Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra blog

One of the aspects Barbara and I enjoy most about attending LACO concerts, year after year, is the opportunity to be exposed to, and stimulated by, new musical experiences and expansive soloists with whom we are unfamiliar. Oh, it’s not that we don’t enjoy the musical diet we’re fed by LACO on a regular basis of Bach, Mozart and Beethoven; a diet with no protein and carbohydrate staples would be a sorry diet, indeed! But a diet of only meat and potatoes (especially one devoid of salt, pepper, spices, garlic, and jalapeños), although it might keep body and soul together, would be apt to bore us to tears in short order.

While we have Caecilia with us in the LACO office, we have asked her to write us a couple of blog posts about her time here in America, and the differences she has experienced while here. Enjoy!

Is it already almost time for another LACO season to begin? Where did the summer go? Mine was too short but quite lovely, involving a little traveling and a lot of R&R, but I’ll be forthright and just say it: One thing I didn’t do all summer long was listen to classical music. I didn’t make it to the Hollywood Bowl to listen to the Philharmonic (which has been on my to-do list each of the past five summers and has only been crossed off those five to-do lists once). I didn’t listen to any of the classical music on my iPod – in fact, when a classical piece came up on shuffle, I jumped ahead to the next track. Rachmaninov? Not right now. Shakira? Yes, please! Just today I decided to drag myself out of my classical rut because I wanted to learn more about the piece of music used during the nude underwater ballet sequence in “Pirahna 3D” (yes, you read that correctly). Turns out, it was the Flower Duet from “Lakme,” the 1883 Delibes opera. Now that my appetite has been whetted (by a gory, disturbing, fantastic killer fish movie – hey, don’t judge), let’s take a look at some of what’s in store this season at LACO!

As we approach the 2010-11 school year many individuals are concerned about the economy and education cuts that took place over the summer that will be now directly affecting the year. Recently, I read an article by the organization Partnerships for 21st Century Skills (P21) that address how top executives have some concerns about their future workforce. Currently schools are forced to assess and focus on the skills that are referred to as the three “Rs”, reading, writing, and arithmetic. Many however feel that in the global economy the 4 “Cs”; communication skills, collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking are also important and should be better incorporated into our school programs. According to Partnerships for 21st Century Skills many employers are incredibly pleased with their employees’ abilities in communications and collaboration, but feel skills in critical thinking and creativity are weak.

For the month of August, Caecilia Knopp has joined the LACO team to help get some projects ready for the season to begin in September. We are very excited to have Caecilia in the office, and are very much enjoying getting to know her! Now, meet Caecilia:

Having just a vision’s no solution, Everything depends on execution… The art of making art is putting it together… bit by bit. Putting it together…piece by piece.
— “Sunday in the Park with George”

When is a glacier not a great frozen river? When it sweeps majestically down into a bay in the center of the Norwegian capital. Move over Walt Disney Concert Hall – the new Oslo Opera House, designed by the architects of the Norwegian firm Snøhetta, is magnificent.

“It was like wrestling a wild animal – I remember of the first time I attempted to play this historic violin. It took months – in the end, I did not master the instrument. Instead, it taught me to play better…”

The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra’s 2010-11 Orchestral Series is filled with good stuff. From Beethoven, Mozart, Schumann and Mendelssohn classics to intriguing contemporary works from the likes of Osvaldo Golijov, Daniel Kellogg and composer-in-residence Derek Bermel, this season has it all. But maybe your schedule or your wallet can’t accommodate it all. We have a subscription for you, too.

From Monday, July 19 to Wednesday, July 21, LACO is doing tweet the music, a twitter donation campaign in support of Meet the Music. Meet the Music concerts are interactive opportunities allowing elementary school students to experience professional classical music performances in an age-appropriate setting, complete with a musical guided tour – all offered at no charge to the schools.

There’s a fantastic article in the current issue of Time Magazine (7/5/10 issue, Thomas Edison on the cover, page 69) by Daniel Okrent called “And the Band Played On,” about how the Detroit Symphony Orchestra is surviving, despite major financial woes, in a city that is particularly decimated by our struggling economy. As reported in the article, the orchestra’s situation is scary: corporate contributions fell 52% from 2008 to 2009, their operating deficit could reach $5 million this year, and funding from the Michigan council for arts and cultural affairs has fallen from $1.6 million 10 years ago to $20,000 this year. And yet, the DSO perseveres. They’re developing inventive new performance opportunities, in venues ranging from high school auditoriums to rehab centers, and finding ways to engage and cultivate new audiences. The article touches on many issues surrounding the funding of arts and the role that arts play in a community, and makes a couple points that I thought were particularly thought-provoking, including how conductor Leonard Slatkin “imagines a musical future in which the very role of a musician is redefined… He suggests that the ability and willingness to promote the orchestra and its music might someday be part of the hiring process for musicians. He even wants to offer public-speaking classes to orchestra members.”

This summer, LACO welcomes Elizabeth Kerstein as our marketing and development intern through the Los Angeles County Arts internship program. In the next few months, she will help the LACO staff prepare for next season while getting a behind-the-scenes look at orchestra administration.

Summer is finally here! And that means three things—the end of the concert season, the arrival of warmer weather and a deluge of mindlessly explosive summer cinema. I love film scores, and have been trying to decide what I would consider my recent favorites. I’m going to purposely omit scores universally recognized as A+ examples—sorry John Williams, Bernard Herrmann, Jerry Goldsmith, Elmer Bernstein, you’re all great—and consider only smaller, lesser-known scores that grab me for whatever reason.

Iʼm sorry that I could not speak these words last month in the presence of Sue and all of you. My voice was too choked with emotion. With the following lines I would like to share with you just how important Susan Ranney is to me, and the impact she has had on my playing, on my career and on my life.

One of my favorite events of the year is coming up this weekend. If you have never had the opportunity to attend the LACO Silent Film then you are missing out!