Robert D. Thomas/Class Act

AROUND TOWN/MUSIC: L.A. Philharmonic world premiere among choral highlights

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

Three major choral programs are among the highlights as the winter-spring indoor season fades to black.

• The Los Angeles Philharmonic will present the world premiere of John Adams’ The Gospel According to the Other Mary Thursday through next Sunday at Walt Disney Concert Hall. This performance is an oratorio; Peter Sellars (who wrote the libretto) will direct a staged version of the work next March in Los Angeles and then on tour in New York, London, Lucerne and Paris.

Gustavo Dudamel will conduct the Philharmonic, Los Angeles Master Chorale, six soloists including three narrators in this complex work, which is a bookend to Adams’ nativity oratorio, El Niño, which had its premiere in December, 2000 in Paris and was later performed in Los Angeles. The narrators are counter tenors Daniel Bubeck, Brian Cummings and Nathan Medley (Bubeck and Cummings performed in the world premiere of El Nino). Mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor sings the role of Mary Magdalene.

The first half of The Gospel According to the Other Mary tells the Biblical stories of the family of Mary, Martha and their brother Lazarus (including the raising of Lazarus from the dead). The second half deals with Jesus’ arrest, crucifixion and resurrection.

As they did with El Niño, Adams and librettist Sellars weave contemporary writings into the Biblical stories for The Gospel According to the Other Mary, using material from American social activist Dorothy Day and poet/essayist June Jordan, contemporary poet Louise Erdrich, Mexican poet Rosario Castellanos, along with the 12th-century mystic and abbess Hildegard of Bingen. Moreover, as was the case with El Niño, the orchestra plays a central role in the new work.

Reed Johnson has a profile of Adams in the Los Angeles Times HERE. Video clips of Adams and Sellars discussing The Gospel According to the Other Mary are HERE and HERE.

Information: 323/850-2000; www.laphil.com

• The Angeles Chorale concludes its season on June 9 at 8 p.m. at First United Methodist Church, Pasadena, with a program entitled “Stories of our Lives.”

The concert will feature the west coast premiere of Alzheimer Stories by Robert Cohen, using a libretto by Herschel Garfein that incorporates words drawn from letters written by Alzheimer’s patients, their families and their caregivers. “I found it compelling and moving,” says Artistic Director John Sutton, who will conduct the performance. “We often talk about Alzheimer’s over coffee and in our homes. Why shouldn’t we be singing about it? It’s so beautiful, this setting, and it’s so real.”

The program also includes Sing Me to Heaven by Daniel Gawthrop, a work Sutton explains is not about dying but the importance of singing throughout our lives; and music by Brahms, Paul Halley and Eric Whitacre.

A video clip with Sutton discussing the concert is HERE. Concert Information: 818/591-1735; www.angeleschorale.org

• The Los Angeles Master Chorale finishes its 48th season on June 10 at Disney Hall with a program of music by Polish composer Henryk Górecki and Brahms. The concert includes Górecki’s Miserere, which Music Grant Gershon programmed during his first season as LAMC music director 11 years ago. The concert will be recorded for a Decca CD release next fall.

Information: 213/972-7282; www.lamc.org

In other Master Chorale news, LAMC member Shawn Kircbner has been appointed the ensemble’s Swan Family Composer in Residence, effective July 1. He’s just the second person to hold the position; Morten Lauridsen was Composer in Residence from 1995-2001. The new position was funded by a gift from the Swan family (Philip A. Swan was a former LAMC board member).

In his new role with the Chorale, Kirchner will compose a new work in each year of his term; create new arrangements for Chorale concerts; consult with Music Director Grant Gershon and Associate Conductor Lesley Leighton regarding programming LAMC concerts; and partner with Gershon and senior LAMC staff to create and implement an LAMC commissioning program.

The LAMC media release is HERE.
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(c) Copyright 2012, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.

(Revised) OVERNIGHT REVIEW: Exsultate! Kiera Duffy with Gustavo Dudamel and Los Angeles Philharmonic

By Robert D. Thomas
Music Critic
Pasadena Star-News/San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Whittier Daily News
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Los Angeles Philharmonic; Gustavo Dudamel, conductor
Mozart: Exsultate, Jubilate, K. 165 (Kiera Duffy, soprano); Serenade in D Major, K. 320, Posthorn
Friday, May 25, 2012 • Walt Disney Concert Hall
Next performances: Tomorrow at 2 p.m. (includes the Overture to The Marriage of Figaro)
Information: www.laphil.com
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“Casual Friday” concerts have always been a somewhat odd creation: a truncated version of the week’s Los Angeles Philharmonic program played without intermission, preceded by a talk from an orchestra member and followed by a question-and-answer period or a chance to schmooze with orchestra members amid drinks afterwards. The idea is to create a shorter program aimed at those not used to attending an orchestral concert, although if you factor in the post-concert conviviality, it’s usually not much shorter, and many of those in attendance are concert veterans.

This week’s program, shoehorned between performances of the orchestra’s presentation of Mozart’s Don Giovanni at Walt Disney Concert Hall is already short; in fact, if they had started at 8:05 instead of 8:11, Gustavo Dudamel and his reduced forces could have added the Overture to The Marriage of Figaro and still ended at 9:30. They could play the entire program tomorrow without intermission and call it “Casual Sunday.”

However, any concert with young American soprano Kiera Duffy (pictured left) as the centerpiece is always a major event, IMHO, and last night validated that opinion. Her vehicle was Mozart’s Exsultate, Jubilate, which Mozart wrote at the age of 17 during his third visit to Milan. The three-movement work is best known for its jubilant “Alleluia” final section, which, by the way, Duffy, Dudamel and the Phil took at quite a brisk clip. Duffy sang the piece with a gleaming tone, sailed exquisitely through the runs and trills, and delivered sublime musicality throughout the 17 minutes.

Dudamel (who conducted without a score, although Duffy used one) and the orchestra supported their soloist sympathetically.

The other piece on the program was Mozart’s Posthorn Serenade, which Dudamel and the orchestra had played two weeks ago on Thursday and Saturday. As was the case then, the orchestra played wonderfully last night, with the winds (most notably David Buck, flute Marion Arthur Kuszyk, oboe, and Sarah Jackson, piccolo) and James Wilt on posthorn holding the major share of the spotlight. Dudamel seemed more relaxed and animated in his conducting.
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On Deck
• The Phil concludes its 2011-2012 indoor season next weekend (Thursday through Sunday) with the world premiere of John Adams’ oratorio, The Gospel According to the Other Mary. This is a bookend to Adams’ nativity oratorio, El Niño, which had its premiere in December 2000 in Paris and was later performed in Los Angeles.

Dudamel conducts the orchestra, Los Angeles Master Chorale, six soloists and three narrators (counter tenors Daniel Bubeck, Brian Cummings and Nathan Medley — Bubeck and Cummings performed in the world premiere of El Nino). Mezzo-soprano Kelley O’Connor sings the role of Mary Magdalene.

The first half of The Gospel According to the Other Mary tells the Biblical stories of the family of Mary, Martha and their brother Lazarus (including the raising of Lazarus from the dead). The second half deals with Jesus’ arrest, crucifixion and resurrection.

As they did with El Niño, Adams and librettist Peter Sellars weave contemporary writings into the Biblical stories that are at the heart of TGAOM, using material from American social activist Dorothy Day and poet/essayist June Jordan, contemporary poet Louise Erdrich and Mexican poet Rosario Castellanos, along with the 12th-century mystic and abbess Hildegard of Bingen. Moreover, as was the case with El Niño, the orchestra plays a central role in the new work.

A fully staged version of this new oratorio will be performed next March, first in Los Angeles and then in New York, London, Lucerne and Paris.

Information (which includes a link to Adams discussing the new piece): www.laphil.com
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(c) Copyright 2012, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.

(Revised) OVERNIGHT REVIEW: Los Angeles Philharmonic’s “Don Giovanni”: Wonderfully performed, wave of the future?

By Robert D. Thomas
Music Critic
Pasadena Star-News/San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Whittier Daily News
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Los Angeles Philharmonic; Gustavo Dudamel, conductor
Mozart: Don Giovanni
Sunday, May 20, 2012• Walt Disney Concert Hall
Next performances: May 24 and 26
Information: www.laphil.com



(L) Mariusz Kwiecien as Don Giovanni and Stefan Kocan as the Commendatore in the opening scene of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni at Walt Disney Concert Hall, led by Gustavo Dudamel in collaboration with Frank Gehry, Rodarte and Christopher Alden. Photo from L.A. Phil.
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When the Los Angeles Philharmonic announced that this season would include performances of Mozart’s, Don Giovanni, my first reaction was “Huh?” (and I don’t mean the PGA Tour golfer). When you consider that Walt Disney Concert Hall was built as a symphonic orchestra space (no orchestra pit, no proscenium, no curtain, no back stage for sets) that would seem to rule the hall out from an opera point of view.

Of course, Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Phil did find an ingenious way to present Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde several years ago using videos by Bill Viola and inventive ways to move soloists around using aisles and balconies. Moreover, semi-staged or opera-in-concert performances are always a possibility (earlier this spring the Pacific Symphony used that format for performances of Puccini’s La Boheme). But fully staged opera?

One thing I’ve learned from yesterday afternoon’ performance of Don Giovanni that I saw and heard yesterday afternoon was to never bet against the imagination of Gustavo Dudamel and the rest of the Phil’s creative team, which in this case included Christopher Alden, Frank Gehry, Kate and Laura Mulleavy of the design firm Rodarte and several others. They pulled off the seemingly impossible feat with panache and ingenious skill.

The performance was highlighted (as is usually the case with Mozart) by the music. In an article in last week’s Los Angeles Times (LINK), Dudamel said that one reason for choosing to present Mozart operas (coming seasons will included the other two Mozart-DaPonte operas, The Marriage of Figaro and Cosi Fan Tutte) was his belief that symphonic orchestras should play Mozart regularly, "for purity of sound," and perform opera occasionally "to be nimble.”

This performance certainly validated Dudamel’s thinking. The orchestra played with supple, buoyant brilliance throughout the entire three-plus hours (the generously sized ensemble included Caren Levine on harpsichord and William Skeen on continuo cello). Moreover, we’re watching Dudamel grow up as both a Mozartean and an opera maestro before our very eyes. Conducting as usual without a score, Dudamel’s pacing was a model of clarity and precision and the balances between orchestra and the singers were exemplary.

The cast was uniformly strong, led by Mariusz Kwiecien, one of the world’s premiere portrayers of the Don. His voice has amazing range in this taxing role and he certainly looks the part of the rakish Don, as well. In fact, the entire cast was lean, athletic and great looking — all necessary prerequisites for Alden’s director concepts.

Carmela Remigio and Aga Mikolaj displayed lustrous voices as Donna Anna and Donna Elvira, and Anna Prohaska wasn’t far behind in her portrayal of Zerlina. Kevin Burdette sang powerfully as Leporello and Pavol Breslik’s ringing tenor made for a magnetic Don Ottavio. Ryan Kuster was stylish as Masetto and Stefan Kocan menacing as the Commendatore. The Los Angeles Master Chorale had 24 singers on either side of the orchestra providing the chorus.

The surprise was Gehry’s “installations” (Philspeak for “sets”) which featured large clumps of what looked like wadded-up paper that also had the feeling of the famed architect’s designs for Disney Hall the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain. The floors were covered in black or white panels.

The Phil took out all of the bench seats behind the orchestra and Gehry divided the stage essentially in two. Instead of a pit, the back half used a platform swathed was in black paper sculptures to hold Dudamel and the orchestra. Because they were dressed in all black, they seemed to disappear into the background during the first half. (Whether it was a change in lighting or just that I had gotten used to it, the orchestra and Dudamel appeared brighter after intermission.)

The front half of the stage used white paper sculptures essentially as a unit set to frame the action, and rolling platforms and stairs that director Alden moved about expertly to (sort of) simulate the scenes. Supernumeraries almost never get a mention but part of the fun all day was to watch Chris Bonomo, Eros Mendoza, Jeff Payton and Jee Teo shift the platforms, moving almost in slow motion (think of the glacial movement from director Robert Wilson that can either be fascinating or maddening to watch, depending on your predilections toward that director’s staging).

The costumes by the Rodarte duo accentuated the black and white motif; the only colors were a lilac dress for Zerlina and red strips to the white of dress of Donna Anna in the second half. Wigs by Odile Gilbert added to the costumes’ stylized look.

To solve the logistical problem of having the orchestra behind the “stage,” five flat screen TVs trained on Dudamel were arrayed around the hall so the singers could follow the conductor’s beat. There were also two screens (in the front and back of the hall) for English translations of the text.

Not everything worked perfectly — Alden’s tendency to channel Wilson got tedious, my supernumerary comment notwithstanding — but most of the concept was stimulating and thought provoking. The Disney Hall acoustics allowed singers to be heard clearly, even from a side seat, and Alden took advantage of that by having singers sing on their backs frequently for reasons that weren’t always clear. He also had cast members climbing up and down stars and platforms (including one sequence where Burdette as Leporello had to roll from one platform to another.

All of this proved to be a stunning show, but can opera become a regular part of the Phil’s repertoire? Every arts impresario knows that Mozart sells big time, so it’s no surprise that the combination of Mozart’s music with Gustavo Dudamel conducting created sellouts for the four performances. However, this had to be a big financial hit for the orchestra. With the bench seats removed, the Phil had less than 8.000 seats for sale (vs. more than 12,000 seats for four performances in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion) and the expenses had to equate to what LA Opera will spend next fall when it mounts a version of Don Giovanni beginning Sept. 22.

Although the performance was a sellout, many people didn’t return after the intermission (one report said the same thing happened Friday night). The Marriage of Figaro is about as long as Don Giovanni; will that length cut into ticket sales for next year’s offering? And how many operas are both big-ticket sellers that can also lend themselves to this minimalist concept of staging? Will the design team next year be able to repeat the success of this effort (or even improve on it)?

All of that is for the future. If you’re one of the fortunate to have a ticket for the final two performances, come prepare for a unique, stimulating experience and, since both are evening performances with 8 p.m. start times, figure that you won’t get out until close to midnight. It’s time well spent.
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(c) Copyright 2012, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.

OVERNIGHT REVIEW: Los Angeles Opera closes season with satisfying "La Boheme"

By Robert D. Thomas
Music Critic
Pasadena Star-News/San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Whittier Daily News
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Los Angeles Opera’s production of Puccini’s La Bohème
Saturday, May 12, 2012 • Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
Next performances: May 20 and June 2 at 2 p.m.; May 23, 26 and 31 at 7:30 p.m.
Information: www.losangelesopera.com

Left to right: Museop Kim (Schaunard), Artur Rucinski (Marcello), Janai Brugger (Musetta), Stephen Costello (Rodolfo), Ailyn Perez (Mimi) in the climactic scene of Puccini’s La Bohème, which opened last night at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in a production by Los Angeles Opera.
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Of the thousands of operas written since the genre began half a millennia ago, only a double-handful can be counted on as sure-fire audience pleasers (and box office winners for the company). Puccini’s comedy-turned-tragedy La Bohème is surely on that list, as last night’s performance by Los Angeles Opera at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion demonstrated anew.

Part of the success is due to Puccini’s compact score. There’s barely two hours of music (the first act of Wagner’s Götterdämerung is longer) but it’s filled with melodious lines that tell a simple but heart-rending story using a libretto written by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giocasa out of a story by Henry Mürger.

However, not every company makes La Bohème work as well as LA Opera did last night. Much of the success was due to a young, but wonderfully talented cast; in fact, it’s not at all a stretch to imagine that in the coming decades those who make the trip to downtown Los Angeles during the next three weeks will look back and say, “I remember when we saw … “ Not only did they look the part of the young Bohemian artists struggling to survive in Paris (not always a given for Bohème casts) but they sang strongly and brought the various parts to life, as it were, expertly, as well.

This was the sixth time in its 26-year-history that LA Opera has mounted this production, originally conceived by the late film director Herbert Ross. It remains a realistic, picturesque framework that falls in the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mode. Gregory Fortner, a director as young as his cast, brought several nice touches to his concept, and kept the action moving along smartly. The atmospheric costumes were originally designed by Peter J. Hall and augmented by Jeannique Prospere, and Daniel Ordowner supplied sensitive, effective lighting.

Nonetheless, La Bohème ultimately stands or falls on its cast and this one was uniformly excellent, another example of LA Opera’s ability to cast well-matched, talented ensembles that has been the case for all of its productions in at least the past three seasons.

The headliners, Stephen Costello and Ailyn Pérez, as the poet Rodolfo and his consumption-wracked neighbor, Mimì, are husband and wife in real life but one would hope that their sensitive characterizations were due more to their talent than their marital relationship. Each displayed rich, gleaming voices that carried easily over the 69-member LA Opera Orchestra, which was led with sensitivity by Patrick Summers, artistic and music director of Houston Grand Opera and principal guest conductor of San Francisco Opera, who like director Fortner was making his LAO debut.

The supporting characters of Marcello and Musetta often steal the show in La Bohème productions and that would have been the case last night had it not been for the excellence of Costello and Pérez. Artur Rucinski was a bright, playful Marcello and Janai Brugger — one of three members of the Domingo-Thornton Young Artists program in the cast — was a saucy Musetta who displayed a lustrous soprano voice that showed why she was a winner of this year’s Metropolitan Opera Young Artists Competition.

Other members of the ensemble were Robert Pomakov, Colline; Museop Kim, Schaunard; and Philip Cokorinos doubling as Benoit and Alcindro. Ben Bliss as Papignol led the way in the colorful second act II Café Momus scene, with members of the Los Angeles Opera Chorus and Los Angeles Children’s Chorus joining in strong as the choral ensemble. Peggy Hickey supplied the choreography.

Whether you’ve seen dozens of productions of La Bohème or you’ve never experienced its emotional roller coaster, this is a production worth seeing, and a fine conclusion to a first-rate season for Los Angeles Opera.
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Hemidemisemiquavers:
• Including an intermission between acts II and III, the entire evening ran 2:30 in length.
• Mitchell Morris, a professor of music and musicology at UCLA, delivered the preconcert lecture; his obvious love the La Bohème was infectious.
• Another Domingo-Thornton member, Valentina Fleet, will replace Brugger in the role of Musetta for the final three performances.
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(c) Copyright 2012, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.

(Revised) OVERNIGHT REVIEW: Dudamel and L.A. Phil play Mozart and a new concerto at Walt Disney Concert Hall

By Robert D. Thomas
Music Critic
Pasadena Star-News/San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Whittier Daily News
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Los Angeles Philharmonic; Gustavo Dudamel, conductor
Mozart: Overture to Le Nozze di Figaro; Posthorn Serenade
Vasks: Concerto for Violin and String Orchestra (Distant Light) — Alina Pogostkina, violin)
Thursday, May 10, 2012 • Walt Disney Concert Hall
Next performances: • Tomorrow at 8:00 p.m.
Information: www.laphil.com
• May 25 at 8 p.m. (Casual Friday concert)
Mozart: Exsultate Jubilate (Kiera Duffy, soprano); Posthorn Serenade
Information: www.laphil.com
• May 27 at 2 p.m.
Mozart: Overture to Le Nozze di Figaro; Exsultate Jubilate (Kiera Duffy, soprano); Posthorn Serenade;
Information: www.laphil.com
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From the moment the 2011-2012 Los Angeles Philharmonic season was announced last year, the month of May figured to be chaotic. Two major works — a production of Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni and the world premiere of a major oratorio by John Adams, The Gospel According to the Other Mary — were scheduled two weeks apart. Then the Phil tried to shoehorn in a series of orchestral, Green Umbrella and chamber music concerts around the opera and preceding the oratorio.

Things have been in flux since that original schedule was posted. Sibelius’ Symphony No. 5, Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite No. 1 and Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto were all jettisoned in favor of (mostly) Mozart. Then, according to at least one published report, Adams was very late delivering the full score of his new oratorio, so Gustavo Dudamel has been busy cramming for that assignment while preparing Don Giovanni, which meant he bowed out of Tuesday’s Green Umbrella concert.

Frankly, it wouldn’t have surprised me if we had arrived at Disney Hall last night to find a new conductor for the program but, judging by the care he poured into the accompaniment, perhaps Dudamel didn’t want to pass on the L.A. Phil premiere of Latvian composer Peteris Vasks’ Concerto for Violin and String Orchestra. Vasks wrote the piece for Gidon Kremer but, again judging by a first hearing last night, 28-year-old Russian violinist Alina Pogostkina has emphatically made this work her own.

The 31-minute concerto uses three virtuosic cadenzas as the trunk of a tree off of which spring many short branches. The concerto is subtitled “Distant Light” and the light was almost imperceptible at the beginning as Pogostkina and the orchestra traded off shimmering harmonic layers before she spun a rich, gorgeous melody.

I could have listened to Pogostkina play that sumptuous melodic line all night, but the cadenzas allowed the soloist (winner of the 2005 Sibelius Competition and making her LAPO debut) to display her prodigious virtuosity to its fullest. Meanwhile, the “branch” sections alternated shimmering measures with moments of chaos and sardonic wit before the first-movement melody returned at the end (albeit in a different key) as the concerto finally dissolved while the light again became distant; as the late, great British comedienne Anna Russell once exclaimed of Wagner’s Ring, “We’re exactly where we started [in this case] 31 minutes ago!”

Pogostkina, Vasks (who came onstage), Dudamel and the orchestra received generous, well-deserved ovations from the audience. The LAPO strings were lustrous throughout the performance and Dudamel seemed to revel in the challenges that Vasks asked of soloist, orchestra and conductor.

If the concerto shone a rich spotlight on the Phil’s strings, Mozart’s “Posthorn” Serenade was the chance for the Phil’s wind section to take center stage, literally as well as figuratively. David Buck, flute; Marion Arthur Kuszyk, oboe and their colleagues sparkled in their solo and ensemble offerings, while James Wilt poured out sweet, melodious lines on the posthorn (a valve-less, curled horn instrument). Dudamel led a propulsive reading of this 40-minute work and the entire orchestra was in top form throughout.

In yet another programming switch, Dudamel swapped Mozart’s Adagio and Fugue for the far-more-familiar Overture to Le Nozze di Figaro, which was bouncy without being boisterous. In two weeks, the concerts will exchange the Vasks concerto in favor of Mozart’s Exsultate Jubilate, with Kiera Duffy as the soloist.

Meanwhile, Don Giovanni opens next Friday, with additional performances May 20, 24 and 26. Got all that straight?
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Hemidemisemiquavers:
• Dudamel has rearranged the orchestra slightly for these concerts. The violins were divided left and right with cellos and basses to the left, inside of the first violins. Timpanist Joseph Pereira was perched alone on the top riser but appeared to be slightly off center to the right (ask not why).
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(c) Copyright 2012, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.

PREVIEW: Sir Simon Rattle to lead L.A. Philharmonic at Disney Hall this weekend

By Robert D. Thomas
Music Critic
Pasadena Star-News/San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Whittier Daily News
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Los Angeles Philharmonic; Sir Simon Rattle, conductor
Ligeti: Atmostpheres; Wagner: Prelude to Lohengrin
Mahler: Rückert-Lieder (Magdalena Kozená, soprano)
Bruckner: Symphony No. 9
Tonight, Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m. • Walt Disney Concert Hall
Information: www.laphil.com
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“Once upon a time … “

In 1979, a 24-year-old, curly haired conductor named Simon Rattle (pictured left) made his U.S. conducting debut leading the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Two years later, he was named one of the Phil’s Principal Guest Conductors (the other was Michael Tilson Thomas) and held that post for nine years.

Rumor has it that Rattle’s relationship with then-LAPO Executive Director Ernest Fleischmann turned acrimonious; neither Rattle in his official bio nor the Phil acknowledge this intriguing bit of history (not since Sir Simon — he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1994 — and MTT has the LAPO had an official principal guest conductor).

Suffice to say, Sir Simon’s visits to Los Angeles have been sparse, so this weekend’s concerts with the Phil (the first time he has conducted the Phil at Walt Disney Concert Hall) are a definite must-see. The program features Mahler’s Rückert-Lieder, with Rattle’s wife, Magdalena Kozená, as soloist; Bruckner’s Symphony No. 9; and music by Ligeti and Wagner.

Whether and how extensively the relationship between Rattle and the LAPO could have developed will always be a matter of speculation. In 1980, he returned to his native England to become Principal Conductor and Artistic Adviser of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and eventually the CBSO’s Music Director. During his 19-year-tenure he turned a provincial orchestra into a world-class ensemble.

At the same time, he was developing an extensive relationship with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra through regular guest-conducting stints. In 2002, the orchestra’s musicians voted to make Rattle their principal conductor. Although the vote was not unanimous, Rattle eventually won over the musicians, audiences and local critics and his contract was later extended through the 2018 season.

This will be a busy weekend for Rattle. In addition to the Phil concerts, he will lead the YOLA at EXPO Chamber Orchestra on Saturday in a performance of the finale of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 as the opening segment of a Youth Orchestra Festival Day at Disney Hall (Info: www.laphil.com).

It’s also the beginning of stellar month at Disney Hall. The New York Philharmonic comes to town Wednesday night and LAPO Music Director Gustavo Dudamel returns to town Thursday to round out the month and 2011-2012 season with a series of interesting concerts that I’ll preview in an upcoming post. (May concert schecdule: www.laphil.com) For now, Sir Simon and the LAPO are enough of a reason to get downtown to Disney Hall.
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(c) Copyright 2012, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.

AROUND TOWN/MUSIC: A love interest sparks LA Opera's "La Boheme"

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

Los Angeles Opera’s production of Puccini’s La Boheme
May 12, 23, 26 and 31 at 7:30 p.m. May 20 and June 2 at 2 p.m.
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles
Tickets: $20-$270
Information: 213/972-8001; www.laopera.com

(below:
The husband-and-wife team of Stephen Costello and Ailyn Pérez will perform the lead roles in Los Angeles Opera’s revival of its production of Puccini’s La Boheme, which opens May 12 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.)

If you’re one of those who rolled their eyes and muttered “Oh, no, not another La Boheme,” when Los Angeles Opera announced that the Puccini potboiler would be the final opera in the 2011-2012 season, you might want to re-assess your reaction.

True, Puccini’s timeless tragic love story of young Parisian artists is one of the most performed works in the repertoire, a fact that presents plusses and minuses. It’s a perfect introduction for those who have never seen an opera and LAO’s revival of this Herbert Ross production has several intriguing factors to recommend it even for opera regulars.

Chief among the virtues are the cast members, all of whom are young enough to actually look the part (not as easy as it sounds, says director Greg Fortner). Moreover, given that opera casts are assembled years ahead of time, LAO has managed to strike gold in that two of the leading characters have won major competitions in the past few months.

Ailyn Pérez, who portrays Mimi, was named winner of the 2012 Richard Tucker Award and Janai Brugger, Musetta in the first three LAO performances, was one of the five winners of the recent Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions held in New York City last month. In a sign of LAO vitality, Brugger, Valentina Fleer (who will sing Musetta in the final three performances) and Museop Kim (Schunard) are all members in this year’s LAO Domingo-Thornton Young Artist Program.

Another intriguing aspect to the casting is that Pérez will be partnered by her husband, Stephen Costello, as Mimi’s lover, Rodolfo. Costello (who won the Tucker Award in 2009) and Pérez met in 2003 at Philadelphia’s Academy of Vocal Arts, starred together in a 2005 AVA production of “La Boheme,” fell in love and eventually were married in 2008. Pérez is the first Hispanic to win the Tucker Award.

Fortner, who is a member of the Metropolitan Opera’s directing team and has credits at many other companies, will be directing Boheme for the first time. “I realize that many people will have seen Boheme before and some will come with preconceptions about how the piece should look and play,” says Fortner. “One of the first things we did as a cast was sit down and talk through our thoughts and preconceptions and find a way to make this production uniquely ours.”

They will be aided by the veteran hand of conductor Patrick Summers, artistic and music director of Houston Grand Opera and principal guest conductor of San Francisco Opera. The production — originally created by film director Herbert Ross — is familiar to LAO “veteran” patrons; this will be the sixth time that this “Boheme” has been presented in the company’s 26-year history, a total of 43 performances. The story — and the opera — never grow old.

For another look at the cast, read David Mermelstein’s story in the Los Angeles Times HERE.
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(c) Copyright 2012, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.

OVERNIGHT REVIEW, Christine Brewer in Pasadena Symphony concert at Ambassador Auditorium

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

Christine Brewer was the soloist in Richard Strauss’ Four Last Songs in yesterday’s Pasadena Symphony concert at Ambassador Auditorium with Michael Stern conducting. Photo by Ivan Schustak for the Pasadena Symphony.
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Normally when you hear that Christine Brewer is going to appear with an orchestra in Southern California, you’d expect that the ensemble would be the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Not this year. For the final concert of its 2011-2012 season, the Pasadena Symphony engaged the well-known American soprano and had the good sense to ask her to sing one of her signature pieces: Richard Strauss’ Four Last Songs in two concerts yesterday at Ambassador Auditorium.

Actually, Brewer is better known for her Wagnerian roles (she was a stellar Isolde in the L.A. Phil’s “Tristan Project” under Esa-Pekka Salonen several years ago) but these were the 81st and 82nd times she has performed Strauss’ magnificent look back on his 84 years of living. She sang them sumptuously yesterday afternoon.

When Strauss wrote the songs, he was looking back to a musical era — 19th century Romanticism — that had vanished amid the wreckage of what World War II had done to Germany and, in particular, its artistic life. Although there’s no evidence that Strauss intended to group the songs (that was done after his death by his publisher), Strauss used a poem by Joseph von Eichendorff and three by Hermann Hesse for his evocative texts.

Brewer’s lustrous voice swept over the four songs like a soothing balm. The opener, Spring, was bright and the second, September, was wistful. In Going to Sleep, Concertmaster Aimee Kreston’s rich solo line was a perfect complement to Brewer’s singing, and the final song, In the Twilight, was full of aching melancholy.

The orchestra, under the sure hand of guest conductor Michael Stern (music director of the Kansas City Symphony), delivered rich, sumptuous accompaniment for Brewer. Together, it was a memorable performance.

Stern (who by the way, is the son of legendary violinist Isaac Stern) was subbing for the PSO’s music advisor, James DePreist, who is recovering from recent heart bypass surgery. Stern kept the original program, which began with Dawn and Siegfried’s Rhine Journey from Wagner’s Götterdämerung, the sort of music for which Strauss was longing in his Four Last Songs. Stern led a brisk rendition of Engelbert Humperdinck’s concert version of Wagner’s music, highlighted by James Thatcher’s horn solos.

After intermission, Stern concluded the program with Dvorak’s Symphony No. 8. Stern obviously knows this piece well (he conducted without a score) and offered a distinctive reading of this four-movement work that Stern, in his preconcert discussion, characterized as another of Dvorak’s Slavonic Dances. You might not have fully agreed with Stern’s push-and-pull tempos but the orchestra played gorgeously and he made me think about what was being played — altogether, not a bad combination for a very familiar work.
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Hemidemisemiquavers:
• Although the classical season officially ended yesterday, two free concerts have been added next Saturday at Ambassador Auditorium. At 2 p.m., Jack Taylor will lead his Pasadena Youth Symphony Orchestra in music by Bach, Rimsky-Korsakov, Copland and others that will be a preview of the ensemble’s upcoming European tour. At 7:30 p.m., Donald Brinegar will lead a new chorus that has been formed at Jet Propulsion Laboratory along with the Pasadena City College Chamber Singers in music by Britten, John Lennon and Paul McCartney, Fauré and others. Information: www.pasadenasymphony-pops.org

• The Pasadena Pops opens at its new home, the Los Angeles County Arboretum, on June 16 when Marvin Hamlisch leads a concert version of his own musical, They’re Playing Our Song, with Lucie Arnaz and Robert Klein as soloists. The evening will also include a tribute to Arnaz’s parents, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. Information: www.pasadenasymphony-pops.org
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(c) Copyright 2012, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.

PREVIEW: Pasadena Symphony to conclude 2011-2012 season tomorrow

By Robert D. Thomas
Music Critic
Pasadena Star-News/San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Whittier Daily News
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Pasadena Symphony; Michael Stern, conductor
Wagner: Dawn and Siegfried’s Rhine Journey from Götterdämerung
Richard Strauss: Four Last Songs (Christine Brewer, soprano)
Dvorak: Symphony No. 8
Tomorrow (Sat., April 28) at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. • Ambassador Auditorium
Tickets: $35-$100 (student and senior rush tickets available)
Information: www.pasadenasymphony-pops.org
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When the Pasadena Symphony announced its 2011-2012 season, the centerpiece of the final concerts (which takes place tomorrow) was soprano Christine Brewer, internationally renowned particularly for her work in Wagner and Strauss. Brewer will, indeed, be performing Richard Strauss’ achingly beautiful Four Last Songs at the 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. concerts, but the day’s intrigue will be conductor Michael Stern (pictured right), who is replacing PSO Music Advisor James DePreist, who is recovering from recent, unexpected heart surgery.

Stern — who was born in 1959 and is the son of legendary violinist Isaac Stern — is now in his seventh season as music director of the Kansas City Symphony and founded the IRIS Orchestra in Germantown, Tenn. He’s also building an impressive conducting resume in Europe. Locally, he made his professional conducting debut with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra 2010 to critical acclaim.

He’s also the 10th guest conductor to lead the Pasadena Symphony since Jorge Mester’s 25-year tenure as PSO music director ended in 2010. It’s a tribute to the quality of the PSO’s musicians that each of the 10 visiting maestros (or maestra, in the case of Mei-Ann Chen) has been able to lead interesting, well-played programs, even with limited rehearsal time. There are things an orchestra misses without a music director (e.g., continuity, a galvanizing community presence) but, at least judging by the PSO, performance quality isn’t one of them.

Tomorrow’s concerts are, as is often the case with the PSO, centered on mainstream, 19th century Romantic music (even the Strauss songs, which were written in 1948, a year before the composer died at age 85, hearken back to Romantic era). Like works of many composers (e.g., Mahler’s Symphony of a Thousand), the title, Four Last Songs, didn’t come from the composer; it was appended by Ernst Roth, chief editor of Boosey & Hawkes, who combined Im Abendrot (a poem by Joseph von Eichendorff) with three poems by Herman Hesse (Frühling, September, and Beim Schlafengehen) to create the set.
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(c) Copyright 2012, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.

PREVIEW: Angeles Chorale to celebrate Morten Lauridsen Sunday

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

For choral singers and choral music fans, few — if any — people have been more significant in the past quarter-century than Morten Lauridsen. Angeles Chorale will pay tribute to the Los Angeles-based composer Sunday evening at 5 p.m. with a reception, dinner and concert at Town and Gown on the campus of the University of Southern California.

Members of the Pasadena-based Chorale will sing Lauridsen’s music and there will be a screening of the first two chapters of Shining Night, a documentary by Michael Stillwater released earlier this year about the man who received the National Medal of the Arts in 2007 “for his composition of radiant choral works combining musical beauty, power and spiritual depth that have thrilled audiences worldwide." KUSC’s Kimberlea Daggy will emcee the event.

The location is appropriate because Lauridsen, now age 69, is a USC graduate and for more than 30 years has been on the faculty of the USC Thornton School of Music, where he chaired the composition department from 1990-2002 and is now Distinguished Professor of Composition.

Lauridsen was born in Washington and raised in Portland, Ore. After attending Whitworth College for two years, he came to USC in 1963 (his classmates included Michael Tilson Thomas, now music director of the San Francisco Symphony).

Although Lauridsen grew up loving the music of Jerome Kern, Richard Rodgers, Cole Porter and George Gershwin, he didn’t begin composing until he came to USC. “I came down here with a clean slate,” he recalls. “I had never written a note of music but Halsey Stevens let me in to a class by saying, ‘Let’s try it for a semester and see what you can do.’ He gave me a great opportunity and I ran with it.” Lauridsen later repaid that favor by editing several of Stevens’ pieces when Stevens, by then stricken with Parkinson’s Disease, was too ill to finish the works.

Among Lauridsen’s first jobs was teaching theory to the master classes of violinist Jascha Heifetz. He sang in the USC Concert Choir under James Vail, who took his first piece, Psalm 150, on tour with Lauridsen conducting it. After Lauridsen finished his Master’s degree, he stayed on to teach. “At one time, I was the youngest faculty member,” he says with a chuckle. “Now I’m among the oldest.”

However, for most singers it’s the music that they remember whenever the name “Morten Lauridsen” is mentioned. His output includes seven song cycles, the motet O Magnum Mysterium and, in particular, Lux Aeterna, which Lauridsen wrote when he was composer-in-residence for the Los Angeles Master Chorale (a position he held from 1994-2001). Noted local musicologist and conductor Nick Strimple calls Lauridsen "the only American composer in history who can be called a mystic.”

Poetry plays a huge part in Lauridsen’s life. He begins every class at USC with a poem and many of his works are based on texts of poets including James Agee, Rainer Maria Rilke, Robert Graves and Federico Garcia Lorca.

One work not based on poetry was Lux Aeterna, which was premiered 15 years ago tomorrow. The Requiem-like piece touched a wellspring in listeners throughout the world from the time it appeared and its popularity hasn’t diminished.

“This is a very personal piece,” says Lauridsen, “and there were two strong impulses to my writing the work. My mother was on her deathbed at the time, and I was writing the piece as a meditation on light triumphing over darkness. That’s why I wrote an ‘alleluia’ at the end. This isn’t a dark piece. It’s a celebration.”

The second reason was the commission from the Los Angeles Master Chorale. “I wrote Lux Aeterna specifically for Paul Salamunovich and the Los Angeles Master Chorale,” relates Lauridsen. The work’s ancient lyrics and Gregorian chant-inspired music were a perfect fit for Salamunovich (an internationally recognized authority on Gregorian chant) and the Master Chorale. “I told Paul, ‘You’re in every note of that piece of music,’“ remembers Lauridsen. “I had in my mind, especially, the Chorale’s marvelous alto section and the wonderful sound that Paul got from his men.”

From its premiere, the work has remained extraordinarily popular throughout the world. “I gave Paul a pitch right down the middle,” says Lauridsen with a chuckle, “and he belted it out of the park.”

The entire piece and one section in particular, O Nata Lux, have sold millions of copies. “My publisher told me that there were about three dozen sets orchestral parts of Lux Aeterna being used throughout the world during Holy Week this year,” says Lauridsen, and that doesn’t count the number of performances being sung with organ accompaniment. Lauridsen wrote the piece with both accompaniments to broaden its accessibility.

Thousands of people have written Lauridsen to tell him how much the music has touched their hearts, either through performances or via the two CDs that have been made. Many of those letters came after the 9-11 bombings.

That popularity will continue, believes Dana Gioia, who headed the National Endowment for the Arts when Lauridsen received his National Medal of the Arts. “He is one of the few composers,” says Gioia, “who I have conviction will be performed a hundred, two hundred years from now.”

For information about Sunday’s event, call 818/591-1735.
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(c) Copyright 2012, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.