(Revised) Five-Spot: What caught my eye on May 19, 2011

By Robert D. Thomas
Music Critic
Pasadena Star-News/San Gabriel Valley Tribune/Whittier Daily News
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Each Thursday morning, I list five events for the weekend that peak my interest, including (ideally) at least one with free admission (or, at a minimum, inexpensive tickets).

Here’s today’s grouping:
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• Today, Tomorrow and Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m. at Walt Disney Concert Hall
Los Angeles Philharmonic; Gustavo Dudamel, conductor
This continuation of the Phil’s “Brahms Unbound” series features Dudamel conducting the U.S. premiere of Russian composer Sofia Gubaidulina’s Glorious Percussion and Brahms’ Symphony No. 2. Dudamel conducted the concerto’s world premiere in 2008 with his Gothenberg Symphony in Sweden. The percussion ensemble formed for that concert stayed together and adopted the title as their name. David Mermelstein has a profile of Gubaidulina in the L.A. Times’ “Culture Monster” section online HERE.

A couple of notes: (1) The original program called for Brahms's Tragic Overture. That has been cancelled due to what the Phil says is "the the stage setup requirements for the percussion ensemble in Glorious Percussion." (2) Tomorrow is a "Casual Friday" concert, so the concerto will not be performed. However, Brahms' Academic Festival Overture will be played, along with the symphony. Info: www.laphil.com

• Saturday at 4 p.m., First United Methodist Church of Pasadena
Chorale Bel Canto, Chancel Choir, Rio Hondo College Chamber Singers, solists and orchestra; Stephen Gothold, conductor
Verdi’s Requiem is one of the monuments of choral literature and Chorale Bel Canto closes its season by joining forces with the FUMC Chancel Choir and Rio Hondo Chamber Singers for this performance. KUSC’s Kimberlea Daggy will give a preconcert lecture at 3:15 p.m. Information: www.choralebelcanto.org

• Sunday at 4 p.m., Thorne Hall (Occidental College)
Santa Cecilia Orchestra, Sonia Maria de León de Vega, conductor
The final concert of the orchestra’s 18th season, “México Sinfónico,” was originally scheduled as a celebration of music from south of the border. It will still include that element, but it’s also tinged with sadness because it also will be a remembrance of the life and music of Daniel Catán (composer of the opera Il Postino, among other things). The 80-piece orchestra — which includes harpist Andrea Puente Catán, the composer’s wife — will play four of Catán’s pieces along with Silvestre Revueltas’ La Noche de Los Mayas (with an additional dozen or so percussionists on hand for that swashbuckling piece). Info: www.scorchestra.org

• Sunday at 7 p.m., Walt Disney Concert Hall
Los Angeles Master Chorale; Grant Gershon and James Newton, co-conductors
Gershon and Newton lead the Master Chorale, jazz orchestra, soloists and tap dancer Channing Cook Holmes in selections from Duke Ellington’s three Sacred Concerts. The first of the three concerts took place in 1965 at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. The second occurred three years later at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City and the third premiered in 1973 at Westminster Abbey in London. Ellington called them "the most important thing I have ever done.” Info: www.lamc.org

And the weekend’s “free admission” program …

• Saturday at 2 p.m., Altadena Senior City; Sunday at 2 p.m., First Baptist Church, Pasadena
Crown City Symphony, Marvin Neumann, conductor
Overtures by Rossini (La Gazza Ladra — The Thieving Magpie) and Dvorak (Husitska) bookend these concerts. In between, Armenian-born Ophelia Nanagyulyan as soloist in A Rhapsody for Violin by Bagdasarian and tubist Stephen Wood will be soloist in Alexander Arutiunian’s Tuba Concerto. Info: www.crowncitysymphony.org
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(c) Copyright 2011, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.