As the clock ticks, time well spent on ‘The Day’
Who can resist the alluring image, above, from a new theatrical production, THE DAY, presented at CAP UCLA and featuring two strong women of the performing arts, former New York City Ballet dancer Wendy Whelan (she is now associate director of the company) and cellist Maya Beiser, described as “a force of nature” by The ...
Baritone Rod Gilfry, soon soloist in David Lang ‘the loser’
gilfry as ‘the narrator‘ in david lang’s ‘the loser’ soon at l.a. opera Ed. note: An interview with L.A. Opera guest singer Rod Gilfrey by Gary Murphy first published in the “Bravo” newsletter of the Opera League of Los Angeles.♣ ♣ ♣ ♣ After reprising his role as Mr. Potter in Jake Heggie’s opera adaptation ...
Millepied’s disjunctive ‘I fall…’ exposes choreographer’s weakness
L.A. Dance Project, disjunctive, disconnected, photo by l.a. dance project A harrowing drive across dark, slick, and unmarked Washington Boulevard in pelting rain went unrewarded by enduring Benjamin Millepied’s “I Fall, I Flow, I Melt,” a 75-minute, intermission-less dance performance by L.A. Dance Project performed, in the round, at the company’s headquarters named for its ...
Fly high in 2019, with dance!
Jan
2
2019
Did the holidays do you right? Kinda, sorta? Some of us still feel fatigued! Laden, draggy, down to earth. That is why we want, and need, peppy young people, for example dancers, in pursuit of a hot new trend — going airborne. Because space is the place ~! It may be the new dance frontier. ...
Blowing in the wind with Jacaranda
Oct
8
2015
Nine bagpipes keening on the nearby ocean bluff, and twelve strings in a darkening sanctuary will unleash your imagination and cast a lasting spell of intangible magnitude. So promises Jacaranda in promoting two Los Angeles premieres slated to grace the contemporary classical music society’s 2015-16 season-opening concert. First up, in a free outdoor performance sure ...
L.A. Dance Project reinvigorates United Artists movie palace 2
Just “yes” to Benjamin Millepied‘s wonderful, calm and engaging “Reflections,” the opening work of L.A. Dance Project‘s “3 Exceptional Performances” program on view in downtown Los Angeles throughout the weekend. More a linked chain of body-conversations than a highly kinetic dance work, “Reflections” (more unmemorable dance-titling from Millepied, the prior, “Moving Parts”), with its strong ...
Why composer David Lang didn’t call Shostakovich, or Arvo Part, in 1975
Oct
1
2011
A few Mondays back, on September 19, in the dark days BPST (before Pacific Standard Time) … [when we only had 100 nightly arts events to attend in Los Angeles — and now we have 1,000] … one of our favorite musical societies, Jacaranda, threw a swell do at the Skirball Center. The idea was ...