AROUND TOWN/MUSIC: Hollywood Bowl, SW Chamber Music begin summer seasons

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.

Summer officially began last Tuesday and classical music’s summer season will be fully underway as two of the Southland’s major seasonal festivals open over the next fortnight.

The 90th Hollywood Bowl season kicked off June 17 with the Hall of Fame induction ceremony and concert but several major programs will take place during the first half of July, beginning with screenings of the movie version of West Side Story on July 8 and 9. Composer David Newman will lead the Los Angeles Philharmonic playing Leonard Bernstein’s iconic score while a digitally remastered version of the MGM movie is shown on the Bowl’s movie screen and video screens. This is the 50th anniversary of the film that won 10 Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

In the following two weeks, LAPO Music Director Gustavo Dudamel conducts the Phil in four programs over five concerts, beginning July 12 and 14, which mark the opening of the Bowl’s 10-week classical schedule.

Unlike several previous LAPO maestros, Dudamel embraces the Bowl fully for what it is and, in particular, for the opportunity to reach many thousands of people in a single concert. His first concert as the Phil’s music director was at the Bowl. Last year he conducted three concerts in a single week and this year, he adds a week to his busy schedule (after his Southern California sojourn, he takes his Simón Bolivár Symphony Orchestra on an extended European tour).

Dudamel’s program on July 12 and 14 will be Borodin’s Polovtsian Dances, the Mussorgsky/Ravel version of Pictures at an Exhibition and Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3, with Chinese pianist Lang Lang as soloist. On July 17 Dudamel and the Phil will open the Sunday Sunset series with a concert performance of Puccini’s Turandot that features soprano Christine Brewer singing the title role.

The July 19 concert will be all-Mozart, including the Symphony No. 41 Jupiter and the Violin Concerto No. 5 with Gil Shaham as soloist. Dudamel will wrap up his Bowl summer on July 21 with Pinchas Zukerman as soloist in Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 along with five dances by Johann Strauss II and the Overture to Die Fledermaus.

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

If the Bowl can be considered one of the region’s mega-summer sites, perhaps the most intimate one is The Loggia at The Huntington Library in San Marino where Southwest Chamber Music opens its 18th summer season on July 9 and 10. As in previous years, you can bring a picnic or pre-order dinner in The Huntington Tea Room.

The thread running through the season’s four programs are Mozart quintets: the six string quintets and others for clarinet and strings and horn and strings. Mixed in is an assortment of contemporary works, beginning with Alexandra du Bois’ Chanson d’Orage, a duo for two violins. The other concerts in the series are July 23-24, Aug. 6-7 and Aug. 20-21.

Information: 626/685-4455; www.swmusic.org

If outdoor concerts aren’t your thing, the California Philharmonic comes to rescue again this summer, beginning today at 2 p.m. in Walt Disney Concert Hall when Music Director Victor Vener leads a repeat of last night’s program at the Los Angeles County Arboretum, “Beethoven and the Beatles.” Next Sunday, he conducts “Andrew Lloyd Webber meets Puccini,” one of his most popular programs. Vener conducts a lecture at 1 p.m. before each performance.

The July 3 indoor program precedes the outdoor concert of the same program at the Arboretum in Arcadia on July 9.

Information: 626/300-8200; www.calphil.org
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(c) Copyright 2011, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.