game of Thrones starts Sunday night and, I don’t know about you, but I am excited. To get in the mood for Sunday’s new episode, I’ve been listening … Continue reading Game of Thrones: My 14 Favorite Covers
Deep Cuts for a Classical Summer
The summer solstice officially arrived in the Pacific Time Zone at 9:24 Tuesday night, so for most of the country, technically Tuesday was the official First Day of Summer. There are plenty of pieces of classical music which celebrate summer and many of them are standbys in the repertoire. The Summer concerto from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, for example. … Continue reading Deep Cuts for a Classical Summer
Summer of Love: When Classical Music Meets Pop
With KUSC’s classical music celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love this weekend, it got me thinking about the influence of classical music in popular music. Musical borrowing is something that has occurred ever since there has been music. Bach made keyboard transcriptions of concertos by Vivaldi and others; Handel reused his own music; Tchaikovsky liked the Flower … Continue reading Summer of Love: When Classical Music Meets Pop
Behind the Scenes of the Ojai Music Festival with Vijay Iyer
Photo by Barbara Rigon | Homepage photo by Lena Adasheva Vijay Iyer is an American jazz pianist, composer, bandleader, producer, electronic musician, and writer. He’s a winner of the MacArthur Fellowship, the so-called “Genius Award.” And he’s this year’s music director for the Ojai Music Festival, which runs from June 8th to 11th in majestic Ojai. KUSC’s Brian Lauritzen sat … Continue reading Behind the Scenes of the Ojai Music Festival with Vijay Iyer
Four Female Conductors Take the Stage at the LA Phil
The LA Phil unveiled its 2017-18 season last week and among the many highlights is the fact that the orchestra has engaged four different women to conduct six different concerts. That may not seem like a lot over the course of an 8-month concert season, but it is considerably more than any other major orchestra in the … Continue reading Four Female Conductors Take the Stage at the LA Phil
5 Classical Music Stories That Prove 2016 Wasn’t a Total Loss
I read the news this year, oh boy... And so the Year of Death and Brexit and #MAGA comes to a merciful end. Yes, it was a horrific year for unity and truth and famous people staying alive. The awfulness extended to the classical music world as well. We said goodbye to far too many titans … Continue reading 5 Classical Music Stories That Prove 2016 Wasn’t a Total Loss
Brian Lauritzen 