All entries by this author

Classical Focus, May 10 – 17

May 9, 2011 | By Theodore Bell | Category: Classical Music and Opera

The chamber music scene in Los Angeles is truly world class, and this week there is music for every preference from the very old to the very new.  Start the week this Tuesday, May 10, at Walt Disney Concert Hall with HESPÈRION XXI and their musical celebration of the 200th anniversary of Mexican independence that [...]



Music Review: Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra

May 1, 2011 | By Theodore Bell | Category: Classical Music and Opera

Jeffrey Kahane and Allan Vogel were brilliant in their performances with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO) as the 2011 Westside Connections season closed with chamber music and discussion on Thursday, April 28, at the Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center Eli and Edythe Broad Stage.
LACO Concertmaster Margaret Batjer directs this unique series that [...]



Classical Focus, April 26 – May 1

April 24, 2011 | By Theodore Bell | Category: Classical Music and Opera

The focus this week is on the music itself.  At the top of my list is Stravinsky’s Histoire du Soldat (The Soldier’s Tale) by members of the LA Phil Tuesday evening at Walt Disney Concert Hall – a delightful and brilliant piece for seven instruments, three actors, and a dancer.  Sunday afternoon on May [...]



Classical Focus, April 19 – 24

April 20, 2011 | By Theodore Bell | Category: Classical Music and Opera

Here are just a few of the great concerts this week in Los Angeles – Jacaranda’s “music at the edge” series celebrates the Liszt bicentennial, the Capitol Ensemble performs its excellent Schubert and Mozart, and the LA Phil plays Tchaikovsky and Brahms with celebrated pianist Yefim Bronfman.

Jacaranda – music at the edge
Jacaranda continues [...]



Classical Focus, April 11 – 17

April 9, 2011 | By Theodore Bell | Category: Classical Music and Opera

The chamber scene is in full gear with four great local organizations in action this weekend and next: the Da Camera Society, Le Salon de Musiques, Musica Angelica, and the Pasadena Conservatory of Music.  My personal program favorites are Mozart’s String Quintet in G Minor, K516 by the Capitol Ensemble led by violinist Phillip Levy [...]



LA Phil’s ‘Tribute to Ernest’

April 3, 2011 | By Theodore Bell | Category: Classical Music and Opera

Music celebrities from around the globe gathered at Walt Disney Concert Hall on March 27 to celebrate and honor Ernest Fleischmann as a champion of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Fleischmann, the former executive vice president and managing director of the LA Phil whose history with the organization actually dates back to 1969, passed away June [...]



Music Review: Le Salon de Musiques

March 24, 2011 | By Theodore Bell | Category: Classical Music and Opera

An enthusiastic and appreciative Los Angeles audience was transported to a time in Paris long past through Le Salon de Musiques with Debussy, Saint-Saens and Ravel Sunday afternoon, March 20, in the Impresario Room on the fifth floor of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.
Artistic Directors François Chouchan, Bernard Philippe, and Phillip Levy assembled an outstanding program [...]



Classical Focus, March 20 – 27

March 19, 2011 | By Theodore Bell | Category: Classical Music and Opera

The week starts with two great chamber concerts downtown Sunday afternoon, when we can hear George Crumb’s favorite soprano Tony Arnold sing his music in the acoustically superb Zipper Hall of the Colburn School, or just up the block we can enjoy a sumptuous all-French affair at Le Salon de Musiques in the Impresario Room [...]



Music Review: Guitarra del Sol with Scott Tennant

March 8, 2011 | By Theodore Bell | Category: Classical Music and Opera, Featured Articles

The Pasadena Conservatory of Music (PCM) consistently organizes the finest of intimate chamber concerts to be found anywhere in Los Angeles.  Its March 6 concert at the historic Hale Solar Observatory Library was brilliant in so many ways.  I mean, where else would Guitarra del Sol be staged, but in a room that was [...]



Music Review: Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin

March 5, 2011 | By Theodore Bell | Category: Classical Music and Opera

Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin embarked on its U.S. tour Wednesday evening, March 2, with a debut at our Walt Disney Concert Hall of its most authentic version of the “Best of German Baroque” from Bach, Telemann, and Händel.
The soloists were each remarkable, although I was especially impressed by Anna Fusek and her virtuosic [...]