Bringing Klezmer to Ojai Music Festival
May 28, 2014
Growing up Jewish in Philadelphia, Uri Caine, the genre-bending jazz pianist and composer, said he was “too cool for klezmer.”
Rick Schultz
The Rubinstein legacy, from piano to stage
May 7, 2014
“The first and last bullfight I ever saw was with my father and Picasso,” actor John Rubinstein said via cellphone on his way home from the set of “Perception,” a new TV series in which he plays an FBI agent.
Composer makes new music to honor mentors, friends
April 23, 2014
As a baby boomer, composer Russell Steinberg has lived long enough to see admired mentors and friends pass away.
‘Klinghoffer’ opera gets SoCal revival
March 12, 2014
On Oct. 7, 1985, Leon and Marilyn Klinghoffer were celebrating their 36th wedding anniversary onboard the Achille Lauro cruise ship.
Haifa Symphony: Welcome to America, finally
March 5, 2014
For Polish conductor Boguslaw Dawidow, long tours with symphony orchestras have become a way of life. In 2011, as music director of the Opole Philharmonic of Poland, he took the orchestra on its first transcontinental United States tour, which included 48 concerts in 19 states.
Magical music of the Middle East
November 22, 2013
Almost two years ago, while watching a YouTube video of Mohammed Fairouz’s “Tahrir for Clarinet and Orchestra,” Neal Brostoff, a visiting lecturer in Jewish music history at UCLA, had an idea. The concerto sounded “surprisingly Jewish,” he thought, and not just because the soloist was the eminent klezmer clarinetist David Krakauer.
A new ‘Magic’ for Mozart’s opera
November 20, 2013
Opera director Barrie Kosky didn’t like Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” when he first saw it at age 10. Mozart’s Singspiel — a genre of opera characterized by spoken dialogue, along with singing — was a big hit in 1791, and the composer himself goofed around on stage during some of the performances. Ideally, given its broad comedy and fantastical characters, the opera should be able to engage kids.
Kristallnacht, honored musically
November 6, 2013
On Nov. 9, music by Samuel Adler, Steve Reich, Arnold Schoenberg and Eric Zeisl will observe the 75th anniversary of Kristallnacht as part of the enterprising Jacaranda concert series.
Israel Philharmonic Orchestra: A gift for all ‘Seasons’
October 23, 2013
When the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) performs Vivaldi’s evergreen “The Four Seasons” at a benefit at the Beverly Hills Hotel on Oct. 30, the orchestra won’t be made up of its 100-plus players.
‘Einstein on the Beach’ finally hits L.A.’s shore
September 6, 2013
The 1976 premiere of “Einstein on the Beach” shook audiences up, recalling the shock at Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring” in 1913. There was something incomprehensible, even infuriating, about Philip Glass and Robert Wilson’s “Einstein,” but in spite of that — or perhaps, in part, because of it — the work became a landmark, challenging and enlarging traditional ideas and conventions of opera, theater and dance.
[authorpage]
More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.