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Highly Recommended Concerts: VIENNA PHILHARMONIC (Carnegie Hall, Segerstrom and Zellerbach Hall)
WANT TO HEAR ONE OF THE GREATEST ORCHESTRAS THAT HAS EVER EXISTED? VIENNA PHILHARMONIC MAKES ONLY THREE U.S. APPEARANCES: COSTA MESA, BERKELEY & NEW YORK For California classical music lovers, a delight is in store. Vienna Philharmonic, one of the most renowned orchestras in the world, comes to Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley March 5-7, followed…
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Concert Review: LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA (Yunchan Lim, piano; Antonio Pappano, conductor; Philharmonic Society of Orange County)
A NIGHT OF THUNDER AND ELEGANCE Presented by Philharmonic Society of Orange County, the London Symphony Orchestra, among the most disciplined and savagely expressive classical orchestras in the world, arrived in Costa Mesa at Segerstrom Concert Hall on Feb. 19, 2024, with Antonio Pappano conducting and a young firebrand at the keyboard. Yunchan Lim, the…
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Concert Review: SHOENBERG’S “PIERROT LUNAIRE” (Camerata Pacifica)
Camerata Pacifica began its February program at the Huntington Library with Lara Morciano’s Embedding Tangles, with flutist Sébastian Jacot, who premiered the piece in 2014. I don’t often get to hear works for solo flute, so this sounded promising. Alas, my initial excitement was instantly killed when we got attacked by a torrent of notes…
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Event Review: BroadwayCon 2025 (Days 2 & 3, Marriott Marquis)
BroadwayCon Continues & Concludes with Conversations & Connections Part II of a Look & Listen to the 3-Day Theatre Event (Part I reviewed here) There are Broadway stars and Broadway fans with stars in their eyes. The latter is present in droves—devotees of theatre, eager to gain information and insights inside interview rooms and to…
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Concert Review: LET’S MISBEHAVE: THE SONGS OF COLE PORTER (New York Pops)
MY HEART BELONGS TO THE NY POPS The New York Pops’ Let’s Misbehave: The Songs of Cole Porter was filled with many of Porter’s best-known songs: “Night and Day,” “I Love Paris,” “My Heart Belongs to Daddy.” But the evening at Carnegie Hall was also filled with many surprises, thanks to the multi-talented cast. Music …
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Music Review: ELEMENTS AND ENERGY (John Adams and the LA Phil New Music Group at Disney Hall)
Last season, the LA Phil premiered the first five of 16 etudes commissioned by Creative Chair John Adams, with the goal to have a piece for each instrument of the orchestra to show off as a soloist. On January 28, we got to hear three more premieres from the series. First was Quantum Ptarmigan, by…
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Concert Review: PACIFIC JAZZ ORCHESTRA WITH EVA NOBLEZADA (The Soraya)
A NIGHT OF FIRE, SILK, AND SWING Prior to Pacific Jazz Orchestra‘s (PJO) dynamite event at The Soraya—the start of “Jazz at Naz” festival’s fourth season—I already knew its guEst vocalist Eva Noblezada to be a bone fide star. And I don’t toss that word out often. The girl who started her career as a…
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Event Review: BroadwayCon (Day One, Marriott Marquis)
TODAY, I’M A BROADWAY CON MAN My first assignment as a new staff writer here at Stage and Cinema finds me going to an event at 9:30. As I’ve been reviewing theatre and music-related programs for years, this would not have been unusual IF we were talking about a cabaret show at 9:30 in the…
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Cabaret Review: ADRIENNE WARREN IN CONCERT (Beyond Broadway Series at The Hobby Center in Houston)
ADRIENNE WARREN IS, INDEED, SIMPLY THE BEST The second of a three Beyond Broadway concert series was headlined by Tony-winner Adrienne Warren. I have followed Warren since 2016 when I saw her in Bring It On: The Musical and continued singing her praises after catching her electrifying and star-making performance as Tina Turner in Tina:…
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Recommended Concert: THE HOLLYWOOD MODERNISTS: The Second Golden Age of Film Scoring (Scott Dunn Orchestra at The Wallis in Beverly Hills)
STEP INTO HOLLYWOOD’S MUSICAL LEGACY Beverly Hills is about to become the epicenter of cinematic symphony. In the 25/26 season, the Scott Dunn Orchestra makes its grand debut at The Wallis in Beverly Hills with The Hollywood Modernists: The Second Golden Age of Film Scoring. (The original date of January 18, 2025, was cancelled due…
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Concert Review: BEETHOVEN & ROMANTICISM (Symphonies 1, 2 & 3 [Eroica]; Boston Symphony Orchestra)
THE PROGRESSION OF BEETHOVEN OVERCOMING ADVERSITY Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) is seen as not only one of the world’s great composers but also a bridge from the classical musical traditions of Mozart and Haydn to the romanticism of successors such as Johannes Brahms. Andris Nelsons conducts Beethoven Symphony No. 1 with the BSO While never…
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Highly Recommended Concert: FOUR SEASONS AND STRAUSS (Pacific Symphony at Segerstrom Concert Hall)
MORE STRAUSS, LESS STRESS, INDEED Pacific Symphony rings in the New Year January 9-11 at 8 with Four Seasons and Strauss, featuring two inspiring masterpieces that are sure to uplift and calm the spirit. First, Concertmaster Dennis Kim takes the virtuosic solo role playing plays the 1701 ex-Dushkin Stradivarius to lead Vivaldi’s 1720 composition of…
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Music Interview: CODY FRY (Appearing in Concert with The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra at Disney Hall)
CAUGHT YOU AT A GOOD TIME [Editor’s Note, Jan 8, 2025: Due to the Los Angeles fires, the January 10 concert referenced in this interview has been postponed. It has been rescheduled for Saturday, April 19, 2025. Tickets for the January 10 concert will be valid for the new date.] When Cody Fry is asked…
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Highly Recommended Concerts: THE MUSIC GUILD (2025 Season at St Alban’s Church, Westwood)
GUILD TO PERFECTION There is an outstanding music outfit in Los Angeles which offers a series of chamber music concerts, introducing world renowned artists to Los Angeles audiences. Having seen presentations of repertoire played at its premier level by sparkling chamber musicians for over 10 years now, it seems unthinkable to me that The Music…
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Concert Review: NOON TO MIDNIGHT (LA Phil at Disney Hall)
DOUG AITKIN’S LIGHTSCAPE, THE CENTERPIECE OF LA PHIL’S DAY-LONG NEW MUSIC PROGRAM, OPENS AS AN INSTALLATION AT THE MARCIANO ARTS FOUNDATION THIS WEEK Noon to Midnight, a daylong festival of new music, is my favorite LA Phil program of the year. What’s playing? No clue. Is the music good? Unlikely. Is the centerpiece performance going…
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Concert Review: MERRY & BRIGHT WITH JESSICA VOSK (New York Pops at Carnegie Hall)
WHO COULD VOSK FOR ANYTHING MORE? I can think of no better way to celebrate the holidays than at Carnegie Hall with The New York Pops’ Merry and Bright, featuring Jessica Vosk (Wicked, Fiddler on the Roof, Finding Neverland and soon to join Broadway’s Hell’s Kitchen) and the chorus of Judith Clurman’s Essential Voices USA. Steven…
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Concert Review: GURRELIEDER (LA Phil at Disney Hall)
In an era when orchestral programming often shies from excess, the Los Angeles Philharmonic last weekend plunged unapologetically into the extravagant labyrinth of Arnold Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder. Under the baton of Zubin Mehta—paying homage to his tenure as the orchestra’s lionized music director emeritus—the performance resuscitated Schoenberg’s early, sprawling epic, a two-hour monument to the late-Romantic…
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Concert Review: KRISTIN CHENOWETH HOLIDAY CONCERT (LA Opera at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion)
SMALLTOWN ROOTS, BIGTOWN PERFORMER Personable Kristin Chenoweth – the original Glinda in the Broadway musical Wicked – was a delight last night in L.A. This is Kristen as a regular gal from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, but her stage presence is phenomenal and her vocals are stratospheric. She dazzled us with holiday classics old and new…
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Jazz Preview: BLUE NOTE JAZZ FESTIVAL (Hollywood Bowl)
LEGENDARY BLUE NOTE JAZZ CLUB TO OPEN IN L.A. ANNOUNCING THE BLUE NOTE JAZZ FESTIVAL AT THE HOLLYWOOD BOWL IN 2025 Well, if this isn’t the best news for all of us jazz fans. The iconic Blue Note Jazz Club is expanding to Los Angeles, bringing the legendary reputation of its renowned New York flagship…
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Highly Recommended Theater: ANYTHING GOES IN CONCERT (Wayne Brady, J Harrison Ghee, Jinkx Monsoon; Pasadena Civic)
YOU’LL GET A KICK OUT OF THIS [EDITORS NOTE, January 10, 2025: Given the extensive impact of the fires on Playhouse staff, artists, and audiences, Pasadena Playhouse has cancelled the upcoming In Concert productions of Anything Goes and Follies at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium. No remount dates have been announced.] Oh, no, no, no. A musical in…
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