Arts Alive

Arts Alive

By Classical KUSCArtsPerforming Arts
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Arts Alive episodes

  • Behind the Top 100: Mozart Hurls Thunderbolts
    Mozart’s last symphony picked up its nickname “Jupiter” in London around 1820. Some think it’s a reference to the loftiness of Mozart’s ideas. Others point to the opening of the symphony and say that they hear the “thunderbolts of Jupiter.” But as impressive as this opening movement may be, the real news is in the last movement, whose concluding section is a masterpiece of the art of counterpoint, weaving together the musical fabric from individual strands of melody.
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  • Behind the Top 100: George Gershwin’s “An American in Paris”
    Much like Sting’s 1987 hit “An Englishmen in New York,” George Gershwin’s free form symphonic tone poem An American Paris finds its inspiration in the idea of being a fish out of water and the wide-eyed excitement of seeing new sights and hearing new sounds. Gershwin traveled to Paris in 1926 to study with Maurice Ravel. Ravel refused to teach him after their first meeting, saying that George would be better as a first-rate Gershwin rather than a second-rate Ravel. Gershwin began his sketches that year for what would become An American in Paris with a shorter piece entitled “Very Parisienne.” When returning to the U.S., Gershwin brought home Parisian car horns in specific pitches which figured prominently in that work and of course later in the final version of An American in Paris.
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  • Vox Femina Reaches Toward the Future
    On a warm spring morning, I stood on the steps of First Congregational Church of Los Angeles, watching as hundreds of school children arrived from all over the region. Buses from South Pasadena, Downtown Los Angeles, Duarte, and areas beyond. There were there for one reason – to take in a concert by the all-treble choir known as Vox Femina.
    Vox was presenting their very first community outreach event, entitled Concert for Youth, with the desire to educate and encourage the choral singers of the future – regardless of age, gender, or skill level. I watched over the course of an hour as hundreds of school kids clapped, cheered, and danced in their seats. From my perspective, the Concert for Youth was a complete success.
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  • Peter Sellars Brings “Myths” to Life with the LA Phil
    From April 18th to 20th, Peter Sellars, Igor Stravinsky, Esa-Pekka Salonen, the LA Phil, a Cambodian dance troupe, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, and Los Angeles Children’s Chorus join forces for a program called “Myths.” Sellars directs and Salonen conducts Stravinsky’s ballets Orpheus and Perséphone.
    Peter Sellars has international fame as a director creating amazing productions and has worked with worldwide opera companies, composers and arts festivals. He led the 1990 and 1993 Los Angeles Arts Festivals and has received many awards including a MacArthur Fellowship. I spoke to him at Walt Disney Concert Hall about the unique understanding that he’s bringing to “Myths.”
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  • Classical Music Through an Autistic Lens

    April is Autism Acceptance Month, and what better way to celebrate than with a classical music listening party? I recently invited a few friends to the studio to listen to Camille Saint-Saens’ Carnival of the Animals with me. All four of us — Amanda, Kelly, Raul, and I — are autistic. Autism is a neurological, developmental condition that can result in distinctive patterns of sensory and cognitive processing. One way this plays out is how we process music.

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  • Nia Vardalos Takes “Tiny Beautiful Things” from Online Advice Column to the Stage

    It started as an online advice column. Author Cheryl Strayed, who wrote the bestselling novel Wild about her trek across the Pacific Coast Trail, spent several years answering anonymous letters under the pseudonym “Sugar.” Letters about grief, loss, addiction, illness, and other kinds of pain, which Strayed answered with what the Washington Post called “a bracing empathy.” Now, Tiny Beautiful Things is a stage play starring Nia Vardalos, the writer and actress best known for My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Contributing reporter Tim Greiving visited Vardalos at the Pasadena Playhouse, where she was rehearsing the play after a successful run in New York.

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