June 17th – June 18th:

Hollywood Bowl Jazz Festival

Formerly called the Playboy Jazz Festival, this two-day event is when summer officially starts. This year’s programming was curated by Herbie Hancock and Kamasi Washington. The first day features a line-up that includes Lionel Loueke and Gretchen Parlato, Samara Joy, Poncho Sanchez and Washington. Day two includes Ledisi, The Soul Rebels, Leon Bridges and West Coast Get Down (an ensemble that also features Washington.) Arsenio Hall hosts. If you’ve never been to Jazz Fest at the Hollywood Bowl, you don’t know that total joy that you are missing!

July 7th – July 9th:

Maestro of the Movies: John Williams with the LA Phil

This program typically takes place later in the season, but the addition of Gustavo Dudamel as conductor for, probably, the first half of the concert makes the date switch more than just fine. The LA Phil launches a two-year celebration of Williams at the Walt Disney Concert Hall this fall, so this concert is a preview of things to come. Of course, it is capped by having Williams conduct the LA Phil for the second half of the program (if this year’s concerts follow the tradition of these shows.) Fans will have their light sabers ready for music from Star Wars. Of course, I’d love to hear music from Rosewood, too.

July 13th:

An Ellington Celebration

It won’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing. But with Dudamel leading the LA Phil, there will be no doubt it will swing. Not much has been released yet about this program, but Ellington’s work – particularly his close collaboration with the often not-credited Billy Strayhorn – is legendary music. Expect many of the classic songs and some of Duke’s symphonic works as well.

July 25th:

Rhapsody in Blue

Next year will mark the 100th anniversary of the premiere of George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. The Los Angeles Philharmonic gets a jump on the centennial celebrations with this performance conducted by Leonard Slatkin with soloist Makoto Ozone. The program also includes Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9 “From the New World,” which is not my favorite of his works (I know how sacrilegious that seems to many). Cynthia McTee’s Timepiece, commissioned by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra for their own centennial opens the show.

July 28th – July 29th:

Quincy Jones’ 90th-Birthday Tribute: A Musical Celebration

So far Patti Austin, George Benson, Siedah Garret, Jennifer Hudson, Angélique Kidjo, Ibrahim Maalouf, John Mayer and Sheléa have been announced as performers coming together to celebrate Q. Jules Buckley will lead the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. With the vast career that Jones has had, don’t be surprised if the list of performers more than doubles. He’s had that kind of impact.

July 30th:

Everybody Rise! A Sondheim Celebration

I know this means going to the Hollywood Bowl twice in one weekend, but what fan of Stephen Sondheim’s work can resist an evening of his music performed by Skylar Austin, Sierra Boggess, Tony Award-winner Sutton Foster, Norm Lewis (so good in A Soldier’s Play at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles right now) and Tony Award-winner Brian Stokes Mitchell. Robert Longbottom curates the concert along with conductor Kevin Stites. Oh, did I mention that Patti LuPone, who won her most recent Tony Award for her performance in Company will be making sure that everybody rises?

August 10th:

Sibelius and Grieg

For a purely classical music experience, my choice is this LA Philharmonic concert with conductor Tarmo Peltokoski. The Sibelius is his Symphony No. 2. (Doesn’t Sibelius often work so beautifully in an outdoor setting?) The Grieg is the composer’s Piano Concerto with soloist Anton Mejias. Opening the concert will be Ciel d’hiver by composer Kaija Saariaho who just passed away on June 2nd.

August 22nd:

Chris Thile & Appalachian Spring

Classical music fans know that Appalachian Spring is the very famous work by Aaron Copland. Teddy Abrams will lead the LA Philharmonic in this concert. Opening for Copland is the world premiere of HOLLAND by Jonathan Bailey. Following that is where mandolinist Chris Thile comes in for the West Coast premiere of his ATTENTION! A narrative song cycle for extroverted mandolinist and orchestra. Thile’s work has its world premiere at the Virginia Arts Festival on June 14th.

August 23rd:

Herbie Hancock Celebrates Wayne Shorter

If anyone can rally a great line-up of artists to celebrate the legendary Wayne Shorter who passed away in March, it is Herbie Hancock. And he has. In addition to Shorter’s regular band (Brian Blade, John Patitucci and Daniel Pérez), Hancock is bringing together Terence Blanchard, Terri Lyne Carrington, Ron Carter, Jack DeJohnette, Marcus Miller, Chris Potter, Carlos Santana, Cindy Blackman Santana and esperanza Spaulding.

September 20th:

Promises

Legendary saxophonist Pharaoh Sanders passed away last September. Just four days before the first anniversary of his death, Floating Points (composer Sam Shepherd) will premiere the live performance of this 2019 collaboration with Sanders. There are nine movements in this nearly 50-minute work. The original plan was for Sanders to perform with Floating Points. In his absence, Shepherd is being joined in this performance by Kara-Lis Coverdale, John Escreet, Shabaka Hutchings, Kieran Hebden, Los Angeles Studio Orchestra, Jeffrey Makinson, Hinako Omori, Dan Snaith and Sun Ra Arkestra. The album is amazing. The live performance should be equally exciting.

That’s my list of the 10 Hollywood Bowl Concerts not to miss this season. What’s on your list? Let me know!

Click on the title of each concert for information and to purchase tickets.

Main Photo: The Hollywood Bowl (Photo by Adam Latham) All Photos Courtesy Los Angeles Philharmonic Association

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“Shall We Gather is like my other child. I’m about to give birth on September twenty fourth and if…” and before pianist Irina Meachem could finish her sentence, her husband, opera star Lucas Meachem added, “it doesn’t happen, we will induce.”

They are talking about their new Rubicon Classics album of American art songs that features Irina on piano and Lucas on vocals being released on Friday. It’s the perfect example of a passion project for the two who have been married since 2016.

After Lucas made his joke, Irina continued when I spoke by Zoom with them last week.

“It’s just years of passion, or hard work and being told we shouldn’t do this and we can’t do it by people in the business. and I’m just so happy to show that we have done it.”

You may recall that I recently interviewed Lucas when he was appearing in the Santa Fe Opera production of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin. Irina works as an accompanist and also coaches opera singers. Since that interview was so recent, I want to give Irina the opportunity to do most of the talking in this interview. Though Lucas will have his say before we’re done.

Shall We Gather features songs by Aaron Copland, Stephen Foster, Ricky Ian Gordon, Jake Heggie, Florence Price, William Grant Still, Kurt Weill and others. The Meachems uses these songs to explore all the different ways and reasons why we gather.

Irina told me why they wanted to do this project.

“Many years ago we wanted to create something that would be very demonstrative of Lucas and his musicianship and his singing. And we went down the usual route, which is all of the famous arias that he sings. And we were dead set on that for some time. Then we realized there is an opportunity to use the platform that Lucas has to really say something. At the time it was about just inspiring people to come together to find commonalities. And we wanted to challenge ourselves and find repertoire that could really have an impact on those who listen and inspire some positive change.”

It was a journey that ultimately ended up yielding not just an album, but their own foundation.

“We went through a journey of finding repertoire that has been historically overlooked and we found that there were so many challenges with it. It was it was not as easy as it was to find [Samuel] Barber’s Sure on This Shining Night. That’s everywhere and it’s been done so much. So we had to challenge ourselves. That’s what’s inspired us to create Perfect Day Music Foundation. It invites other musicians to go across the same journey that we took the to expose ourselves to new, overlooked and neglected repertoire that deserves to be at the forefront of the standard American art song repertoire. I just I want them to have experience what we have. There’s a lot out there. This album is not a consummate collection. This is just the beginning. This is just our own journey with it.”

Any journey they undertook for Shall We Gather meant they had to have a common definition of what an American art song is. Irina was very precise in describing what they were looking for.

“I think what makes an America art song unique is that are the differences; there’s so much variety. You have the older pieces and the Appalachian songs. We have the Aaron Copland and Stephen Foster. But then you also have blues influence, you have jazz, you have these amazing rhythmic freedom of expression. You have this openness to just possibility.

“And there are certain struggles that we all can come together with. For instance, the song that was released as our first single, That Moment On from Pieces of 9/11 by Jake Heggie. That was something uniquely American. Yet I just saw someone comment on one of Lucas’s posts saying it was not just America, the whole world was impacted by it. So there is this influence that America has on the rest of the world. But it is a place of hope. It is a place of rebellion. It is it is a unique place. And that’s what we tried to find.”

Lucas told WQXR radio that he had to find his husband hat and his singer hat when working with Irina and that the challenge is to find the right balance. Does Irina believe that there is one form of balance for the two when they work together or if it changes project-by-project?

“The first year or two of us collaborating together we had to learn what that balance was. And now it’s the same for every project where where the husband hat doesn’t come off for him. We just are so close. Sometimes in a relationship where you really trust somebody you’re not fully acknowledging the other person for what they have to offer. I feel like we are very respectful of our differences. But when it came to communicating, something as simple as that is just as important as the ideas themselves.”

As in relationships, sometimes the most powerful thing in music is silence. Both Irina and Lucas agree that it is arguably one of the most important parts of their lives.

Irina began by saying, “It speaks louder than the applause itself. There is anticipation, there’s numbness when you’re taking in what that sound really was beforehand.”

Lucas added, ” It also shows a collective agreement with the audience that this is a special moment. When you hear it it’s almost like it’s not even that no one’s speaking, it’s that no one’s breathing and you can feel that. It happens rarely in performances because sometimes you get the crinkle of the wrapper or the cough or anything. But when it does, it’s palpable for me as a performer. And it’s like the audience and I are sharing this moment together.”

In the end Shall We Gather doesn’t just represent what Lucas and Irina Meachem believe are the qualities that bring us together. It also celebrates the project that brought them together.

“This is a duet album and Lucas was so thoughtful to to have included me in such a big part because it is it is equal parts,” Irina says. “A singer goes through so much; they have such a big job to do. And I respect what they go through. I can’t do it. Yet there are things that the pianist does which is equally impressive and important for me.

“I feel like I live a very privileged life because all of the work that I’ve put into creating my art, to creating a strong relationship with my spouse and to creating a safe space for my son. That has actually ended well. The most fulfilling part is doing it with Lucas who is a really exceptional singer. And the art, I think, really reflects that.”

Lucas and Irina Meachem’s Shall We Gather will be available on Friday, September 24th.

All photos by Nate Ryan/Courtesy Rubicon Classics

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“If you study the history of the trombone, some of the pieces of art, Mozart’s Requiem, Brahms symphonies or Mahler symphonies, wouldn’t be what they are without the trombone,” Mollá said.

He should know. In addition to composing, Mollá is also a highly accomplished trombonist. His instrument and the brass section will be on full display Tuesday night at the Hollywood Bowl when his Fanfare for a New Beginning has its world premiere. Tianyi Lu will be conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Also on the program is the U.S. premiere of Thea Musgrave’s Trumpet Concerto and Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition.

Last week I spoke by phone with Mollá about Fanfare, the role of music in troubled times and where he sees his careering going. What follows are excerpts from that conversation that have been edited for length and clarity.

Your Fanfare for a New Beginning was commissioned by the Singapore International Low Brass Academy. Yet the premiere is at the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. How did that happen?

I’m from a little town in Spain. Very close to my home, David Rejano Cantero, principal trombone player of the Los Angeles Philharmonic was born. I have known him for many years and we have a very good relationship. At some point I thought I have nothing to lose. I said, “It would be a dream come true if you at least listen to it.” A few months later he answered me back saying he passed it to the rest of the group. He felt it was a piece with a lot of energy and should be part of the program. I was shocked they really liked it and respected the music. This is how finally it was programmed with the orchestra which makes me feel very honored and happy.

Fanfares are traditionally short pieces. What are the challenges in creating an impactful piece in a brief amount of time? How tightly threaded must your ideas be to accomplish what you set out to do?

I’m a beginner composer. I’m 29 years old now. I’m aware I have a lot to learn. One of the common mistakes is to have extra material for a piece. Sometimes you are working on new music and suddenly three or four melodies that are very interesting come to mind. Your first reaction is to use them all in one piece. At some point you have to organize elements in a way that you create beauty at the end. Sometimes when you add too much material to a single piece of art it becomes too dense and nothing can be understood. I would say the biggest challenge is to be aware when you have to delete part of the music you like.

It seems as though premieres are easier to get than follow-up performances so a composer’s work can be heard more broadly. What can you do as the composer to get your work heard?

The first important thing is if the piece works. If the piece doesn’t work, it won’t be a big success. The piece really needs to be a piece of art and people appreciate what it can offer. Nowadays if you are not on social media or any other platforms, it’s difficult for people to know what you write exists. If a piece is premiered but not recorded, either video or audio, so people can experience it at home, it’s very difficult to make it to the rest of the world. Maybe the third point to a piece being successful is a bit of luck.

Following your work on this program is Thea Musgrave’s 2019 Trumpet Concerto which she wrote at the age of 91. Do you see yourself writing music into your 90s?

Of course…unless I lose some abilities. I don’t see myself retiring. I’m kind of an obsessed worker when it comes to composition. It’s just one of my needs. It’s kind of my meal every day. When I think about getting old I just see composers and conductors who have been working until their last days and I kind of se myself in that position.

There are probably two well-known fanfares: the 20th Century Fox Fanfare by Alfred Newman and Aaron Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man. Copland said, “So long as the human spirit thrives on this planet, music in some living form will accompany and sustain it and give it expressive meaning.” We’re living through challenging times. What role would you like your music to play as we move through and beyond our present-day challenges?

This is a very challenging question actually. I feel like there is no wrong music. Music isn’t bad or good. It’s just what the composer wants to tell. You can hear it or not. The only thing I would like to do for the rest of my life is write whatever I want and whatever I feel. If people like it, it would be a great thing. If they don’t, I will not try to change my message. Music is just expressing what you have inside. You should create the best music you can with the knowledge you have and the experiences you’ve learned and just see what happens. Being constant and never stop working and enjoy what you do. That’s the pillar of the equation.

Photo: Ricardo Mollá (Courtesy Los Angeles Philharmonic)

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Goldenthal won his Oscar for the score to Julie Taymor’s film Frida. (Taymor, it should be noted, is also his partner). Amongst his other film credits are Drugstore Cowboy, Interview with the Vampire, Heat, The Butcher Boy, Titus (a particular favorite), Collateral and most recently The Glorias.

On stage he has written scores for Juan Darién (and received a Tony Award nomination), The Green Bird and the 2017 revival of M. Butterfly.

In 2006 Los Angeles Opera gave the world premiere production of his opera Grendel, which look at the Beowulf story from the point-of-view of the monster. I was lucky enough to attend opening night of that production.

[As a side note, I wish more companies would be as excited about giving third, fourth or fifth productions of new operas as they are about offering up premieres. Let’s see another production of Grendel!]

Amongst other important compositions of Goldenthal’s is Fire Water Paper: A Vietnam Oratorio which was commissioned by the Pacific Symphony in 1993.

If you need more details about Goldenthal, he studied with Aaron Copland and John Corigliano.

With all this information, it is no wonder that on Tuesday, April 27th, this massively talented composer will be joining Salastina for their weekly Happy Hour. The Zoom event will take place at 6:00 PM PDT and last approximately one hour.

There’s no charge to join in the conversation. I’ll be there…will you?

Photo of Elliot Goldenthal/Courtesy Salastina

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With the balance of this season already cancelled and the Hollywood Bowl season a big question mark, this series offers a great opportunity to see one of the world’s finest orchestras in action.

If you haven’t seen Season 1, those performances will be available through late this year. Sound/Stage Season 2 performances will be available for one year from their debut.

Here is the schedule for Sound/Stage Season 2:

March 5th: Camille Saint-Saëns’ The Carnival of the Animals

You might be familiar with this work as one of the earliest pieces of classical music you heard. With its musical evocations of lions, donkeys, elephants, cuckoos and swans, The Carnival of the Animals is often used as a way of introducing the sounds of an orchestra to young listeners.

So it is completely appropriate that Music Director Gustavo Dudamel will be accompanied by his son, Martín, as co-host.

This arrangement is for two pianos and orchestra. The soloists in this performance are Yuja Wang and David Fung. Dudamel will be leading the LA Philharmonic in this performance.

Narration will be provided by El Sistema students Arão (12) from the The Recanto Youth Orchestra in Santa Maria, Brazil; Afra (14), Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles (YOLA) at EXPO Center and Maya (8) from The Sydney Russell School in London, England. Traditionally the narration is the text written by Ogden Nash.

This performance will also incorporate animation.

March 19th: A Pan-American Musical Feast

Dudamel and the LA Phil welcome José Andrés as his special guest for this program. The two will been seen in a conversation. Andrés has been donation a lot of time and resources to helping feed people in the aftermath of natural disasters and also for those caught up in other crises. Last year they activated in the Albania; Bahamas; California; Central America; Haiti; Mozambique; Nebraska; Puerto Rico; South Dakota; Venezuela; Washington, D.C. and more.

For this concert the orchestra will be performing:

Fanfarria by Tania León

This is a perfect pairing of material. The Cuban-born León wrote Fanfarria after receiving a commission from the Library of Congress to write a piece in celebration of the centennial of composer Aaron Copland in 2000. (See what they are doing there with this program?)

Sinfonia Burocratica ed’Amazzonica: “Bananera” by Paul Desenne

Written and premiered in 2004, Desenne’s Sinfonia Burocratica ed’Amazzonica is a five moment chamber symphony. Bananera is the fourth movement. Desenne uses cumbia as the foundation for this movement.

Appalachian Spring Suite (chamber orchestra version) by Aaron Copland

Dancer/choreographer Martha Graham commissioned this work from Copland in 1942 for a ballet. Two years later Appalachian Spring had its world premiere. One year later Copland was commissioned again to create a symphony version.

The LA Phil will be performing the smaller version as it was first performed which calls for 13 instruments.

April 4th: Easter Sunrise at the Hollywood Bowl

The tradition of having an Easter sunrise service at the Hollywood Bowl dates back to 1921. For the 100th Anniversary of that tradition, Dudamel and the Hollywood Bowl welcome gospel singers Mary, Mary and soprano Nadine Sierra to the stage for this concert.

On the program are:

Air pour les trompettes by Johann Sebastian Bach

This work was originally written for harpsichord. It can be performed with as few as two trumpets (with an organ) or for a full eleven brass musicians. It is very short and runs less than two minutes. This is the Michael Allen arrangement.

Exsultate, jubilate by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Mozart composed the piece of music for soprano and orchestra. It had its world premiere in Milan in 1773.

There are four parts to this work whose name translates to Exult, rejoice. Originally written for a castrato, it is far more commonly performed by a soprano.

If you’ve been following the Metropolitan Opera’s weekly streaming concerts, you would have seen Sierra in productions of Mozart’s Idomeneo. She also appeared in San Francisco Opera’s production of Romeo and Juliet by Charles Gounod that was available in January.

All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name – a traditional hymn arranged by Carlos Simon

Edward Perronet is the composer of this hymn which he wrote in 1780.

Sisters Erica and Tina Atkins are the duo who make up Mary Mary. They have had their recordings on the Billboard charts and their songs have been recorded by a multitude of artists.

April 16th: Grand Pianola Music

John Adams’ Grand Pianola Music will be performed in this concert. Joining Dudamel and the LA Phil are sopranos Elissa Johnston and Holly Sedillos and mezzo-soprano Kristen Toedtman.

Adams composed Grand Pianola Music in 1981. The work had its world premiere in 1982 by the San Francisco Symphony with the composer leading the performance. The score calls for three amplified female voices and two pianos.

When Mark Swed of the Los Angeles Times reviewed a performance by the LA Philharmonic of this work in January, 2019, he wrote, “…what had seemed regressive in 1982, Adams’ supposed cheapening of pure minimalism with show-off, almost Liberace-esque effects doesn’t sound so regressive anymore.

“In an expansive performance, Adams brought out a range of colors from the L.A. Phil winds. His soloists focused on rhythmic intricacies. Climaxes were operatic. Once booed, Grand Pianola Music is now wildly cheered. With perspective, the regressive has become progressive. You can hear in its theatricality the birth of an opera composer.”

Adams will participate in a conversation with Dudamel during the program. The performance will be accompanied by visuals created by Deborah O’Grady.

April 30th: Unfinished

Classical music fans know that the word unfinished is closely associated with composer Franz Schubert and his 8th Symphony. Indeed, that is the work being performed in this concert.

This symphony did not remain unfinished because the composer died. In fact, Schubert lived another six years after the two complete movements were finished in 1822. There’s speculation as to why he didn’t finish this work, but no definitive reason is known.

There have been several attempts to finish the symphony based on piano scores and what little was orchestrated for additional movements. But this symphony is traditionally performed with just the two completed movements.

Dudamel leads the LA Phil in this concert.

June 18th: Dudamel and Common

In August of 2018, I attended a concert at the Hollywood Bowl with Queen Latifah and Common. Common opened and once he was finished I knew the Queen would have a mighty big challenge in front of her. Common was so powerful and so dynamic that she risked being seen as the runner-up in that evening’s concert. That didn’t happen, but I still walked away completely blown away by Common’s performance.

The program for this concert has not been announced. But it will undoubtedly be good.

Oh and if you don’t know Common, he’s an Oscar, Grammy and Emmy award-winning performer, composer and writer. He joined the LA Phil for their recent Icons and Inspirations which you can still watch here.

June 25th: Dudamel and Carlos Vives

Composer Carlos Vives will be featured in both conversation and performance in this concert. With Dudamel leading the LA Phil, Vives will perform an acoustic set.

Vives is best known as one of Colomobia’s finest sons. With two Grammy Awards and 11 Latin Grammys, his music has been entertaining audiences and selling records for over 30 years.

There is no announced set list for this show.

You might have noticed there’s a big gap between episodes in Sound/Stage Season 2. There won’t be official episodes of Sound/Stage during that time, but there will be a series of five chamber music performances. Four of them were filmed at The Ford and one at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.

May 7th: Chamber Music: Tchaikovsky – Filmed at The Ford

Pyotr Illyich Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir de Florence is performed in this program. The composer wrote the work for two violins, two violas and two cellos in 1890. He revised the work in 1891-1892 before it had its world premiere in 1892.

There are four movements in Souvenir de Florence and the piece runs a little more than half an hour.

Performing in this concert are violinist Nathan Cole and Gabriela Peña-Kim; violists Ingrid Hutman and Ben Ullery and cellists Jason Lippmann and Gloria Lum.

May 14th: Chamber Music: Piazzolla – Filmed at The Ford

Argentinian composer Astor Piazzolla is synonymous with the tango. The work being performed in this concert is his Tango Ballet for String Quartet. It’s a brief piece, running just 14 minutes or so, but is an immensely popular one.

The musicians for this concert are violinists Sydney Adedamola and Bing Wang, violist Dana Lawson and cellist Jason Lippmann.

May 28th: Chamber Music: Mendelssohn – Filmed at Walt Disney Concert Hall

Fanny Mendelssohn is the older sister of her better-known composer brother, Felix. She never gained the same level of success or popularity as Felix did, despite his attempts to bring her work to a wider audience and to have her compositions published in the last year of her life.

She is primarily known for her songs (lieder) than her orchestral compositions. She, herself, felt that composing lieder was more suited to her abilities.

The String Quartet in E-flat was composed in 1834. It was only performed once, privately. Her brother was harsh in his criticism of the work. She never composed another quartet, but this work remains one of the few surviving quartets written by a woman.

This performance of selections from the quartet will feature Martin Chalifour and Lyndon Johnston Taylor on violin; Teng Li on viola and Robert DeMaine on cello.

May 28th: Chamber Music: Schumann – Filmed at The Ford

Composer Clara Schumann’s Piano Trio in G minor is being performed in this companion piece to the Mendelssohn work just above. Schumann was married to composer Robert Schumann and she composed this, her only trio, in 1846.

It was a tumultuous time for the couple. During that year her husband was battling serious health issues. She also suffered a miscarriage. A year after this work’s premiere her husband published his first piano trio.

Performing in this concert are Joanne Pearce Martin on piano; Rebecca Reale on violin and Dahae Kim on cello.

June 4th: Chamber Music: Márquez – Filmed at The Ford

Mexican composer Arturo Márquez is a prolific 20th and 21st century composer. The work being performed in this concert dates back to 1993: Homenaje a Gismonti.

The work is dedicated to Cuarteto Latinoamericano, a classical music ensemble founded in Mexico in 1982. They included Homenaje a Gismonti on their 1998 album, Four, For Tango.

In this performance Sydney Adedamola and Bing Wang play violin; Dana Lawson on viola and Jason Lippmann on cello.

As a reminder, all Sound/Stage Season 2 concerts will remain available online, for free, for one year from their debut.

Photo: Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic on the stage of the Hollywood Bowl (Courtesy LA Philharmonic)

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Before we go into details, for those of you who do not live in the area, fret not. These concerts will become available in other cities around the country in 2021.

Each concert will be hosted by Music Director Gustavo Dudamel and will feature performances from concerts that took place in previous seasons at the Bowl. The series includes all the genres of music you would find during a regular season.

Here’s the full line-up (please note that schedules are subject to change):

Hecho en Mexico – August 19th at 9:00 PM PDT on KCET/August 21st at 8:00 PM PDT on PBS SoCal

Dudamel leads the LA Phil with special guests acoustic guitar duo Rodrigo y Gabriela, singer/songwriter Natalia Lafourcade. Cumbia sonidera group Los Angeles Azures performs with YOLA (Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles) and multi-genre band La Santa Cecilia performs. Dudamel also leads the orchestra in a performance of Arturo Marquez’s El Nereidas de Dimas.

Gustavo and Friends – August 26th at 9:00 PM PDT on KCET/August 28th at 8:00 PM PDT on PBS SoCal

Dudamel’s friends here include ballet dancer Misty Copeland, cellist Pablo Ferrández, soprano Amanda Majeski, mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges, tenor Issachach Savage, bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green and the Los Angeles Master Chorale. On the program are excerpts from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, Dvorak’s Cello Concerto, Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man and the finale to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9.

Jazz at the Hollywood Bowl – September 2nd at 9:00 PM PDT on KCET/September 4th at the 8:00 PM PDT on PBS SoCal

You can’t ask for a better line-up of jazz artists for this concert: singer Dianne Reeves, singer/songwriter Ivan Lins, bassist Christian McBride, pianist Chuco Valdes, singer Cécile McLorin Salvant, saxophonist/composer Kamasi Washington plus the group Mega Nova which features keyboardist/composer Herbie Hancock, singer/guitarist Carlos Santana and saxophonist Wayne Shorter.

Musicals and the Movies – September 9th at 9:00 PM PDT on KCET/September 11th at 8:00 PM PDT on PBS SoCal

It appears you have to have won a Tony Award to make it in this show. Kristin Chenoweth (Wicked, You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown) performs with Kevin Stites and the LA Phil. Audra McDonald (you know she has six Tony Awards, right?) performs with Bramwell Tovey and the LA Phil. Brian Stokes Mitchell (Ragtime, Kiss Me Kate) performs with Dudamel and the LA Phil.

Música Sin Fronteras (“Music Without Borders”) – September 16th at 9:00 PM PDT on KCET/September 18th at 8:00 PM PDT on PBS SoCal

Dudamel leads the LA Phil and special guests Columbian singer/songwriter Carlos Vives, the band Café Tacvba from Mexico and the legendary Vin Scully. Also on the bill is Paolo Bortolameolli leading the LA Phil in a performance with Florida’s Siudy Garrido Flamenco Dance Theatre.

*Fireworks! – September 23rd at 9:00 PM PDT on KCET/September 25th at 8:00 PM PDT on PBS SoCal

Every Hollywood Bowl season ends with the Fireworks Finale. So it’s appropriate that the last concert in this series is the Fireworks! episode. Performers here include Pink Martini, Nile Rodgers & CHIC, gypsy singer Diego El Cigala, conductor Thomas Wilkins and Dudamel leading the LA Phil in selections from Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite.

Lest you think the LA Phil forgot about its most popular series of concerts each summer, composer/conductor John Williams leads the orchestra in a performance of music from Star Wars. Get out your lightsabers.

Photo of the Hollywood Bowl by Adam Latham/Courtesy of KCET

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Each concert will begin with a performance of Symphony #2 (Sinfonía India) by Mexican composer Carlos Chávez. The symphony was composed in 1936 and was first performed by the LA Philharmonic in 1952.

The most exciting part of the concert is the world premiere of Universos infinitos, a piano concerto by Argentinian composer Esteban Benzecry. Sergio Tiempo will be at the piano and the concerto is dedicated to him. Universos infinitos was originally to have its world premiere in 2013 with Lang Lang at the piano. But the pianist had to cancel those plans and it is only now that it was possible to schedule this world premiere.

After the intermission two works by Aaron Copland will be featured and they are two enduring classics: Fanfare for the Common Man and Rodeo.

To read my interview with Esteban Benzecry, please go here.

For tickets to the concerts, please go here.

Photo of Sergio Tiempo courtesy of Rayfield Allied.

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All American will precede Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring, Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto (with James Ehnes as the soloist) and finally Harlem by Duke Ellington. Leading the LA Phil will be conductor James Gaffigan.

When we last spoke with Laura Karpman she was curating a program celebrating film scores. This time around it was her own work we got to discuss.

All American is a common term for a particular type of athlete. How did you want the term to be understood vis-á-vis your composition?

This idea of what patriotism is and what it means to me. It weaves it way through a lot of work. Because it is a muscular title, and I say that with great purposefulness, I wanted to take a chance to play with it and see what came out of it that was relevant to me. I wasn’t thinking so much about football players, I was thinking about what people think about as American music. What makes something American? What is an American sound?

You state in the program notes that you were lead to the idea of the invisibility of women composers. How did that develop as the response to your questions?

I think that my first impulse was to take a John Philip Sousa piece and have some fun with it and turn it upside down. Why am I doing that? I wonder if there are patriotic songs by women composers. I got in touch with a professor at UC Davis who had uncovered songs by women composers – hundreds of them. These women were so prominent in their time. Why does only the great male composers like Irving Berlin and George Gershwin remain with us? Why have they superseded these women? Because their story hasn’t been told like it should be.

How did these pieces you discovered inform what you wrote?

It’s a short piece, there are kind of mini-movements which are devoted to the three songs I use.

The three songs she used as inspiration were March on, Brave Lads, March on! by Mildred Hill (best known for co-writing Happy Birthday); Your Country Needs You by Emily Wood Bower and Anita Owen’s Neath The Flag of The Red, White and Blue.

The whole opening is from Brave Lads… [Karpman hums part of the song.] If you think of the Copland… [she humans part of Appalachian Spring] …it’s the same impetus. It’s this open-hearted kind of Americana theme. There’s a dream that we all hang on to. A lot of it is manufactured and a lot of it is real. Those are the tools we use as artists. How do we musicalize that dream? This is my small way, for six-and-a-half to seven minutes, to acknowledge the inspiration these women had. 

In the program notes you also indicate that you are using silverware, baking sheets, pots and pans and your 5-quart braiser. How did you find what their particular musical qualities were?

A lot of it is creating an analogy to other pieces like Fanfare for the Common Man. What’s another way to create military percussion? I started to buy things. I wondered if there would be a meat tenderizer that would work and I bought five of them. I bought this braiser and started banging it.

I spoke with Matthew Howard [principal percussionist with the LA Philharmonic] and asked what would work? What would that sound like? He emailed me and asked if should we use clay or metal pots. Let’s use metal because I was thinking of tubular bells. I listened to John Adams’ use of the wood block, but I didn’t want to do that. How can I get this by using this stuff associated with the home or kitchen. I wrote the piece with more traditional percussion in mind and thought let’s use a trash can instead.

The three songs you use are very patriotic. How would you define patriotism in 2019?

Being out loud about who you are and what you believe! And trying to do something with whatever resources you have available to you to love this country and keep it on the right track or take it to the right track.

Writer Barbara Ehrenreich said, “No matter what, patriotism is too often the refuge of scoundrels. Dissent, rebellion and all-around hell-raising remain the true duty of patriots.” Do you agree with her and does All American represent your true duty as a patriot?

I’d like to think so. I value being an American. I understand how complicated and fraught our history is with murderous tragedies. But there is an ideal we have to keep aspiring to. We have to. As a gay person, too. Just what’s happened in the last 15-20 years is astonishing.

This is personal and you don’t have to write about it, but it was my spouse’s birthday and I wanted to throw her a big party. We had a surprise wedding. Because of Prop 8, we never had a celebration. My grandparents never could have dreamt of this kind of freedom. You have to look at these things and appreciate it.  I love being an American.

For tickets go here.

Photos of Laura Karpman courtesy of ID-PR.

Update:  This piece has been modified to reflect subtle re-wording requested by Ms. Karpman after publication. They do not in any way change the tone or content of this interview.

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Film composer David Newman leads the LA Phil in a program that combines classical music with film scores and a west coast premiere.

I doubt you could do a show like this without performing some or all of Gustav Holst’s The Planets. The powers that be agreed and this concert will open with Mars and close with Jupiter from Holst’s best-known work. Another classical work on the program is Aaron Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man.

Penka Kouneva’s work from The Women Astronauts will also be performed.

The West Coast Premiere is of Advent by film composer Michael Giacchino (Oscar-winner for his score to Pixar’s Up.)

The other film music includes selections from Hidden Figures (score by Hans Zimmer, Pharrell Williams & Benjamin Wallfisch), selections from James Horner’s score for Apollo 13; Harry Gregson-Williams’s score for The Martian and Steven Price’s score for Gravity.

My personal favorite of the film score selections will be a performance of music written by Oscar-winner Justin Hurwitz for First Man. This is perhaps the best fit for this program as Damien Chazelle’s film specifically told the story of Neil Armstrong and how he became that first man to walk on the moon. Though his score was much-heralded, it inexplicably did not garner an Oscar nomination.

For tickets go here.

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And with that concept born out of illness, Lara Downes started phase 2 of her new recording entitled For Lenny. The third phase involved getting artists like opera singer Thomas Hampson, American roots artist Rhiannon Giddens and beatboxer Kevin “K.O.” Olusola to join in unique interpretations of Bernstein’s songs.

Downes will be in Los Angeles this weekend for three different events.  On Saturday morning she will be part of the March for Our Lives. She will be performing Bernstein’s “Somewhere” from West Side Story on the steps of City Hall with students from the Los Angeles County High School For the Arts and the Colburn School. Saturday night she is part of Do You Hear Her: Music for the Voices of Silenced Women at St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral. On Sunday she will be performing with Giddens (who performs “So Pretty” on For Lenny) at the Women in Music Festival at Mount Saint Mary’s University.

But back to Lenny….whose music allows Downes to do what she’s always done, straddle the line between popular music and classical music. She’s recorded such diverse music as the songs of Billie Holiday and Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring. “That’s one of the things that draws me to him as an artist,” she says of Bernstein. “He was so fluid in his music making long before anyone else was. He laid a lot of groundwork for any of us playing with that fluidity. It’s also a personal choice, what I love to do and an important message. It will ensure the survival of this art form and broaden audiences. I think it has the potential to reach a new generation in a more positive way.”

As a teenager, Downes had the opportunity to meet Bernstein. “My sisters and I were studying in Vienna and somehow my mom talked her way backstage. I was maybe 14 and my sisters were younger, these three little American kids. We sat there on the couches and he hung out and he was asking about our studies. He really spent some time with us. He was so generous. It’s something that really made a tremendous impression.”

One of the most intriguing aspects of this album is the concept of having other composers write “Anniversaries” in response to Lenny and the ones he wrote. Bernstein wrote pieces for Aaron Copland, Stephen Sondheim, Lukas Foss and others.

“What I find special about them is they are so personal. They really teach us a lot about who he was in his private moments. I think that there aren’t very many people who have had to live such a public life, but his family and friends were so important to him. These were musical moments of release to express totally personal and intimate thoughts to tell the story of his family.”

The new “Anniversaries” that Downes commissioned include new compositions from composers Stephen Schwartz (Wicked), John Corigliano (The Ghosts of Versailles), Ricky Ian Gordon (The Grapes of Wrath) and Craig Urquhart.

“Craig is the only person on the album for whom one is dedicated [by Bernstein] and he wrote one back. Craig was his assistant for years. He has the sketch on his wall. When he played it through, it’s really busy, it’s always jumping around, but there’s this tender section. For him that showed him Lenny appreciated his doing the busy work, but there was this caring underneath that made his work meaningful.”

In an e-mail confirming the details of her participation in the March for Our Lives event, she  said her new motto is WWLD (What Would Lenny Do?) That mantra resonates with something we discussed in our conversation – the idea that Leonard Bernstein called his contact with music “a total embrace.” Does Downes feel the same way?

“My mom always told me when I was little, and then not so little, any bump along the way she’d say, ‘do you need to do this. Or is there something else you need to do?’ No, this is what I need and I still feel that every day. It has to be the air you breathe and the thing that makes you happy. I think that any distance makes it impossible to do this job well. It makes it impossible to make the music sound the way you want it to and to resonate in the world that way you hope it will.”

Now that she’s grown up and carved out a career for herself as a musician, what would she ask Leonard Bernstein if she had another chance to talk to him? “Oh gosh, no one has asked me that before. I don’t know if it would be about music. I would want to just sit down and talk about American life and American culture. Whether where we are now is really just another part of the cycle or if we’ve lost some things. We’re living through this moment that is so godawful. So did he and the reason he stepped up is he felt compelled to use his platform to talk about bigger things. I feel that, too. I would love to know how he saw the times since he’s been gone and where we are going. What do we do now?”

In other words, WWLD.

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