FineArtsLA.com has found another way to help build a community of younger and hipper music and arts fans in Los Angeles through the acquisition of a Facebook account. For those interested in keeping up with the latest Forty Unders concert and ballet giveaways and beating the rush for free tickets, there is a new weapon for your hyperactive media arsenal.
In addition to being our BFF, by joining us on Facebook you’ll have the chance to view a mini-version of our site with smaller text and the occasional “subscriber-only” bonus material: lengthier descriptions of Forty Unders events, fancy images, trolls, and the dubious pleasure of watching us fight spammers in an effete manner. You’ll also find yourself on the same friends listing with some great music ensembles and some of the music world’s sung and unsung talents.
Now we’re well aware that great numbers of our readers may not be inclined to align themselves with anything requiring a password (our forum, for example). Rest assured: All of the main content is still only available here.
To connect with us via Facebook, go to: http://www.facebook.com/people/Fine_Arts_LAcom/1197714618 and meet your peers.
No word yet on when we’re moving to Silver Lake.
— Sam Mendizabal
Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra presents an original multi-media event, “SEDUCTION AND DESPAIR,” directed by and starring Academy Award nominee John Malkovich on Saturday, May 3, and Sunday, May 4, at Barnum Hall Theatre, 601 Pico Blvd, in Santa Monica.
From a libretto by Michael Sturminger, Malkovich enacts the true story of poet, author, journalist, and convicted serial killer Jack Unterweger. The costumed melodrama is underscored by Gluck’s “Don Juan” and works by Boccherini, Vivaldi, Handel, Weber, Haydn, and Mozart, performed on original period instruments under the baton of the orchestra’s music director and conductor, Martin Haselböck. Andreas Hutter’s atmospheric video serves as the stage set and a visual representation of events in Unterweger’s life.
Haselböck tells FineArtsLA that he looks forward to “the coming together of one of the great actors with the very best baroque musicians of Southern California in a new form of art.”
The 90-minute performance opens as Unterweger reads from his new novel before drifting into memories. Sopranos Celine Ricci and Robin Johannsen represent a variety of characters with whom Unterweger interacts. A promotional press release says, “Each scene and aria represents an emotional expression — Joy, Hatred, Love, Grief, Desire, and Admiration — illustrating Unterweger’s connections to women.”
Tickets, info, and season brochures are available at www.MusicaAngelica.org, or by calling (310) 458-4504.
— Penny Orloff
Funding is the most challenging fact of life for most of the smaller - and a number of the larger - arts organizations represented on this site. Though it beats working in a factory or - egad - a corporation, a career in the arts must still pay for little luxuries like food, clothes, and a place to live.
The task of Getting The Money often falls to the organization’s executive director, or a volunteer from the board of directors. These hapless individuals are charged with soliciting dollars from virtually everyone, virtually all the time, to cover costs of bringing professional arts to an audience.
The good news is that, frequently, large wads of cash are available from foundation, corporate, and government sources in the form of grants. The bad news: the fundraising person has to write a grant application. A tax return is a day at the beach, compared with one of these babies.
Help is here. Professional Education Development Group offers a two-day grant writing workshop in Los Angeles on May 1 and 2, with other workshops planned for the near future. “Successful grant writing involves the coordination of several specific activities,” says DJ Bonner, who heads the nationally-recognized program. “We take our participants step-by-step through the process, and they become competent, professional grant writers during two very intensive days.”
Bonner’s instructors are all proven grant writing experts, with impressive grant award track records. Classes are small, to provide individual, hands-on assistance with proposals. A limited number of seats remain for this workshop. Partial scholarships are available to 501-c-3 arts organizations and individual artists.
Go to www.pedgrants.com for more info/registration, or to inquire about future LA-area workshops.
Professional Education Development is the only company of its kind to also offer workshops in Spanish.
- Penny Orloff
“It was like wrestling a wild animal,” says Bulgarian-born Katia Popov, of the first time she attempted to play her historic violin. “It took months - in the end, I did not master the instrument. Instead, it taught me to play better.”
Audiences can hear the collaborative result of Katia Popov and her wild violin when the California String Quartet plays a free concert of works by Haydn and Dohnanyi on April 27 at 3 pm at the First Christian Church, at 4390 Colfax Avenue, corner of Moorpark, in Studio City.
The ensemble, founded and led by Popov, performs chamber music throughout the Southland. A meet-the-artists reception follows.
Having left Bulgaria to study music at the Paris Conservatory, Popov became concertmaster of the European Symphonic Orchestra in Paris, where a mysterious benefactor appeared, offering her the use of the instrument she loves to tussle with. “He admired my work,” she says, “and told me this violin must be played. It is on loan to me for life.”
Along with the violin, Popov is in possession of a faded, yellowed document attesting to the violin’s authenticity and describing its unusual ‘voice,’ hand-written in 1901 by a London firm, famous for certifying the authenticity of Stradivari and Guarnari instruments.
The instrument had belonged to one Wilhelmij, a celebrated German violinist of the 19th century. A major soloist, his close friendship with the mystically inclined Wagner led to Wilhelmij’s playing this particular violin as concertmaster for the premieres of every opera in the Wagner Ring Cycle.
On Saturday, June 14 at 8 pm, Popov again unleashes the beast when she plays Michael Doherty’s violin concerto, “Fire and Blood,” with the Long Beach Symphony at the Terrace Theatre in downtown Long Beach. Information is available at www.lbso.org.
Active in the Hollywood studios, Katia has worked on more than 400 movie soundtracks and countless recordings. She maintains a packed concert schedule, performing with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and the Long Beach Symphony. She plays at music festivals around the world from Malibu to Salzburg. In addition to the California String Quartet, she is the founder of the Lyric Arts Chamber Players, with whom she plays an annual season.
“Performing is an addiction for me,” she says. “The feeling is extraordinary. I am possessed.”
— Penny Orloff
“It is everything I know about classical ballet, in 13 minutes,” said George Balanchine of his “Allegro Brillante,” set to music of Tchaikovsky.
The tour de force for five couples enters the repertory of The Los Angeles Ballet as part of the LAB Summer Repertoire 2008, for five performances from April 25 through May 24, in various venues around greater Los Angeles.
The program also marks the LAB premiere of “The Evangelist” to music by Charles Ives. The dramatic pas de deux, choreographed in 1992 for LAB artistic directors Colleen Neary and Thordal Christensen by visionary American choreographer Lar Lubovitch, was inspired by the three-ring media circus that was Aimee Semple McPherson. Between founding the Foursquare Church and preaching to millions of devoted followers on the radio, McPherson rose to notoriety in 1920’s Los Angeles through sex scandals and power struggles, at one point staging her own bogus ‘kidnapping’ which provoked a month-long, nation-wide hysteria.
A pair of dances from Bournonville’s Napoli, “Pas de Six” and “Tarantella” return from last year. “I grew up in the Bournonville repertory in Denmark,” Christensen tells FineArtsLA. “The company danced these two excerpts very well last year, and the work has really become theirs, now.”
In keeping with the company’s ongoing project of presenting new works from local artists, Summer Rep 2008 offers a world premiere by Jennifer Backhaus, of Backhaus Dance. “Jennifer is a very dynamic choreographer,” Christensen says. “She uses a different dance vocabulary, which allows our dancers to broaden their horizons.” The dance, utilizing the entire company, is LAB’s second commissioned work to premiere this season.
LAB performs on April 25 and 26 at UCLA’s Freud Playhouse; May 3 at Glendales’s Alex Theatre; May 17 at Irvine’s Barclay Theatre; and May 24 at Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center. On the May 17 program, Balanchine’s Gershwin tribute, “Who Cares?” replaces “Pas de Six” and “Tarantella.”
For more information, visit www.losangelesballet.org, or call 310-998-7782.
- Penny Orloff
“Music critics are not only a dying breed,” Alan Rich told FineArtsLA in our first story a year ago, “we’re an endangered species.”
How prophetic that statement was, now that the owners of the LA Weekly have decided to ax Rich’s column.
LA Observed reports:
Another local music critic down, not many left to go. Alan Rich, who is at least 83, was let go as classical music critic over lunch with LA Weekly editor Laurie Ochoa, reports Laura Stegman at PRLosAngelesMediaMoves.
After getting the news earlier today, I spoke with Alan late tonight, and he said, “It’s open season on critics. We are an endangered species. I was surprised, but I wasn’t surprised.” He says the decision was made “by the corporate people in Phoenix,” and that when Editor Laurie Ochoa gave him the news over lunch, “she was as sorry as can be.”
The good news is that Alan will be putting up a web site by the time his last review appears in the Weekly two weeks hence. “I don’t know anything else but how to write about music,” he says, “so that’s what I’ll continue to do.”
Also from Stegman: Los Angeles radio veteran Gail Eichenthal was promoted to program director at KUSC and Brian Lauritzen became producer, with day to day responsibility for “Arts Alive.”
In the wake of ABT’s migrating swans last week, a small inner-city dance academy in the heart of Compton won honors and recognition of excellence.
Compton is more known for gangster rap than for ballet.
Carol Bristol-Henry and Compton Dance Theatre received the Addie Patterson Award for Outstanding Service in Community Development from the City of Compton. The U.S. House of Representatives bestowed a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition, and the California legistlature presented a Certificate of Recognition.
With a BA in Psychology from Howard University and an MA in Dance and Dance Education from NYU, Bristol-Henry trained at Dance Theatre of Harlem and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center. “I reluctantly started teaching dance at Compton High School to earn money between gigs,” she says. “Making a difference was unintentional.”
Most days after school, she noticed that idle students would fight just to entertain one another. The more studious sought refuge in the few available after-school activities. “I offered to teach dances to three students after school,” Bristol-Henry remembers. “They invited their friends and relatives. It started getting pretty crowded.”
Rapidly running out of room, Bristol-Henry scrambled for space in which to hold classes. “I had to,” she says. “Several kids confided in me that dance was their only reason for showing up to school every day.”
In 2002, Bristol-Henry founded the 501-c-3 nonprofit Compton Dance Theatre Foundation in order to meet eligibility for financial support. Since then, the organization has won numerous grants to stay afloat. “Funding remains the biggest challenge we face,” said Bristol-Henry. “Our ability to survive is tested all too frequently.”
Evidence of the quality of CDT’s dance training is apparent in student dancers’ discipline and technique. One of them, 11-year-old Victoria Portor, auditioned and was accepted to American Ballet Theatre’s 2008 summer intensive program, during ABT’s recent residency at the Music Center.
Contributions are tax-deductible. Compton Dance Theatre can be reached at (310) 669-9908, or www.comptondancetheatre.org. — Penny Orloff
American Ballet Theatre is recognized as one of the world’s great dance companies. Considered a living national treasure since its founding in 1940, ABT is the only major cultural institution to annually tour the United States. Probably the most representative of American ballet companies, during its nearly 70-year history the ensemble has appeared in 126 cities in 42 countries, often sponsored by the U. S. State Department.
Los Angeles audiences have enjoyed regular opportunities to see productions of the venerable institution. This Thursday through Sunday, March 27 through March 30, ABT brings 5 performances of Tchaikovsky’s immortal “Swan Lake” to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. The tragic love story of the enchanted swan princess and her hapless prince has been part of the ABT repertory, in one form or another, since the 1960s. This production, staged by ABT artistic director Kevin McKenzie, had its world premiere at Washington DC’s Kennedy Center in 2000.
“ABT will present five different Swan Queens and four Prince Siegfrieds in Los Angeles,” Victor Barbee, Associate Artistic Director of American Ballet Theatre, tells FineArtsLA. “The supporting casts will be equally diverse. That should keep things fresh and exciting for dancers and audiences alike.”
Opening night will feature McKenzie protégés Michele Wiles and David Hallberg as the star-crossed interspecies couple. In something of an understatement, Barbee says, ”The technical and artistic challenges for the dancers are remarkable.” Dramatically, Wiles has the arduous task of bringing to life both the fragile and tormented Swan Queen Odette, and her evil arch rival, Odile.
Wiles was promoted to Principal Ballerina less than three years ago, after a decade of careful nurturing. A statuesque 5’8” in her slippers, Wiles has always stood out. During her long, slow ascendance, critics couldn’t fail to notice her technical brilliance and classical perfection. But, in among the kudo’s were observations that the young artist lacked passion or emotional connection to the dances. All that changed when Kevin McKenzie sent Wiles and Hallberg to compete for the International Erik Bruhn Prize, given every two years. Ms. Wiles and Mr. Hallberg soared through a bravura ”Grand Pas Classique,” and Ms. Wiles won first prize.
Critics have waxed eloquent over her new dramatic maturity and depth. Wiles earns consistent praise as Odette/Odile, for both the tender lyricism and stupendous athleticism required of a prima ballerina in this quintessential Tchaikovsky “white ballet.”
For over a hundred years, companies large and small, serious and irreverent, have mounted their own versions of the work. As Victor Barbee says, ”Swan Lake is synonymous with classical ballet for very good reason: it’s magical.”
Below is a sampling of that magic, from a previous ABT production:
- Penny Orloff
You may have noticed a new byline at the bottom of stories recently. Or the fact that we’re posting new content more than once a month.
Indeed FineArtsLA has a new managing editor: Penny Orloff. She will take over the everyday tasks of the site while founder Christian M. Chensvold steps back for a more general editorial role, which still includes all responsibility for the cleverness or idiocy of story headlines.
(In fact, Chensvold is busy with other webular projects, including his other site Dandyism.net and a forthcoming site devoted to the Belle Epoque. Those interested in contributing to the project are encouraged to e-mail him.)
But back to Orloff, the chosen candidate in our craigslist-wide search for a managing editor. Not only does Orloff work as a freelance writer and editor, she studied voice at Juilliard and sang over 20 principal soprano roles with the New York City Opera. She also wrote the novel “Jewish Thighs on Broadway,” starred in the stage version off-Broadway, and wrote the libretto for Allen Shawn’s opera “The Ant and the Grasshopper.”
As FineArtsLA also has several other new writers currently on assignment, individual bylines will now appear at the bottom of stories.
Though she plays 18th-century music on an 18th-century violin, Dutch violinist Janine Jansen’s trailblazing digital success sets the bar for 21st-century marketing and sales of classical music. England’s The Independent calls her “Queen of the Downloads.” She is “an artist for the iPod era,” raves Germany’s Der Spiegel.
Jansen’s 2005 Decca recording of Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons” broke into the U.S. top 20 of all albums sold on iTunes. Her latest album, “Bach Inventions & Partita,” topped the iTunes classical charts around the world, and achieved Gold sales within the first few weeks of its release.
Last month, the 30-year-old violinist became the first musician to record a classical piece for iTunes Live Session, usually the province of pop artists. The iTunes exclusive “Live Session: Bach” was recorded in Berlin on February 29, 2008. The site released Jansen’s digital EP last week.
Jansen finds her popularity surprising. “I don’t feel wildly popular,” she tells FineArtsLA. “But it’s an honor to feel I may be opening a door for a different and younger group of people, who may not have ever heard this music before.”
Jansen plays a marathon schedule of a hundred performances a year. Already a major star in the U.S. through her online presence, Janine Jansen finally debuted live this season with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. In her first Los Angeles Philharmonic appearances, Jansen plays the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto on Thursday and Saturday evenings, March 20 and 22, and Friday morning, March 21, at Disney Hall. Ms. Jansen also plays Tchaikovsky’s “Souvenir de Florence” with members of the LA Phil on Friday evening, March 21.
Tchaikovsky composed the Violin Concerto in less than a month in 1878. He unsuccessfully offered the premiere to two famous violinists of the day, both of whom declined, declaring the work too long and too difficult. Eventually, Russian violinist Adolph Brodsky mastered the Concerto’s ferocious technical challenges and premiered it in Vienna. Jansen first prepared the work in Spring, 2000. “It was an amazing experience,” she remembers. “The music is very intense, very demanding, but so beautiful. It was so much fun.”
Jansen’s violin is the famous “Barrere” Stradivarius, created by the master in Cremona in 1727. Seven years ago, the instrument was acquired for her by the Elise Mathilde Foundation of Holland. “They knew I was looking for an instrument,” she says. “They bought it and gave it to me on extended loan, for life. From the first moment, it felt so wonderful to play it.” — Penny Orloff
