Each Thursday morning,
I list five events (six this week) that peak my interest, including (ideally)
at least one with free admission — this week there are two. Here’s today’s
grouping:
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Saturday at 8 p.m.
at Valley Performing Arts Center, Northridge
China Philharmonic;
Long Yu, conductor, Renaud Capuon, violin
The Southland’s newest concert hall, located on the campus
of Cal State Northridge, gets its first major classical music program with this
performance. Yu conducts music by Berlioz, Puccini, Borodin and Ravel; Capuon
will be soloist in Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1. INFO: www.valleyperformingartscenter.org.
The same program is presented Friday night at Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa
Mesa. INFO: www.philharmonicsociety.org
Saturday at 8 p.m.
at Alex Theater, Glendale, Sunday at 7 p.m. at Royce Hall, UCLA
Los Angeles Chamber
Orchestra; Jeffrey Kahane conductor, Jon Kimura Parker, piano
The program includes John Harbison’s Gil pi usati, Dvorak’s Serenade in E Major for Strings, and
Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 (Emperor).
The Harbison piece was premiered by LACO in 1993. Parker (who was born on
Christmas Day 1959 in Vancouver) won the 1984 Leeds International Pianoforte
Competition and has gone on to an international career. INFO: www.laco.org
Sunday at 4 p.m.,
Neighborhood Church, Pasadena
Pasadena Pro Musica;
Stephen Grimm, conductor
In this Palm Sunday/Passion Sunday program at the beginning
of what Christians call “Holy Week,” PPM presents Dietrich Buxtehude’s
seven-movement work Membra Jesu Nostri,
along with Grimm’s own Christus Factus
Est and William Cornyshe’s Woefully
Arrayed. INFO: www.pasadenapromusica.org
Sunday at 5:30 p.m.
at Rene and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, Costa Mesa
Pacific Chorale, John
Alexander Singers, Pacific Symphony; John Alexander, conductor, Lori Loftus,
organ
John Alexander conducts his forces in the Southern California
premiere of David Lang’s The Little Match
Girl Passion, which won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for music and also won a
Grammy Award. The piece, based on a Hans Christian Anderson story and Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, will be paired with
Faur’s Requiem. INFO: www.pacificchorale.org
And the weekend’s “free admission” programs …
Friday at 1 p.m.,
Walt Disney Concert Hall
Los Angeles Master
Chorale’s 22nd High School Choir Festival
LAMC Music Director Grant Gershon
leads a 900-voice massed choir of students from 24 Southland high schools and
an 80-voice Festival Honor Choir also comprised of students from those schools.
In addition to hearing some terrific singing led by one of America’s premiere
choral conductors, it’s a great way to experience the magnificent acoustics of
Disney Hall for free. A preconcert by the Master Chorale’s Chamber Singers, led
by Assistant Conductor Leslie Leighton, will begin at 11 a.m. Tickets for each
event must be arranged ahead of time. INFO: 213/972-7282; www.lamc.org
Sunday at 3:30 p.m.,
Occidental College, Eagle Rock
Occidental College
Chorus and Glee Club; Desiree La Vertu, conductor
The program, performed in the college’s distinctive Herrick
Chapel, features music by Bruckner, Mozart, Lauridsen and Victoria, songs from
Latin America, gospel selections and popular favorites. INFO: www.oxy.edu
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(c) Copyright 2011, Robert D. Thomas. All rights reserved.
Portions may be quoted with attribution.