The opening concert of Pacific Serenades’ 24th season certainly fulfilled their mission: to generate new chamber music by commissioning works and presenting them alongside standard repertoire in intimate concert settings, emphasizing the wonderful talents of Southern California musicians. The Neighborhood Church of Pasadena, where I heard their program on Jan. 31, is an ideal setting [...]

I’m not sure what I expected. As someone who has listened to and studied classical music as a pianist and a singer, I am acquiring a taste for 20th-century and contemporary music late in life. Because I am still striving to apprehend this foreign territory, I am in awe of composers such as John Adams. [...]

The Good Soldier Schweik by Robert Kurka is one of the finest Long Beach Opera productions I’ve seen. The cast was strong, the sets and costumes were minimal yet inventive, the direction and choreography were outstanding.
The opera libretto is by Lewis Allan, based on Jaroslav Hasek’s early anti-war novel, The Fateful Adventures of the Good [...]

Pacific Serenades will open its 24th season with three performances: Saturday, Jan. 30, 8 p.m. at a private home in Culver City; Sunday, Jan. 31 at 4 p.m. at the Neighborhood Church in Pasadena; and Tuesday, Feb. 9 at 8 p.m. at the UCLA Faculty Center. The program, titled “To Youth! To Wisdom!,” features Johannes [...]

Part One:
I was an undergraduate in the ’70s when I first heard of John Cage’s 4′33″. At the time, I dismissed the piece — and Cage in general — as ridiculous. I went to Southwest Chamber Music’s first concert in their Cage 2012 series on Jan. 23 with a more open mind. While I wouldn’t [...]

If you missed the first performance of the Verdi Chorus Fall Concert, you have one more opportunity to hear a delightful program of opera highlights: Sunday, Nov. 22, at 4 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church in Santa Monica.
Music Director and Founding Artistic Director Anne Marie Ketchum is a masterful programmer, presenting a banquet [...]

Opera fans and those curious about the art form will find the Verdi Chorus Fall Concert a pleasing mixture of opera standards, less familiar treasures, and operetta. Performances are Saturday, Nov. 21, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 22, at 4 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church in Santa Monica.
The Verdi Chorus is unique [...]