“Three Wishes” — Southern California Vocal Events
LAURI D GOLDENHERSH’s Weekly Highlights from the
Clickable Chamber Music Newsletter
Happy Halloween, everyone! Are you dressing up as something musical and stagey this year? It’s the perfect time to be that opera character you’d never get to play, or to blast your favorite eerie music to entertain and freak out the local trick-or-treaters. But once those festivities are over, catch one of these weekend goodies:
Once the younger tricksters are tucked safely into bed, older fans of classic scares can attend LA OPERA’s live presentation of ‘Psycho‘ at the Ace Hotel in downtown LA. This seasonal pick on LAO’s Off Grand series is the last of a five-performance run, and tickets will be scarce, but it’s worth checking for last-minute cancellations. Learn more and check availability
The days after Halloween tend to bring especially meaningful sacred music, in honor of All Saints’ Day (Nov 1) and All Souls’ Day (Nov 2). Be sure to check the websites of any musically-inclined churches in your neighborhood to see if special concerts are planned, or head to St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Monrovia on Saturday night 11/2 for the first-ever “Franken Mass” from the SAN GABRIEL VALLEY CHORAL COMPANY. With the very creative DR. ALEXANDRA GRABARCHUK as artistic director and with the help of artistic advisor DR. DAVID RENTZ, this is the sort of unusual programming you can see from this warm and welcoming community group. For this event, they’ve created a seasonal requiem mass out of bits of others (get it?), including music by Maurice Durufle, Paul Basler, Joseph Haydn, William Byrd, Gabriel Faure and Guillaume de Machout. There’s an advance ticket discount available if you purchase today! Get details and grab your tix
Finally, a well-curated program of tales about the female experience will be presented at Pomona College in Claremont on Sunday afternoon, in a program entitled “Becoming the Fire: Women’s Stories“, which refers to the legend of Mirabai and points to the song cycle that anchors the concert. Come to the beautiful and acoustically satisfying Bridges Hall of Music for a 3pm concert led by soprano URSULA KLEINECKE and RACHEL RUDICH (flute), KATHRYN NEVIN (clarinet), THERESA DIMOND (percussion), ALISON BJORKEDAL (harp), SARAH THORNBLADE (violin), Kira Blumberg (viola), MAGGIE PARKINS (cello), CONNIE DEETER (bass) and ERIC LINDHOLM, conductor. The concert is free, and the program includes music by John Harbison, Bruce Babcock, Amy Beach, Lee Hoiby, Gwyneth Walker and others. Get details here
Thank you all for your continued support of live vocal music, and stay tuned — there’s plenty more where this came from!
REMINDER: You should know that the Lauri’s List calendar is now “self-serve”, which means it’s up to presenters and performers to make sure their vocal events are on our calendar. But don’t worry, it’s easy!: Just go to laurislist.com/calendar and click the “Submit event” button at the top. Basic listings are still free, and we’d love to have your vocal-inclusive, classical-leaning doings in the mix.
