Category Archives: Musical America

With the grand, brassy rhetoric that ends Johannes Brahms’ First Symphony, Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic also sounded the final notes last Thursday for the 78th season of “Symphonies Under the Stars” at that one-of-a-kind piece of real … Continue reading →

This is the week of Los Angeles’ annual identity crisis. On Tuesday and Thursday, in shorts and tee-shirt, I load the picnic basket and head for the Hollywood Bowl. On Wednesday I fish out a pair of matching socks and … Continue reading →

Adventurous, exasperating, illuminating and just plain off-the-wall: the 21-year saga of the Long Beach Opera has been all of these and more. Its operation is strictly shoestring; its stagings over the years have included a “Boris Godunov” done in street … Continue reading →

Tucked into a valley northeast of Ventura (which served filmmaker Frank Capra as site for the original version of “Lost Horizon,”) the town of Ojai (pop. 7500) is no more than a 90-minute drive from downtown Los Angeles. One weekend … Continue reading →

An all-in-one festival of the Beethoven Nine is one of music’s can’t-lose propositions. The size is right: five concerts of leisurely length, with room here and there for an overture or two. The music, needless to say, is also right: … Continue reading →