Thursday, February 24, 2011

Midori = 'Green'

Midori is, of course, the name of one of our most cherished violinists and also the Japanese word for green. In this spirit, I found a passage in her website that demonstrates that she is a “green” violinist as well. She writes:
"My violin is very sensitive to weather and dryness in the air, so I've found that hanging just-washed wet towels is a handy trick to add moisture to the air instead of running the humidifier, plus it avoids the energy use of a clothes-dryer. To save energy, I power down my computer every night, as even keeping it in “sleep” or “idle” mode wastes electricity. I have a pact with myself to turn off the lights every time I exit the dressing room in the concert halls. I hope that soon we will see a serviceable solar-powered metronome, much like the solar-powered calculator which has now become the standard."
This is an important message for all of you violinists out there who would like to be greener. Midori is a great musician, teacher and creative programmer as well.

Monday, February 21, 2011

Dudamel and a Cause to Celebrate

El Dude has arrived with an extremely eclectic LA Phil program which will be followed by our annual gala (which we are not calling a gala). It is “Celebration Gustavo!” chaired by Marsha Anderson. Thanks, Marsha! Thanks also to Deborah Borda, President and CEO of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, and Elizabeth Segerstrom for being our honorary chairs.

All would appear well, despite the doom and gloom that pervades the media with dour reports of declining attendance, funding and recording sales. All of this may be true, but it seems like there is always a battle going on. I love Charles Rosen’s take on it. He says, “The death of classical music is perhaps classical music’s oldest tradition.” It has never been easy but it is always worth it. When we can bring together such superior talent, generous supporters and ardent audiences, it is a cause to celebrate. Thank you, one and all.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Vienna Philharmonic


The Vienna Philharmonic has been a fun project. This is their third visit to Orange County and the first to the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall. They will be making debuts in Berkeley, Santa Barbara, Palm Desert and San Diego. We put the tour together so we could have a performance here. When we found out a few years ago that they had a tour cancel during this time period, we jumped on it. We are most appreciative of our marvelous colleagues Matias Tarnopolsky at UC Berkeley “Cal Performances,” Celesta Billeci at UC Santa Barbara “Arts and Lectures,” Sandy Lewis at Palm Springs Friends of Philharmonic, and Christopher Beach at La Jolla Music Society, as well as Dieter Flury and Clemens Hellsberg from the Vienna Philharmonic. Collaboration is a great thing. Semyon Bychkov and the Vienna Philharmonic will perform in Orange County two weeks from today on Thursday, March 3rd.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Celebrating the Liszt year with Victor Borge

Celebrating the Liszt year with Victor Borge.  Please enjoy!


Sunday, February 6, 2011

Laguna Beach Music Festival

The Laguna Beach Music Festival strikes up again Monday, February 7. The very cool Brooklyn Rider quartet is in residence with assisting artists Shakuhachi master Kojiro Umezaki, kamancheh (Persian fiddle) player Kayhan Kalhor, and others. There are programs all week. Consult lagunabeachmusicfestival.com for all of the details.

I will be participating in a new festival offering called Music Tables. They happen at Rockin’ Fish in downtown Laguna Beach at 4pm Wednesday through Friday of the festival week. I am doing the first one on Wednesday discussing how festivals are put together and why. You buy your own food and drink. The gab is free. I expect Brooklyn Rider cellist Eric Jacobsen and Kayhan Kalhor to join us. Come on down.