Geez, I step away from covering classical music for a few months, and things decide to go crazy! First, in early February, Gustavo Dudamel announced that at the end of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s 2025-2026 season, he’d decamp for that “other” Philharmonic in New York. Then, last month, LA Phil CEO Chad Smith made his own surprising announcement that he’d be leaving the orchestra to take the top administrative job at the Boston Symphony effective Fall 2023. While his career at the LA Phil began at 2002, he took over the helm of the orchestra in 2019 after the aborted tenure of Simon Woods, b ..read more

I’ll have the distinct privilege of doing the pre-concert lecture for tomorrow night’s piano recital by Daniil Trifonov in Costa Mesa at Renée & Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall. Many thanks to the Philharmonic Society of Orange County for inviting me. Mr. Trifonov was Gramophone’s 2016 Artist of the Year award and Musical America’s 2019 Artist of the Year. He rose to prominence in 2011 when he won the Arthur Rubinstein Piano Competition and Tchaikovsky competitions in quick succession. His career skyrocketed after that. My talk will be at 7pm in the main hall, with the concert itself s ..read more

When last I had the chance to talk to Jaime Martin, he was about to begin the 2019/2020 season, his first as Music Director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. That year started well, but then this thing called COVID-19 shook the world. Three years have passed since that last conversation. A few days ago, Mr. Martin and I chatted again, this time squeezing a Zoom meeting into the middle of both of our busy schedules. He was as amiable and insightful as always. We discussed the past three years, how he’s approaching the first concerts of the 2022/2023 season, and what is impor ..read more

I love Summer. The longer days and warmer weather facilitate more outdoor activities in Southern California. We can enjoy the plethora of al fresco high- and low-brow choices without the annoyances of mosquitos, high humidity, or thunderstorms to ruin the fun. Musically, the Hollywood Bowl looms large over the scene, and with the top-notch multi-genre menu it offers, there’s good reason for that. So it’s always a little bittersweet when Fall rolls around. I already miss the concept of Summer even more than the reality of it. That said, I’m happy to have baseball, football, and hockey on tap a ..read more

While I’m excited to be returning to Walt Disney Concert Hall tonight, I’m bummed that my 2022 Hollywood Bowl summer is now officially over (wipe away a tear . . . sniffle, sniffle). So before we move on to the 2022/23 indoor season, let’s take a moment to reflect on how awesome the summer has been.  I had the privilege to attend ten Bowl concerts across a panoply of genres. Here’s how I ranked them, from least to most favorite:  10.  “American Stories” (Aug 18, 2022)  The “Powers That Be” at the Los Angeles Philharmonic have been increasing their efforts to inject Diversi ..read more

The Los Angeles Philharmonic has a reputation for giving their audiences exposure to young conductors, particularly at the Hollywood Bowl. Gustavo Dudamel, the orchestra’s current Music and Artistic Director, famously made his debut there in his mid 20s. The latest person to make a debut on the LA Phil’s podium is Joseph Young, Music Director of the Berkeley Symphony, Artistic Director of Ensembles for the Peabody Conservatory, and Resident Conductor of the National Youth Orchestra–USA at Carnegie Hall. While he hasn’t conducted the orchestra before, he is no stranger to the Bowl, having cove ..read more

World-class ballet is a transient in Los Angeles. All other genres of Western classical performing arts — orchestral, chamber music, operatic, even choral — have seen resident ensembles flourish since the founding of The Music Center in the 1960s. Yet with all due respect to folks like the Los Angeles Ballet led by Thordal Christensen and L.A. Dance Project with Benjamin Millepied who make nice contributions when and where they can, the region has not had a noteworthy local company offer prominent annual seasons of something non-Nutcracker since 1992; that was the year the Joffrey Ballet deca ..read more

This past weekend was an eventful one around Southern California, particularly at two of its most iconic venues. Dodger Stadium was ramping up to host the Major League Baseball All-Star Game and all of its related pre-game festivities, including the celebrity softball game and the Home Run Derby. Over at the Hollywood Bowl, the Los Angeles Philharmonic kicked off the classical music summer season celebrating the venue’s 100th anniversary by performing a virtual-reality-infused rendition of Act 3 of Wagner’s Die Walküre, simultaneously (1) a callback to the days of yore when the full opera was ..read more

Bramwell Tovey conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic at Walt Disney Concert Hall, 2010 (courtesy of the artist’s website) Conductor Bramwell Tovey has passed away. He had been Music Director of the Sarasota Orchestra since 2021, and that orchestra made the announcement a few hours ago, noting that he was “[d]iagnosed with a rare form of sarcoma in May of 2019 . . . from which he was ultimately unable to recover.” He was 69 years old. The native of Essex, England, was Music Director of the Vancouver Symphony from 2000 to 2018, and also held top jobs at Winnipeg Orchestra, Luxembourg Philharmo ..read more