‘Long live Sondheim,’ pianist Anthony de Mare soon to pronounce at Royce
Mar
25
2022
It sounds so intriguing doesn’t it? In 2007, Anthony de Mare, a champion of contemporary music and devotee of the musical theater genius of composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim (1930-2021) embarked on a project that has proven enduring. His big idea was to commission leading composers in jazz, film, theater and classical music, and the pop world, ...
Gloria Cheng’s garlands for new music in Los Angeles
Nov
12
2018
Ed. note: The great and gracious pianist Gloria Cheng is a guest contributor to the blog, with an excerpt from an essay she herself penned recounting the scene for new music in Los Angeles. “Only in Los Angeles?” was originally published by NewMusicBox and is excerpted with kind permission. Writes Gloria Cheng: It could be ...
Pianist Jose Menor’s radiant ‘Goyescas’ to shimmer at Spain-on-the-Pacific party
May
11
2018
A toast of sparkling cava will cap off a sensual event when Jacaranda hosts a Spanish-themed “Goyescas by the Sea” benefit concert Sunday, May 20. The youthful Barcelona-based superstar-pianist, Jose Menor, will grace the program, delivering the complete Goyescas by Enrique Granados, an hour-long solo piano suite inspired by that most Spanish of painters, Francisco ...
Pianissimo to the max: Terry Riley, Gloria Cheng in concert
Mar
2
2018
What a pairing. Virtuoso contemporary pianist Gloria Cheng playing the works of pioneering minimalist composer Terry Riley — and then the duo playing together. At the cozy, comfortable and acoustically pristine Zipper Hall presented by our friends at Pianospheres. A rare experience. So, go. Program: RILEY: Two Pieces for Piano (1958/1959) RILEY: The Walrus in ...
Awake to the world, with Jacaranda
Oct
11
2017
The onslaught of bad, breaking news has us numbed. Howling winds, gushing waters, marauding mass murderers, predators of pretty movie stars, all pummel our sensitive souls. That’s where the artistic director of Jacaranda music has stepped into the breach. In launching AWAKE, Jacaranda’s 15th season, Patrick Scott is pushing back against the bad noise, and replacing ...
To higher musical spaces and places, with Jacaranda
Jun
6
2016
Chamber music, a relatively portable art form (relative to, say, a symphony orchestra), in May climbed our city’s peaks in celebration of The Big Vista, the annual summer party of our top-favorite contemporary-classical music series, Jacaranda. Bundling repertoire culled from the edgy, the new, and the yet-to-be-imagined into stimulating, curated concerts for receptive audiences in ...
What a week! Los Angeles blossoms in the fine arts
I’ve inhabited Los Angeles more or less, since 1989. The city’s rich art existence, long undetected, has kept me busy and happy here. There is little doubt, however, that something arts-phenomenal is happening right now in our city. It must be true; the New York Times is sputtering about it all the time. In fact, ...
Four (special) hands better than two @ Piano Spheres
Aug
10
2015
Piano Spheres, the new-music presentation series devoted to showcasing contemporary works for the piano, offers as the opener to its 22nd season a double-barreled send-off, “Two Pianos, Four Hands.” The recital features a world premiere and performances by two leading lights of contemporary music. Thomas Ades’s “Concert Paraphrase on on Powder Her Face for Two ...
Gloria Cheng’s solo flight @ Piano Spheres
Apr
17
2015
photo credit: Los Angeles Times We’ve cruised through many chamber-music concerts spellbound by the exceptional artistry of pianist Gloria Cheng whose nearly demonic devotion to contemporary classical music invariably ramps up the entire evening … and she only plays with the best. But we’ve never enjoyed the pleasure of the Great Gloria in solo concert. ...
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 ...