Classical music and opera lovers can experience another side of their passions with a couple of local theater offerings this summer. The award-winning Fountain Theatre presents the LA premiere of “Opus,” a play about a “high-strung” string quartet. And Theatricum Botanicum offers “Master Class,” Tony Award winner Terrence McNally’s play about opera diva Maria Callas.
Here [...]

World-class guitar virtuoso solo artist, composer and arranger Laurence Juber, who is also the former lead guitarist for Paul McCartney’s Wings, will perform in Culver City on Saturday, June 12. It’s amazing what Juber can do with just a guitar onstage, and it’s no surprise he was voted #1 by Fingerstyle Guitar magazine. Read more [...]

Curious readers got a glimpse behind the art of creating literature when Carlos Ruiz Zafón visited MOCA for a Zócalo Public Square event on May 24.
Zafón, who splits his time between Barcelona and Los Angeles, is the author of the New York Times bestselling The Shadow of the Wind, the recently published The Angel’s Game, [...]

Simon Trpčeski will perform Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the LA Phil and conductor Jaap van Zweden April 16-18 at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Trpčeski and van Sweden have been making the rounds with this piece; the two performed the concerto in Dallas with van Zweden’s Dallas Symphony Orchestra and in Europe with the [...]

The Intimate Opera Company is presenting three performances of Puccini’s “Tosca” on Saturday, April 10, at 2 p.m.; Friday, April 16, at 8 p.m.; and Sunday, April 18, at 2 p.m. The opera will be performed in English with orchestra at Packard Hall, Westminster Gardens on opening night and the Sheraton Pasadena Hotel the following [...]

Harvey Pekar and Alison Bechdel will speak at UCLA Live’s “Titans of the Graphic Novel” event on Friday, April 23, at 8 p.m. at Royce Hall. They will explore the power of graphic novels as a confessional medium.
Pekar’s autobiographical “American Splendor” comics gained a cult following and were adapted into a 2003 feature film with [...]

Jeffrey Compton, Executive Editor of a new book called “Arts America: Enjoying the Best Art Museums, Theater, Classical Music, Opera, Jazz, Dance, Film, and Summer Festivals in America,” offers up some tips for Culture Spot readers, both LA residents and visitors.
Los Angeles is a one of the great cultural centers of the United States [...]

On Saturday, March 27, at 2 p.m., the Brand Library will host an opera talk on “Die Gezeichneten” (The Stigmatized), a late-Romantic tragedy by Franz Schreker. The talk will be given by Los Angeles Opera Speaker Bureau member Fred Hyatt. Admission is free.
“The Stigmatized” will run at LA Opera, as part of Music Director James [...]

You might have heard about a new documentary called “The Art of the Steal: The Untold Story of the Barnes Collection.” Director Don Argott makes the case that it’s a crime to move the $25 billion collection of impressionist, post-impressionist and modern art amassed by Albert C. Barnes from its present home in a Philadelphia [...]

It’s The Hurt Locker vs. Avatar for Best Picture this year, a true David and Goliath Oscar battle. I’m rooting for the underdog.
I saw the low-budget The Hurt Locker long before the mega-million-dollar 3D IMAX film, and when I left the theater I couldn’t imagine any other film being my Best Picture pick. I was [...]