Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Phil opened their Brahms Unbound series this weekend with performances of the Academic Festival Overture, Op. 80 and the Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68. In addition, the orchestra performed L’arbre des songes (Tree of Dreams), a violin concerto by the contemporary French composer Henri Dutilleux, with the [...]
Works by two composers – Tchaikovsky and Brahms – who didn’t especially like each other’s music, were nevertheless performed together by the LA Phil this past weekend.
The young Slovakian conductor, Juraj Valcuha, conducted the Symphony No. 1 in G minor, Op. 13, “Winter Dreams,” by Tchaikovsky and the Piano Concerto No. 2 in B flat [...]
Did you ever wonder what it might have been like to be present at one of the salons where Schubert or Chopin performed in an intimate setting for a few friends and family?
Well, with Le Salon de Musiques, which concludes its first season on May 15 at 4 p.m., you have the opportunity for just [...]
It’s hard to believe that 83-year-old Kurt Masur, the renowned past conductor of the Leipzig Gewandhaus, London Philharmonic, and the New York Philharmonic Orchestras, has never conducted in Disney Hall. So, it seems odd to talk about him making his Disney Hall debut, but that’s what he did on March 24, presenting a program of [...]
On March 22, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by its artistic director, Yuri Temirkanov, visited Disney Hall and performed works by two Russian composers, the Russian Easter Festival Overture, Op. 36 by Rimsky-Korsakov and the Cello Concerto No. 1 in E flat major, Op. 107 by Shostakovich with cellist Alisa Weilerstein, and the Symphony [...]
Gustavo Dudamel took the stage Friday night, March 4, to conduct the LA Phil in works by Anton Webern, Toru Takemitsu, and Anton Bruckner.
Dudamel opened the concert with Webern’s Five Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 10. These orchestral miniatures represent the epitome of Webern’s goal of atonal sparseness. Actually the term “orchestra” is a bit misleading [...]
On Tuesday night, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) and its music director for life, Zubin Mehta, returned to Disney Hall to perform works by Haydn and Mahler. The concert and gala celebrated the 75th anniversary season of the IPO and the 50th anniversary of Mehta’s conducting debut.
Los Angeles is the perfect place for the IPO [...]
The Macedonian pianist Simon Trpčeski (pronounced SIM-mun terp-CHESS-kee) first appeared at Disney Hall almost one year ago with the LA Phil under the direction of Dallas Symphony Orchestra Principal Conductor Jaap Van Zweden in a performance of Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto.
On Tuesday night, Trpčeski returned to Disney Hall for a solo recital of works by [...]
While you are planning how to ring in another new year, you might also start thinking about the second half of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s 2010-2011 season because it promises to be a doozy.
First off, if you are a Brahms lover, heaven waits just around the corner. There are no fewer than eight concerts featuring [...]
The LA Phil’s longest serving music director, Esa-Pekka Salonen, returned to Los Angeles in his new position as Conductor Laureate for two series of concerts last week. The program this past weekend included works by Paul Hindemith and Richard Wagner.
When Salonen walked on stage for Sunday’s matinee concert, the appreciative audience erupted in an enthusiastic, [...]
