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 that peak my interest, including (ideally) at least one with free admission (or, at a minimum, inexpensive tickets). Here’s today’s quintet:
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• Today and Tomorrow at 8 p.m., Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. at Walt Disney Concert Hall
Los Angeles Philharmonic: Dudamel and Tchaikovsky Meet Shakespeare
On paper, at any rate, this looks like one of the season’s more intriguing programs, as four actors portray Shakespearean characters while Music Director Gustavo Dudamel leads the Philharmonic in three fantasy-overtures by Tchaikovsky: Hamlet, The Tempest and Romeo and Juliet. Be forewarned: the program will be presented without intermission; with an hour of music plus the actors, it’s going to feel in length like a Mahler symphony. Info: www.laphil.com
The Sunday concert will be telecast live in high definition in movie theatres across the U.S. and Canada. Info: www.laphil.com
• Saturday, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. at Ambassador Auditorium
Pasadena Symphony; George Stelluto, conductor
Now admit it — you’re just dying to find out what a Kanun is! According to Wikipedia, “It is essentially a zither with a narrow trapezoidal soundboard.” Right, like that’s a big help! Another definition is “a 72-string Middle Eastern lap harp.” The program notes for Saturday’s performance say, “The instrument usually is triple-strung, with 72, 75 or 78 strings over a flat trapezoidal wooden box with a narrow section covered by a membrane. The Armenian Kanun has 24 triple courses of gut strings [I assume that means it’s 72 strings] tuned to a diatonic scale of D major and is used as a solo instrument or in ensembles. Two or more levers change the tension of the strings to vary the pitch. Horn or tortoise shell plectra attached to a ring placed on the index fingers pluck the strings.”
Whatever it is, Karine Hovhannisyan will play one in the Kanun Concerto No. 2 by Armenian composer Khachatur Avetisyan. Oh, yes; Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 and excerpts from Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (the Overture and Scherzo but no Wedding March) are on the program. George Stelutto, resident conductor at The Juilliard School and music director of the Peoria Symphony, joins the PSO’s guest-conductor parade for this season. Info: www.pasadenasymphony-pops.org
• Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
Los Angeles Opera: Britten: The Turn of the Screw
Soprano Patricia Racette makes her role debut as The Governess in this Benjamin Britten setting of Henry James’ 1908 ghost-story novella. Read my preview HERE. Info: www.laopera.com
And the weekend’s “free admission” programs (two, actually — given the locales, you actually have time to hit both) …
• Sunday at 4 at The Broad Stage
Young Musicians Foundation Debut Orchestra; Case Scaglione, conductor
Hard to believe (considering that John Adams is the L.A. Phil’s creative chair), but the YMF Debut Orchestra is presenting what it says is the Los Angeles premiere performance of John Adams Dr. Atomic Symphony with music taken from the composer’s 2005 opera. Mia Laity is soloist in Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2 Info: www.ymforchestra.org
• Sunday at 7 p.m. at Royce Hall (UCLA)
American Youth Symphony; David Newman, conductor
Noted film composer David Newman conducts this top-notch youth orchestra in a program of movie music that focuses on the scores of Jerry Goldsmith. Alex Treger, AYS music director and a former concertmaster with the L.A. Philharmonic, picks up his instrument as soloist in Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto. Info: www.aysymphony.org.
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(c) Copyright 2011, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.
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