‘Pop’ goes the American Songbook, in Pasadena, under Feinstein baton 1
The Pasadena Symphony and POPS organization practiced what the Chinese call “double happiness” this week, announcing, in one fell swoop, the re-upping of conductor Michael Feinstein’s contract with the POPS (where he started in 2013) and the roll-out of a rich summer menu of American Songbook concerts at their bandshell digs in the Los Angeles ...
It’s criminal to not attend! Jacaranda’s ‘American Crime’ concert
A concert celebration of ABC’s AMERICAN CRIME, featuring the world premiere of American Crime Suite for chamber orchestra by Mark Isham with music that inspires the composer and his series creator/director John Ridley. Those works include Nagoya Marimbas by Steve Reich, Fratres and Darf Ich by Arvo Pärt, and November by Max Richter. Staged by ...
arts·meme turns eight, expresses self 18
May
23
2016
arts·meme has been a good little girl. She writes timely blog-posts, publishes them with nice pictures, inserts proper hot-links. Now it’s her turn to show off. Do-mi-so-do-so-mi-do. Fa-la-la-la. To celebrate the blog’s eighth birthday (founded on May 24, 2008 by Debra Levine with Mark Levine as talented tech man), arts•meme would like to sing you ...
Royal Swedish Ballet’s stunning, unconventional ‘Juliet and Romeo’ soon @ Segerstrom
With a history that stretches back to 1773, you’d expect the esteemed Royal Swedish Ballet to offer a “Romeo and Juliet” full of swordplay and courtly gowns. But no — not when master choreographer Mats Ek is in charge. He reimagined the tragic love story in 2013 with the same urban, gritty edge that he’s ...
Review: Antiquity updated in SOLUNA Fest’s ‘Rules of the Game’
Vulnerable humans cower in the debris of a humongous classical bust crashed to earth. An unnatural occurrence … like an airplane felled. Symbols of ancient civilization — either Greek, Roman, or a modern approximation of both — tumble down, explode into shards. Not to worry; it’s all fake. It’s video art. This stunning and impactful ...
In Dallas, for SOLUNA Festival, coming apart at the seams
In a world that seems to be fraying if not coming apart at the seams, the ultimate deconstruction, that of the human body — a startling central image at last night’s premiere of “Rules of the Game,” a collaboration by visual artist Daniel Arsham, choreographer Jonah Bokaer, set to an original score by Pharrell Williams. ...
Review: Memphis jookin phenom Lil Buck & pals wow @ Broad Stage
Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade is only eight blocks from The Broad Stage, but it took Memphis jookin phenom Charles “Lil Buck” Riley thousands of miles and several years to get from one to the other. Six years ago, he was busking for quarters on the Promenade, but when a video of him dancing to ...
Irish painting master Patrick Graham in major show @ Rutberg’s
May
13
2016
A rare opportunity to view the works of one of Ireland’s most influential contemporary artists, Patrick Graham, who, starting next weekend will be honored with an important exhibit at one of L.A.s’ most respected art galleries, Jack Rutberg Fine Arts. Thirty-six works including Graham’s iconic large-scale paintings and complex mixed media drawings, deeply rooted in ...
Sad but beautiful: Highways remembers ‘Dancers We Lost’
“Dancers We Lost” is a comprehensive dance-history project honoring performers who died due to complications of HIV/AIDS. The Dancers We Lost exhibition is the visual component of a large history project, it’s all so sad, but forgetting these people seems even worse. The exhibit is now installed at the noble Highways Performance Space in Santa ...
Lilacs to beget roses — and dance — at New York Botanical Garden
Tony and Emmy award-winning choreographer George Faison poses in the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden at the New York Botanical Garden last weekend with Naomi Goldberg Haas, artistic director of Dances for a Variable Population. The duo is collaborating on The Phoenix Project, a citywide event that will feature a performance by legendary guest artists staged ...