‘The Magic Flute’ at English National Opera
Opera lovers in London have any numbers of possibilities. We can go mammoth: Aida in the Royal Albert Hall for an audience of 3500 with singers and orchestra miked to the max; or miniscule: the prizing-winning Opera Up Close at the Kings Head Theatre Pub in Islington for 110, its Prohibition-set Traviata currently running until ...
Opera occupies Union Station 1
The overture ended, a set of heavy double doors opened, and into Union Station spilled the opera audience. As the group dispersed, some displayed trepidation in their quest for the singers heard in their headsets. Others eschewed the life-sized version of Where’s Waldo: One couple made a beeline for the bar; ordering a bottle of ...
Rhoden’s RISE revisited
Just loved getting another look at Complexions Contemporary Ballet romping through Dwight Rhoden’s exemplary “RISE,” set to a sound score by ’80s rock band, U2, last night at the Smothers Theatre of Pepperdine University’s Center for the Arts. The work, a kind of dance corollary to the ecstasy of a rock concert-on-fire, stands up well. ...
Brando’s bead on jazz in “The Wild One” @ L.A. Jazz Institute festival
We so enjoyed the opening-night concert of “Jazz Themes from Hollywood: West Coast Jazz at the Movies,” a four-day festival sponsored by the LA Jazz Institute now going on in a big subterranean ballroom at the LAX Marriott hotel. The concert paid tribute to the film music of Shorty Rogers and Leith Stevens, alternately composers ...
Around the world with Enzo Avitabile
One of globalization’s least noted benefits has been the rise of world music, led by a motley crew of legends ranging from Peter Gabriel and Mickey Hart to Djivan Gasparyan and Enzo Avitabile. Drums and frets form the basis for the cross-cultural exchanges, even though an artist like the Naples-born Avitabile is a singer and ...
Plethora of arts offerings @ Jack Rutberg Fine Arts
Tonight, concurrent to the new gallery exhibition of Spanish artist Jordi Alcaraz, a celebrated Israeli poet, Amir Or, will read from his poems. The evening event is sponsored by the USC Initiative for Israeli Arts & Humanities, Ruth Weisberg, Director. Born in Tel Aviv, Amir Or has published seven books of poetry and has been ...
See you @ CU! Classical Underground opens its season
Oct
16
2013
We are fans of the Monday night classical music series, Classical Underground. The formula for the off-the-beaten-track performances goes like this: nosh, sip, chew, gab … and then refined listening. Hosts Olga Vlasova and Alexey Steele throw open the gate to their vault of an artist’s loft located in a weird wonderland — a faraway industrial ...
The perils of Pauline Schindler 1
In an early letter, Pauline Schindler wrote, “One of my dreams, Mother, is to have, someday, a little joy of a bungalow, on the edge of the woods and mountains near a crowded city, which shall be open just as some people’s hearts are open, to friends of all classes and types… Surely the mother ...
Love for Henry in Orange County
A beautiful event Thursday night, October 20, 2013, a cocktail hour in honor of California’s preeminent arts patron Henry Segerstrom, the force behind Orange County’s Segerstrom Center for the Arts and subject of a new coffeetable book. The vast party took place at Assouline Publishing‘s chic boutique at South Coast Plaza, developed by Segerstrom circa ...
Cool Hollywood jazz feted in festival
Jazz has been such an integral component to American motion picture soundtracks for so long, we sometimes forget it wasn’t always so. Try to think of modern motion picture soundtracks without jazz and it’s, well, unthinkable. Don Ellis’s vibrant, taut music to “The French Connection,” Johnny Mandel’s poignant songs like ”The Shadow of Your Smile” ...