Tuesday, April 3, 2012
David O., The Man Behind The Music
Among his credits as musical director are Jason Robert Brown’s 13 at the Mark Taper Forum, The Cradle Will Rock, The Wild Party and Little Fish at Noah Wyle's The Blank Theatre Company, and Little Shop of Horrors at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts. As a composer, he has written music for shows like South Coast Rep’s Imagine, Powerhouse Theater’s Atalanta, Center Theatre Group’s The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip, and Toy Story: the Musical.
His quiet intensity belies his penchant for a good joke and he is a musician who truly loves to collaborate with other artists. When he’s on board a project, its participants breathe a sigh of relief. Around here, you know you’re in good hands with O. Now working with A Noise Within writing original music for Molière’s play, The Bungler, we talked about his ongoing partnership with the classical theatre company and how music came to be such a big part of his life.
David, you first collaborated on an unusual piece at A Noise Within about seven years ago called Ubu Roi which brought a lot of attention to your work. Do you remember how you originally met Julia Rodriguez-Elliott and Geoff Elliott, A Noise Within’s co-artistic directors?
I don’t remember how we were first introduced but it’s a small world in the L.A. Theatre community so we already knew of each other’s work. Julia approached me when they were looking for a composer for Ubu in 2006. She was directing the piece and we really hit it off creatively.
We were able to create a unique aesthetic with Ubu that we’ve drawn on in two of our other collaborations - The Bungler and Oliver Twist. We designed a musical palette that uses the actors as singer/actor/instrumentalist/Foley artists combined with traditional musical instruments and found objects to create a live soundscape. For Ubu I was the primary musician and sound artist on stage but the actors also contributed a great deal musically. With Oliver Twist we continued that exploration but with the actors doing all of the music and sound effects themselves. We’re doing a similar thing with The Bungler, however with this show we have a unique luxury in that, among the interns working at A Noise Within this season, is an excellent classical tuba player who’s part of the cast (Kabin Thomas). I jumped on that opportunity and he’s become a big part of the music of the show.
Is the music primarily instrumental or have you written vocal parts as well?
We’re using live tuba, live guitar and mandolin, a number of handheld percussion instruments, and an array of found objects that are also being used as percussion instruments, along with the actors’ voices. The influences come from a lot of different places, but the melodies primarily sound like folk tunes, for lack of a better comparison. The actors are really attacking the music with gusto and we get to play a lot stylistically. One of the things I love doing is defying the audience’s expectations so when we set up one moment in the play in a certain musical style, we then purposefully in the next moment do a complete U-turn to keep everybody a little bit off their guard.
Did you write any of the music before you started rehearsals or has this mainly been a collaborative process in rehearsals?
When I was first approached about doing the show I was up in Ashland at Oregon Shakespeare Festival working on Animal Crackers so I was steeped in the world of the Marx Brothers. I sketched out some initial melodies that are now part of the show but they were pretty basic sketches. More of the music has been developed in improvisation and through the inspiration of the actors themselves in the rehearsal room.
It sounds like you really like the process of collaboration.
I do. I think working directly with other artists is an inherent part of the performing arts for me.
Have you ever thought about why you write music?
I happened to come across a great quote by the British choral conductor Sir Thomas Beecham recently. He said, ‘The function of music is to release us from the tyranny of conscious thought,’ which I found really inspirational. I realized that’s a big part of how I think about creating music and how I think about listening to music. Part of why I write music is that I like to, for lack of a better term, mess with people’s heads. I enjoy surprising people with sounds. I enjoy catching people off guard and unexpectedly making them laugh or cry; giving people a cathartic experience through a combination of notes and rhythms as they tie into a story in the theatre or in the concert hall.
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| Having a bit of fun with Beethoven. "I said I like your music!" |
Since you’re working with a Molière piece you really have the perfect situation to explore the unexpected.
Absolutely. It’s madcap, mayhem, and made up of some purposefully completely random and disparate elements. One thing that strikes me about The Bungler is that it’s about a step and a half away from a series of “I Love Lucy” episodes because of its episodic nature. Each of the five acts has a very similar story in which there’s a plan that the idiot title character of the show manages to screw up in some completely unexpected way. For that reason, Julia and I realized that the music was very important. Traditionally in Molière’s day they would have had some sort of music/dance interlude between each of the acts so we decided to use the interludes as a sort of a palette cleanser.
How did you go about developing them?
We started by brainstorming about what those interludes might sound like and we used a combination of melodies with non-verbal lyrics, la-la-la, doo-doo-doo, to get into the nonsense world. Since Molière wrote the text in verse, and Richard Wilbur has translated it so artfully, it really lends itself to being adapted into songs.
Did the purpose of the interludes change as you began to work with them?
The original thought was that the interludes would be completely separate entities; a completely different kind of performance than the rest of the play. As it has turned out, each interlude either functions as a tail of the previous act or an introduction of the next act. Most of them use text from the script as lyric and some of them echo text that has just been spoken or foreshadows text that is about to be spoken.
How do you know when you’re moving in the right direction?
What I’ve found is a really important part of my work is defining the box in which I’m playing. In this case, the box was the text of Molière. In other cases the box might be the outline of a story we’re writing ourselves. Whatever box it is, it then gives me a vocabulary in which I can work and in which I can then hopefully break as many rules as possible.
Does music always represent work for you or do you ever listen to it for pleasure?
Often I try to clear my head of musical ideas so in my leisure time I tend to do more listening of podcasts and talk radio rather than listening to music. More recently though I’ve been listening to a lot of music I haven’t heard before. I’m primarily self-educated as a musician and as a composer so stretching my imagination has always been important to me.
Was music a part of your background?
I did a lot of studying of music as a child. I grew up in a musical family. My parents were part of a quintet of singer/instrumentalists that performed folk music and madrigals and original songs that they had written around the Central Coast of California where we lived. I played trombone in band and sang in choirs as a kid and as a teenager, and it was always part of the culture of the house in which I grew up. It was a language that we spoke. It was normal to me that people rehearsed in their living room every Sunday night to prepare music they had written for performance. (Laughs) I mean, I was aware that not everybody did that but I grew up in an environment in which it was a perfectly normal thing to do. This was in Salinas, California up near Monterey in the 70s and 80s.
After I graduated from high school I went to California Institute of the Arts as an acting major and got my BFA in Theatre. I’m glad I got that education in theatre because it gave me a really good grasp of how actors and directors function. It also gave me a handle on story structure. After graduating from CalArts I pursued acting for a little while but rather quickly I became the person who was called in to play piano for a show or to write a tune for a show. That, in turn, evolved rather quickly into a career as a composer and musical director primarily in the theatre.
Did you have any ‘Aha’ moments along the way?
My career path has always been a process but there was also a major change that happened in 1997 – The A.S.K. Theater Project. They had created a composer/librettist workshop run by Ben Krywosz of Nautilus Music Theater in St. Paul and what Ben did was get together a group of 5 composers, 5 librettists, and 5 performers into a kind of think tank for two weeks. It was sort of a collaboration camp. Everybody was given writing assignments working with each other, and by the end, each of the composers had worked with each of the librettists creating 25 short pieces of music theater.
Participants were really encouraged to stretch the limits of what they considered their work. My friend and collaborator Matt Almos was working at A.S.K at the time and said he thought I should apply…but not as a performer, as a composer. I hadn’t really thought of myself seriously as a composer then but I looked back at the work that I had done in the previous several years and I realized he was right. So I did the workshop and it was a big part of me redefining myself as a composer, particularly in avant garde or boundary breaking work.
Shortly after that experience, my wife and I worked on cruise ships for a couple years. I was the piano player but quickly became the musical director of the band and of the ship, and that’s where I honed my skills as a band leader. A new entertainer would come on board in the afternoon; we’d have a half hour rehearsal with them and then do a 45-minute show that night. You have to get everything together really quickly. I think I can trace a lot of what I do back to that composer workshop and also to my experience on the ships.
*****
David’s time in the trenches has certainly paid off. He continues to be one of the most sought after composer/musical directors in Los Angeles and has been honored with numerous awards, including Ovation, Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle, L.A. Weekly, and Backstage West Garland Awards.
Later this year he’ll be writing original music for and musically directing The Getty Villa’s production of Euripides’ Helen. Jon Lawrence Rivera directs the new adaptation by Nick Salamone, which will be presented in the villa’s outdoor theatre in September. For now, we can’t wait to hear what delicious nonsense he’s created for The Bungler.
The Bungler is currently in previews, officially opens Saturday, April 7, and is scheduled to run through May 27 at A Noise Within in Pasadena. For more information go to www.anoisewithin.org.
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Labels: a noise within
Thursday, April 24, 2014
Musical News for Thursday, April 24, 2014
La Jolla Playhouse will hold a special event in conjunction with its Page To Stage workshop production of Chasing the Song, a new musical featuring book and lyrics by Joe DiPietro, music & lyrics by David Bryan, directed by artistic director Christopher Ashley. This free public event, entitled Chasing the Song: The Drive to Make Music, with composer David Bryan, takes place on Monday, May 12 at 7:00 pm in the Playhouse’s Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre. Christopher Ashley will moderate this exciting evening with legendary composer and Bon Jovi keyboardist David Bryan, who will discuss his musical influences, the cross-over from rock ‘n’ roll to musical theatre, as well as his work on the Tony Award-winning musical Memphis and Chasing the Song, which explores the creative process behind great American rock music. Reservations are required; please visit www.lajollaplayhouse.org to RSVP beginning on Friday, April 25.
FRINGE BENEFIT: The Hollywood Fringe Festival is hosting a fundraiser bash on May 29 at King Kong (6555 Hollywood Blvd.) to help support the production costs of the 2014 Festival. Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door. The event, which will have a fantastical circus theme, will feature live entertainment and a silent auction. Doors will open at 7pm. The Fringe folks are also holding a design contest for their annual Festival T-shirt. The winner will be awarded $399 (minus the commission taken by 99Designs). To qualify, submit your design by Friday, April 25 at 11am PDT. Click Here for the guidelines and good luck!
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED: Love the performing arts in Los Angeles? Consider volunteering at LA STAGE Day, a gathering of the Los Angeles performing arts community, taking place at Cal Stage L.A. on Saturday, May 17. This event is a mass get-together of artistic directors, designers, actors, dancers, directors, arts managers. There will also be a large bazaar where many performing arts organizations will be ‘tabling,’ as well as many discussion sessions, workshops, panels, and networking opportunities. Early bird registration is $30 until May 1st (after which registration is $40), but volunteering for 2.5 or more hours gets you into the whole day for free! All you pay is $6 for parking. Details HERE.
CABARET/CONCERTS: Kritzerland at Sterling’s Upstairs at The Federal presents At Long Last – Cole Porter Sunday, May 4 at 7:00 pm. The show will star Allen Everman, Jean Louisa Kelly, Lisa Livesay, Mark Whitten, Brennley Brown, Jenna Lea Rosen and Sami Staitman, with music director Shelly Markham. For reservations call (818) 754-8700. Doors open at 5:30. Show starts at 7:00pm. Reservations have already started coming in, and are highly recommended. Sterling’s at The Federal, 5303 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood, CA 91601.
The South Pasadena Arts Council (SPARC) in partnership with the South Pasadena Chamber of Commerce and SOPA Studios will present four musical groups as part of the Sixth Annual Eclectic Music Festival on Saturday, May 3, from 2:00 – 10:00 pm at several venues around the city. The SPARC/SOPA Stage is located at the SOPA Studios, 1025 Hope Street, South Pasadena. Scheduled to appear are Lisa Finnie (5:00 pm), Shadowlands (6:15 pm), Anny Celsi Band (7:30 pm) and Jonah Smith (8:45 pm). Please note, all times are approximate. www.sopasartscouncil.com
Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra’s Westside Connections features actor John Rubinstein and pianists Jeffrey Kahane and Christopher O’Riley and the music of Rachmaninoff, Chopin and Brahms on Thurs., May 15, 7:30 pm. Rubinstein created the role of Bob Fosse’s Pippin on Broadway and received a Tony Award for Children of a Lesser God, and O’Riley is a versatile pianist as well as host of the popular NPR radio program From the Top. They join LACO Music Director Jeffrey Kahane, Concertmaster Margaret Batjer and Principal Cello Andrew Shulman in a performance that pays homage to the remarkable legacy of both Rubinsteins and features Rachmaninoff’s Sonata in G minor (Shulman and Kahane), Chopin’s Nocturne in D-flat major Op. 27, No. 2 (Kahane), and Brahms’ Piano Trio No. 2 in C major, Op. 87 (Batjer, Shulman and O’Riley). Moss Theater, Santa Monica. Tickets: (213) 622-7001 or www.laco.org.
You may be required to learn a short dance/movement combination, so please come prepared to move; there may also be cold reading from the script. Bring a résumé, as well as a list of all potential conflicts. The production begins rehearsals May 19 and runs July 5 – August 3 (Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8pm; Sunday matinees at 2pm). Click Here for complete audition details and a breakdown of characters.
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Labels: conejo players, hollywood fringe, kritzerland, la jolla playhouse, la stage alliance
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
MUSICAL NEWS for Wednesday, March 25, 2015
glory|struck productions will present the L.A. regional premiere of American Idiot in an immersive, environmental staging in an undisclosed warehouse venue in the downtown LA Arts District. The limited engagement begins May 15 and is directed by Topher Rhys and Jen Oundjian, with musical direction Elmo Zapp, produced for glory|struck by Topher Rhys, Jamie Lee Barnard, and Juliana Scott who most recently brought the revival of bare to life at the Hayworth Theatre. For more information, visit www.facebook.com/americanidiotLA.
The Colony Theatre presents the Los Angeles premiere of Words By Ira Gershwin, A Musical Play by Joseph Vass April 15 – May 17 (opening 4/18). Creative team also includes David Ellenstein (director), Kevin Toney (music director and pianist), and Joseph Vass (as music arranger). Meet the man behind the lyrics you love. With “Fascinating Rhythm,” “‘S Wonderful,” “The Man That Got Away,” “Long Ago And Far Away,” “A Foggy Day,” “I Got Rhythm,” and many more, the other half of the famous Gershwin duo guides us on a trip through some of the greatest American songs ever written. Insights and tales about his legendary collaborations all frame this fascinating and inspiring evening of music and theatre. The cast stars Jake Broder as Ira Gershwin, Elijah Rock (Crooner), and Angela Teek (Chanteuse). Tickets: (818) 558-7000 x 15 or www.ColonyTheatre.org.
Los Angeles Children’s Chorus will honor Frozen songwriters Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, and LACC President/Vice Chair Edward J. Nowak, Deputy General Counsel of The Walt Disney Company, at its upcoming Gala Bel Canto. The event will take place Tuesday, April 14 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion’s Grand Hall in downtown Los Angeles. The distinguished honorees are being recognized for their vast contributions to the arts and entertainment worlds. The gala includes heartfelt tributes and compelling performances by esteemed special guests and LACC choristers, led by Artistic Director Anne Tomlinson, as well as a sumptuous three-course sit-down dinner by Patina, exquisite wines and a dazzling live auction. Proceeds benefit Los Angeles Children's Chorus’s artistic, educational and scholarship programs. Tickets: (626) 793-4231 or www.lachildrenschorus.org.
MenAlive, the Orange County Gay Men’s Chorus, present a diva-licious tribute to the fabulous females that have rocked our world for the last half-century in She Got The Beat. The show features the music of Aretha, Beyonce, Cher, Katy, Lady Gaga, Pink and many more iconic ladies. Get ready to rock, groove, laugh, cry, and (of course) cheer the gorgeous sounds of MenAlive’s 100+ member chorus under the direction of artistic director Bob Gunn. Performances are Friday March 27 at 8:00 pm and Saturday, March 28 at 3:00 pm and 8:00 pm at Irvine Barclay Theatre, 4242 Campus Drive in Irvine. Tickets: http://menalivechorus.org/
An Evening of Classic Broadway returns to Rockwell Table and Stage April 22 at 8:00 pm. Click Here for tickets.
Join Karen Benjamin and Thomas O’Leary for their new Musical Theatre Intensive, Putting It Together, an ongoing class which takes place on Wednesday nights in the Miracle Mile area starting Wednesday night, April 8. For more information contact tjonycla@gmail.com.
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Thursday, June 26, 2014
Musical News for Thursday, June 26, 2014
Hi Everyone, I'm back from a little R&R and catching up on all the latest happenings around town. Check out these great upcoming shows.
The cast also includes Yorke G. Fryer, Chante Carmel, Jacquelin Schofield, Will North, Ernest Williams, Caitlin Gallogly, Joshua Leduc, Sequoia Houston, Stephanie Martin and Courtney Turner. Music and lyrics are by Padgelek, who also co-wrote the musical’s book with director Tom Coleman. Musical arrangements are by Teresa Ruiz and Bryan Shaw, musical director is Jeff Bonhiver, and choreography is by Ali North. July 26 – Aug. 31. Tickets: (323) 960-7787 or www.plays411.com/visionary.
The Ojai Playwrights Conference announces its 17th Summer New Works Festival which will take place over two weekends from August 2 through 10. Opening night, August 2, will feature Two Dynamic Duos – One Musical Night during which composers, lyricists, book writers and singers will offer a rare opportunity to peer behind the scenes into the creative process of making musical theatre. Walt Disney Imagineering, Creative Entertainment curates this evening of uplifting entertainment and lively discourse from two dynamic duos. Alan Zachary and Michael Weiner, collaborators on musical film, theatre, television and animated projects, have created projects for divisions of the Walt Disney Company around the globe. Their original romantic comedy musical, First Date, opened last year on Broadway at the Longacre Theatre. Brendan Milburn and Valerie Vigoda have teamed up on Sleeping Beauty Wakes, Toy Story: The Musical, Long Story Short, Midsummer Night and Wheelhouse. They come to Ojai after the acclaimed world premiere of their newest musical, Ernest Shackleton Loves Me, at the Seattle Rep. For a complete schedule of events call (805) 640-0400 or go to www.ojaiplays.org.
CONCERTS/CABARET: Rockwell Table & Stage presents Christina Bianco in her Los Angeles debut of Diva Moments! Tuesday June 24th and Sunday June 29th at 8pm. Drama Desk Award nominated singer, actress and impressionist Christina Bianco has become a worldwide YouTube sensation with her diva impression videos going viral. Her hit show Diva Moments is made up of songs that made divas out of the women who sang them. From Barbra Streisand to Celine Dion to Britney Spears, no celebrity is safe! Christina will perform these iconic songs in her own voice, as well as impersonating the great divas themselves. Musical direction by Michael Orland. Tickets and info: http://rockwell-la.com/.
Chris Isaacson Presents has announced a one-night-only concert event Broadway Under the Stars at the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre on Saturday, Aug. 16 at 8pm. The show will star Tony Award-winner Jennifer Holliday and will also feature Erich Bergen (Jersey Boys, stage and film), Rogelio Douglas, Jr. (In the Heights), Danny Gurwin (Little Women) and Tony Award-nominee Chad Kimball (Memphis) David Galligan will direct, and the music director is Gerald Sternbach. Broadway Under the Stars will feature songs from some of the most beloved musicals of our time, including Cabaret, Jersey Boys, Pippin, The Phantom of the Opera, Chicago, Les Misérables, and Wicked, along with new favorites from the 2013-14 Broadway season including Aladdin, Rocky, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder. Purchase tickets by August 2 and save $5! Discount tickets are available by calling (323) 461-3673 or at www.FordTheatres.org.
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Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Colony Theatre Announces 2010-2011 Season
The Colony Theatre in Burbank has announced its 2010 – 2011 season which includes four plays and the red hot musical The All Night Strut!
Opening the season is Grace and Glorie by Tom Ziegler June 9 – July 18, 2010.
Grace is a feisty illiterate 90-year-old who has checked herself out of the hospital and returned to her ramshackle cottage in the mountains of Virginia. Enter Gloria, a transplanted New Yorker with a Harvard MBA, now volunteering as a hospice caregiver. At first, cultures and generations hilariously collide, but over time they realize they have more in common than they ever could have imagined.
Following Grace and Glorie is the west coast premiere of Free Man of Color by Charles Smith, August 11 – September 12, 2010.
This stirring drama about one of the first freed slaves to graduate from an American university is based on a true story. It explores the life of John Newton Templeton, a fascinating but forgotten figure in our history who learns that with freedom comes great responsibility, and that his future is not as obvious as the color of his skin.
Next, Richard Israel will direct Bell, Book and Candle by John van Druten, October 20 – November 21, 2010.
Gillian is a beautiful witch living in 1950s New York City who is smitten with her handsome upstairs neighbor. She casts a little spell, and he is immediately and completely captivated by her. But Gillian must be careful - if she falls in love with him, she could lose her magical powers forever. A frothy and spellbinding romantic comedy, Bell, Book and Candle shows that love might be the most bewitching spell of all.
The new year begins with the wildly funny Moonlight and Magnolias by Ron Hutchinson, February 2 – March 6, 2011.
It is Hollywood 1939. Famed producer David O. Selznick is three weeks into filming his latest historical epic, Gone With The Wind, but the screenplay just isn't working. He hires script doctor Ben Hecht to rewrite the script in five days…but Hecht has never read the book. So, Selznick pulls director Victor Fleming from The Wizard of Oz and with Hecht, the three men spend five days locked in the producer's office re-enacting Margaret Mitchell's bestseller to craft a screenplay that will become one of the most successful films of all time. Inspired by true events, Moonlight and Magnolias illuminates the behind-the-scenes business of movie-making, and the larger-than-life egos, during the golden age of Hollywood.
The Colony’s season will close with the musical The All Night Strut! March 30 to May 1, 2011.
Conceived by Fran Charnas, this classy, sassy musical celebration carries us through the Depression, World War II, and the postwar boom. From the funky jive of Harlem to the sophisticated elegance of El Morocco and the romance of the Stage Door Canteen, this international hit sings, soars, and struts with its sublime, timeless music and sheer energy with songs that tug the heart, tickle the funny bone, and raise the rafters. Songs include In The Mood, Fascinating Rhythm, Chattanooga Choo Choo, Ain’t Misbehavin’, and more, by such legendary composers as Hoagy Carmichael, Frank Loesser, Duke Ellington, Johnny Mercer, Jerome Kern, Cab Calloway, and George Gershwin.
The Colony Theatre is located at 555 North Third Street, Burbank, CA 91502.
More information and tickets are available by calling the box office at 818-558-7000 or you can go to www.colonytheatre.org/shop/subscribe.php.
Monday, November 17, 2014
HOLIDAY MUSICAL NEWS for Monday, November 17, 2014
At the Grove Theatre in Upland, get ready for The Snow Queen - A Frosty, Fractured Fable (A British-style Holiday Panto), written By Dale Sandlin with music & lyrics by Steve Apostolina, Nov. 28 & 29 at 7:29 pm and Nov. 30 at 2:00 pm and 6:00 pm. Snow Queen is a musical excursion of the Snow Queen who meets the Widow Twanky, played by Christofer Sands. The battle begins when Twanky’s son is taken to fix a magic mirror for the evil Queen. This interactive Christmas Show is sure to please both parents and kids, from “boos” and snowballs to the fun lyrics and live music. The Grove Theatre is located at 276 E. Ninth Street, Upland, CA 91786. Tickets: (909) 920-4343 or www.grovetheatre.com.
TELEVISION: Want to star in a music video alongside the cast of NBC’s Peter Pan Live!, singer/songwriter Alex G., and other surprise guests? Dance your heart out to a brand new rendition of the Peter Pan classic, “I Won’t Grow Up” created by DJ Tay James. Watch Alex G.’s message to fans about the opportunity above and submit your video at www.peterpanmashup.com. Submission ends on November 18, 2014 at 11:59 pm PST. Remember to tune in to the live broadcast of Peter Pan Live! on Thursday, December 4 at 8/7c.
Kritzerland at Sterling’s Upstairs at The Federal presents Happy Holidays! The Annual Kritzerland Holiday Show, Sunday, Dec. 7 at 7:00 pm. Performers include Paige Befeler, Roger Befeler, Brennley Brown, Kim Huber, Madison Claire Parks, Sami Staitman, and Robert Yacko with special guest Jason Graae and music director James Lent. Reservations: 818 754-8700. Doors open at 5:30pm. Show starts at 7:00 pm. Sterling’s at The Federal, 5303 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood, CA 91601.
The Los Angeles Master Chorale adds a generous dash of yuletide cheer with a matinee performance of its popular Festival of Carols, on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2:00 pm at Walt Disney Concert Hall. The concert features new arrangements of cherished Christmas carols sung to savory perfection by 100 members of the Chorale under artistic director Grant Gershon’s baton. Pianist Lisa Edwards and organist John West, who performs on Disney Hall’s iconic pipe organ, add delightful sonic flourish to the concert. The program also features the live performance premiere of Eric Whitacre’s Glow, part of the Grammy Award-winning composer’s innovative “Virtual Choir” series, a global phenomenon in which singers from around the world record themselves singing one of his choral works and upload their videos online, which are synchronized and combined into a single performance. Tickets: (213) 972-7282, or www.lamc.org.
Los Angeles Children’s Chorus presents its popular annual Winter Concert celebrating American song on Dec. 7 (7:30 pm) & 14 (7:00 pm) at Pasadena Presbyterian Church. The program features works by a number of eminent American composers, including Let every breath, a round in the shape note tradition by William Billings, considered the country’s first choral composer; Aaron Copland’s popular Ching-a-ring Chaw; A Christmas Carol by Charles Ives, one of the nation’s first composers to gain international acclaim; and Knee Play 5 from legendary minimalist composer Philip Glass’s groundbreaking 1967 opera “Einstein on the Beach,” universally hailed as one of the greatest artistic achievements of the 20th century. LACC also spotlights works by several Los Angeles-based composers, Nick Strimple’s A Christmas Lullaby, Wayne Bisbee’s A Cuckoo Flew Out of the Wood, David Montoya’s I Heard a Bird Sing, and L’Dor vador by former cantor Meir Finkelstein, among them. Tickets: (626) 793-4231 or visit www.lachildrenschorus.org. Pasadena Presbyterian Church is located at 585 East Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101.
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