People in the News
Broadway and Beyond Oct. 18
The Southern Calfiornia Lyric Theater Troubadours will bring their mightly talents at 1:00 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 18 to the Westwood Hills Christian Church. Elyse Cook, Bryan Hale, Mary House, David McGee, Manuel Saldana, Tristan Wilhelm perform songs of old Broadway. Special appearances by Alison Eliel Kalmus, Christina Linton, Phil Meyer, Talia Saldana and Miguel Vargas are scheduled. Lance Merrill is Music Director/Accompanist. Suggested donation of $15; $10 students and seniors. The Westwood Hills Christian Church is located at 10808 Le Conte Ave., Los Angeles, at the corner of Le Conte and Hilgard. Parking is free.
Descanso Summers will still have music
Lisa Fuhrer, Director of Public Programs for Descanso Gardens says the gardens will be wide open to music events during the summer of 2010. Descanso is apparently reacting to the departure of the Pasadena Pops Orchestra that will open their new season in an area abounding the Rose Bowl.
Fuhrer says, “Next summer, we’re going to have musical samplings for everyone, including families, 20-somethings, couples, you name it,” according to an article that appeared in Beacon Media print publications.
Concerts will take place every Thursday from mid-June through mid-September. The 12-concert series will begin with “Roots of American Jazz Series and present a wide-range of musical influences from Africa, Brazil, the Caribbean and even Central Avenue, Los Angeles.
Another series will be “The Second Saturday Series” with independent musical acts and others.
We hope to break the news as it happens at this website.
PYSO are seen in Vienna in 2008
PYSO Gears up for New Season
Conductor Jack Taylor has a website for the Pasadena Youth Symphony Orchestra that outlines section rehearsals and even notes that violin seat auditions began Tuesday, Sept. 27. Taylor and his very serious and excellent young musicians are preparing for their winter season which begins Dec. 8 at Pasadena High School auditorium when they present their annual Holiday Concert. Other dates are Jan. 30, also at PHS, and May 16, 2010, the Spring Concert at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium. All concerts are free.
Southwest Chamber Music Announces Opening Night Benefit
Sunday, Oct. 18 at 5:00 p.m. the Southwest Chamber Music will offer an exclusive preview of the 2009-2010 season. They will also introduce their new recording of William Kraft’s “Encounter” series. Composers, musicians will mingle in the crowd to enjoy food and wine and talk about the exciting trips to Mexico an the U.S. State Department-sponsored cultural exchange with Vietnam. The event is at the Armory Center for the Arts, 145 N. Raymond Ave., Pasadena. Tickets are $100. Reservations should be made by calling (800) 726-7147 or visiting online at www.swmusic.org.
Los Angeles Childrens’ Chorus Names Scheidemantle Board Chair
Attorney David Scheidemantle has been named Chair of Los Angeles Children’s Chorus, succeeding Patti Paniccia.
Scheidemantle has been a board member since 2007. Although he is an attorney, he brings a knowledge of music. He is a Julliard-trained violinist.
Paniccia declared that “I am very proud to have chaired such a fine organization over the last three years and am confident that LACC will continue to thrive under David Scheidemantle’s skilled and caring leadership.”
Other board appointments announced by the organization are Jennifer Terry of La Cañada Flintridge and Rick Roberts of San Marino. Terry is an attorney and Roberts is a managing partner with an investment firm.
SAPPA Benefit Wednesday, Sept. 16
Director of Jazz Studies at UCLA and jazz icon Kenny Burrell will be honored at a benefit for the Scholarship Audition Performance Preparatory Academy on Wednesday, Sept. 16 at the California African-American Museum, 600 State Dr., Los Angeles. Burell is the SAPPA Educator of the Year. Barbara Morrison and others will participate in a Gala Concert and Pat Prescott is host. Benefit tickets are $50. The group requests a response by Sept. 7 to (626) 574-5040 or (626) 398-0191. Checks should be made to the Pasadena Arts Council, FBO SAPPA and mailed to Billy Mitchell – SAPPA P.O. Box 284, South Pasadena, Ca., 91031.
Tovey Saves the Day in Marriage Ceremony
Bramwell Tovey is quite a guy. A story from Thursday’s Globe and Mail by Fiona Morrow recounts Tovey’s latest good-guy event.
Tovey, who was named guest conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra’s at the Hollywoood Bowl in 2008 is known for his light-hearted humor and the fact that he plays a pretty cool brand of jazz piano. But he is dedicated to classical music and conducts the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, British Columbia, Canada.
Morrow’s story reports that Lucy and Sam Taylor got a call moments before their ceremony that the pianist would not make it in time as he was caught in traffic. The ceremony was ready to go right next door to St. Andrew’s Hall in East England where Tovey was going to rehearse with an orchestra there. Although the conductor was not there, a colleague, hearing Taylor’s plea cel-phoned the internationally famous conductor to see if he was close enough and would be willing to play for the wedding ceremony.
“I got there in under 10 minutes,” Tovey said, admitting to certain traffic violations to do it. He was not, shall we say, performance ready. He was dressed in shorts and T-shirt. Still, finding a Bosendorfer piano, he sat down and riffed off Cole Porter’s “Night and Day”, some George Gershwin and Irving Berlin then grooved into “Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini Variation 18″. Finally, the conductor took musical matters into his own hands and as the bride and groom walked up the aisle, he immediately played the standard Mendelssohn march which he says, “I finished with a big flourish.”
Lucy and Sam only found out who Tovey was when they Googled his name. Astonishment set in. Tovey mused that musicians are rarely called on in cases of emergency. Beside that, he said, “My mother will be very excited. That’ll be more impressive than conducting the New York Phil!”
Chapel Organ Calls for Renewal
Timothy Durkovic, Director of Music and organist at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Arcadia reported this week to the congregation that both church organs are in need of repair and in the case of the Chapel organ, he says the 1970′s organ there is not worth repairing. In fact, Durkovic suggests that he is now confident a digital organ would do nicely. He thinks $129,000 will cover the cost. He reports a full pipe-organ installation would run between $750,000 and $1 million.
Leave a Reply
