Arts Alive

As the school year gets underway, things are hopping at the Colburn School in Downtown LA. The school educates a multitude of students, from the youngsters and teenagers in the Community School of Performing Arts and the Music Academy, to the college level musicians in the Colburn Conservatory. Colburn offers an extensive schedule of public performances and in October they take note of Beethoven’s upcoming 250th birthday. Alan Chapman talked with the President and CEO of the school, Sel Kardan, about those performances and their importance to a growing institution.

A new era for the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra will be ushered in later this month: LACO’s first new music director in more than 20 years picks up the baton September 28th, beginning his tenure with a world premiere.

Hippies. Free spirits. Hipsters. The young artists that make up the population of trendy neighborhoods like the Mission or Castro, like Venice and Silverlake. These are the characters at the center of the action in Puccini’s La Bohème, young people following their dreams amid the hustle and bustle of the big city.

For today’s Arts Alive, contributor Kelsey McConnell is heading to San Marino where The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens is blowing out 100 candles and diving into the tumultuous year of its founding.

On today’s Arts Alive, we welcome back Los Angeles Times and Arts Alive film critic Kenneth Turan, who takes a look at the new documentary about beloved pop singer Linda Rondstadt, “Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice”. He tells KUSC’s Gail Eichenthal, this is first and foremost a chance to hear Rondstadt sing—and not just the tunes that scaled the pop charts.

On July 12 and 13th, you can catch a one-of-a-kind event: Adés & McGregor: A Dance Collaboration. Witness an amazing collaboration between composer/conductor Thomas Adés, The Royal Ballet, the Company Wayne McGregor and the LA Philharmonic.

Anthony Davis joined KUSC’s John Van Driel to discuss Long Beach Opera’s upcoming opera, the World Premiere of Davis’ “The Central Park Five”. The opera explores the interrogation and coerced confessions of five teenagers wrongly convicted of a crime in New York City in the ’80s. It features a libretto by Richard Wesley while the production is designed and directed by Andreas Mitisek. The opera is conducted by Leslie Dunner. Performances are at the Warner Grand Theater in San Pedro on June 15 and June 22 at 7:30 and June 23 at 2:30. You can learn more about the upcoming performances and buy tickets at longbeachopera.org.

The world of composer Inon Zur is expansive and ever growing. Through his composer’s pen, we have trained to be an elite warrior in Star Trek: Klingon Academy, visited mysterious cities to the north in the Syberia franchise, fought off the Darkspawn as a member of the Grey Wardens in Dragon Age, and learned that war never changes in Fallout. His music is grand in scope, cinematic, at times dark and mysterious, and other times smiling with a wry sense of humor. We had the immense pleasure of sitting down with Inon on the eve of his album release.

How do you score a film that’s not only about Elton John—who’s created some of the most memorable pop music melodies of the past 50 years… but one that’s also a lavish movie musical using those songs? That was Matthew Margeson’s challenge on Rocketman.

Every year, Southern California’s most adventurous and open-minded classical music audiences gather in the idyllic surroundings of Ojai’s Libbey park to experience a unique and intimate music festival. Since 1947, the series has been curated by an individual music director: composers such as Igor Stravinsky and Aaron Copland; performers such as soprano Dawn Upshaw and conductor Michael Tilson Thomas. This year, the music director is a soprano and conductor rolled into one: boundary-shattering musical dynamo Barbara Hannigan. KUSC’s Gail Eichenthal got the scoop from longtime Ojai Festival Artistic Director Thomas Morris, who says, the Ojai Music Festival is a powerhouse of new music with an audience that wants to be challenged.