Posts Tagged ‘Extra! Extra!’

Generally, creative innovation in any field is thought to have a kind of narrative. When young, the pull toward radical exploration and experiment is bright, vigorous, and hardly noticed by the establishment; that is until a little bit later when these once controversial methods start to become accepted by the mainstream, tauted as revolutionary, and before you know it, the avant-garde becomes the old guard—wisdom and tradition taking precedence over innovation.

But what if this narrative is in itself a kind of trap? What if the possibility for newness, for regeneration never peters out, even in death?

For the late master, avant-garde choreographer and dancer Merce Cunningham, this was essential. From his early 1950’s collaborations with such ground-breaking artists as Robert Rauschenberg and John Cage, up until his death at age 90, Cunningham was constantly striving for the future. As late as last year, he could be found hosting a weekly webcast series called “Mondays with Merce,” where he invited the world to see the inner-workings of his 57-year-old, world-renowned company, the Merce Cunningham Dance Company (MCDC).

And after his death in July of 2009, his innovation lives on. He, himself, arranged for a post-humous outline for his company called the “Legacy Plan”—a way for his work to continue to grow for future generations. As a part of it, the MCDC has embarked on its final, two-year-long international tour, where they will premiere brand new pieces by Cunningham for the very last time.

This is where FineArtsLA comes in. We have managed to score two tickets to see the Saturday, June 5^th performance of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, where they will be premiering to the world the reconstructed Roaratorio, featuring music by John Cage. And yes, we’re giving them away to you, our loyal followers. This is literally beyond a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: all you have to do is enter your first name, last name, and e-mail address into the form below, and you will be eligible to receive two free tickets to see the 7:30 PM world-premiere performance of Merce Cunningham’s Roaratorio, as performed at the Walt Disney Concert Hall by the Merce Cunningham Dance Company on Saturday, June 5^th. Not only that, but you will be automatically entered into the running for our next three ticket giveaways.

Cunningham liked to leave his work up to chance, but if you just want guaranteed tickets, you can buy them here.

The kind people at UCLA Live have offered, exclusively to Fine Arts LA readers thank you very much, a discount on tickets to see that tortured, irresistible Englishman we wrote about last night at Royce Hall!  The man: Ian Bostridge.  The performance: Schubert’s Winterreise. The time: tomorrow evening, 8pm.

Click here to go to the event page and make sure once you’ve chosen your tickets that you enter in the following secret password: WINTERREISE.  That will get you 25% off — just cause you’re so in-the-know. Enjoy the show!  (The offer only lasts for a limited time and can’t be combined with any other offers.)

Glorya Kaufman’s contribution to dance in Los Angeles, and specifically at the Music Center, has already begun to impress.  They recently presented the Joffrey Ballet’s Cinderella and up next, on February 16 – 17, we Angelenos have a chance to see the critically acclaimed Kings of the Dance at the Ahmanson Theatre.

If you haven’t heard of Kings of the Dance, you’ve more than likely heard of its components (hint: some of the world’s most phenomenal male dancers) like Guillaume Cote, Marcelo Gomes, David Hallberg, and Denis Matvienko.  Spoiled as we are in Southern California, and now by Glorya Kaufman and her welcomed and generous contribution, the performances will also include special guest appearances by Desmond Richardson, Jose Manuel Carreno, Nikolay Tsiskaridze, and Joaquin DeLuz.  These dancers have graced the stage with some of the world’s most prestigious companies like the American Ballet Theatre, Kirov Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet, and New York City Ballet.

Admittedly, when you think of ballet, the first images that come to mind are of pointe shoes, beautiful ballerinas in tutus in a perfect arabesque, or dancers with their hair pulled into tight buns and wearing enviable tiaras.  Finally recognizing the beauty and strength of male dancers, Kings of the Dance celebrates these virtuosos in some of dance’s most incredible choreography by such inspiring artists as Roland Petit, Sir Frederick Ashton, Christopher Wheeldon, and Leonid Jacobson.

Because we’re so generous (and because we want to have someone to gush over the performance with), we’ve got tickets to give away!  Enter below to win a pair of tickets to the performance on February 17 at 7:30pm and then let us know what you thought after – we’ve got a good feeling your email will be filled with exclamation points and many synonyms for amazing.

Here are some Extra! Extra! details you’ll want to keep in mind here: by entering into this giveaway, you’re also entered into our next three giveaways! All we need is your first name, last name, and email address, and voila – you’re a connoisseur of dance.  Or, at the very least, you’re on your way to watching some of ballet’s most muscular (er, talented) examples at the height of their careers.

(Click here if you feel like you need to witness what’s on stage and can’t risk the whole giveaway thing.)

Celebrating this coast and all it has to offer has never seemed more pertinent – if for no other reason than because it’s December 4 and the weather outside is anything but frightful.  You need nary more than a blazer out there!  Since LA is the entertainment capitol of the world, it’s only fitting that we celebrate our side of the States with a music festival, namely the LA Philharmonic’s “West Coast, Left Coast” Festival on now at Walt Disney Concert Hall.

We’ve told you about the upcoming concerts, seen Kronos Quartet (and loved ‘em), and now have one last suggestion: this weekend’s performance featuring Brian Wilson (he of Beach Boys fame), Dave Alvin, The Living Sisters, and Harper Simon.  Talk about an LA tour de force – Brian Wilson will be on hand to perform an acoustic set of some of his greatest hits including “God Only Knows” and “California Girls” (another reason to celebrate this state).  He’ll share the stage with Dave Alvin, a blues and Americana hero originally from Downey, CA.  Up next is LA’s own The Living Sisters (who include the ethereal Eleni Mandell, Becky Stark, and Inara George) followed by singer/songwriter Harper Simon.  All in all, Disney Hall has never sounded more like the hippie, carefree state it calls home– and we doubt it ever will again.

Here’s the best bit… we’ve got tickets to giveaway! The performance will be held at Disney Hall on Sunday, December 6 at 8:00pm and we want you to be there.

Some Extra! Extra! details you’ll want to jot down: by entering into this raffle, that makes you eligible to win the next three we’ve got coming down the pike! All we need is your first name, last name, and your email address, and voila – you might just feel like the age of Aquarius is upon us all over again.

(Click here if you can’t stand the heat and you’d rather just buy your own tickets.)

Whenever you set on a path to do something restrictive, isn’t it always the case that all you end up doing is exactly what you were trying to avoid? Any time you tell yourself to cut down on sugar, you end up eating dessert after every meal and as soon as you decide to stay focused and study, your web browser mysteriously makes its way to Facebook and there go three hours.  You’re not alone and this is nothing new – even Shakespeare knew the perils of setting on a task and then just giving into digression or temptation instead.

With Love’s Labour’s Lost, one of Shakespeare’s early comedies, you’re faced with a King and three cohorts who have all devoted themselves to studying for three years without the (inevitable) distraction of women.  (What was that Bob Marley said? No woman, no cry?) As you can ascertain, the gentle lads fall for the princess and her three ladies in waiting who happen to have moved to court just as the men crack open their history books.  A raucous comedy that revolves around the awkward, electric, fumbling world that is young love, Love’s Labour’s Lost is timeless and more so when performed by Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre.

They’re at the The Broad Stage now through November 29 bringing you all of the moments you will find so familiar about trying to resist what you want and failing miserably at it.  And what’s better than giving in when it’s free? We’ve got tickets to give away to the Globe Theatre’s performance at the Broad Stage on Monday, November 23 at 7:30pm!

Some Extra! Extra! details you’ll want to remember: by entering into this raffle, you’re automatically entered to win the next three we’ve got hidden behind our backs.  All we need is your first name, last name, and your email address and voila – it will make you think before you say “no” to that next beau!

(Click here if you’d rather just buy your own tickets – playing is for kids.)

When it comes to recognizing classical music, we know you’re a pro.  You don’t even have to be in the same room when a British Airways commercial comes on to pinpoint their constant use of the “Flower Duet” from Lakmé.  We’d be the first to admit, however, that it can be difficult to catch every live performance of all the musical masterpieces in your listening repertoire– when LA Opera, the LA Phil, and the LA Chamber Orchestra are all on the same night as Top Chef, it leaves you in a very difficult position.  Having never heard Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony performed live, for example, is an unfortunate consequence that comes with living in a world of so many options.  It is also a musical crime.  However, LA Chamber Orchestra is here to help.

Their “Discover” concert series continues this Saturday, November 7 at 8pm with “Discover Beethoven’s 5th” at the Ambassador Auditorium.  The well-known, powerful, majestic symphony will be played in full during the second half of the concert after what could be considered the world’s shortest and most intense lesson on Beethoven and his music.  Perhaps we shouldn’t call it a lesson so much as a bonus – the first half of the concert will include excerpts from the Fifth alongside a number of Beethoven’s other symphonies, solo piano works, and our personal favorite – bits of his “Moonlight” and “Pathetique” sonatas.  Hearing all of these works performed live under the direction of Jeffrey Kahane will prove a truly grand experience… made all the better by the fact that Fine Arts LA has got some tickets to spare that we’re itching to give away to our faithful, music-loving readers!  Welcome to our latest Extra! Extra! raffle…

Some Extra! Extra! details you’ll want to keep in mind: by entering into this raffle, you’re automatically entered to win the next three we’ve got going on.  All we need is your first name, last name, and email address and voila – you’ll be blown away.

(Click here if you’d rather not risk it and want to buy your own tickets.)

There are many directions you could take your Halloween experience this year. You could take the sweet ‘trick-or-treat amongst the children’ route, the ‘excuse to dress like a slut’ route, or the truly ghoulish, creepy, scary route.  If you are looking for any excuse to participate in the latter, REDCAT is the place to be on Friday, October 30 or Saturday, October 31.

It’s been proven time and again that it doesn’t take much to be thoroughly spooked.  In a great many very effective horror films, you may not even catch a glimpse of the monster until more than halfway through.  This weekend at REDCAT, prepare yourself for a truly original, horrifying experience: The Golem with live musical accompaniment under the direction of Brian LeBarton (otherwise known as Beck’s producer) for your pleasure.  Made in 1920 by Paul Wegener and shot by Karl Freund (of Metropolis fame), The Golem is the story of a statue brought to life by a Rabbi in 16th century Prague.  While the Rabbi’s intentions are noble, the experiment goes awry and the Golem ends up committing horrible crimes and kidnapping the Rabbi’s daughter.

We’d be ruining Halloween for everyone if we gave away the ending, but we do have something else to give away… tickets!  Fine Arts LA has got some tickets for both screenings of this spectacularly spooky piece of cinema and we’re just dying to give them away.

As always, some Extra! Extra! details you’ll want to keep in mind: by entering into this raffle, you’re automatically entered to win the next three we’ve got going on.  All we need is your first name, last name, email address, and voila – you’ll be off to REDCAT this weekend.  Try not to scream too loud!

(Click here if you don’t want to risk it and would rather just buy your own tickets.)

Everyone answers the question the same way.  “So, what kind of music do you listen to?” A little bit of everything, except country… right? Well, whether or not you’re hiding Carrie Underwood on your iPod, have you ever mentioned your penchant for “eclectic post-jazz?”

John Hollenbeck and his Claudia Quintet are betting they’ll be able to change your tune.  The New York-based band experiments with what we’ve thus far known as jazz, but not in an extremely esoteric way – their rhythms and sounds are playful, complex, and really get you thinking.  Since hearing them will undoubtedly give you a whole new genre to brag about (“I mostly love traditional Ghanaian drumming”), we’ve got some tickets to give away! Performing at REDCAT on Wednesday, October 28 at 8:30pm, Claudia Quintet includes Hollenbeck himself, Drew Gress on double bass, Maat Moran on “vibes,” Ted Reichman on accordian, and on the clarinet and tenor sax, Chris Speed.  They’ll be joined by guest pianist Gary Versace as well as a couple of curious and lucky Fine Arts LA readers!

Here are some Extra! Extra! details you’ll want to remember: by entering into this raffle, you’ll automatically be entered into the next three raffles we’ve got hidden behind our backs.  All we need is your first name, last name, and email address and voila – your eclectic musical taste speaks volumes about your open-mindedness.

(Click here if you don’t want to risk it and would rather just buy your own tickets.)

What can we say about Nikolai Gogol that hasn’t already been said? He was a realist (a Russian one), but was fantastical and satirical enough that a nose could have a life of its own and was influential enough that Dostoyevsky was quoted saying “we all come out from Gogol’s ‘Overcoat.’”  Needless to say, he was the kind of guy you wish you could have seen in person; the kind of guy who would have left you with stories to tell your grandkids.  If harkening back to 19th Century Russia is your thing or if you’re looking for the live, performed “Cliffs notes” of Gogol’s “Diary of a Madwoman,” “The Nose,” and “The Overcoat,” The Gogol Project is for you.  And you know what else is for you? Free tickets to the Gogol Project!

Yes, your friends at Fine Arts LA are here to tell you again that by entering into our Extra! Extra! raffle (via that form below), you and a date/friend/parent will be heading to see the Rogue Artists Ensemble’s production of the Gogol Project this Saturday night!  On at the Bootleg Theatre on Beverly Blvd., this play is nothing less than what Gogol might have produced himself in this day and age.  With the use of puppetry, masks, music, and digital media, you’ll get a whirlwind tour of three of Gogol’s most famed works.  Put it this way, this isn’t how Gogol is normally read by Lit majors in college – they wish! 

Some Extra! Extra! details you’ll want to remember: by entering your name into this raffle, you’re automatically entered into our next three (3!) raffles.  Considering the goods we’ve been giving away lately, that’s a sweet deal.  All we need is your first name, last name, and email address and voila – you’re practically a Russian Lit scholar! 

So that girl you asked out the other day who mentioned her love of the theatre… Where do you plan on going? Of course there’s August Osage County at the Mark Taper Forum and Madea over at Royce Hall, but let’s just say you’re not sure you’re that into her and dropping $80 per ticket, plus dinner, and parking wasn’t really what you’d planned on.  Your friends at Fine Arts LA are coming through for you yet again! 

This Extra! Extra! is your ticket (literally) to see the Tony-nominated Shining City now playing at the Fountain Theatre!  Directed by Stephen Sachs and written by Conor McPherson, Shining City is a modern-day ghost story (she’ll have to snuggle up when she gets scared, no?) set in Ireland and focuses on a businessman who has just seen the ghost of his recently deceased wife.  When he seeks out a therapist, you and your date will find out pretty quickly if this is gonna work or not.

Here are the details on how Extra! Extra! works – when you enter into this raffle (by filling out the form below), you’re automatically entered into the next three (count ‘em 3!) raffles we do!  And considering the tickets we’ve been handed lately, that’s a pretty sweet deal.  All we need is your first and last name and your email address and voila! You and you’re date are practically VIPs.