The late days of summer are the best time of year in Los Angeles for an evening picnic; and if your main course pairs well with the finest music in LA, then what place could be better than the Hollywood Bowl?

Bramwell Tovey, principal guest conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, [...]

Southwest Chamber Music continued its great summer concert series at the Huntington Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 7 and 8, with music by Debussy, Ravel, Satie, and well-known local composer Anne Le Baron.
Debussy’s Danse sacrée et danse profane attracted me to the concert to begin with – and I was not disappointed.  Alison Bjorkedal’s harp [...]

After such an enjoyable program two weeks ago, the California Philharmonic’s “Frank, Tony and the Maestro” at Walt Disney Concert Hall on Aug. 8 was not up to their usual standards. The customary thread with which Maestro Vener usually weaves together all the selections was grossly missing. The program ranged from Las Vegas-styled standards to [...]

The lineup for the UCLA Live 2010-11 season is so remarkable that each event could be considered a highlight of the season. Below, we’ve covered the dance and classical lineups. But consider also the big names scheduled in jazz, including Ornette Coleman (Nov. 3) and Chick Corea and Gary Burton (March 5), and in spoken [...]

Gustavo Dudamel had a ball at the Bowl with Gershwin and Bernstein kickin’ it Tuesday night, Aug. 3.
Gershwin’s eidetic An American in Paris was rapturous — take that, you East Coast snobs!
The large orchestration really resonated in the Hollywood Bowl, and Dudamel and the LA Phil delivered a knock-out performance. We could see the New [...]

The Los Angeles Jewish Symphony celebrates contributions of Jewish composers to film history with its annual concert program, Cinema Judaica, on Sunday, Aug. 8, at 7:30 p.m., under the stars at the Ford Amphitheatre.  The orchestra, led by Founder and Artistic Director Noreen Green, pays tribute to Jerry Goldsmith, Elmer Bernstein, Steven Schwartz, Danny Pelfrey, [...]

Southwest Chamber Music continued its reputation for great programming on July 23, as Artistic Director Jeff von der Schmidt connected the dots for us between Mexico and Vienna with works by Silvestre Revueltas, Gabriela Ortiz, and Beethoven.
The setting was an idyllic Los Angeles summer’s eve at the Huntington.  As I strolled in the gardens, dusk [...]

Once again Victor Vener proved himself the master of popular programming, combining John Williams favorites with excerpts from Wagner’s Ring Cycle and an arrangement of Howard Shore’s music for The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. I had the pleasure of listening to the California Philharmonic’s concert on Sunday afternoon, July 25, at Walt [...]

The program was all French, and Martin Chalifour’s Saint-Saëns was brilliant.
Normally heard as the LA Phil’s Principal Concertmaster, Chalifour stepped up to center stage to star as soloist on July 13 at the Hollywood Bowl, performing Saint-Saëns’ Violin Concerto No. 3 to open the passionate all-French program with guest conductor Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos.
Have you [...]

Each year I look forward to Southwest Chamber Music’s Summer Festival at the Huntington. To enjoy the beauty of the grounds, the art, and exquisite chamber music in the cool of a summer evening is a cultural experience unrivaled in Southern California.
For the opening concert, Artistic Director Jeff von der Schmidt programmed music for string [...]