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For nostalgia-lovers, the 2016 World Series is a gold mine. There are dozens of articles out there recounting what life was like in the years the Chicago Cubs (1908) and Cleveland Indians (1948) last won the World Series. The drought has been so long for both teams...and I thought it would be fun to take … Continue reading A Classical Music World Series

(To read Part 1 of this post, please click here.)  The Metropolitan Opera and the New York Philharmonic don’t get together in the offseason and plan out their repertoire as a team, so it was pure coincidence that Richard Strauss’ dark psychodrama, Elektra, opened at The Met the same weekend the Philharmonic was playing Mahler’s … Continue reading A Devastating Double-Bill: Thoughts on Elektra and Mahler 9 at Lincoln Center (part 2)

  The Metropolitan Opera and the New York Philharmonic don't get together in the offseason and plan out their repertoire as a team, so it was pure coincidence that Richard Strauss' dark psychodrama, Elektra, opened at The Met the same weekend the Philharmonic was playing Mahler's bleak final symphony. Lincoln Center's coincidence was my good … Continue reading A Devastating Double-Bill: Thoughts on Elektra and Mahler 9 at Lincoln Center (part 1)

A strange thing happened the other day: Bernie Sanders went to a performance of Hamilton. A presidential candidate going to a Broadway show isn’t the strange part. The strange part is *this* presidential candidate going to *this* broadway show. Bernie Sanders, champion of the people, advocate for the little guy…the man leading the assault on … Continue reading Buzz-Feeders: Why Art and Capitalism Should Play By Different Rules

Here you go! All of the best Gustavo Dudamel and YOLA GIFs the halftime show at Super Bowl 50. Everybody wins.        

This is my first contribution to a new series on the KUSC blog. Over the next several weeks, each of the KUSC on-air hosts will unveil a list of 10 essential pieces of classical music that we think everyone should know. These aren’t the “10 Best” pieces, or even our “10 Favorite” pieces--just 10 that we … Continue reading 10 Pieces of Classical Music Everyone Should Know

Sunrise. It's beautiful. Or so I'm told. I am *not* a morning person and can count the number of sunrises I've actually seen on my two hands and still have a finger left over to tap the snooze button on my alarm clock. Many composers have also been inspired by sunrises. In fact, some of … Continue reading The Sounds of Sunrise

The following is the Commencement Address to the Class of 2015 at the Colburn Conservatory of Music, given recently by LA Philharmonic violinist and Street Symphony founder Vijay Gupta. My thanks to Vijay for allowing me to share this inspiring speech here in this forum. -Brian ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Earlier this week, I was on the 10 … Continue reading GUEST POST: Vijay Gupta on the True Power of Music to Change Lives

No one lives in Odaka City. More than 13,000 people used to. But after the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami and subsequent meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station in 2011, everyone was forced to leave. After the earthquake, residents were given two hours to collect their most precious belongings and head for … Continue reading After the Tsunami: They Left and They’re Not Coming Back