Los Angeles has such a diverse chamber music scene!  We can only marvel at the breadth and depth of our local culture from the antiquities to the cutting edge, and it is so accessible. Here are a few of these great events sampled from every day of the week.
Open the week Monday with the Musica [...]

It is said that history does not repeat itself, but it frequently rhymes. This adage is wonderfully demonstrated as you watch the events in Simon Boccanegra unfold. For composer Giuseppe Verdi, his 1857 opera dramatizing the struggle between the Guelphs and Ghibellines (warring factions in 14th-century Genoa) was undoubtedly also a commentary on the revolutionary [...]

The week ahead promises some wonderful music from LA’s finest organizations and musicians.
Start the week Tuesday with a perfect musical Valentine treat from pianists Yana Reznik and Esther Keel as they offer Random Acts of Music at Noor Restaurant, an intimate event sponsored by the Pasadena Symphony.
The John Cage Centenary Festival starts a two-day homage [...]

So… we had a little too much Mahler?  Or maybe the Mahler Dude leaving town for Caracas has you down?  I say that jokingly, of course, but what to do now?  Well, we suggest that you try to hear Joshua Bell in one of his performances this week with the Laguna Beach Music Festival or [...]

All good things must come to an end, and Gustavo Dudamel’s epic exploration of Mahler’s symphonies with the LA Phil and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela — his hometown orchestra — is no exception.  The Los Angeles part of the Mahler project ends this Sunday, Feb. 5, with a performance of Mahler’s Ninth [...]

On Thursday night, Gustavo Dudamel continued his Mahler marathon by conducting his hometown band, the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela (SBSOV) (formerly the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra), in a rousing, impassioned performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 in C sharp minor at Walt Disney Concert Hall.
Mahler began writing the first two movements of his [...]

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 [...]

The relatively young (he’s 43) Peruvian conductor of the Ft. Worth Symphony Orchestra, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, returned to LA (where he was assistant and then associate conductor from 1998-2004) on Saturday, Jan. 7, to conduct an LA Phil, without many of its principals, in three works, the Hussite Overture by Dvorák, the Piano Concerto No. 2 [...]

The 2011-2012 season of the LA Philharmonic continues on Thursday, Jan. 5, with the first of four concerts featuring pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet performing the Lizst Piano Concerto No. 2 in honor of the anniversary of the composer’s 200th birthday. Also on the program are the Hussite Overture by Dvorák and the Saint-Saëns Symphony No. 3, [...]

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 [...]