By Robert D. Thomas
Music Critic
Pasadena Star-News/San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Whittier Daily News

The Los Angeles Philharmonic’s movie theater telecast series, “LA Phil LIVE,” has been discontinued after just two years. A Phil spokesperson emailed me: “We have decided not to continue with the ‘LA Phil LIVE’ program as a series in the 2012/13 season. We’ll consider presentations on a one-off basis in the future though.”

The series began two seasons ago amid great fanfare with telecasts into hundreds of theaters of three live Sunday afternoon telecasts from Walt Disney Concert Hall. All three programs were conducted Gustavo Dudamel and they included fascinating rehearsal footage, interviews and gushy “hosts.”

Last season began with one live telecast from Disney Hall and continued with a presentation of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 from Caracas, Venezuela, the concluding segment of the Phil’s “Mahler Project.” The final “live” telecast turned out not be live at all, but a replay of the season-opening gala concert that featured jazz pianist Herbie Hancock.

The marketing linchpin of the series was, of course, Dudamel and this season presented a problem, as the Venezuelan maestro will be leading just 10 weeks of subscription concerts, down from 14 last season. Moreover, three of those programs that include a Sunday afternoon performances are right at the beginning of the season, and the Oct. 14 concert is a presentation of Oliver Knussen’s opera, Where the Wild Things Are, which would have been a tough sell for movie-theater audiences.

Dudamel doesn’t returns to the Phil podium until Feb. 24, 2013 with an all-19th century program that might have been a possible telecast but probably not as the leadoff of a new season. Ditto for the March 3 program: good music but not well known to audiences, especially because Stravinsky’s Firebird is the complete version, not the more popular 1919 suite.

The March 10 concert is the staged version of John Adams’ The Gospel According to the Other Mary. After last spring debut of the oratorio version, there will be lots of hype concerning the staged version, which the Phil will take to Europe following the March 10 performance. It would be quite a gamble but it might be a shot for that “one-off” possibility the spokesperson held out.

A better choice would probably be the concert on March 5, which — in addition to Dudamel conducting the Phil at Disney Hall — opens with Lang Lang as soloist in Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1. The post-intermission work, Nielsen’s Symphony No. 4 (The Inextinguishable), isn’t particularly well known on this side of the Atlantic but it’s a big splashy piece that will provide Dudamel with an opportunity to re-examine his original concept when he recorded the piece with the Gothenburg Symphony a couple of years.
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(c) Copyright 2012, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.

By Robert D. Thomas
Music Critic
Pasadena Star-News/San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Whittier Daily News
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Pasadena Symphony and Pops
“A Tribute to Marvin Hamlisch”
Larry Blank, conductor; Jason Alexander, host
Saturday, September 22, 2012 • 7:00 p.m (corrected time).
Pasadena City Hall Centennial Plaza
FREE CONCERT
Information: www.pasadenasymphony-pops.org
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The Pasadena Symphony and Pops will pay a final musical tribute to former Principal Pops Conductor Marvin Hamlisch, with a free concert tomorrow night on the steps of Pasadena’s City Hall and facing Centennial Plaza. The music will start at 7:30 p.m. Family activities, including a musical instrument petting zoo and children’s entertainment, will begin at 5:30 p.m. Food trucks will also be available for those who don’t want to go to the bother of packing a picnic dinner.

Hamlisch died suddenly on Aug. 6 at the age of 68. Subsequently, noted pianist and singer Michael Feinstein was named as his replacement beginning with next summer’s season at the Los Angeles County Arboretum. Feinstein will hold the newly established Marvin Hamlisch Chair as the Pasadena Pops’ principal conductor.

Longtime Hamlisch colleague Larry Blank will conduct tomorrow’s concert, which will be enceed by TV and Broadway star Jason Alexander. Guest performers will include composer-pianist Jason Robert Brown (who, among many other things, wrote the Broadway musical Parade) and Broadway stars Lisa Vroman and Valerie Peri.

The program will include many of Hamlisch’s most memorable songs, including selection from A Chorus Line, They’re Playing Our Song, Nobody Does It Better and The Way We Were, as well as music by people that inspired Marvin: the Gershwin’s, Jule Styne, and others.

The free concert comes two weeks before the opening of the Pasadena Symphony season on Oct. 6 at Ambassador Auditorium. Guest conductor Mei-Ann Chen returns to lead the PSO in Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 9, Beethoven’s Egmont Overture, and Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2, with 17-year-old George Li as soloist. (LINK)
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(c) Copyright 2012, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.

By Robert D. Thomas
Music Critic
Pasadena Star-News/San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Whittier Daily News

From Bach to Britten, organ to orchestra, choral to jazz, Pasadena Presbyterian’s Friends of Music Concert season offers an eclectic mix in its nine concerts, which begin September 29 with a performance featuring two youthful works by English composer Benjamin Britten.

(Full disclosure: I’m a member at PPC and am involved in the music program, so — as the late, great Molly Ivins was often wont to say — you can take this post with a grain of salt or a pound of salt, if you’re so inclined. On the other hand as you can see from the title, this is one in an ongoing series of season previews of the many offerings in our area this season. More are to come.)

In addition to the broad mixture of genres, the church’s FOM season is notable for the fact that all concerts are free of admission charges (although voluntary offerings are taken; it is a church, after all). There’s also free parking available in the church’s lots. All concerts begin at 7:30 p.m. (some, offer preconcert lectures at 7 p.m. — I’m doing one on Sept. 29). The church is located at 585 E. Colorado Blvd. (at Madison Ave.) in the Playhouse District of downtown Pasadena.

The opening concert focuses on the upcoming centennial of Britten’s birth (Nov. 22, 2013) as Timothy Howard conducts the Friends of Music Orchestra in the composer’s Simple Symphony and then leads the Kirk Choir, two soloists, two narrators, organ and orchestra in The Company of Heaven, a cantata on the subject of angels. Britten composed TCOH for a BBC radio broadcast on Sept. 29, 1937, which means that the church’s concert is on the 75th anniversary to the day of that inaugural performance.

Other concerts on the FOM schedule are:

• Nov. 3 — Daryl Robinson organist@
Last July, Robinson won First Prize and the Audience Prize at the American Guild of Organists’ National Young Artists Competition in Organ Performance, one of the world’s most prestigious organ-playing competitions (PPC has a tradition of presenting the NYACOP winner in the season after his or her victory). Robinson is organist at Grace Presbyterian Church, Houston.

• Dec. 8 — 68th annual Candlelight and Carols program
This Pasadena tradition features all of the church’s choirs, an instrumental ensemble and organ in a varied program of sacred and secular music that also includes audience caroling.

• Dec. 29 — Schubert’s Winterreise
Tenor Micheal Smith and pianist Mark Robson combine on this magnificent song cycle.

• Jan. 26 — The Modern Brass Quintet
This noted local brass group, which serves as PPC’s “Ensemble-in-Residence,” performs a concert in honor of its 20th anniversary. The group’s members have recorded all over the world as soloists, chamber musicians and orchestral players.

• Feb. 23 — Meaghan King, organist
PPC’s new assistant organist performs her first recital on the church’s massive Aeolian-Skinner pipe organ.

• March 29 — Good Friday Devotional Concert
The 16th edition of this traditional event will feature Timothy Howard conducting the Kirk Choir, community singers, soloist and Friends of Music Orchestra in Duruflé’s Requiem and other music appropriate for Holy Week.

• May 11 — Timothy Howard, organist
PPC’s Organist/Music Director plays his annual recital.

• June 1 — Jazz for the City
This has become the series’ traditional close.

In addition to the nine FOM concerts, the church also sponsors its weekly “Music at Noon” series of free recitals from 12:10 to 12:40 p.m. on Wednesdays. These programs spotlight local, national and international artists in a myriad variety of genres.

Information: www.ppcmusic.org

Other season previews:
• Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra HERE
• The Colburn Orchestra HERE
• Pacific Symphony HERE
• Pasadena Master Chorale HERE

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(c) Copyright 2012, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.

At the end of his lengthy and laudatory review of a new production of Einstein on the Beach, Anthony Tommasini of the New York Times offers a great final line: "“Einstein” invites you to let your mind wander. Plenty of operas have that effect without intending it." The whole review is HERE.

By Robert D. Thomas
Music Critic
Pasadena Star-News/San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Whittier Daily News

The Pasadena-based Los Angeles Children’s Chorus, one of the world’s premiere children’s music organizations, has named Roy Mueller as executive director and Joanne Crawford-Dunér as chair of the group’s board of directors.

Mueller previously served as executive director of the San Luis Obispo Children’s Museum, where he led a successful four-year, $5.2 million capital campaign to design and build a new facility. Prior to that, he was education director for the Pasadena Kidspace Children’s Museum.

An accomplished musician, Mueller received Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Louisville and a Master of Music degree in performance from the University of Massachusetts in Lowell. He also received a Certificate of Jazz Composition and Performance from Berklee College of Music in Boston. For 15 years he performed as an oboist/English horn player in South America, Europe and the U.S. and has taught music at the university level.

Crawford-Dufnér, a Covina Hills resident, is director of marketing communications for Nestlé USA, where she oversees public relations, digital and social media, packaging commununications and consumer promotions for the Beverage Division. She has served on the LACC board of directors since 2008. In 2009, she helped arrange Nestlé USA’s sponsorship of LACC’s “First Experiences in Singing,” a satellite after-school enrichment program piloted at Daniel Webster Elementary School in Pasadena.

She succeeds David Scheidermantle as LACC board chair; he continues on the board as past chair.

More details on both appointments are on the LACC Web site HERE.
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(c) Copyright 2012, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.

By Robert D. Thomas
Music Critic
Pasadena Star-News/San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Whittier Daily News

The Pasadena Master Chorale will offer five concerts during its 2012-2013 season, including a reprise of last season’s performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and the start of a two-part project entitled “The Voice of America.”

Artistic Director Jeffrey Bernstein will lead all seven performances, beginning with “Songs of the World” on Sept. 30 at 4 p.m. at Altadena Community Church. This reprise of a popular program from earlier seasons will include folk songs from the U.S., Scotland and Japan.

Other programs include:

• Baroque Christmas — Dec. 15 at 7:30 p.m., First Congregational Church, Pasadena
The Chorale will be joined by an orchestra for this holiday program. The first half will feature Part I of Handel’s Messiah. After intermission comes Claudio Monteverdi’s rarely performed Magnificat.

• Beethoven’s Ninth — Jan. 15 at 7:30 p.m., San Gabriel Mission Playhouse
Last January, PMC teamed up with Los Angeles Daiku for Beethoven’s final symphony, a tradition on New Year’s Eve in Japan. This year, singers from Japan will join the PMC and instrumentalists for a repeat performance in San Gabriel.

• Rachmaninoff: All-Night Vigil — March 23 at 7:30 p.m., First Congregational Church, Pasadena. March 13 at 4 p.m., Altadena Community Church.
No, this performance won’t last all night (just an hour) although it was written in 1915 to be performed at a Russian Orthodox Church All-Night Vigil service. The Chorale will record Rachmaninoff’s work before the concerts, so the singers should be right on their game for the performances.

• The Voice of America — May 17 at 7:30 p.m., First Congregational Church, Pasadena. March 19 at 4 p.m., Altadena Community Church.
This will be the first part of a two-year project supported by a grant from the LA County Arts Commission. The program will feature composers who Bernstein believes have defined the “American” choral sound: Randall Thompson, Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein. In 2014 PMC will present the second concert in the series “The Voice of California.”

• Information: www.pasadenamasterchorale.org

Other season previews: • Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra HERE
• The Colburn Orchestra HERE
• Pacific Symphony HERE
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(c) Copyright 2012, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.

By Robert D. Thomas
Music Critic
Pasadena Star-News/San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Whittier Daily News

In an era when symphony orchestra across the United States are struggling — e.g., closures, bankruptcies, cutbacks — the Pacific Symphony in Orange County continues to defy the odds as it matures year after year. The orchestra’s 36th season opens Sept. 22, 20 and 22 at the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa when Music Director Carl St.Clair leads a program of Johann Strauss Jr.’ Overture to Die Fledermaus, Richard Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier Suite, and Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2, with André Watts as soloist.

St.Clair, who turned age 60 last June and has led the orchestra for 22 seasons, will conduct eight of the 12 concerts during the season, plus a special one-night concert on Sept. 27 that features pianist Lang Lang as soloist in Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in E Minor and Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 (Emperor). The season also includes performances of Handel’s Messiah on Dec. 9 led by John Alexander, artistic director of the Pacific Chorale; his ensemble will also appear in two subscription concerts.

The Pacific Symphony will continue two of their long-running, innovative programming concepts. The next-to-last concerts on May 16, 17 and 18 will be a continuation of the “American Composers Festival” series and will feature the Duke Ellington Orchestra playing the music of saxophonist Daniel Schnyder. The final concerts on June 6, 7 and 8 will see St.Clair unpack Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring as part of the “Music Unwound” series.

Timothy Mangan, music critic of the Orange County Register, has a nice profile of St.Clair that includes a really cool picture of the conductor with his mentor, Leonard Bernstein, HERE.

• Season Schedule HERE
• Pacific Symphony Web site HERE

Other season previews:
• Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra HERE
• The Colburn Orchestra HERE
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(c) Copyright 2012, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.

By Robert D. Thomas
Music Critic
Pasadena Star-News/San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Whittier Daily News
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Pasadena Pops Orchestra; Larry Blank, conductor
Kevin Cole, piano; JPL Chorus
Saturday, Sept. 8, 2012 • Los Angeles County Arboretum
Next performances: Saturday at 8 p.m. • Ambassador Auditorium
Information: www.pasadenasymphony-pops.org
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To say that this has been an eventful summer for the Pasadena Pops Orchestra would be to understate the obvious. The orchestra moved into a new summer home, the bucolic Los Angeles County Arboretum in Arcadia, completing an odyssey that in three years took the ensemble from Descanso Gardens in La Cañada to a lawn outside of the Rose Bowl and, finally, to Arcadia.

This was the second season under the leadership of Principal Conductor Marvin Hamlisch, who passed away unexpectedly on August 6 at the age of 68. Weeks later, the orchestra named noted pianist-songwriter Michael Feinstein as Hamlisch’s replacement. And prior to last night’s concert, Paul Jan Zdunek, CEO of the Pasadena Symphony Association (which runs both the Pops and the Pasadena Symphony) announced that Melinda Shea, board of directors president for the past three years, has stepped aside because she and her husband are moving to the Northeast U.S. (see the note at the end of this post).

When Hamlisch and the Pops planned last night’s night’s concert — the season’s final program —the focus was to be on the music of George Gershwin. After Hamlisch died, the evening became a mélange of Gershwin and Hamlisch, appropriate since Marvin was one of the few musicians in our era who approached Gershwin’s eclectic genius.

Both the replacement conductor, Larry Blank, and the previously scheduled pianist, Kevin Cole, owe much of their professional success to their relationships with Hamlisch. Each offered touching reminiscences of those memories and Cole used the evening to debut two pieces: a medley of three iconic Hamlisch songs (incliuding ZZZThe Way We Were)ZXZ and a piano-vocal song Cole wrote immediately after hearing of Hamlisch’s death.

Beyond that, the program showed off several facets of Gershwin’s compositional talent and, for a change (at least in a Pops program under Hamlisch’s leadership), offered a healthy slice of Gershwin’s classical side. Cole, Blank and the Pops closed the opening half of the program with the last two movements of Gershwin’s Concerto in F on a night that marked the 75th anniversary to the day of a famous memorial concert for Gershwin at Hollywood Bowl that included Oscar Levant as soloist in the concerto.

Hearing portions of a concerto is rarely a good thing and it wasn’t last night. Concerto in F, Gershwin’s second major piece for piano and orchestra, was written in 1925, a year after ZZZRhapsody in Blue,ZXZ and it was the first where he wrote his own orchestra score (Ferde Grofé orchestrated ZZZRhapsody in Blue).ZXZ The concerto has two pulsating outer movements surrounding a laconic, bluesy second section; hearing the latter without the opening movement deprives the listener of the contrast but that’s what we got last night.

On the other hand, given what transpired in performance, perhaps that wasn’t a bad idea. The orchestra played its best for the evening in the second movement, with stellar solo work from Donald Foster, clarinet, Marissa Benedict, trumpet, and Concertmaster Aimee Kreston. Cole seemed to have been appropriately delicate in the piano portions of that movement, although the heavy over-amplification makes that judgment pretty much a guess, and Blank led the movement sensitively.

Unfortunately, the third movement was far less successful, partly because Cole and Blank had quite different ideas of what the tempo should be; consequently, the orchestra experienced several rough patches along the way.

Those tempo differences also showed up in ZZZRhapsody in Blue,ZXZ which was one of the major offerings after intermission. Although Cole’s take on the piece wasn’t as off the wall as, for example, Marcus Roberts, it was distinctive and not particularly easy for Blank and the orchestra to follow, which made for some scratchy moments.

The other classical number was a smartly played reading of Robert Russell Bennett’s ZZZPorgy and BessZXZ suite.

The evening also marked the symphonic debut of the orchestra’s JPL Chorus; the 35-member ensemble sang confidently in ZZZI Got RhythmZXZ in the second half of the program, but had significant intonation problems in ZZZFoggy Day,ZXZ which opened the evening.

Hemidemisemiquavers:
• As Zdunek pointed out in his preconcert remarks, Shea’s three-year tenure as PSA president was marked by (a) resignations by Music Directors Jorge Mester and Rachael Worby; (b) hiring Hamlisch; (c) Hamlisch’s death; (d) the appointment of Feinstein; (e) the Pasadena Symphony’s move into Ambassador Auditorium; (e) the Pops’ two relocations; (f) restructuring the board and the staff; and retiring the association’s $1.2 million accumulated debt. That’s quite a legacy!
• The Pops elected not to provide a printed run list last night, which left those who are not hard-core Gershwin aficionados at a loss at several points in the evening (including the two encores) for the songs being played.
• The camera work left much to be desired last night and the orchestra needs to work on adding speakers throughout the seating area so that the sound doesn’t need to be as heavily amplified as it was last night.
• The Pasadena Symphony and Pops move into Ambassador Auditorium Saturday night for a concert that continues to be called “Marvin Hamlisch and Friends,” since Hamlisch had made all the plans for the event to raise funds for the two orchestras. Blank will conduct and Jason Alexander will be the emcee. Among those appearing will be composer-pianist Jason Robert Brown. DETAILS
• The Pasadena Symphony opens its 2012-2013 season on Oct. 6 when Mei-Ann Chen — who made a successful PSO debut last year (LINK) returns to Ambassador Auditorium to lead the orchestra in a program that includes Beethoven’s Egmont Overture, Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 9, and Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2, with 16-year-old George Li as soloist. DETAILS
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(c) Copyright 2012, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.

By Robert D. Thomas
Music Critic
Pasadena Star-News/San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Whittier Daily News
This article was first published today in the above papers.

Although Los Angeles Opera’s 2012-2013 season isn’t particularly adventurous, the company’s two opening productions do have interesting aspects that may make them worth investing your time and money.

The season opens Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion with a new production of Verdi’s rarely performed I Due Foscari, a work that probably wouldn’t be exhumed except that it provides another baritone role for Plácido Domingo.

Nonetheless, says LAO Music Director James Conlon: “This opera represents an important step in the development of Verdi’s style and musical vocabulary, in which he gradually transforms the inherited culture of Rossini, Donizetti and Bellini into a language of his own, quintessentially defining and personifying the Italian 19th century.”

Other performances will take place on Sept. 20 and 29 and Oct. 9 at 7:30 p.m. and Sept. 23 and Oct. 7 at 2 p.m. A concert performance will be presented on Oct. 7 at 7:30 p.m. in Costa Mesa’s Segerstrom Center for the Performing Arts. Conlon will conduct all seven performances. KUSC-FM will broadcast the opening-night performance.

The role of Francesco Foscari will be the 140th in Domingo’s long and illustrious career. Most of those were in the tenor range but, of late, the 71-year-old Spaniard — who also doubles as LAO’s general director — has returned to baritone roles (he began singing in that lower register). Italian tenor Francesco Meli appears with Domingo in the role of Jacapo Foscari and Russian soprano Marina Poplavskaya will portray Jacapo’s wife, Lucrezia Contanini.

This will be the only new production in the LA Opera season; it will move on to Valencia, Vienna and London after its L.A. premiere. Thaddeus Strassberger makes his LAO debut as director.

I Due Foscari will run in tandem with Mozart’s Don Giovanni, which opens on Sept. 22 at 7:30 p.m. and runs for seven performances using a production created in 2004 for Chicago Lyric Opera. Other performances are Sept. 28 and Oct. 3, 6 and 10 at 7:30 p.m. and Sept. 20 and Oct. 14 at 2 p.m. KUSC will broadcast the Oct. 3 performance.

At least part of the interest will be to see how this production compares with the modernist take on the famous Don Juan tale created by Frank Gehry last spring for the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

Ildebrando D’Arcangelo will perform the title role in the LAO production, joined by American sopranos Julianna Di Giacomo and Angela Meade. Gregory Fortner, who directed last season’s La Boheme for LAO, will oversee the production that was originally conceived by Peter Stein. Conlon will conduct the first five performances, while Domingo will step into the pit for the final two.

Information: www.laopera.com

The Web site also has a number of background articles for each opera. Conlon will present pre-concert lectures an hour before each staged performance.
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(c) Copyright 2012, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.

By Robert D. Thomas
Music Critic
Pasadena Star-News/San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Whittier Daily News

The Colburn Orchestra will open its 10th anniversary season on September 29 at 7:30 p.m. in Ambassador Auditorium when Music Director Yehuda Gilad leads The Colburn School’s internationally renowned ensemble in Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 6 and Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3. Colburn Conservatory of Music student Beiyao Ji will be the soloist in the concerto (this is also the 10th anniversary of the Conservatory).

Gilad, who is also professor of clarinet at the Colburn School of Music and the USC Thornton School of Music, will conduct five of the Colburn Orchestra’s seven concerts. Five programs will take place at Ambassador and one will be played the Valley Performing Arts Center in Northridge. The orchestra will also play on the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s “Sounds About Town” series at Walt Disney Concert Hall when LAPO Music Director Gustavo Dudamel will conduct.

Particularly considering the exemplary quality of the orchestra, its Ambassador season counts as one of the real bargains for music lovers. Some of the tickets are free, other general admission seats are $10, and premium seats are just $25. Check the school’s Web site HERE for details. For tickets to the Dec. 1 concert at the Valley Performing Arts Center, call 818/677-3000. Information on the Disney Hall concert is HERE.

The complete orchestra series is available HERE.

The Colburn Chamber Music Society will present six concerts at the school’s Zipper Hall beginning October 14 (DETAILS) and a new Thursday evening chamber series in the Thayer Hall lobby is also on tap (DETAILS). The school will again join forces with LA Opera’s Domingo-Thornton Young Artists Program when LAO’s Music Director James Conlon conducts performances of Britten’s chamber opera The Rape of Lucretia April 4, 5 and 6 at Zipper Hall (DETAILS).

Other season stories:
• Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra HERE
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(c) Copyright 2012, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.