For those who’ve served

Veterans Day is about service, and in a very specific way. But that service looks very different from person to person, because every experience, every deployment, every war, every locale, every job is a different bundle of things that make each story unique. This year, try to connect with at least one person who has … Read more

Great big grant for LA Master Chorale

More than $2.5mil has been granted to the Los Angeles Master Chorale by the Perenchio Foundation over the course of multiple years. This is the largest gift in the organization’s history.

Arts journalism matters, even on Twitter

If you’re not on the Essential Arts mailing list from the Los Angeles Times, you should be. This week’s issue tackles the upheaval at Twitter in both thoughtful and pithy tones and rightly ponders what the blue birdie’s undoing might do to arts journalism. The newsletter is usually helmed by Carolina A. Miranda, and includes … Read more

Mood music

Tunes turn decidedly moody this time of year, whether it’s spookiness for Halloween, requiems for All Saints’ Day, honoring the departed on Dia de los Muertos, or the mental shift that comes with shorter days when the time changes. (Don’t worry — that’s next week, but it’s already getting darker!) There are so many good things … Read more

Spending this Tuesday with TED

I’ve been on TED’s mailing list for years, as they make interesting recommendations each week from their extensive library of short “talks” on just about any subject you can imagine. Doing a TED Talk can make a career, even in classical music. (Just ask Eric Whitacre, Gustavo Dudamel or any of the other numerous musicians … Read more

[Updated] LA’s penchant for fresh works bears fruit

This week, the Los Angeles music scene shows off their new music prowess with two new operas and a special concert of art song, just to start. We’re lucky to be served by a community that makes music groundbreaking and not just good, surrounded as we are by excellent musicians who don’t shy away from the … Read more

Long Beach Opera announces 2023 season

[press release] LONG BEACH OPERA ANNOUNCES 2023 SEASONFEATURING FOUR OPERATIC EXPERIENCES INCLUDING WORLD PREMIERETHE ROMANCE OF THE ROSE BY KATE SOPER THREE-YEAR PARTNERSHIP WITH MARTHA GRAHAM DANCE COMPANY NEW COMPOSER-IN-RESIDENCE SHELLEY WASHINGTON INFORMATION ABOUT SEASON TICKETS AT LONGBEACHOPERA.ORG THE ROMANCE OF THE ROSEMusic and Libretto by Kate SoperWORLD PREMIEREChristopher Rountree, conductorJames Darrah, directorWarner Grand Theater, … Read more

Ninth and Washington

It’s not an address, but it is an intersection. It’s the balls-out season opener from LA Chamber Orchestra, in which artistic director Jaime Martín pairs Beethoven’s beloved Symphony No. 9 (“Choral”), with the West Coast premiere of Both, a newly commissioned orchestral work by enigmatic composer Shelley Washington. It is Washington’s own life’s duality that … Read more

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