Frankenstein – National Theatre Live – Now – May 7th/May 8th

In 2011 Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire, Trainspotting) directed a production of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein that had been written by Nick Dear. Starring in the play were Benedict Cumberbatch and Johnny Lee Miller. What made this production interesting is that Cumberbatch and Miller alternated playing The Creature and Victor Frankenstein.

This week you won’t have to choose which one you see, because National Theatre Live is making both versions available. If you want to see Cumberbatch as The Creature go to this YouTube page. Keep in mind that this version is only available until May 7th.

If you want to see Johnny Lee Miller as The Creature go to this YouTube page. This version will remain available until May 8th.

Of course, you don’t have to choose. You could watch both.

Frankenstein runs 2 hours and is recommended for audiences 12 years and older.

Schubert’s Winterreise – May 1st – May 3rd – Carnegie Hall Website and Medici.tv

Fresh off the success of their Live with Carnegie Hall series on Tuesdays and Thursdays, the organization has started a new program to help you get through the weekend.

Carnegie Hall Fridays launches today with a weekly series of concerts that will be available for viewing on their own website and also on medici.tv.

The series launches with a 2019 concert by mezzo soprano Joyce DiDonato performing Schubert’s Winterreise. She is accompanied on the piano by Metropolitan Opera conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

Each performance becomes available at 3 AM EDT/12 AM PDT on Friday through 3 AM EDT/12 AM PDT Monday.

Upcoming concerts will include performances by Martha Argerich, Anne Sophie Mutter, Daniil Trifonov, Yuja Wang and Philip Glass with such conductors as Daniel Barenboim, Gustavo Dudamel, Valery Gergiev and Michael Tilson Thomas.

Georgia Stitt and Friends – May 1st – 7:00 PM EDT/4:00 PM PDT – Playbill.Com

Last week we published an interview with singer/songwriter/musician Georgia Stitt about her new album, A Quiet Revolution. Today is the official release date of physical copies of the record and to celebrate she is doing an album release concert on Playbill.com. Joining for the concert are Kate Baldwin, Brandon Victor Dixon, Jeremy Jordan and Jessica Vosk.

Good luck keeping your eyes dry during Jeremy Jordan’s performance. Just a word to the wise.

Sunshine Concerts – May 2nd – 6:00 PM EDT/3 PM PDT

Laura Benanti, the Tony Award-winning actress, wanted to support school children who were unable to perform in their school musicals by encouraging them to send in videos of the songs they were to perform. To perhaps everyone’s surprise she got thousands of videos.

Benanti and Kate Detier-Maradei assembled the best of those submissions to distribute to senior living communities, children’s hospitals, pediatric units and more.

On Saturday everyone will have a chance to watch the best of the videos on Sunshinesongs.com and also on Laura Benanti’s YouTube page. This is not a fundraiser. It is a celebration of the passion and enthusiasm of students who get an alternate way of sharing their gifts with us all.

Laura Benanti got her start in school musicals. Who knows, we might just get an early glimpse at the next big Broadway star. #SunshineSongs

Red – Great Performances on PBS – May 2nd – check local listings

If you have yet to check out Alfred Molina’s towering performance as Mark Rothko in John Logan’s Tony Award-winning play, Red, this is an opportunity you can’t miss. Molina gives another great performance (because when doesn’t he?) in this two-character play that takes place at the time of Rothko’s commission to create murals for New York’s Four Seasons Restaurant.

Co-starring as his assistant, Ken, is Alfred Enoch.

Duruflé and Trumbore – Los Angeles Master Chorale – May 3rd

In their continuing Sundays at Seven series, the LA Master Chorale is making available the audio from this 2019 concert which found Associate Conductor Jenny Wong leading the ensemble in a performance of Maurice Duruflé’s Requiem Op. 9 and Dale Trumbore’s How to Go On.

This audio-only release runs approximately 90 minutes and employs 48 singers and a chamber orchestra. The soloists for the Duruflé are Jessie Shulman, mezzo-soprano and Chung Uk Lee, bass-baritone.

The soloists for How to Go On are Kelci Hahn, soprano; Bethanie Peregrine, soprano; Callista Hoffman-Campbell, mezzo-soprano; Sarah Lynch, mezzo-soprano; Adriana Manfredi, mezzo-soprano; Ilana Summers, mezzo-soprano; Jimmy Traum, tenor; Scott Graff, baritone; James Hayden, bass.

Los Angeles Philharmonic Concert Series – May 3rd – KUSC

KUSC Radio is airing recordings of concerts by the Los Angeles Philharmonic at Walt Disney Concert Hall every Sunday through June 21st. And if you don’t catch the 10 PM EDT/7 PM PDT broadcast, you will be able to stream it at your leisure for one week after the broadcast.

This week’s concert took place October 12th and 13th in 2019. Gustavo Dudamel leads the LA Phil in performances of Chávez’s Symphony No. 2 (Sinfonia India), Esteban Benzecry’s Piano Concerto (Universos infinitos), Aaron Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man and Rodeo. Sergio Tiempo is the soloist for the concerto.

If you go to the website before Sunday’s broadcast, you can still catch Dudamel and the LA Phil in another program from October 2019 that featured Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915, Gershwin’s Concerto in F (with Jean-Yves Thibaudet as the soloist), Previn’s Can Spring Be Far Behind? and Copland’s Appalachian Spring Suite.

Reminders:

You can still catch the Stephen Sondheim 90th Birthday Concert Take Me to the World on this YouTube page.

LA Opera is streaming a 2018 production of Du Yun’s Pulitzer-Prize winning opera Angel’s Bone on May 1st at 11 PM EDT/8 PM PDT.

The Metropolitan Opera has Aida with Leontyne Price in her farewell performance available on May 1st; Verdi’s Luisa Miller on May 2nd and Borodin’s Prince Igor on May 3rd.

With all these Culture Best Bets at Home May 1st – 3rd, who will have time to be bored? Or see them all?

Main Photo: Johnny Lee Miller in Frankenstein (Photo by Catherine Ashmore/Courtesy of National Theatre Live)

The post Culture Best Bets at Home: May 1st – 3rd appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

BREAKING NEWS: Disney’s musical Frozen has closed on Broadway.

American Ballet Theatre has canceled their 2020 Season at the Metropolitan Opera. The shows included are ABT Then and Now, the New York premiere of Of Love and Rage, as well as productions of La Bayadère, Romeo and Juliet, Giselle, The Sleeping Beauty, Jane Eyre and Swan Lake.

Antaeus Theatre Company has canceled all remaining performances of Measure for Measure and their Classic Sundays reading of The Roaring Girl. 

Bob Baker Marionette Theatre has announced postponement of all scheduled performances and events. No tentative re-opening date has been provided.

Boston Court Pasadena has postponed all performances through May 27th.

Their production of Assassins been rescheduled for September 10th – October 18th

The Broad Stage has announced the suspension of all remaining performances in their 2019-2020 season.

Mnozil Brass on March 26th.

Hiromi: Solo on March 28th

Red Hen Press: New Traditions on March 29th

National Geographic Live: Hidden Wild: Secrets of the Everglades on April 9th and 10th

Dee Dee Bridgewater and Bill Charlap on April 11th.

Dance for All on April 13th

USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance April 17th – April 19th

Beethoven, Bagels & Banter on April 19th

Angel’s Bone (co-presented with LA Opera Off Grand) May 1st – May 3rd

Diana Damrau & Nicolas Testé on May 16th

Lynn Harrell, cellist on May 17th

*Broadway in Hollywood has announced the cancellation of SpongeBob Musical at The Dolby Theatre.

The Illusionists, scheduled to play April 14th – April 19th at the Dolby Theatre has been rescheduled for January 12th – January 17th.

The tour of Mean Girls, scheduled to play the Dolby Theatre April 28th – June 7th, 2020 will be rescheduled.

The tour of My Fair Lady, scheduled to play the Dolby Theatre June 12th – July 5th will be rescheduled.

The tour of The Band’s Visit, scheduled to play at the Dolby Theatre July 7th – July 26th, has been suspended.

*The Cher Show is postponing its tour until 2021. Not official announcement yet, but this may impact the Spring 2021 booking at the Dolby Theatre.

*All Broadway Shows in New York have been suspended through September 6th.

Hangmen, which had gone into previews, will not re-open. A revival of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf will not re-open.

Beetlejuice, which was set to close at the Winter Garden on June 6th, is now officially closed. Though a 2021 tour is planned, there are still discussions of moving the show to another theatre.

*Disney’s musical Frozen has officially closed. It is the first long-running show to close as a result of the pandemic. The official closing day is March 11th, the last day of performances before Broadway suspended all performances. The show had 26 previews and 825 performances.

CAP UCLA has announced the suspension of the remainder of the 2019-2020 season.

Center Theatre Group has announced that all remaining shows in the 2019-2020 season have been postponed. This includes 1776 scheduled at the Ahmanson Theatre, King James at the Mark Taper Forum and Sakina’s Restaurant at the Kirk Douglas Theatre.

They join the previously announced postponements of Once on This Island, The Antipodes and the annual Block party.

As it relates to Once on This Island, CTG is working on rescheduling the show. Producers have canceled this show’s tour, but the possibility of a reduced tour post-Coronavirus is being explored.

Cirque du Soleil has announced the cancellation of all performances of Volta scheduled at the Orange County Fair and Events Center in Costa Mesa.

Colburn School has canceled all performances and events through April 12.

East West Players has announced a postponement of the entire run of Assassins. They have also announced postponement of the 54th Anniversary Visionary Awards Gala.

The Echo Theater Company is canceling performances of Poor Clare, scheduled to open March 14, through the end of March. Performances resume April 3. 

*The Ford Theatres summer 2020 season has been canceled.

The Fountain Theatre has suspended the world premiere of Human Interest Story. The April 25 Los Angeles premiere of If I Forget has been postponed to later date yet to be determined. 

Geffen Playhouse has announced the following:

Bernhardt/Hamlet, scheduled to begin previews on April 7th, has been canceled.

Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at the Music Center has announced the cancellation of the Pina Bausch’s Palermo Palermo as Tantztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch canceled their tour.

Malpaso Dance Company has canceled its spring tour of the United States. Therefore the engagement at the Ahmanson Theatre on May 15th – May 17th has been canceled.

Goodspeed Musicals has postponed their April production of South Pacific. Their fall production of Candide has been canceled.

*The Hollywood Bowl 2020 season has been canceled.

The Industry’s Sweet Land has canceled all remaining performances. They will be offering a filmed version being streamed starting March 23rd.

Laguna Playhouse has made the following announcements:

Hershey Felder’s Monsieur Chopin, originally scheduled for April, has been moved to October of this year.

Rocky Mountain High, a Tribute to John Denver has been rescheduled to January 7th – January 10th of 2021.

They are trying to reschedule Ann sometime in the coming year.

The world premiere of To Sir, With Love, has been canceled.

The La Jolla Playhouse has announced that all performances by or at La Jolla Music Society, La Jolla Playhouse, San Diego Opera and San Diego Symphony will be canceled and/or postponed through the end of March 2020

La Mirada Theatre has announced postponement of all shows through May 10th.

The following shows have been rescheduled:

The Sound of Music will play May 15th to June 7th.

Mamma Mia will play June 12th to July 5th.

They will be rescheduling the following shows:

Bossa Nova Wave (originally scheduled for April 3)

Classic Albums Live – Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours (originally scheduled for April 4)

Circus Science Spectacular (originally scheduled for April 5)

The Center of the Universe (originally scheduled for April 9)

The Brubeck Brothers (originally scheduled for May 12)

La Mirada Symphony (originally scheduled for May 17)

Dance, Dance, Dance! (originally scheduled for May 22)

Sol de Mexico (originally scheduled for June 27)

*LA Opera has canceled the final performance of Roberto Devereux scheduled for March 14th.

Angel’s Bone, scheduled to be performed May 1st – May 3rd, has been canceled as The Broad Stage canceled their remaining events for the 2019-2020 season.

Pelléas and Mélisande, scheduled for May 2nd – May 23rd, has been canceled.

Rodelinda, scheduled for May 8th, has been canceled.

*The Marriage of Figaro, scheduled for May 6th – May 28th, has been canceled.

*Saturday Mornings at the Opera, scheduled for June 6th, has been canceled.

*Great Opera Choruses, scheduled for June 7th at The Soraya, has been canceled.

Lincoln Center in New York has announced that the musical Flying Over Sunset has been moved to the fall as has the opera Intimate Apparel. Both were previously scheduled to open this spring.

Long Beach Opera has postponed until next season its production of The Lighthouse.

*Their planned productions of Billy the Kid (scheduled for May 3rd – May 10th) and Frida (scheduled for June 20th – June 28th) have been canceled.

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra has announced postponement of this weekend’s concert, Border Crossings, scheduled for March 12th at the First Presbyterian Church of Santa Monica and on March 13th at The Huntington.

They have also announced cancellation of the Ravel, Strauss + Contreras concerts on March 28th and 29th.

Beethoven + Mendelssohn scheduled for April 30th and May 1st has been canceled.

Sheku plus Eroica scheduled at multiple venues for May 15th – May 18th, has been canceled.

The Los Angeles LGBT Center is postponing its production of Hair that was scheduled to open on March 27th.

Los Angeles Master Chorale has announced the following cancellations:

The Fauré Requiem performances at Walt Disney Concert Hall on March 28th and 29th have been canceled.

The performance of Lagrime di San Pietro at the Musco Center for the Arts at Chapman University on March 19th has been canceled.

Come Away to the Skies: A Celebration of Alice Parker, scheduled for May 17th, has been canceled.

Los Angeles Philharmonic has announced the cancellation of all performances for the rest of the season at Walt Disney Concert Hall. (All concerts through June 6th.)

Manhattan Theatre Club has postponed their planned revival of How I Learned to Drive until next season.

MCC Theatre in New York has announced the All The Natalie Portmans played its final performance yesterday. Hollywood Dreams, which was to have begun previews next week, will be rescheduled.

They also announced that their Miscast 20 gala has been rescheduled from April 6th to June 15th

The Metropolitan Opera has canceled all performances for the rest of this season. This includes all scheduled Live in HD presentations

The McKittrick Hotel in New York, home to Sleep No More, The Woman in Black and Speakeasy Magick, has suspended all performances through April 12th.

Musco Center for the Arts has canceled all performances through early May.

The Music Center has announced that all venues (The Ahmanson Theatre, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Mark Taper Forum and Walt Disney Concert Hall) will be closed until further notice. This impacts the Los Angeles Philharmonic, LA Opera, Center Theatre Group, the Los Angeles Master Chorale and Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at the Music Center.

A Noise Within has announced the following cancellations:

The remaining performances of The Winter’s Tale, Alice in Wonderland, and all other public events have been canceled through the end of April.

Alice in Wonderland will now open their 2020-2021 season August 22nd – September 13th.

Sweeney Todd, has been rescheduled for September 27th – November 15th.

The Odyssey Theatre is canceling performances of The Serpent through March 29 with performances resuming April 3.

The Old Globe has announced that their productions of Little Women and Faceless will be postponed.

The Open Fist, currently in residence at the Atwater Village Theatre, has suspended all performances of Rorschach Fest.

The Outer Critics Circle Awards, scheduled for May 21st, have been postponed.

The Pacific Symphony has announced the following in relation to their schedule:

Pink Martini on March 13th and 14th has been postponed. They have been rescheduled for June 17th and 18th.

Nowruz on March 28th has been postponed.

The Texas Tenors on April 3rd and 4th has been cancelled.

Verdi’s Otello on April 23rd, 25th and 28th has been cancelled.

Windborne’s the Music of the Rolling Stones: Mick Jagger and Keith Richards 1969, originally scheduled for May 1sts and 2nd, has been rescheduled to June 19th and 20th.

Yang Plays Rachmaninoff, scheduled for May 7th – May 9th has been canceled.

Beethoven’s Razumovsky Quartet, scheduled for May 10th has been canceled.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame with live accompaniment by organist Dennis James, scheduled for May 10th, has been canceled.

Pacific Symphony Youth Ensemble concerts scheduled for May 9th, 11th and 12th has all been canceled.

*The Pantages Theatre has announced suspension of performances of Hamilton through September 6th.

The Pasadena Playhouse has announced that all performances through May 31st.

Ann, scheduled for May 27th – July 28th has been postponed.

Their production of Annie Get Your Gun, scheduled for July 28th – August 23rd has been canceled.

*The Pasadena Pops has canceled their 2020 summer season and will reschedule the following concerts for their 2021 summer season:

Sway with Me: Latin Rhythm and Swing scheduled for June 19
Road to Motown scheduled for July 10
Fleetwood Mac: A Tribute scheduled for July 24
Michael Feinstein Sings Sinatra’s Songbook scheduled for August 14
100 Years of Broadway scheduled for August 28 

The Pasadena Symphony has rescheduled their March 21st Mozart & McGegan concert to May 23rd.

The Public Theatre in New York (and the adjoining Joe’s Pub) has canceled all performances through April 12th.

*Chicago’s Ravinia Festival has canceled their 2020 season.

Roundabout Theatre in New York announced that their productions of Birthday Candles with Debra Messing and Caroline, Or Change will open in the fall. Both shows were on the cusp of starting previews when Broadway theatres shut down.

San Francisco Opera has canceled their summer season scheduled to run June 7th to July 3rd.

*The Segerstrom Center has announced the following postponements, rescheduling and cancellations:

Orange County Millennial Choirs and Orchestras on April 1st has been rescheduled to June 2nd

Shen Yun from April 3rd – April 12th has been postponed

Ailey II on April 11th has been postponed

Chicago from April 14th – April 19th has been canceled

Sibelius Piano Trio on April 17th has been canceled

Clayton Brothers Quintet on April 18th has been canceled

Earth Day Celebration on April 18th has been canceled

Distinguished Speakers Series: President George W. Bush on April 20th has been postponed

Tuesday Night Dance Lessons on April 21st and 28th has been canceled

Laura Benanti from April 23rd – April 25th has been postponed

Best of Dance on April 25th has been canceled

Beckman Arts and Science Family Festival on May 2nd has been postponed.

Paper Planet on May 2nd and 3rd has been canceled.

Celtic Woman on May 2nd has been canceled.

*Les Misérables, scheduled for May 5th – May 17th and rescheduled for October 6th – October 18th has been canceled.

Emerson String Quartet on May 7th has been postponed.

Silent Disco on May 8th has been postponed.

Rock, Paper, Scissors: CUMBIA! on May 15th has been postponed.

Swing Under the Stars on May 29th has been canceled.

*Mean Girls, scheduled for June 16th – June 28th, has been postponed. The venue is hoping to reschedule.

*The Band’s Visit, originally scheduled for August 12th – August 23rd has been rescheduled for April 13th – April 25th, 2021.

*The Lion King, originally scheduled for September 2nd – September 27th, has been canceled.

*Ain’t Too Proud to Beg – The Life and Times of The Temptations, scheduled for November 17th – 29th has been rescheduled for September 14th – 26th, 2021.

*The Donna Summer Musical, originally scheduled for January 12th – 17th, has been cancelled due to a rescheduling of the show’s tour.

*The Cher Show, originally scheduled for April 13th – April 25th has been canceled due to a rescheduling of the show’s tour.

Shakespeare in the Park in New York has canceled this summer’s season.

Soka Performing Arts Center has announced the postponement of the remainder of its 2019-2020 season.

The Soraya has announced the following cancellations and postponements:

The Jerusalem Quartet on April 5th has been canceled.

The Count Basie Orchestra on April 9th has been postponed.

Amir El Saffar on April 16th has been canceled.

Bollywood Boulevard on April 19th has been canceled.

Randy Newman’s Faust on May 9th has been canceled.

Violins of Hope, which was postponed, will have an opening night concert by the Los Angeles Jewish Symphony on January 14th.

South Coast Rep has announced the cancellation of all performances of Outside Mullingar beginning March 13th. (They are “working to make the performance available online. More details will be announced in the coming days.”)

*San Francisco’s Stern Grove Festival has canceled their 2020 season.

Tonality has postponed their A Call to Restore concert that was set to take place on March 15th. Another date will be announced shortly.

The Tony Awards, scheduled for June 7th, have been postponed.

The Verdi Chorus has canceled their Opera Gets Real performances scheduled for April 18th and 19th.

*The Wallis has announced the cancellation of all performances through June 30th.

If you have an event that has been postponed or canceled and would like it included in this list, please send the details to contact@Culturalattache.co

Photo “Comedy/Tragedy on Keys” by Craig L. Byrd

The post Coronavirus Cancellations & Postponements – Updated 5/14/20 appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

The program is the same at both concerts. These all-Bach recitals include: Chaconne from Partita No 2. in D minor, BWV 1004 (arr. Brahms); Prelude, Gavotte and Gigue from Partita No. 3 in E Major, BWV 1006 (arr. Rachmaninoff); Fantasia and Fugue in G minor, BWV 542 (arr. Liszt) and The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080.

When I heard Trifonov perform the Tchaikovsky in December, I realized there are still discoveries destined to be made about classical music and artists that want to make them. Trifonov is that artist.

You might be thinking, what’s going to be so special about a performance of these works by Bach? Forget those thoughts. I can assure you no one plays with the same degree of curiosity and passion as Trifonov.

I would recommend that any opportunity to see Daniil Trifonov to perform is one worth taking advantage of.

For tickets, please contact the venues by phone. The websites do not show tickets available online. That may indicate that these two performances are already sold out.

Photo of Daniil Trifonov courtesy of the artist’s website.

The post Daniil Trifonov All Bach Program appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

Bjarnason, who will conduct, has two of his works being performed. 5 Possibilities for piano, cello and clarinet opens the second half of the concert.  There is also a “Post-Concert Set” that finds his Qui Tollis being performed.

The evening opens with Brent Sørensen’s The Weeping White Room. That is followed by Kaija Saariaho’s Sept Papillons for solo cello. Then comes the world premiere of The CV of a Butterfly by Thurídur Jónsdóttir. This work was commissioned by the LA Philharmonic.

Closing out the second half of the program is Sørensen’s Papillions for piano and strings. This marks the U.S. premiere of this work.

Additional musicians joining for the main concert are Eric Byers on cello and Boris Allakhverdyan on  larinet.

If you are wondering if there is a theme to this, perhaps the use of the words butterfly and papillons in several titles is a clue. (Papillion is French for “butterfly.”)

Something unique for this concert is the addition of the post-concert set. Sarriaho’s Trois Rivieres follows Bjarnason’s work and the evening comes to a close with Rolf Wallin’s Stonewave.

The post-concert set is performed by Joseph Pereira (who conducts and plays percussion), Matthew Howard (percussion), Jeffrey Grant (percussion), Nick Terry (percussion), Tyler Stell (percussion), Andres Rosenthal Piccardo (percussion) and Eduardo Meneeses (percussion.)

For tickets go here.

Photo of Víkingur Ólafsson by Ari Magg (Courtesy of the LA Philharmonic)

The post Daníel Bjarnason and Víkingur Ólafsson appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

There are two world premieres as part of this concert. Partite Requiem, composed by Marc Sabat is the first of the two new works being performed. The second work having its first public performance is Swarm Collecting by Sky Macklay. Both works were commissioned by the LA  Philharmonic.

Also on the program is Gabriella Smith’s Carrot Revolution for string quartet; pianist Eric Wubbells’ gretchen am spinnrade and Tristan Perich’s Formations for solo cello and electronics.

The program was curated by Adams and cellist Jay Campbell. In a 2015 review of a recital Campbell gave in New York, Anthony Tommasini wrote in the New York Times, “For such a slight-framed young man, Mr. Campbell has a robust sound, though the delicacy in his playing was just as captivating.”

Campbell is very passionate about new music. According to his bio he has premiered close to 100 works.

Adams, of course, needs no introduction.

The Green Umbrella program that the LA Philharmonic offers gives audiences a chance to experience new and exciting work that doesn’t find its way into traditional repertoire. This is music for the adventurous. The results are quite often stunning.

For tickets go here.

Photo of Jay Campbell by Beowulf Sheehan courtesy of Schmidt Artists International

The post John Adams and Jay Campbell appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

Just over a week ago I spoke with Iyer by phone about the versatility of his career, his forays into classical music and how music can change not just an audience, but an artist as well.

You perform in a variety of configurations including a sextet in May at the Soraya. Here you’ll either be solo or part of a trio. What does switching that up allow you to do as an artist?

Playing solo is an on-going space of experimentation and expression and it’s unfiltered for any piano composer. It is what we do. I think a lot of this, for those who are part of this lineage of creative music-making, is we like to challenge ourselves in different formats, instrumentations, the possibility for sound and also just working with different individuals who have their own ideas and sounds they bring to the table. A lot of it is about that conversation and thinking about what we can do together and finding ways to build together and unify and synchronize and ways to express different emotions.

You told NPR in 2017 that the “reason we’re on this planet as individuals is to express and reflect the moment we’re in.” The world seems more chaotic than it was two years ago. How is that changing your relationship to your music and what you want to express with it?

It seems more chaotic, I’m not sure it is honestly. Which is not to say that’s not overstating today, but maybe we were understating it yesterday. I kind of think of American history as chaotic and tumultuous and full of horrific things. When you think of the legacy of music making, particularly traditions of music making and experimental practices of music making that came out of the Afro-American culture and communities, it was often expressing something beautiful in the face of something terrible. That’s kind of the tradition we’re in. It doesn’t feel all that different than it has been considering all of that. When you really think about how this music was born in the face of terror and oppression, yet it was still somehow majestic and transcendent and alive. That’s kind of how I stabilize myself in all of this.

In January the Los Angeles Philharmonic gave the world premiere of your work Crisis Modes. Later this season pianist Brad Mehldau is having the US premiere of his piano concerto with the LA Phil. What is the shift in our culture that makes it possible for these works to be commissioned and performed?

Maybe the question is what is it about the classical world that makes them want to enlist people who are ostensibly outside that world – which is a fiction to begin with. To have this notion of outside and inside. Why did they call [the program at the  LA Philharmonic where Crisis Modes had its debut] The Edge of Jazz? My answer is because it would sell tickets. In terms of musicians writing for different formats and ensembles, there’s nothing new about it. It’s just that these networks are starting, maybe, to pay more attention to each other. 

You have to see it as these different systems or networks or businesses because it’s not really talent. When you use a name like classical or jazz, it’s not telling you anything about the music. Those labels convey no information about the content or aesthetics. It says more “this is for these people.” Genre names are business terms and categories. They refer to specific channels of funding and networks of power and they don’t refer to artists.

When I interviewed you in 2014 you told me that the most rewarding thing about creating music is that “it can illicit some kind of change in all of us.” How has your music changed you over those five  years?

Well it is change. When you create something, when you bring something new into the world, then you are part of that change. You are someone new. You are made new through that process. I guess the idea for me is to keep pushing myself into new challenges where I have to rise to it and grow and become something new and hear something new. That’s the idea. It’s not just for its own sake and entertainment value. It’s kind of, I think, I experience it almost like a spiritual practice. It’s a way of being constructive with the energy around you and moving forward into it rather than being passive and destructive.

For tickets at Mr. Musichead Gallery go here.

For tickets for the shows at Samueli Theatre go here.

Main photo by Lynne Harty. All images courtesy of Vijay-Iyer.com

The post Vijay Iyer Eschews Labels appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

Thibaudet has become a regular in Los Angeles, both with his many appearances with the LA Philharmonic (including an appearance this October where he will perform Gershwin’s Concerto in F ) an also in his role as Artist-in-Residence at the Colburn School (his role there continues through the 2019-2020 season.)

This piano concerto by Ravel, while having noticeable jazz influences, still hews to a traditional classical form. The three-movement structure follows a fast-slow-fast structure. The last movement, which maintains a particularly fast pace, requires the soloist to play with unending energy and precision.

The world first heard Ravel’s Concerto in G when the composer conducted the world premiere in 1932 with Marguerite Long on the piano.

Also on this program Tuesday night is Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun and Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances op. 45. If you do not know these pieces by name, I assure you they are instantly recognizable.

Eun Sun Kim will conduct this concert. For classical music fans it should be noted that this is the final classical music concert of the season at the Hollywood Bowl

For tickets go here.

Photo of Jean-Yves Thibaudet courtesy of the LA Philharmonic Association.

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The music of George Gershwin is at the core of this movie. Gene Kelly (who also directed significant portions of the movie and choreographed the film including the stunning ballet sequence (which truly showcases both his genius as a choreographer and Gershwin’s gorgeous music.)  An American in Paris is one of the best arguments for seeing films on a big screen.

In the film Jerry Mulligan (Kelly) plays an American painter try to make a go of it in Paris. So too is his friend, Adam (Oscar Levant), a struggling pianist. A woman (Nina Foch) takes Mulligan under her wing to support him, but she is ultimately in love with him and has more than being a patron of the arts on her mind. Mulligan falls in love with Lise (Leslie Caron), a French girl he  meets at a restaurant. Unfortunately she is in a relationship with Henri (Georges Guétary) who is good friends with Adam. Who will ultimately be in love with whom? And can’t somebody love Oscar Levant?

An American in Paris makes very wise use of Gershwin’s music, both his classical repertoire (as in the piece that gives this film its title and one movement of his Concerto in F) and the songs written with his brother Ira including Our Love Is Here to Stay, I Got Rhythm and I’ll Build a Stairway to Paradise.

Brett Mitchell leads the LA Philharmonic.

Of additional interest:  Patricia Kelly, Gene’s widow, recently launched in Europe a new live show called Gene Kelly: A Life In  Music. To hear music from many of his film performed live by a symphony orchestra, mixed with stories only she can tell, would be a treat for all fans of his, classic musicals and great music. Who knows, maybe that will be on the program next year at the Bowl? That would be ‘s wonderful and ‘s marvelous.

For tickets go here.

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Ludovic Morlot will conduct this concert which opens with Berlioz’s Roman Carnival Overture.  Martin Chalifour, principal Concertmaster of the LA Phil then performs two pieces with the orchestra: Chausson’s Poème and Massenet’s Méditation from his opera Thaïs.

Poème is one of Chausson’s most popular and enduring compositions. The work runs approximately 16 minutes. Meditation fromThaïs is an instantly recognizable work. The opera had its world premiere in 1894 in Paris. So there is definitely a French common denominator amongst all these works (including, of course, the conductor).

But the main attraction will be Petrushka – a ballet that looks at love and jealousy through the story of three puppets. It is ultimately a dark ballet filled with some of Stravinsky’s best writing. The work was written in the same time period when the composer had written The Firebird (which debuted one year earlier) and The Rite of Spring (which debuted one year later). All three compositions were for ballets staged by Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes.

For tickets go here.

Photo of Igor Stravinsky from the George Grantham Bain Collection at the Library of Congress.

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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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