Mendelssohn Archives - Cultural Attaché

Play with Ray at the Hollywood Bowl

Craig Byrd — Mon, 05 Aug 2019 14:09:13 +0000

The LA Philharmonic does not officially call Thursday night’s concert Play with Ray. They are making the centerpiece Vivaldi’s Four Seasons performed by Ray Chen. If you plan on attending Thursday night’s concert at the Hollywood Bowl you will, no doubt, be well aware of the contest going on leading up to the concert: a chance to play one movement from Bach’s Concerto in D Minor for Two Violins with violinist Chen.

As you’ll learn in our interview with Ray Chen later this week, Play with Ray was his idea. Submissions from violinists around the world came pouring in for the chance to perform the Vivace movement with Chen on stage at the Hollywood Bowl.

From those submissions three finalists were named: 13-year-old Adriana Bec from San Antonio, Texas; 22-year-old Youngji Kim of Daegu, South Korea and 17-year-old Laura Kukkonen of Helsinki. All three finalists will perform live early in the week and the performer will be picked for Thursday night’s concert.

The Vivace movement is the first movement of the Bach concerto.

29-year-old Ben Gurnon, the Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, will lead the LA Philharmonic in a performance of Mendelssohn’s Symphony Number 1 in C Minor to open the concert. That will be followed by Play with Ray.

After the intermission, Chen will return to perform The Four Seasons. Vivaldi wrote this work in 1723. It is one of the most popular pieces of classical music of all time. His work has been featured in countless films and television shows including I, Tonya and 11 episodes of The Simpsons.

Composer Max Richter recomposed the work. For those who are curious, you can listen to a re-worked version of The Four Seasons here.

For tickets go here.

Photo of Ray Chen by John Mac/Courtesy of CAMI Music

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Dudamel & Perlman

Craig Byrd — Mon, 20 Aug 2018 23:59:52 +0000

Dudamel & Perlman, two classical music powerhouses, join forces on Tuesday night at the Hollywood Bowl. Gustavo Dudamel leads the LA Philharmonic in Beethoven’s 6th Symphony in F Major (“Pastoral”) and they are joined by violinist Itzhak Perlman for Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E Minor. Two great pieces of music to enjoy on a warm summer’s night.

Perlman famously played the violin solo for John Williams’ score for Schindler’s List. I’ve always found there to be some similarities between the main theme of that score and the opening of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto.

In this clip, Perlman talks about the concerto:

And you can hear for yourself if there are similarities between Mendelssohn and Williams as Perlman talks about Schindler’s List and plays the main theme.

Beethoven’s Pastoral is one of his most beloved symphonies. It also served as the music for one of the sequences in Fantasia.

Neil Diamond might call dibs on hot August night, but this strikes me as a great way to enjoy a different type of music on Tuesday evening at the Bowl.

Photo by Lisa Marie Mazzucco/Courtesy of ItzhakPerlman.com

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A Midsummer’s Night Dream

Craig Byrd — Mon, 30 Oct 2017 14:52:22 +0000

For the past several seasons, the Los Angeles Philharmonic has been quite good at pairing classical music with text. In this case, the combination of Mendelssohn’s music with Shakespeare’s text, is obvious. But that does not diminish the possibilities for true magic. Principal guest conductor Susanna Mälkki leads the Phil in four performances at Walt Disney Concert Hall this week. You probably know the Overture for this music. That familiar piece was written early in the composer’s career. The rest of the music, for a production of the play, was written in the last years of his life. Of course, if you’ve been to any traditional church wedding, you probably know another piece of music from this work, too.

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