A Selective Guide to the Arts in Los Angeles

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 of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.  Then midweek, the incomparable Andre Watts will be dazzling with his all-Liszt program Wednesday evening at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts.  The week closes with four LA Philharmonic performances with conductor Kurt Masur and violinist Sarah Chang Thursday through Sunday.

Also, this week, don’t forget to get in your ticket request for the Adaskin String Trio, coming to town by invitation of the Chamber Music at the Clark.  The tickets are distributed via lottery (details below), so get your request in before March 28 for the May 1 concert at the Clark Library.

Dilijian Chamber Music Series

Lark Musical Society continues the Dilijian Chamber Music Series with a fifth concert Sunday afternoon “Taghs of Angels.”  You may recognize Crumb’s “Black Angels” string quartet given it was featured on the soundtrack of “The Exorcist, and it will be a treat to hear soprano Tony Arnold again.  LA Times critic Mark Swed described her as “magnificent” in her singing of Crumb’s work in the Green Umbrella Series last November.  Dilijan Artistic Director and UCLA Professor of Violin Movses Pogossian impressed Swed as “one of the finest violinists in Los Angeles.”  The UCLA Camarades String Quartet, Threnody, takes its name from three of “Black Angels’” movements.  Other artists include: Tigran Arakelyan (flute), Ryan Zwahlen (oboe), Phil O’Connor (clarinet), Vardan Gasparyan (cello), David Parmeter (bass), Kyung-Hee Kim-Sutre (harp), Vicki Ray (piano), and Andrea Moore (percussion).

Program:

Artur Avanesov: Dies Ist Ein Lied Für Dich Allein for singing cellist
Aram Hovhannisyan: Litany II – musique pour piano
Stepan Rostomyan: The Tagh of Angels
George Crumb: Madrigals
George Crumb: Black Angels – Thirteen Images from the Dark Land

Sunday, March 20, 3 p.m.

Zipper Concert Hall at The Colburn School, 200 South Grand Avenue, Los Angeles.

Tickets: $35, $20, $15 students, are available by calling (818) 572-5438, or at the door.

Le Salon de Musiques

The venue for Le Salon de Musiques is the fifth-floor Impresario Room in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion with a beautiful view of the Hollywood Hills. After the performance, mingle around a gourmet buffet with French Champagne, but Ravel’s string quartet is intoxicating on its own, even without the libation.  Performing artists include Sarah Thornblade and Searmi Park (violins), Robert Brophy (viola), Andrew Schulman (cello), Pamela Vliek (flute) and Marcia Dickstein (harp).

Program:

Debussy: Sonata in Trio for flute, viola, and harp, L137

Saint-Saëns: Fantasie in A Major for harp and violin, Op.124

Ravel: String Quartet in F Major

Sunday, March 20, 4 p.m.

Impresario Room (fifth floor), Dorothy Chandler Pavilion,

135 North Grand Avenue, Los Angeles

Tickets: $65

Andre Watts at Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts

World-renowned pianist Andre Watts comes to Cerritos Wednesday evening with a thrilling program entirely focused on Liszt:

• Concert Etude No.3, Un Sospiro

• Hungarian Rhapsody No.13

• Sonata in B Minor

• Bagatelle ohne Tonart

• En Rêve

• La Lugubre Gondola No.2

• Schlaflos, Frage und Antwort

• Transcendental Étude No.10 in F Minor

• Études Nos.5 and 6 from Six Grand Etudes after Paganini

Wednesday, March 23, 7:30 p.m.

Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, 12700 Center Court Drive, Cerritos

Tickets: $35

Kurt Masur and Sarah Chang With the LA Phil

Conductor Kurt Masur, music director of the Orchestre National de France in Paris, makes his Walt Disney Concert Hall debut leading the Los Angeles Philharmonic in four performances, Thursday through Sunday.  Celebrity violinist Sarah Chang will perform Brahms’ Violin Concerto.  Recognized as one of the world’s great violinists, Sarah Chang is no stranger to Los Angeles audiences, having performed with the LA Phil at both Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Hollywood Bowl.

Program:

Mendelssohn: Hebrides Overture

Brahms: Violin Concerto

Dvorák: Symphony No. 8

Join host Russell Steinberg, UCLA faculty member and artistic director of the Los Angeles Youth Orchestra, for the Upbeat Live pre-concert discussion in Walt Disney Concert Hall’s BP Hall one hour prior to the Thursday, Saturday and Sunday concerts, and on stage one hour and 15 minutes prior to the Friday concert.

Thursday, March 24, 2011, at 8 p.m.

Friday, March 25, 2011, at 11 a.m.

Saturday, March 26, 2011, at 8 p.m.

Sunday, March 27, 2011, at 2 p.m

Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Avenue, Los Angeles

Tickets ($18 – $167) are on sale now at the box office, at LAPhil.com, or via credit card by phone at (323) 850-2000. A limited number of $10 rush tickets for seniors and full-time students may be available two hours prior to the performance.  The March 26 concert is supported by Acura, and all Acura vehicles park free!

Chamber Music at the Clark Presents the Adaskin String Trio

Formed in 1994, the Canadian Adaskin String Trio now uses New England as the home base for its U.S. and Canadian concert appearances.  The Clark Library is remarkable as a chamber music setting; its high ceiling and carved wooden walls make for a brilliant acoustic, and a wine, hors d’oeuvre, and dessert reception follows, where you can talk to the artists.  Seating is limited and non-subscriber tickets are distributed via lottery, so get your request in before Monday, March 28. A mail-in request for reservations is essential, and acceptance is by lottery.  To request one or two tickets, send a check payable to UC Regents and a stamped, self-addressed envelope, which will be returned with either your tickets or your check – good luck!

Program:

Beethoven: String Trio in C Minor, Op.9 No.3

Max Reger: String Trio in A Minor, Op.77b

Haydn: String Trio in G Major (Baryton Trio No.65)

Ernst von Dohnanyi: Serenade in C Major for violin, viola and cello, Op.10

Monday, March 28, is the reservation lottery deadline.

The actual concert date is Sunday, May 1, at 2 p.m.

UCLA Clark Memorial Library, 2520 Cimarron St., West Adams district of Los Angeles.

Tickets: $25.  For information, call (310) 206-8552.

For information on more great chamber concerts, see Jim Eninger’s Clickable Chamber Music Newsletter, an extensive calendar of upcoming music events, large and small, happening all around Los Angeles.