Virgil Thomson

Music review: Dudamel takes on the 'Turangalila' at Disney Concert Hall

2010-10-15 16:32:56

<![CDATA[Music review: Dudamel takes on the 'Turangalila' at Disney Concert Hall]]>

Music review: Christine Brewer brings Wagner and others to Disney Hall

2010-06-02 16:32:53

<![CDATA[Music review: Christine Brewer brings Wagner and others to Disney Hall]]>

Betty Allen dies at 82; mezzo-soprano and music teacher

2009-07-27 00:00:00

Betty Allen, one of the first African American singers to reach prominence on the international opera stage, died June 22 of complications from kidney disease at a hospital in Valhalla, N.Y. She was 82. If contralto Marian Anderson in the 1930s and 1940s...

A drama critic's turn to face the music

2009-07-19 00:00:00

Critics don't get much respect. (Pause here for raucous laughter.) If you doubt it, look up the word "critic" in any book of quotations and see what you find. H.L. Mencken's "New Dictionary of Quotations" is full of zinger after zinger, most of which...

Critic's notebook: Revelatory Henry Cowell revival at Lincoln Center

2010-01-31 16:32:50

Manifestly Maestro

2009-03-26 10:23:11

Just two months ago, I wrote about how my obsession with Elizabeth Taylor colored my choices and changed my life. While that is certainly true, it was an �outside� manifestation, lighthearted and fun. Inside, though, at a much more profound place, it�s my...

Pacific Symphony's American Composers Festival has scores to settle

2009-02-22 00:00:00

Carl St.Clair can clearly recall being in the third grade in his hometown of Yoakum, Texas, and being "marched down to the Grand Theater where we all got to see 'Ben-Hur.' I was totally captivated," he says. "The score was overwhelming to me." Fifty...

'The Rest Is Noise, Listening to the Twentieth Century' by Alex Ross

2008-09-23 10:28:30

[This Book Review originally ran in the Los Angeles Times on Nov. 11, 2007] A unified, comprehensive history of 20th century music is the philosopher's stone of modern criticism: How to transmute such vast, maddening complexity into conceptual gold? It's...

Von Stade sounds out the Broad Stage

2008-10-13 00:00:00

The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage, newly added to Santa Monica College, had its semi-public tryouts over the summer and a gala last month with singer Barbara Cook, who was amplified. But the opening night concert Saturday, a recital by mezzo-soprano...

The accordion holds a lofty place

2008-04-20 00:00:00

MOST people think of the accordion, if they think of it at all, as a social instrument, wheezing out polkas and folk tunes. The sound of it brings to mind French cafes, Mexican plazas, German beer gardens, Argentine nightclubs. Nick Ariondo, perhaps the...

A Feast of Carols - Oak Park Concert Chorale

2011-12-02 10:51:29

On December 18, 2011 at 4: 00pm, join the Oak Park Concert Chorale, Paul Lindblad Director, for A Feast of Carols to welcome the holiday season. Virgil Thomson's Scenes from the Holy Infancy will be the centerpiece of this festive concert which will also...

A Feast of Carols - Christmas Concert

2011-10-31 11:27:10

On November 20, 2011 at 4:00 pm, join the Oak Park Concert Chorale (OPCC),Paul Lindblad director, for A Feast of Carols to welcome the holiday season. Virgil Thomson's Scenes from the Holy Infancy will be the centerpiece of this festive concert which will...

PULITZER WINNER: Henry Brant acknowledges applause after a performance in Los Angeles. He liked to use large numbers of musicians scattered in clusters around performance areas, whether it was a concert hall, a reflecting pool or even a river.

2008-05-01 07:05:00