Gustavo Dudamel’s much-anticipated Mahler Project opened in grand style at Walt Disney Concert Hall this weekend.  Culture Spot LA attended the Jan. 14 concert, and clearly Gustavo and Gustav have a kinship that is special.
The Mahler Project is an international collaboration between the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela.  The [...]

Cheers for a Happy New Year from Culture Spot LA!  Celebrate this first week of 2012 with some great music from greater LA east to west.  The LA Phil brings back Miguel Harth-Bedoya with pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, the Pasadena Master Chorale joins the Los Angeles Daiku for a rousing Beethoven Ninth, and the Da Camera [...]

Los Angeles enjoys a robust chamber music season that just keeps on giving all through the holidays.  Here are a few of the wonderful concerts around Southern California this week that Culture Spot LA recommends.
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GUILLAUME SUTRE violin
UCLA’s GUILLAUME SUTRE and pianist NEAL STULBERG are performing all of Mozart’s masterpieces for violin and piano in multiple [...]

LA Phil Conductor Laureate Esa-Pekka Salonen returned to Los Angeles with Swedish composer Anders Hillborg and a triumphant saga for the ages.  Like Homer’s Ulysses, Salonen tethered himself to the mast of the LA Phil and took us on a dramatic voyage through the world of the Sirens, and with Hillborg’s help, we too heard [...]

Ah, the days after Thanksgiving are a great time to spend some quality time with family and friends, and that is just what the Los Angeles Philharmonic is doing this post-holiday weekend, giving us Angelenos a great opportunity to enjoy a once-in-a-lifetime program at Walt Disney Concert Hall.  Conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen returns for three [...]

Tuesday evening, Nov. 8, members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic brought a French-inspired program to the chamber music series at Walt Disney Concert Hall.  The first half gave us the delightful music of Françaix and Poulenc, and the second half was devoted to Debussy’s brilliant string quartet.
Jean Françaix’s Quartet for English Horn and Strings was [...]

A distinguished cast from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center visited Caltech’s Beckman Auditorium in Pasadena Sunday afternoon, Nov. 6, with a program titled “Manifest Legacy: Beethoven and Brahms.”  Artistic directors David Finckel and Wu Han combined Beethoven’s Trio in D Major for violin, viola, and cello, Op. 9, No. 2 (1778) with two [...]

The chamber scene in LA is in high gear this week, filled with fantastic music from the very best ensembles that Los Angeles has to offer.  The LA Phil’s Chamber Music Concert will be a great way to begin on Tuesday, and any of the competing weekend concerts from Musica Angelica, Da Camera Society, California [...]

The Los Angeles Master Chorale opened its 2011-2012 season to a full house at Walt Disney Concert Hall on Oct. 16 with Grant Gershon and Leslie Leighton sharing the podium in a program that featured some of their all-time best music and close friends.  The headline work, Lux Aeterna, by Morten Lauridsen has become a [...]

The Colburn Chamber Music Society brought Quatuor Ebène and its signature Debussy to a full house on Oct. 10 to open the 2011-2012 season at Zipper Hall.  The Ebène Quartet has enjoyed meteoric fame since it was awarded “Recording of the Year” at the 2009 Classic FM Gramophone Awards for its disc of Debussy, Ravel, [...]