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Music
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Music Preview: TCHAIKOVSKY AND SAARIAHO WITH Mí„LKKI (Los Angeles Philharmonic)
Italian pianist Beatrice Rana may be young (28!), but she’s already established herself touring the world and recording an amazing album catalog, including awesome attacks on The Goldberg Variations and Chopin. She also recorded the quintessential Russian piano concerto, Tchaikovsky’s Number One. Now, The LA Phil’s amazing Principal Guest Conductor, Susanna Målkki — who has…
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Opera Review: TANNHí„USER (Los Angeles Opera)
IF BEING WRONG IS A VENUSIAN SEX ORGY, WHO WANTS TO BE RIGHT? Being Japanese, I am innately programmed to keep clutter to a minimum. Not much adorns my computer desktop screen, save the bare essentials ’” amongst which is the full score to Tannhåuser, some of the most inventive, majestic music constructed to date,…
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Music Review: JONAS KAUFMANN, tenor, & HELMUT DEUTSCH, piano (The Broad Stage in Santa Monica)
THESE LIEDERS ARE NOW ON MY LISZT Something incredibly special is happening in Santa Monica. The Broad Stage has reopened this week with live performances from German Tenor Jonas Kaufmann last night and The Danish String Quartet last Saturday, both of whom are in extraordinary demand in their fields of opera and chamber music. Both…
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Music Review: SCHUBERT 5 & DESSNER VIOLIN CONCERTO (Pekka Kuusisto, Esa-Pekka Salonen and the SF Symphony)
BRYCE DESSNER AND PEKKA KUUSISTO: AN EXTRAORDINARY TEAM Last night, I had the rare and honored experience of being present at what I think may have been an historic musical event. It was the first United States performance of Bryce Dessner’s Violin Concerto (2021) which was co-commissioned by the San Francisco Symphony, and which, under…
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Music Review: EXOTIC BIRDS: DEBUSSY, MESSIAEN AND SAARIAHO (Esa-Pekka Salonen and the SF Symphony)
EXOTIC BIRDS, 47 SPECIES OF BIRDS, AND DEBUSSY BY LAND AND BY SEA Esa-Pekka Salonen walked slowly to the podium and when he arrived, he stood, frozen, for an extended period of time, as if he were calling upon a moment of silence and so, when the first bars of Claude Debussy’s Prélude í L’Après-midi d’un faune…
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Music: AMERICAN TRADITIONS VOCAL COLLECTION (2021-2022 Season in Savannah, GA)
The American Traditions Vocal Collection (ATC), previously known as the American Traditions Vocal Competition, has expanded its organizational name to be more inclusive of its year-round offerings. Originally producing one annual event – its namesake competition — the ATC has grown to include year-round musical concert events, a large-scale education program that takes place in…
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Music Review: DUDAMEL CONDUCTS STRAUSS (LA Phil)
CONSIDER YOURSELF TRANSFIGURED Americans are weary. We remain as divisive as ever, a situation fueled by social media, news, and other white noise. We are working harder and longer yet struggle to pay bills — at the same time quitting jobs in record numbers. Instead of being inspired to do more to combat the speed…
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Opera Review: THE ELIXIR OF LOVE (Lyric Opera Chicago)
A DELIRIOUSLY DELECTABLE LOVE POTION Opera is a bit like wine: many are difficult to enjoy at first, but gradually grow on you; a few are impossible to gain a taste for at all; and some entice you from the get go. Gaetano Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love (or L’elisir d’amore) is a superlative example…
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Music Concerts: THE PHILLIPS COLLECTION (2021/22 Concert Season in Washington, D.C.)
The Phillips Collection has returned to live concerts, but for the first time in the history of music at the Phillips, all concerts will be livestreamed, bringing the storied intimacy of performances from the Music Room to wherever you are. This season is characteristically eclectic, welcoming a broad range of musical styles, DC-debut performances, and…
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Opera Opening: FIDELIO (Live & Virtual, San Francisco Opera)
TO BREAK FREE, SHE HAD TO BREAK IN San Francisco Opera’s return to live performances in the War Memorial Opera House continues October 14–30 with a bold, new production of Ludwig van Beethoven’s only opera, Fidelio. Caroline H. Hume Music Director Eun Sun Kim conducts this monumental work in which love and courage overcome tyranny. Director Matthew…
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Upcoming Concert: FANDANGO AT THE WALL (Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra at The Soraya)
The Soraya’s 10th Anniversary Gift to the Community – The First of Five Free Events Opens the 2021-22 Joy-Filled Season! Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra Fandango at the Wall with Special Guests the Villalobos Brothers and the Conga Patria Son Jarocho Collective Opening Night Saturday, Oct 16 at 8pm The Soraya celebrates both its 10th Anniversary and Opening…
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Festival Preview: MÉXICO DE NOCHE (The Ford in L.A.)
OH, WHAT A NIGHT! México de Noche, which plays October 9, 2021, at The Ford (2580 Cahuenga Boulevard East) in L.A., explores the energetic and eclectic music of Mexican nightlife. Whether it’s listening over a romantic dinner to a special serenade by the iconic duo Pepe Martinez Jr. and Susie Garcia, or walking through a…
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Opera Review: MACBETH (Lyric Opera of Chicago)
ENGLISH PLAY, ITALIAN OPERA, SCOTS-AMERICAN PRODUCTION The first performance I reviewed of Giuseppe Verdi’s Macbeth was simply terrible, so it was a delight to hear this new production at Lyric. But almost any opera would have been delightful after a pandemic hiatus of eighteen months. Mandatory masking did not fail to dampen the opening night…
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Music Review: BEETHOVEN/SCHUMANN (Marta Gardolińska and Hélène Grimaud with the LA Phil at The Hollywood Bowl)
GARDOLIŃSKA SCORES A TEN WITH BEETHOVEN SEVEN The highly accessible and gloriously melodic Piano Concerto by Robert Schumann was one of my very first intros to classical music (the Romantic period to be precise) as a youngster. I became completely immersed and addicted — memorizing every phrase, tempo shift and nuance. It remains a favorite…
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Concert Hall: THE SORAYA’S 2021-22 SEASON (Northridge, CA)
Handily one of our greatest performance venues, The Soraya just keeps getting better with its programming. And as a 10th Anniversary Gift to the Community, there will be Five Free Events to kick off a spectacular season. Members at any level secure guaranteed seating to all Free concerts. Non-member reservations (limit 4 per household) will be taken…
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Opera: HEARTBEAT OPERA (2021-22 Season, NYC and Tour)
HEARTBEAT OPERA — the indie opera company whose re-imagined, re-orchestrated and stripped down stagings of classic operas have been called “a radical endeavor” by Alex Ross in The New Yorker — returns to the in-person stage for its eighth season this year. THE 2021-22 SEASON BREATHING FREE, a visual album September 18 at Pier 63,…
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Opera: FREE OPERA STREAMS IN AUGUST (San Francisco Opera)
SAN FRANCISCO OPERA’S FREE OPERA STREAMS IN AUGUST Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Ní¼rnberg August 7–8 Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux August 14–15 San Francisco Opera is returning to the War Memorial Opera House stage for the opening of its 99th season, which begins with Puccini’s Tosca on August 21. In anticipation, the Company has added two weekly, free opera streams for…
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Upcoming Concert: DYLAN GOES HOLLYWOOD (MUSE/IQUE at The Huntington Library and The Skirball Cultural Center)
MUSE/IQUE PRESENTS L.A. COMPOSED: A FESTIVAL OF LOS ANGELES MUSIC: “DYLAN GOES HOLLYWOOD” August 18 & 19 at The Huntington; August 22 at The Skirball For those who have never been to a MUSE/IQUE concert, it’s assemblage of transplendent talent, founder and curator Rachael Worby’s historical annotations, and a wide-ranging selection of music and spoken…
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Concert: BEHZOD ABDURAIMOV (Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the LA Phil and Gemma New at the Hollywood Bowl)
DO NOT MISS BEHZOD ABDURAIMOV AT THE HOLLYWOOD BOWL THIS WEEK Pianist Behzod Abduraimov is coming to the Hollywood Bowl this Thursday, August 5, 2021, so prepare yourself for one of the world’s greatest pianists. In fact, the in-demand, rightfully popular 30-year-old Uzbek pianist, who was born in Tashkent in 1990 just before the collapse of the Soviet Union, may…
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Music / Extras: PLAYING TRIPLET RHYTHMS ON GUITAR: A QUICK GUIDE
Playing Triplet Rhythms on Guitar: A Quick Guide Music is free and doesn’t always adapt to the steady eight-not or quarter-note pulse that defines most time signatures. Whenever guitar players wish to add rhythmic variety to a passage, they can use a type of note value called tuplet. The most common tuplet in music of…
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