By Robert D. Thomas
Music Critic
Southern California News Group
Each week about this time I list five (more or less) classical-music programs in Southern California (more or less) during the next seven days (more or less) that might be worth attending.
MARCH 9 AND 10: RALPH KIRSHBAUM AND SHAI WOSNER PLAY BEETHOVEN
8 p.m. in The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, Beverly Hills
Kirshbaum and Wosner play Beethoven’s complete cello sonatas over the course of two nights, along with music by Mozart and Handel. Kirshbaum is chair of the strings department at the USC Thornton School of Music and holds the school’s Gregor Piatigorsky Chair for Violincello.
BONUS: Kirshbaum and Wosner recently issued a CD of this music.
Information: www.thewallis.org
MARCH 10: USC THORNTON SYMPHONY PLAYS MAHLER
7:30 p.m. in Bovard Auditorium (USC); Los Angeles
Guest conductor Uriel Segal leads the USC Thornton Symphony in Mahler’s Sixth Symphony.
BONUS: Free Admission. Bovard Auditorium is easily accessible via Metro’s Expo Line. Exit at the Expo Park/USC line and walk north through the USC campus to reach Bovard (adjacent to the Tommy Trojan statue).
Information: www.music.usc.edu
MARCH 10, 11 AND 12: “WEST SIDE STORY”
March 10 at 8 p.m. March 11 at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. March 12 at 3 p.m.
In Valley Performing Arts Center (Cal State Northridge); Northridge
As we close in on the centennial of Leonard Bernstein’s birth (Aug. 15, 2018), McCoy Rigby Entertainment brings its production of the composer’s best-known work to VPAC. Next month it begins a run at the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts (INFO).
BONUS: The Sunday show will be a sign-language interpreted performance. Also, check Goldstar for potential discount tickets HERE.
Information: www.vallerperformingartscenter.org
MARCH 10, 11 AND 12: LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC — BEETHOVEN AND SHOSTAKOVICH
March 10 at 11 a.m. March 11 at 8 p.m. March 12 at 2 p.m.
at Walt Disney Concert Hall; Los Angeles
Guest conductor Jaap van Zweden, incoming music director of the New York Philharmonic and continuing in the same role at the Hong Kong Philharmonic, conducts the LAPO in the fifth symphonies of Beethoven and Shostakovich.
BONUS: This represents a chance to compare and contrast the LAPO performance of Shostakovich’s fifth symphony with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic on March 16 at VPAC (see below).
Information: www.laphil.org
MARCH 15 AND 16: ST. PETERSBURG PHILHARMONIC
Wednesday at 8 p.m. in Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall; Costa Mesa
Thursday at 8 p.m. in Valley Performing Arts Center (Cal State Northridge); Northridge
The St. Petersburg Philharmonic and its longtime conductor, Yuri Temirkanov, are ending a cross-country U.S. tour with concerts in California. The OC concert is Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloe, Suite No. 2, selections from Prokofiev’s ballet score Romeo and Juliet, and the Russian composer’s Violin Concerto No. 2, with Japanese violinist Sayaka Shoji as soloist.
The VPAC concert is Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5 and Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1, with Garrick Ohlsson as the soloist. So, as noted above, this concert gives us a chance to compare the L.A. Phil with the folks from St. Petersburg who have Shostakovich in their collective DNA.
Costa Mesa information: www.philharmonicsociety.org
VPAC information: www.valleyperformingartscenter.org
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(c) Copyright 2017, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved. Portions may be quoted with attribution.
