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Post by drizzletown on Mar 29, 2016 18:21:35 GMT -8
Am going to try for the Wheatland, CA show for the DCX.
I have a ticket to see the Ann Wilson Thing next month (her doing her own thing w/ other people's songs, no Heart - from what I've heard).
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Post by oregonchickfan on Apr 4, 2016 0:29:33 GMT -8
Am going to try for the Wheatland, CA show for the DCX. I have a ticket to see the Ann Wilson Thing next month (her doing her own thing w/ other people's songs, no Heart - from what I've heard). I had a hard time deciding between the Wheatland (Sacramento) show and the Portland (Ridgefield, WA) show. My hope is I will be living in Oregon again by the time July 9th comes around, so I chose the Portland show. Keep an eye on Craigslist for tickets. I suspect they'll be tough to come by, but ya never know.
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Post by erik on Jun 19, 2016 9:36:32 GMT -8
Last night began my twentieth consecutive year of summer concertgoing to the venerable Hollywood Bowl here in Los Angeles. As with all the previous opening night concerts dating back to 2000, this one was a benefit performance for the music and arts programs in Los Angeles County.
Hollywood Bowl Orchestra Thomas Wilkins, conductor Los Angeles County High School for the Arts Vocal Ensemble STEELY DAN
Peter Boyer: SILVER FANFARE Leonard Bernstein: OVERTURE TO "CANDIDE" Anderson Alden: LIFT Katya Richardson: FANFARE FOR ORCHESTRA Stephen Sondheim: CHILDREN WILL LISTEN (FROM "INTO THE WOODS")
(intermission)
STEELY DAN
Beginning with "Silver Fanfare", and continuing on with Bernstein's "Candide", the orchestra and Mr. Wilkins (the orchestra's principal conductor) took the time to also honor two young composers, Anderson Alden and Katya Richardson, who were part of the L.A. Philharmonic's Composer Fellowship Program. Though both of their works were short ones, they were nevertheless great examples of what it meant for new works being created for the musical world in general, and Los Angeles at large, because, in all good honesty, our nation is virtually the only one in which all the arts get the Shaft from our government. The Sondheim work featured the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts Vocal Ensemble, in a plea for tolerance and learning in light of what happened in Orlando just a week earlier.
Following intermission, we had Steely Dan, led as they have been from the beginning in 1972 by Walter Becker and Donald ***en, in a setlist of jazz-rock. Shockingly, I didn't really recognize most of the stuff that they played, much of which was in almost free-form jam sessions, dominated by ***en's lead vocals and keyboard work and a sizeable brass section, helped out also by the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and Mr. Wilkins in back of the Bowl stage. However, I did recognize such songs as "Aja", "Hey Nineteen", and "Josie". All of this culminated in such a huge fireworks display that, because of the evening heat and unusually brisk Santa Ana winds, caused the smoke from the pyros to hang in over the enclosed area around the Bowl for several minutes at the end.
Still, it was a great way to open up this, the 95th year of the Hollywood Bowl's existence, and a prelude to what I hope will be some more great concert-going experiences this summer.
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Post by erik on Jul 15, 2016 5:45:03 GMT -8
Last night at the Hollywood Bowl, it was a concert performance of one of the great American musicals of all time, one that seems to maintain its relevance despite being almost six decades old.
Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra Gustavo Dudamel, conductor Los Angeles Master Chorale (Grant Gershon, choral director)
Maria: SOLEA PFEIFFER Tony: JEREMY JORDAN Anita: KAREN OLIVO Bernardo: GEORGE AKRAM Riff: MATTHEW JAMES THOMAS Action: DREW FOSTER Baby John: KYLE SELIG A-Rab: ANTHONY CHATMON II Big Deal: MIKE SCHWITTER Rosalia: JENNIFER SANCHEZ Fracisca: BRIT WEST Consuela: ERICA DORFLER A Girl: JULIA BULLOCK Diesel: JEFF SMITH Chino: JOSE MORENO BROOKS Scrank/Doc/Krupke: KEVIN CHAMBERALIN
Leonard Bernstein/Stephen Sondheim: WEST SIDE STORY
Yes, the American version of Shakespeare's "Romeo And Juliet" set on the mean streets of the Big Apple was given a concert performance in its original Broadway incarnation, with an L.A. Philharmonic that basically functioned as the "pit band", with a cast of relative unknowns who were very convincing as the players of this tragic tale. Ms. Pfeiffer and Mr. Jordan were superb in their roles of the doomed lovers Maria and Tony; and although you couldn't show too much onstage of the kind of ethnic street fighting that leads up to that horrible climax, one got the sense of the kind of tragic comedy of errors just the same. The whole thing was staged with an intermission at roughly past what would actually be the halfway point, but it led to a stunning climax in which Maria points the gun used to kill Tony to point out that she too could hate...and may I say, the crowd of 12,000 inside the Bowl was in total utter silence for a couple of moments at the end, before the applause came up with the lights. The L.A. Master Chorale provided the choral parts offstage.
A very poignant rendering of one of the great American musicals of our times given at the Hollywood Bowl.
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Post by oregonchickfan on Jul 15, 2016 12:08:19 GMT -8
The last concert I went to was last Saturday, DCX!!!!
Amazing, of course. I wish I had the funds to attend more shows, but I am glad I was able to attend one show.
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Post by erik on Jul 27, 2016 6:08:29 GMT -8
Two radically different but equally important composers were featured last night under the stars at the Hollywood Bowl.
Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra Mirga Grazinyte-Tyla, conductor Jean-Yves Thibaudet, piano Janal Brugger, soprano Elizabeth Zharoff, soprano Peabody Southwell, mezzo-soprano Rafael Moras, Tenor Kevin Ray, tenor Colin Ramsey, bass Los Angeles Master Chorale (Grant Gershon, choral director)
Ravel: SUITE FROM "MOTHER GOOSE" Beethoven: CHORAL FANTASY Beethoven: LEONORA OVERTURE NO. 3 Ravel: SUITE NO. 2 FROM "DAPHNIS AND CHLOE"
Ms. Grzinyte-Tyla, the young Lithuanian-born conductor who is both Associate Conductor in here in Los Angeles and was recently named to the music director post at the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in England, was on the podium last night for a very interesting mixture of works. Under her skilled direction, the orchestra performed five excerpts from Maurice Ravel's 1910 children's ballet "Mother Goose" (Sleeping Beauty; Little Tom Thumb; Empress of The Pagodas; Beauty And the Beast; The Fairy Garden). Even if it wasn't the complete 30-minute ballet, one got the essence of the piece just from these excerpts, including the endearing final walk through the fairy garden.
After a short break, French-born L.A. resident Jean-Yves Thibaudet came on with Ms. Grazinyte-Tyla for Beethoven's experimental 1809 Choral Fantasy, the work that begins as an extended and elaborate solo piano improvisation before transforming, with the entrance of the orchestra, into a mini-concerto, and then, with the entrance of the L.A. Master Chorale and six vocal soloists, into a combination cantata/concerto based on an earlier song of the composer's named "Gegenliebe." No one could mistake that this was but a prelude to what would come a decade and a half later with the "Ode To Joy" choral finale of the giant Ninth Symphony. But in the performance of the orchestra and chorale, and especially of Mr. Thibaudet, it was made clear why this work is now heard much more frequently than in the past--not just as a work that presages what would come towards the end of Beethoven's life, but of something genuinely unique in music.
Following intermission, Ms. Grazinyte-Tyla led the orchestra through Beethoven's Leonora Overture No. 3, one of four attempts he made to compose a proper overture to his only opera "Fidelio". The length of this overture, at close to fourteen minutes, and its triumphalist nature wisely makes it a piece to be played (although the official overture of the opera makes no reference to any musical material in the opera itself, and is in E Major, whereas all the "Leonora" overtures are in C Major). The distant trumpet solo in the middle of the overture was played by a member of the orchestra standing at the far west end of the middle part of the amphitheater itself And after a short break to allow for a sizable enlargement in the orchestra, as well as the use of the L.A. Master Chorale, in the three excerpts (Daybreak; Pantomime; General Dance) that make up the second suite of Ravel's 1912 ballet "Daphnis And Chloe". As with the "Sierenes" movement of Claude Debussy's "Nocturnes", the chorale's inclusion here is of a wordless nature, but extremely important just the same, given the huge orchestral forces that Ravel called for.
A very interesting mix of composers and works for a crowd I estimate to be around 10,000 in attendance under conditions that, while not exactly cool (we're still under a heat wave out here), were quite bearable in the hills above Los Angeles.
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Post by erik on Jul 29, 2016 6:19:02 GMT -8
Another one of those eclectic programs at the Hollywood Bowl last night, with a relatively new conductor on the podium.
Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra Cristian Macelaru, conductor Nicola Benedetti, violin
Copland: AN OUTDOOR OVERTURE Marsalis: CONCERTO IN D FOR VIOLIN AND ORCHESTRA Copland: SYMPHONY NO. 3
As it is the wont of current L.A. Philharmonic music/artistic director Gustavo Dudamel, he went out and found new conducting talent; in last night's case, it was Mr. Macelaru--and for an all-American program. It began with Aaron Copland's 1938 concert piece "An Outdoor Overture", a work written, ironically enough, for the High School of Music and Art in New York City and first performed indoors. The music, as is typical of Copland's classic style, mixed nobility with a certain sense of Americana in the ways that made him the Dean of American Composers.
Following a short break, Macelaru returned to the stage with one of the great classical soloists of our time, Scottish-born violinist Nicola Benedetti, to perform the West Coast premiere (and L.A. Philharmonic co-commission) of the Concerto In D of Wynton Marsalis (yes, that Wynton Marsalis). Ms. Benedetti had performed this work two weeks earlier with Mr. Macelaru at the Ravinia Festival with the Chicago Symphony, and had given the work its world debut with the London Symphony in the fall of 2015 (James Gaffigan conducted there). Her performance of this work, which was composed by Marsalis for her, did not disappoint; indeed, the work forced her do things with her violin that looked like she might even set it on fire, it was that elaborate of a work. This concerto touched on all of the native styles of music found around Marsalis' home town of New Orleans, with its alternations between marching-band rhythms, hootenanny, jazz, and so much more.
After intermission, Macelaru was back on the podium to conduct Copland's great Symphony No. 3. which for our country is the equivalent of Beethoven's Third and Ninth symphonies, a statement of our humanity, with its vivid depictions of American life untrampled by political discord. All of the first three movements led to its grandiose finale, which resurrected the composer's 1943 "Fanfare For The Common Man' and used it for a series of variations. Mr. Macelaru used the score of Copland's that restored eighteen measures that had been originally cut from the coda at the suggestion of Copland's good friend Leonard Bernstein, but it still remained an ultimate American masterpiece.
There was a fairly sizeable crowd last night at the Bowl of around 10,000 or so, and they very much appreciated what was played, as well as Ms. Benedetti's presence with the violin and her connection with the orchestra. It was, as advertised, another great night of music-making at the Bowl.
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Post by erik on Aug 12, 2016 6:10:08 GMT -8
It was a night of early 19th century Viennese classicism at the Hollywood Bowl last night.
Los Angeles Philharmonic Andrew Manze, conductor Francesco Piemontesi, piano
Beethoven: PIANO CONCERTO NO. 4 Schubert: SYMPHONY NO. 9 (GREAT)
Andrew Manze, once known exclusively for being a period-instrument specialist (English Concert; Academy of Ancient Music) was on the podium last night for a concert of works by two composers who knew each other only for a span of six weeks before illnesses of all kinds took the life of the elder one. Up first was Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto, with Italian pianist Francesco Piemontesi as the soloist. As with each of the other concertos in Beethoven's canon, piano virtuosity was key, even in the extended Mozartean opening movement (in the home key of G Major), with hints of the unsettled Beethoven in the work's slower E Minor second movement. The virtuosity showed through in the Rondo finale, where the trumpets and timpani finally made their entrance, showing the martial influence that Mozart's 25th Piano Concerto had on this work. Mr. Piemontesi came back out for a solo encore, though I don't know what work he played.
Following intermission, Manze came back out to lead the L.A.P.O. in the Ninth Symphony of Franz Schubert, the work that was a combination of Schubert's own sensibilities as a melodist and the Beethoven influence in terms of structure (Schubert finally met his hero in February 1827, as the elder and deaf composer was on his deathbed; he would serve as one of the pallbearers at Beethoven's funeral only six weeks later) . At a "heavenly" length of fifty-five minutes, this, the Great C Major, was the first symphony of such a scale to follow in the wake of Beethoven. The orchestra very capably handled the combination of Schubert's own melodic gifts and what the younger composer had learned from his hero in terms of structure and counterpoint, even if it seemed a bit faster-paced than what many might be used to, and such a pace might have given some of the players issues. Save for the addition of three trombones (a nod to Beethoven's use of them in his Fifth Symphony), the size of the orchestra was of the size for the work preceding it.
The crowd at the Bowl this night was around 9,700 or so, and they were very effusive in their praise for this particular combination of works from two of the great Viennese successors to Mozart and Haydn, and towards Mr. Manze and Mr. Piemontesi. The low overcast rolled in from the ocean and cooled the inner part of the Bowl, although it didn't totally obscure either the stars or the half-moon above. Again, another triumphant night in the hills above Los Angeles.
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Post by erik on Aug 17, 2016 5:56:28 GMT -8
It was a case of Going For Baroque last night at the Hollywood Bowl, specifically one of the titans of that era in Western music.
Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra Nicholas McGegan Susan Grahamn, mezzo-soprano Los Angeles Master Chorale (Grant Gershon, choral director)
Handel: ZADOK THE PRIEST (CORONATION ANTHEM NO. 1) Handel: THE ARRIVAL OF THE QUEEN OF SHEBA/FROM "SOLOMON" Handel: "SCHERZA INFIDA" + "DOPO NOTTE"/FROM "ARIODANTE" Handel: AWAKE THE TRUMPET'S LOFTY SOUND/FROM "SAMSON"
(intermission)
Handel: SUITE NO. 2 FROM "WATER MUSIC" Handel: "OMBRA MAI FU" + "SE BRAMATE"/FROM "XERXES" Handel: MUSIC FOR THE ROYAL FIREWORKS Handel: HALLELUJAH CHORUS/FROM "MESSIAH"
Nicholas McGegan, the music director of America's premiere period-instrument orchestra, the Bay Area's Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, and a frequent guest conductor here, was on hand to lead the Philharmonic and the L.A. Master Chorale in the works of the great George Frideric Handel. There was a certain irony in having our National Anthem played first, to have it be followed by the works of a great composer who was employed for most of his life by the very English monarch, King George II, that America had to break away from in order to become a country. The famous Coronation Anthem No. 1, "Zadok The Priest", which is heard at every British Royal Family occasion (most recently William and Kate's wedding), was performed first with the full voices of the Chorale with a very triumphant power, to be followed by the equally famous "Arrival Of The Queen Of Sheba". This heralded in the entrance of mezzo-soprano Susan Graham, who sang the two arias from Handel's 1735 opera "Ariodante". Ms. Graham handled these arias, which aren't the easiest ones to do because they are Italian, with remarkable skill and poise. The first half ended with another royal flourish, "Awake The Trumpet's Lofty Sound", with contributions from the orchestra's three principal trumpeters, including Thomas Hooton.
Following intermission, McGegan returned with a reduced orchestra to have a go at the D Major suite of Handel's celebrated "Water Music" (especially the "Horn Pipe", with its prominent use of French horns and trumpets). Ms. Graham returned to the stage to perform the two arias of the composer's 1738 opera "Xerxes" ("Ombra Mai Fu" is the aria that is often heard instrumentally as the "Largo"), again with considerable aplomb. After a brief pause, the orchestra was enhanced with further brass for what could arguably be called the final great work of the Baroque era, the 1749 "Music For The Royal Fireworks", a favorite of Hollywood Bowl audiences for decades, although on this night there were no actual fireworks being set off like there had been on past occasions when this work was performed (and none were actually advertised for this particular performance). For the finale, the Chorale returned to perform perhaps the most popular and inspiring chorus in Western music, the famed "Hallelujah Chorus" that concludes Part 2 of the composer's epic oratorio "Messiah". Throughout each of the pieces played, there was naturally a harpsichord being utilized for period ornamentation purposes. However, unlike many a period-instrument specialist, McGegan was not dogmatic in the way these works were performed; he conducted both orchestra and Chorale at what seemed like the proper tempos.
The heat of the day was relieved by the coolness of the evening in the Bowl's natural setting, with the occasional chirpings of crickets and the howl of a coyote or two from the nearby hillsides letting us know that we weren't in a completely urbanized setting. And it was also a great celebration of the mastery of one of the great composers of all times, Baroque or otherwise, at L.A.'s premiere outdoor musical venue.
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Post by erik on Aug 24, 2016 6:11:23 GMT -8
Two works by a giant of Western music bookended a show whose main centerpiece was a work by a German émigré to Hollywood at the Hollywood Bowl last night.
Los Angeles Philharmonic Ken-David Masur, conductor Gil Shaham, violin
Beethoven: OVERTURE TO "FIDELIO" Korngold: VIOLIN CONCERTO Beethoven: SYMPHONY NO. 5
Last night was presided over on the podim by Ken-David Masur, assistant conductor at the Boston Symphony and the son of the late New York Philharmonic and Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra music director Kurt Masur. The night began with the official overture to Beethoven's only opera "Fidelio", the work that caused the composer so many birth pangs; he had to revise not just the opera itself, but also what kind of overture he wanted to start it with. All the three so-called "Leonora" overtures ("Leonora" was what he wanted to call the opera, which was the name of one of the characters in it) are in the key of C Major, whereas this one was in the seldom-used key of E Major. All the same, however, it is a hugely popular work; and the orchestra, under Mr. Masur's direction, did a good job of showing why that's the case.
After a brief reconfiguration, the stage was set for Gil Shaham, one of the great violinists of our time, to perform one of the most popular of all 20th century instrumental concertos, the D Major Violin Concerto of Erich Wolfgang Korngold, one of many composers and conductors from Europe who emigrated to America during the 1930s when it became quite evident that fascism was about to overrun that continent. Korngold, as many will know, found work in Hollywood, composing the scores for twenty-three films in all; and as such, it isn't surprising that this concerto, which was put into final form in 1945, should have traces of his film-scoring prowess in it, especially with the enhanced orchestration that involved harp, xylophone, cymbals, and bass drum. The work requires a great deal of virtuosity, which Mr. Shaham delivered with enormous skill (having recorded this a decade ago with the London Symphony Orchestra and Andre Previn). Mr. Shaham got two huge and vociferous bows following the performance.
The night concluded with one of the great works of Western classical music, the Fifth Symphony of Beethoven, whose four-note motif of Fate is eternally famous (so much so that Walter Murphy, forty years ago, made that motif the central part of his monstrous #1 hit "A Fifth Of Beethoven"). Of course, this is a work that can trip up a lot of orchestras and conductors because it is so well-known that it can sometimes be taken for granted (and done so at one's own peril). Nevertheless, both Mr. Masur and the L.A.P.O. handled it with extreme skill and tenacity, ensuring that this wouldn't be a run-of-the-mill performance of a standard-issue war horse.
The evening stayed relatively mild with a breeze blowing in through the hills and the Bowl amphitheater itself. The skies, however, remained startlit, making for one more great night of music-making in the hills above Los Angeles.
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Post by drizzletown on Aug 24, 2016 17:32:00 GMT -8
Anna Popovic in my little town. Sometimes casinos are nice. Live the rural life & still have access to decent music.
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Post by erik on Sept 3, 2016 8:28:59 GMT -8
My eighth and final sojourn to the Hollywood Bowl in 2016 was all about film music, with a long-standing film composing mega-legend making his return to the Bowl stage.
Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra David Newman, conductor (first half) John Williams, conductor (second half)
Alan Silvestri: SUITE FROM "FORREST GUMP" Franz Waxman: SUITE FROM "SUNSET BLVD." John Williams: THEME FROM "SABRINA" (Piano Soloist: JOANNE PEARCE MARTIN) Bernard Herrmann: THE WILD RIDE/FROM "NORTH BY NORTHWEST" Nino Rota: SELECTIONS FROM "THE GODFATHER" Michael Giacchino: STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS Lalo Schifrin: MISSION IMPOSSIBLE
(intermission)
John Williams: FLIGHT TO NEVERLAND/FROM "HOOK" John Williams: SUITE FROM "THE BFG" John Williams: THE MUSIC OF STAR WARS John Williams: HARRY POTTER John Williams: MARCH/FROM "SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE" John Williams: FLYING THEME/FROM "E.T."
David Newman, he of the legendary Hollywood film scoring family that gave us the great Alfred Newman, Lionel Newman, and David's cousins Randy and Thomas, helmed the first half, beginning with a salute to Paramount Pictures, using Alan Silvestri's music from 1994's FORREST GUMP. Then we got a look into the deranged world of Gloria Swanson's charachter Norma Desmond in the 1950 Billy Wilder classic SUNSET BLVD., with Franz Waxman's legendary music (both sequences contained montages shown on the big center screen hovering over the Bowl stage and the orchestra. This was followed by John WIlliams' music from director Sydney Pollack's 1994 remake of Wilder's 1954 hit SABRINA (Joanne Pearce Martin had a prominent role here doing WIlliams' lush piano parts), and then Bernard Herrmann's classic "fandago" theme of Hitchcock's 1959 masterpiece NORTH BY NORTHWEST. Scenes from both THE GODFATHER and THE GODFATHER PART II got shown, with the orchestra playing Nino Rota's famous theme music, followed by STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS, with Michael Giacchino's score being performed to an extended scene of that film. As an encore, Newman led the orchestra in Lalo Schifrin's famous theme for the TV series (and movie franchise) Mission Impossible.
Following the intermission, it was Williams' turn to take the podium after missing last year due to illness and exhaustion. He led the L.A. Phil through the music from HOOK, and this past summer's Spielberg-directed animated fantasy THE BFG. It was then time to turn it over to the Star Wars series; and for this, a great many of the 17,000 in attendance bought light sabers with them (natch!), all of this featuring a montage of scenes from all of the seven films (so far) in the series. Although Williams was a little slow getting to the podium, his conducting was as sure-footed as it has ever been. The encores included the music from the first Harry Potter film; the famous March/Main Theme from SUPERMAN; and the the ever-popular Flying theme from E.T.
And thus ends my 20th year of concert-going at the greatest outdoor concert venue around--the Hollywood Bowl.
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Post by drizzletown on Oct 6, 2016 18:51:24 GMT -8
The Dave Rawlings Machine (with Gillian Welch) last night. Got a 2nd row ticket. Someone returned it, and I bought it two days before the show. Then realized it was one of my son's teachers from long ago. His friend no longer wanted it, because the GIANTS were playing. LOL So I got to sit next to someone I knew, and someone who was enjoying the show as much as I was.
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Ross
Teen Chick
Posts: 699
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Post by Ross on May 4, 2017 15:10:57 GMT -8
Tift Merritt (it was a couple of months back)
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Post by oregonchickfan on May 9, 2017 3:12:09 GMT -8
My mom and I are going to Terri Clark in August. It will be my third time.
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Post by myfavoritegirls on May 20, 2017 15:31:50 GMT -8
DCX Toledo back in the fall.
Going to Jack Johnston in 2 weeks...... Linkin Park in August.
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Post by erik on Jul 14, 2017 6:00:36 GMT -8
Making up for the disaster of missing opening night because of a shuttle bus snafu, last night's Hollywood Bowl concert, the first of four this year in the hills above Los Angeles, was one for the books.
Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra Gustavo Dudamel, conductor Vin Scully, narrator Amanda Majeski, soprano J'Nail Bridges, mezzo-soprano Issachah Savage, tenor Ryan Speedo Green, baritone Los Angeles Master Chorale (Grant Gershon, choral director)
Copland: FANFARE FOR THE COMMON MAN Copland: LINCOLN PORTRAIT Beethoven: SYMPHONY NO. 9 (CHORAL)
It was a mixture of highly important works that were meant in many ways to give us hope in these incredibly cynical times in which we live, especially here in America. It began with the "dean of American composers" Aaron Copland's epic three-minute oration for brass and percussion, "Fanfare For The Common Man", composed in 1942. Following that stirring work came another stirring work of Copland's, the 1943 "Lincoln Portrait" for speaker and orchestra; and for this, we had recently retired Los Angeles Dodgers announcer Vin Scully read the texts of speeches made by our nation's 16th president that Copland integrated into his 14 minute piece, a work that, like many of his works of Americana, also incorporated various folk melodies as well. Scully read Lincoln's words with a special kind of gravitas, given that the text made mention of race and slavery and that Scully himself had witnessed the rise of Jackie Robinson as a figure of our recent American history, the man that broke through the color barrier in baseball.
Following intermission, the size of the orchestra was reduced a fair amount, but the 120-member Los Angeles Master Chorale came onstage to the elevated platform behind the orchestra. This lead us into Beethoven's epochal Symphony No. 9, the "Choral" symphony, with each of the first three movements given equal stature: the expansive and sometimes terrifying universe of the opening; the almost demonic iterations of the Scherzo; and the elegiac measures of the Adagio. The four vocal soloists came on in the short pause between the Scherzo and the Adagio, and took their places between the Chorale and the orchestra. It was Mr. Green who led us into the choral part seven minutes into the finale ("O freunde, nicht diese tone!"), followed by his three equally capable compatriots, and then the full Chorale for the setting of Friedrich von Schiller's "Ode To Joy", which Beethoven may have tried to set to music even as far back as 1792, but only got around to it with this symphony three decades later. The Ninth was performed in a very reasonable time of 67 minutes, with none of its stature or gravity diminished.
Even separated by close to 120 years and two continents, it seemed most appropriate to have these great works of human joy and freedom placed on the same bill--one more reason why the Hollywood Bowl remains as great a summer concert experience as there is anywhere in the world.
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Post by erik on Aug 4, 2017 5:56:36 GMT -8
Last night's Hollywood Bowl show was an eclectic trio of works spanning eight decades of the 19th century.
Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra Vasily Petrenko, conductor Tamas Palfalvi, trumpet
Richard Strauss: DON JUAN Hummel: TRUMPET CONCERTO Brahms: SYMPHONY NO. 1
For what was one of the sultriest nights I have ever experience at the Hollywood Bowl (the summer monsoon season is at its peak here in Southern California at the moment), the young Russian-born Vasily Petrenko, the chief conductor of both the Oslo Philharmonic and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, was on the podium. He began the show with the great orchestral tone poem showpiece that put its composer Richard Strauss on the map, "Don Juan", which took its inspiration from a Nikolaus Lenau poem based loosely on the same timeless legend that, among other things, gave rise to Mozart's dark comic opera "Don Giovanni". The forces required for this work were quite large, which is par for Strauss, as were the subtle moments interspersed with big outbursts.
Following a brief pause, the orchestra's forces were greatly reduced for the second work on the docket, the E Flat Major Trumpet Concerto of Johann Nepomuk Hummel, a work written in 1803 for the same trumpet player, Anton Weidinger, that Haydn had written his famous concerto just eight years earlier. For this, the young Hungarian-born Tamas Palfalvi was our trumpet soloist, bringing out the flourishes that Hummel had written into the concerto. As this is a very popular work, one of the three popular concertos for this instrument written during the Classical era in Vienna (Haydn's, and Leopold Mozart's being the other two), people were quite familiar with it (via perhaps Wynton Marsalis' famous 1993 recording of it with the English Chamber Orchestra and Raymond Leppard); and Mr. Palfalvi definitely delivered on the goods.
After intermission, the orchestra was enlarged again somewhat (to include three trombone players) to accommodate the great Symphony No. 1 of Johannes Brahms, a work that was almost two decades in the making. Brahms, as is well known, started this work in 1858, but took as long as he did to finish it (in 1876) because he was very wary of the giant shadow Beethoven still cast over the symphonic form. The turbulent but ultimately victorious world of the work's first movement (in the home key of C Minor) was followed by the elegiac second movement Andante (in E Major) and the pastoral third movement. Ultimately, like many a symphony that followed in Beethoven's wake, the final movement, the longest part of this work, was the one that counted; and both the L.A. Phil and Mr. Petrenko made that movement, one that began with some of the turbulent gestures of the first movement but ended with Brahms ultimately coming up with a work that could stand side-by-side with Beethoven. The trombones, incidentally, were not a presence at all in this work until a few minutes into the final movement; and the principal motif of the movement, which has its echoes of "Ode To Joy", was not mere window dressing.
Ultimately, this was another fine night of music in the hills above Los Angeles.
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Post by erik on Aug 25, 2017 5:59:53 GMT -8
Two choral works separated by one hundred ninety years were on last night's program for the Hollywood Bowl.
Los Angeles Philharmonic Gustavo Dudamel, conductor
Miah Persson, soprano Christianne Stotijn, mezzo David Portillo, tenor John Relyea, bass
Los Angeles Master Chorale (Grant Gershon, choral director)
John Adams: HARMONIUM Mozart: REQUIEM
The opening work was "Harmonium", a three-part modern choral work by John Adams, one of our country's great modern-day composers, based on poems by, in order, John Donne ("Negative Love"), and Emily Dickinson ("Because I Could Not Stop"; "Wild Nights"), and which contained much of Adams' fairly high-tech minimalism and large orchestration (bass drum, xylophone, harp, and piano were among the instruments used). Maestro Dudamel's approach was very direct, as was the way that the Los Angeles Master Chorale handled the text and its occasional repetitions (done for dramatic effect). Oftentimes, people will flinch away or scoff at the idea of "minimalism"; but as a lot of modern Hollywood film music has elements of that style, it wasn't too terribly hard to follow "Harmonium" for its thirty-three minute running time. Following the quiet coda to the work and the mass applause at the end, Dudamel came out for an encore with Mr. Adams himself getting the plaudits from the Bowl crowd.
Following intermission, the sizes of both the orchestra and the Chorale were contracted significantly (trombones, however, remained) for one of the greatest and most mysterious of all works in Western music, namely the D Minor Requiem of one Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. According to the program notes, it is only the first two parts of the Requiem (Introitus; Kyrie) that were completed in Mozart's own hands before his death on December 5, 1791, leaving the rest to be sewed together per his intentions, and at the urging of his widow Constanze, by his pupil Franz Xaver Sussmayr. On the podium, Dudamel did exude a fair amount of vehemence in the work's two fire-and-brimstone sections, Dies Irae and Confutatis, while a certain elegy and gravitas found its way into the Lachrymosa. The work, which concluded with the Lux Aeterna, was remarkable for the fact that the voices of the Chorale held on to that final note ("quia plus es") for something like seven or eight seconds, earning a huge standing ovation from the crowd, which I estimated to be at around 11,000.
A low cloud cover made things much cooler at the Bowl than is usual for late August, and obscured the stars; but overall, it was another great night at the Bowl, not to mention for the inventive pairing of choral masterpieces that maestro Dudamel had put together, at a time when we here in America really need hope.
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Post by oregonchickfan on Aug 29, 2017 23:17:32 GMT -8
I took my mom to see Terri Clark at the county Fair a couple weeks ago. It was disappointing to see it wasn't sold out. My mom and I enjoyed ourselves, nonetheless.
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Post by erik on Sept 4, 2017 6:09:20 GMT -8
Last night marked my fourth and final sojourn to the Hollywood Bowl for the year; and needless to say, it was a fairly eventful one.
Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra David Newman (first half) John Williams (second half) Bing Wang, violin soloist Kobe Bryant, narrator
Korngold: MARCH FROM "THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD" John Williams: NIGHT JOURNEYS/FROM "DRACULA" Maurice Jarre: SELECTIONS FROM "DR. ZHIVAGO" Alfred Newman: CATHY'S THEME/FROM "WUTHERING HEIGHTS" Roger Edens/Leonard Gershe: BORN IN A TRUNK/FROM "A STAR IS BORN"
(intermission)
John Williams: THE ADVENTURES OF MUTT/FROM "INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL" John Williams: SELECTIONS FROM "CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND" John Williams: THREE SELECTIONS FROM "HARRY POTTER" John Williams: DEAR BASKETBALL (with short film based on the life of Kobe Bryant) John Williams: SABRINA John Williams: THREE SELECTIONS FROM "STAR WARS"
Encores IMPERIAL MARCH FROM "THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK" MARCH FROM "SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE" FLYING THEME FROM "E.T.: THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL"
What was different about this final night was that, amidst all the heat and humidity that have hung over Southern California for the last ten days, the Hollywood Bowl was hit by an actual tropical rain bomb an hour prior to the start of the show. I was just getting off the shuttle bus from Arcadia, and the dark skies just opened up in a downpour that lasted seven minutes. Everybody and pretty much just about everything was soaked when they got to their seats. The cloudburst left as quickly as it came, moving from east to west. These were remnants of former Hurricane Lidia.
Once this extraordinarily rare (for the Bowl) rain event ended (though it stayed overcast, warm, and sticky), the show got under way with David Newman, a member of Hollywood's royal family of film composers, leading the L.A. Philharmonic in works by Korngold, John Williams, Maurice Jarre, and David's legendary father Alfred Newman, concluding with the famed "Born In A Trunk" montage from the 1954 version of A STAR IS BORN, with Judy Garland singing said song in the film (along with, other things, "You Took Advantage Of Me"). Both this latter one and DR. ZHIVAGO had the actual films themselves projected on the big Bowl screens. The orchestra's concert mistress Bing Wang provided the violin solo on the WUTHERING HEIGHTS excerpt.
The second half, of course, was given over to John Williams himself, who conducted a marathon slew of his music, including the ubiquitous STAR WARS excerpts, which turned the interior of the Hollywood Bowl into a light sabers convention (hundreds, if not indeed thousands, of participants had those light sabers with them, waving around in the darkened amphitheater). A special round of applause was given for former L.A. Lakers star Kobe Bryant, who read the narration for the short film DEAR BASKETBALL, based on his own life and featuring music from Williams (the five-minute film was projected onto the screens), and Ms. Wang was given another chance to shine in an excerpt from Williams' score to the 1994 remake of SABRINA. The three encores were, of course, the Usual Suspects in the Williams' canon (including E.T., which I silently urged was going to be heard). The attendance, which is usually high for a John Williams concert, was around 15,000, which, given the downpour that had happened an hour before the show and the fact that every seat in the Bowl was wet, is saying a lot.
Thus puts the cap on another season in the hills above Los Angeles.
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Post by lahela on Sept 7, 2017 9:26:15 GMT -8
The last concert I went to was honestly the Chicks in Phoenix at the Ak-Chin Pavillion earlier this year. Before that it was Heart & Cheap Trick at the same venue in Phoenix.
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Post by erik on Jun 17, 2018 9:22:39 GMT -8
Last night began my 22nd consecutive year of going to the Hollywood Bowl; and unlike last year (when a shuttle bus snafu spoiled it all), I managed to get to opening night, which was a benefit for music programs in Los Angeles, plus a big special guest.
Hollywood Bowl Orchestra Thomas Wilkins, conductor Members of YOLA (Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles)
Leonard Bernstein: SLAVA John Williams: ADVENTURES ON EARTH/FROM "E.T." Arturo Marquez: CONGA DEL FUEGO NUEVO
(intermission)
DIANA ROSS
An unusually cool (for mid-June) and cloudy evening was what we had for opening night at the Bowl, but it was an important one: the annual concert to benefit music education programs in the Los Angeles Unified School District (programs that are so vitally needed, not just here in L.A., but around the rest of the nation. Thomas Wilkins presided over the festivities, leading off the night with Lenny's "Slava", a work he composed in the late 1970s for his good friend (and everybody else's), the legenday Russian-born cellist Mstislav Rostropovich (who, at the time of the work's composition, had just been named music director of the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington D.C.). Wilkins and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra followed that with a work that celebrated the notion of taking one's dreams to flight, "Adventures On Earth", part of John Williams' Oscar-winning score to E.T.: THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL. For the third and final work of the first half of the show, "Conga Del Fuego Nuevo" by the Mexican composer Arturo Marquez, Wilkins and the orchestra were joined by members of the Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles. "Conga", like many an orchestral work from south of the border, was vivacious, even violent at times, filled with the indigenous rhythms of its country of origin; and the YOLA musicians, who were interspersed among the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra itself, were given huge standing ovations from the 14,000 in attendance.
Following intermission, the legendary (for better or worse, depending on how one feels) Diana Ross came to the stage, along with a 20-voice gospel choir and a backing band (again, interspersed inside the orchestra) for a 67-minute set of favorites of hers, many of them well-known to the folks there, but not necessarily ones that she had ever recorded, including the much-loved "Amazing Grace". The songs from her own discography that she did were, to name a few, "Upside Down"; "You Can't Hurry Love" (from her Supremes phase); "It's My Time"; "Theme From 'Mahogany' (Do You Know Where You're Going To)", "If We Hold On Together (from the 1988 Steven Spielberg-sponsored animated dinosaur film THE LAND BEFORE TIME) and, at the end (and with pyrotechnics and people waving hands in union), her first two post-Supremes solo hits, "Reach Out And Touch (Somebody's Hand)" and "Ain't No Mountain High Enough". Diana had a few brief backstage wardrobe changes during her set, and people couldn't help but notice she wasn't as mobile as usual; some may have put down to her now being chronologically challenged (i.e., older), but she confessed that she had busted her ankle only a week or so before. And with the inversion layer hanging low, the smoke from the pyros did hang over the interior of the amphitheater for the last few minutes of the show.
Still, it was a great way to start another great season at the Bowl.
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Post by erik on Jul 21, 2018 9:48:13 GMT -8
The ocean turned red at the Hollywood Bowl last night for my second sojourn to the venue for this summer.
Hollywood Bowl Orchestra David Newman, conductor
JAWS
For the third time in going to the Bowl (the other two times were for showings of 2001 and E.T. during the 2015 season), I went to a complete screening of a classic film with the score being performed on the Bowl stage in sync with said film--one of their many "Movie Nights". And this time around, it was for the film that, for better or worse, begat the whole "Summer Blockbuster" spiel in Hollywood--JAWS. Yes, the 1975 masterpiece of suspense and terror from director Steven Spielberg was shown in all its frightening glory on the Bowl's five big screens with John Williams' Oscar-winning music score being performed onstage by the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra under the direction of David Newman, a member of the prestigious film-composing dynasty that included Alfred Newman (and David's cousin, Randy Newman).
Now you might think that this film wouldn't still be able to scare people after forty-three years of summer blockbusters (not to mention three sequels and endless imitations). However, at least for this particular evening, that wasn't quite the case. There was quite a large amount of gasping during those moments of shock: the head found by Richard Dreyfuss in the wreckage of a boat; the shark popping out right behind Roy Scheider as he's throwing chum into the water; Dreyfuss being menaced in the shark cage; and Robert Shaw getting, how shall we say, consumed. There was also a fair amount of laughter in all the right places, since, like Alfred Hitchcock, Spielberg always knew that the line between horror and comedy (especially the blackish kind common in horror films) is a thin one, especially in some seemingly throwaway lines about sharks, seafood, pirates and the like. Intermission came at the point in the film where Scheider, Shaw, and Dreyfuss set out on the Orca to catch and kill the 25 foot-long Great White shark that is menacing Amity Island.
While it wasn't exactly hot at the Bowl last night, there wasn't the typical low overcast that normally rolls in off the ocean either. The picture quality on the Bowl's five HD screens was almost as if one were seeing it for the first time--and for all intents and purposes, I was, at least in the proper aspect ratio, not scrunched together like during TV airings. There was, of course, the extremely vociferous applause at the film's explosive ending (Scheider, having shoved an air tank into the shark's voracious maw, then puts a bullet into it, causing a ghastly explosion). I would estimate the crowd to be around 12,000; and even for those (of whom there may have been more than a few) who weren't even born when this film came out in June 1975, but had seen many a summer blockbuster film in their time, they likely still found the film quite hair-raising, made all the more so by Williams' classic score being performed by the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra under Newman's direction.
One more huge night under the stars in the hills above L.A.
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Post by erik on Aug 29, 2018 6:31:58 GMT -8
An unusual "mash-up" at last night's Hollywood Bowl concert, my third of six this year.
Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra Bramwell Tovey, conductor Emanuel Ax, piano Ying Fang, soprano Liz Redpath, soprano Taylor Raven, mezzo-soprano Nicholas Phan, tenor Brenton Ryan, tenor Norman Garrett, baritone Los Angeles Master Chorale (Grant Gershon, artistic director) Los Angeles Children's Chorus (Fernando Malvar-Ruiz, artistic director)
Beethoven: CHORAL FANTASY Carl Orff: CARMINA BURANA
Bramwell Tovey, a familiar face at the Bowl during the last several years (recently named as chief conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra, and named Conductor Emeritus at the Vancouver Symphony, where he is finishing up a massively successful 18-year term as Music Director), was on hand to conduct last night's proceedings with the kind of wit that only a native of England could do. The night began with one of our country's great classical pianists, Emanuel Ax, essaying the tricky piano part of Beethoven's increasingly popular 1808 "Choral Fantasy", a work that begins as an elaborate, almost cosmic piano fantasy, escalates into a piano concerto with the entrance of the orchestra, and concludes with the entry of the chorus on the song "Gengeliebe". The melody, of course, makes this a dry run for the celebrated "Ode To Joy" of the work that was to follow fifteen years later, the Ninth Symphony. The female vocal soloists were situated to the left of Tovey on the stage, and the male soloists to the right, while the 50-member Los Angeles Master Chorale was at top form in this 19-minute work's interstellar finale.
Following intermission, the most famous (or infamous, depending on your viewpoint) choral work of the 20th century was unleashed on the Bowl, namely the monstrous (both in size and sound) 1934 "scenic cantata" "Carmina Burana" by the German composer Carl Orff. Ms. Fang, Mr. Phan, and Mr. Garrett were retained for the vocal solo parts, and the L.A. Master Chorale was joined on some of the choruses by the Los Angeles Children's Chorus. The text, based on medieval songs from Germany, France, and Italy, was translated into English on the Bowl's five HD screens (as was the choral finale in the Beethoven); and as is par for the course, some of it was rather graphic. But the work's extreme popularity does tend to draw people, as it did last night, with a crowd of close to 11,000.
After a heat wave lasting for a whopping 50 days, it cooled off a bit inside the cavernous confines of the Bowl, though there wasn't the typical marine layer overcast that typically rolls in from off the ocean. It made for a great night with which to basically conclude the month of August here in L.A., and at the Bowl.
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