Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra blog

There are 135,479 not-for-profit organizations located in California; 31,826 make their home in Los Angeles County alone.

Meet Angelica Vargas, this summer’s CRF Expanding Horizons intern, in her own words:

In the second installment of intern introductions, we welcome Jeff Goodman, this summer’s development intern, to LACO. Get to know Jeff, in his own words.

About a month ago on the way to work, I heard a story on NPR in which a 17-year-old female high school marching band student used her baton to beat up two assailants who tried to mug her.

Every summer, several fantastic interns join the LACO staff to learn the ins and outs of orchestra administration. Meet Vivian Shen, this summer’s marketing intern.

Lacey Huszcza has brought to my attention that Andrea Shea has recently highlighted Gunther Schuller on the Internet site “NPR Music”; you may wish to read and listen to the feature here. There are delightful quotes to be heard, and a taste of Schuller’s original compositions, as well.

As LACO’s 2008-09 season comes to a close and we gear up for our exciting 2009-10 season, you can listen to LACO’s virtuosic performances in the off-season summer months from the comfort of your home or car!

In an article in today’s Calendar section of the Los Angeles Times, 94-year-old actor/director Norman Lloyd discusses his friendship with Charlie Chaplin in honor of LACO’s 20th Anniversary Silent Film Celebration.

I’m curious how many music-loving, orchestra-supporting readers out there have seen The Soloist? It’s a film, based on a true story, about the relationship between a L.A. Times columnist (Robert Downey, Jr.) and a mentally ill homeless man (Jamie Foxx) who’s a cello prodigy and former Julliard student. I saw the movie earlier this evening, and was really pleasantly surprised because it wasn’t the maudlin and dishonest movie I was expecting. I’m used to (and sick of) Hollywood presenting mental illness in one of two ways: the reason why a nutjob creatively and gruesomely kills a dozen attractive teenagers in the creepy cabin in the woods; or as a curable problem, with characters that ‘get better’ thanks to the love of a good woman (cough, A Beautiful Mind, cough). But The Soloist does neither. SPOILER ALERT: The ending, while hopeful, isn’t necessarily happy, and the point is made that Foxx’s character’s mental well-being is no more or less precarious at the end than it was at the beginning.

This is the conclusion of our conversation with principal LACO flutist David Shostac:

This past weekend, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra closed its 40th anniversary season with an exciting finale concert, Fire, which featured pianist Jonathan Biss and a world premiere Sound Investment commission from Christopher Theofanidis.

We are continuing our conversation with David Shostac, LACO’s principal flutist and orchestra member for 33+ years:

It’s been a week of finales for me – 3 of my favorite shows, The Amazing Race, The Office, and 30 Rock all wrapped up their seasons this week, as last night, I went to LACO’s final concert of their 40th season. In past blogs I’ve written about how much fun it is to watch the guest artists that LACO brings in (like Makoto Nakura and Joana Carneiro), and last night, I couldn’t keep my eyes off of guest pianist Jonathan Biss, who played during the Schumann Piano Concerto in A minor. He played with such force that, at times, his whole body, from his feet to his shoulders to his jowls, would shudder and shake and recoil, like he had just fired a shotgun. He’s passionate and focused and nuanced, and, ultimately, more interesting than the Concerto. But the Concerto, in turn, was much more interesting than Biss’s slow and snoozy encore (he said what it was, but he didn’t have a microphone, and I couldn’t hear him). Every piece can’t be a gem, I suppose, which brings me to Radiant Mind, that was performed for the very first time last night.

Program notes are often digested without question or comment. They provide information (and something to occupy the time) before the concert or during intermission. Ideally, their purpose is to give a musical work context in terms of both the composer’s life and output, but also in relation of the rest of the program. I have been writing program notes for a few years now, and I still get a thrill watching other concert-goers flipping through their program books, looking at the notes, even if they’re just killing time before the lights go down. Every once in a while, however, a tidbit in a program note sparks a discussion or lively debate. For LACO’s “Firsts” concert in April, I wrote a note about Schoenberg’s Chamber Symphony No. 1 in E major. In it, I said the following:

David Shostac has been principal flute with LACO since 1975, and his understated excellence has become so much a part of the celebrated LACO sound that it is easy to take him for granted. Sometimes it does us good to take a step back and realize just what treasures we have in our Orchestra, and to recognize in just what esteem throughout the country our principals are held. Two aphorisms come to mind, one profound and one humorous: